5 Big Ideas to Upgrade Your Health [#11] Presented by Dr. Ram, Pharm.D. |
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"Gratitude Alters your brain in a number of beneficial ways — Examples include triggering release of mood-regulating neurotransmitters such as dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine and oxytocin; inhibiting the stress hormone cortisol; and stimulating your hypothalamus (a brain area involved in the regulation of stress) and your ventral tegmental area (part of your brain's reward circuitry that produces pleasurable feelings)" - Dr. Joseph Mercola |
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Welcome to my newsletter! As the name suggests, every week I will give you 5 big ideas to upgrade your health. In each newsletter, I will share with you 1 original article from my blog and 4 useful articles from around the internet. For each article, I will provide a brief synopsis and some key takeaway points for your learning pleasure. I’m so excited to be going on this healthful journey with you! Here we go… |
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1. Are High Fat Diets Good For You? (Part 5) (5 minute read) by Dr. Ram, Pharm.D. In this article, I review the best available scientific data when comparing low-carb (high fat) diets versus low-fat diets. "Keep in mind that all of these studies are randomized controlled trials, the gold standard of science. All are published in respected, peer-reviewed medical journals. These studies are scientific evidence, as good as it gets, that low-carb is much more effective than the low-fat diet that is still being recommended all over the world. It is time to retire the low-fat fad!" | | |
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2. Keto Diet and Diabetes (10 minute read) By Annie Price, CHHC "When you follow a keto diet, your body converts fat, rather than sugar, into energy which may improve blood sugar levels while also reducing the need for insulin." "A keto diet and diabetes study published in 2012 in the journal, Nutrition, compares low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet (LCKD) with a low-calorie diet (LCD) in improving glycemia (the presence of glucose or sugar in the blood). Overall, the study finds a low-carb keto diet to be more beneficial than a low-calorie diet for obese type 2 diabetics." "Another earlier study published in the journal, Nutrition and Metabolism, finds that both a low-glycemic index, reduced-calorie diet and a low-carbohydrate, ketogenic diet can improve glycemic control, encourage weight loss, and reduce or eliminate the need for diabetic medication over a 24-week period with the lower carbohydrate keto diet being “most effective for improving glycemic control. Researchers note that subjects taking between 40 to 90 units of insulin before the study were able to completely eliminate their insulin use while also improving blood sugar control!" Extra Credit: Read Ketotarian by Will Cole | | |
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3. The Power of Gratitude (14 min read) by Dr. Joseph Mercola "Research shows gratitude, depression, peace of mind and rumination are all interrelated, and that gratitude counteracts depression by enhancing peace of mind and reducing ruminative thinking" "Gratitude Alters your brain in a number of beneficial ways — Examples include triggering release of mood-regulating neurotransmitters such as dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine and oxytocin; inhibiting the stress hormone cortisol; and stimulating your hypothalamus (a brain area involved in the regulation of stress) and your ventral tegmental area (part of your brain's reward circuitry that produces pleasurable feelings)" The article goes on to provide some practical tips to start a gratitude practice in your daily life. Extra Credit: The 5-minute Journal | | |
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4. Are All Calories the Same?(10 minute read) by Mark Sisson "That’s how it works in wild animals. They don’t calorie count. They don’t think about what to eat or how to exercise. They just eat, move, sleep, and somehow it all works. I mean, they die, often violently, but you don’t see obese, metabolically-deranged wildlife... This is generally true in “wild humans,” too. Hunter-gatherer groups by and largedid not and do not show any evidence of metabolic derangement, obesity, or the other degenerative trappings of modern humans living in civilization." The article cites many different factors that effect the way calories are metabolized in the body. These include macronutrient composition, whether the calories come in the form of processed or whole food, your current metabolic state, whether you exercise, and how you slept last night. | | |
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5. Green Tea and Disease Prevention (5 min read) by Dr. Jason Fung In this article, Dr. Jason Fung reviews results from a couple different studies that analyzed the medical benefits of drinking green tea. "Systolic blood pressure was reduced by 5.9 mmHG and diastolic by 3.0 mmHG in the catechin group. Triglycerides improved by over 10%. This improved metabolic profile was confirmed by the blood testing which showed reduced blood glucose and hemoglobin A1C, a sort of 3 month average of blood glucose measurements. In the catechin group, A1C was lowered by 0.37, almost as powerful as some of the medications used today for treatment of diabetes. Extra Credit: My Favorite Green Tea | | |
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