Quick Tips for Everyday Wellness: The top five secrets to losing belly fat

Quick Tips for Everyday Wellness: The top five secrets to losing belly fat: What to eat and not to eat in order to lose belly fat is the top question being asked (especially this time of year – the pre-bathing suit s...

Quick Tips for Everyday Wellness: Fat cells and internal organs; are they the “bank ...

Quick Tips for Everyday Wellness: Fat cells and internal organs; are they the “bank ...: When it comes to overcoming there's a lot more to it than just sheer willpower. Before we can get to the other side of our condition (f...

Quick Tips for Everyday Wellness: Cancer patients and survivors: Are K-cups safe?

Quick Tips for Everyday Wellness: Cancer patients and survivors: Are K-cups safe?: A sixty-year old plus friend recently shared an interesting testimony about how her estrogen levels had suddenly risen above a normal leve...

Cancer patients and survivors: Are K-cups safe?

A sixty-year old plus friend recently shared an interesting testimony about how her estrogen levels had suddenly risen above a normal level, much to both her and her doctor’s surprise. As she began reviewing her daily eating and activity habits, she noticed only one major change in her behavior over the past several months: Since Christmas she had been regularly consuming coffee via Keurig cup containers. At first, she didn’t think there was any reason to associate the two, but thought it wouldn’t hurt to eliminate her consumption just in case and upon doing so her estrogen levels lowered almost immediately.

The correlation between the two could be a coincidence; however, it would be an unlikely one. It seems that other people have raised the same concern since the introduction of the plastic containers even though these containers were FDA approved as “BPA-free”. The real question the public has not had answered by the makers of these K-cup products is, “What is the plastic to produce the K-cups and what are the known effects they have on our bodies?”

Keurig’s website addresses the BPA concern with the following statement:
“K-Cup® and Vue® packs do not contain BPA and are constructed using FDA-approved food safe materials. We also use FDA-approved food safe materials in our K-Cup® and Vue® brewing systems, and neither system contains BPA within its water paths (as of January 1, 2010 for our K-Cup® system).” (http://www.keurig.com/social-responsibility)

What Keurig is not addressing are the effects of any plastic liner used, under extensive heat and which products they are using in replacement of a BPA plastic. According to a study by “The Environmental Health Perspectives”, even BPA free products are not as safe as you might expect. In July, 2011, the NCBI released the following study, clearly noting that a product labeled BPA free can still release chemicals that contain estrogenic activity when subjected to certain conditions (i.e. Hot temperatures).

Below are the results of the study:
Background: Chemicals having estrogenic activity (EA) reportedly cause many adverse health effects, especially at low (picomolar to nanomolar) doses in fetal and juvenile mammals.

Objectives: We sought to determine whether commercially available plastic resins and products, including baby bottles and other products advertised as bisphenol A (BPA) free, release chemicals having EA.

Methods: We used a roboticized MCF-7 cell proliferation assay, which is very sensitive, accurate, and repeatable, to quantify the EA of chemicals leached into saline or ethanol extracts of many types of commercially available plastic materials, some exposed to common-use stresses (microwaving, ultraviolet radiation, and/or autoclaving).

Results: Almost all commercially available plastic products we sampled—independent of the type of resin, product, or retail source—leached chemicals having reliably detectable EA, including those advertised as BPA free. In some cases, BPA-free products released chemicals having more EA than did BPA-containing products.

Conclusions: Many plastic products are mischaracterized as being EA free if extracted with only one solvent and not exposed to common-use stresses. However, we can identify existing compounds, or have developed, monomers, additives, or processing agents that have no detectable EA and have similar costs. Hence, our data suggest that EA-free plastic products exposed to common-use stresses and extracted by saline and ethanol solvents could be cost-effectively made on a commercial scale and thereby eliminate a potential health risk posed by most currently available plastic products that leach chemicals having EA into food products.

If you are a cancer patient, survivor or simply want to avoid the possibility of cancer, avoid the use of plastics especially under the exposure of high temperatures. The risk is simply not worth it.

Quick Tips for Wellness: BPA-free may still put your health at risk.


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Quick Tips for Everyday Wellness: Soda consumption + men = Weak knees

Quick Tips for Everyday Wellness: Soda consumption + men = Weak knees: According to a recent study by Harvard Medical School, soda consumption and Osteoarthritis may have a connection. Injury, aging and stres...

Soda consumption + men = Weak knees

According to a recent study by Harvard Medical School, soda consumption and Osteoarthritis may have a connection. Injury, aging and stress on the knee can lead to osteoarthritis, the key in the study specifically on men lead researchers to link soda as an annoying culprit.

"Our main finding is that in general, the more sugary soda men drink, the greater the risk that knee osteoarthritis will get worse," says researcher Bing Lu, MD, DrPh. Lu is assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and associate biostatistician at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. (http://www.webmd.com/osteoarthritis/news/20121108/soda-may-worsen-knee-osteoarthritis-in-men)

In the past, obesity was typically the known factor behind deteriorating of knee cartilage. However, the study divided the groups into non-obese versus obese men discovering that the problem with osteoarthritis was more prominent in the non-obese soda consuming participants.

Of course, the American Beverage Association refutes there is even the possibility of a link between soda consumption and any disease (i.e. Cancer, Osteoarthritis, etc.). ABA claims “all calories count when it comes to overweight and obesity, and there is nothing unique about the calories contributed to the diet by soft drinks."

The study, performed over a period of four years, included both men and women. Before, during and after testing/examinations recorded and evaluated the progressive degeneration of knee tissue throughout the study, concluding the following:
*Men who consumed five or more sodas a week experienced twice the amount of deterioration in their knee cartilage than those men who consumed less

The ABA’s claim that a “calorie is a calorie” is simply not true. The content of a calorie is used by our body as fuel (energy) and/or a drug (rebuilds/restores/renews). When the content of the calorie is filled with chemicals, artificial sweeteners and contains no health benefits, its toxic effects slow down the rebuilding, restoring and renewing of cells. In addition, the body’s acidity levels rise while the alkaline levels fall when we consume soda drinks. If Coca-Cola eats away acid on battery, what do we expect it to do to the body when we consume it?

Over and over again, the soda beverage industry has been under scrutiny for producing products that have unhealthy side effects. Diet or Zero calories does not equal a healthier choice.

Quick Tips for Wellness: Avoid soda consumption. Your body will thank you for it in the end!

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Quick Tips for Everyday Wellness: Is your favorite "vice" a ticking time bomb?

Quick Tips for Everyday Wellness: Is your favorite "vice" a ticking time bomb?: Some people thrive off drinking soda drinks all day long, claiming they will go crazy without their device. Others swear by their chocola...

Is your favorite "vice" a ticking time bomb?

Some people thrive off drinking soda drinks all day long, claiming they will go crazy without their device. Others swear by their chocolate treats while some must have their bowl of nightly ice cream. For some, the nightly nightcap turns into a habitual habit that becomes increasingly hard to kick. However, what they may not realize is that their favorite “vice” is producing a ticking time bomb inside their body.

The dangerously high sugar content and acidic levels found in many foods and beverages slowly deprive our healthy cells the oxygen they need to survive. Our body eventually pays the price forward through disease and illness; however, this is not new news. As far back to 1931, when the Dr. Otto Warburg received the Pulitzer Prize for discovering the connection between a lack of cellular oxygen and cancer cells, reveal what happens to our bodies when we consume too much acidic laced beverages and food:

“Cancerous tissues are acidic, whereas healthy tissues are alkaline. Water splits into H+ and OH- ions, if there is an excess of H+, it is acidic; if there is an excess of OH- ions, then it is alkaline.” (Dr. Warburg)

Through Dr. Warburg’s work, he proved some solid conclusions: All forms of cancer can be characterized by two basic conditions: Acidosis and hypoxia (lack of oxygen). Where you have one, you inevitably have the other.

The more concerning results of his findings were the following:
"All normal cells have an absolute requirement for oxygen, but cancer cells can live without oxygen - a rule without exception." –Dr. Otto Warburg

"Deprive a cell 35% of its oxygen for 48 hours and it may become cancerous." – Dr. Otto Warburg


A recent acquaintance shared with me the story about her husband, who was a Gynecologist, dying from cancer. When his lab work arrived it revealed a decidedly troubling result: His body’s acid levels were sky high. That was the first red flag. As the doctor began researching the cause, he quickly realized his culprit was oddly associated with his soda habit. Here, he was a doctor, well educated and informed, and yet he did not know that his consumption of soda was destroying his health. As much as he tried to reverse the damage through attempting to raise his alkaline levels and reduce his acidic consumption, it was too late.

Many people have advocated for better labeling practices in America, like Michael F. Jacobson who is the Executive Director at the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington and an advocate who has urged the FDA to implement the labeling of soda products, revealing their toxic sugar level content.
Read more: http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2013/02/14/FDA-urged-to-set-safe-soda-sugar-level/UPI-54931360821371/#ixzz2LLXvsRUy

"As currently formulated, Coke, Pepsi, and other sugar-based drinks are unsafe for regular human consumption," Jacobson said in a statement. "The FDA should require the beverage industry to re-engineer their sugary products over several years, making them safer for people to consume, and less conducive to disease." (Michael F. Jacobson)

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2013/02/14/FDA-urged-to-set-safe-soda-sugar-level/UPI-54931360821371/#ixzz2LLYwd9tt

When the body’s pH balance is too high, the body works overtime to balance the effect, looking for essential minerals from either our nutrition (usually to poor to provide what the body needs) or other organs, bones in our body (heart, lungs, liver, bones/joints/skin, etc). This vicious cycle begins to do much more damage than what we can eventually withstand, leading to a long list of disease/illness that will eventually destroy lives.

This high acidic condition, referred to as “Acidosis, has some basic symptoms:
*Stiffness
*Heart pain
*Mood swings (high and lows, depression, fatigue)
*Memory problems

In addition to sodas, the following is a list of contents you need to avoid:
*Sweeteners
*Preservatives
*White sugar
*White flour

Bottom line is this: Healthy nutrition comes from whole, unprocessed food, beverages.

Quick Tips for Wellness: It is almost impossible to un-ring the bell once the damage is done.

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