DIET AND EATING SAFELY WITH HRT

Turmeric is a yellow spice commonly found in Indian and other Asian cuisines but Americans and Europeans have been using this spice more and more after hearing about its amazing benefits for health. No wonder turmeric has been used for thousands of years as a spice and medicinal herb! The most famous Indian dish, curry, is where turmeric stands out. Turmeric is what gives curry its yellow color.

 Turmeric really does contain compounds that have medicinal properties, as scientists have recently discovered. These compounds are bioactive and are called curcuminoids with the most important one being curcumin. It is the main active ingredient in turmeric and has very powerful anti-inflammatory effects and is also a potent antioxidant.

 Turmeric contains only about 3% curcumin, by weight. The studies that have found curcumin to be so anti-inflammatory used turmeric extracts that concentrates the curcumin to over 1 gram a day. This is very hard to reach just using turmeric as a spice in your food. Therefore, to see the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects of curcumin, you’ll need to take a supplement. In addition, it’s best to eat black pepper with your supplement to better absorb the curcumin (by 2,000%!).

Curcumin: Natural Anti-Inflammatory Compound

 Scientists believe that chronic, low-level inflammation plays a huge role in most of the chronic, Western diseases we see today. These include cancer, metabolic syndrome, heart disease, Alzheimer’s and other degenerative conditions. All of these are pretty scary diseases and it’s wonderful that we’ve found a compound that combats chronic, low-level inflammation effectively.

 In fact, curcumin is so powerful, it matches the effectiveness of some anti-inflammatory drugs, but without the side effects! Great news!

Specifically, curcumin blocks NF-kB, a molecule that travels to our cells, to our nuclei and turns on genes that are associated with inflammation. Take some curcumin and stop that sucker in its tracks!

Turmeric Improves Antioxidant Capacity

 Free radicals, the highly reactive molecules that wreak havoc on our bodies, are presumed to be behind aging/premature aging and multiple diseases. These molecules damage our cells and DNA, reacting with organic substances such as fatty acids.

 We need antioxidants to protect us from these free radicals. Thankfully, we have plant foods – veggies and fruits – that are chock full of antioxidants. In addition, we also have curcumin which is VERY potent, neutralizing free radicals on its own while also boosting the activity of your body’s own antioxidant enzymes. Win-win!

Curcumin Boosts Brain Function

 We now know that brain cells (neurons) are capable of forming new connections well past childhood, even multiplying and increasing in number. A neurotrophic factor called BDNF is a type of growth hormone of the brain. Diseases such as Alzheimer’s and depression have been linked to low levels of the BDNF hormone.

 The good news is that curcumin is capable of increasing the levels of BDNF in the brain, possibly delaying or even reversing brain ailments and cognitive decline. Curcumin could also improve your memory and make you smarter.

Curcumin certainly sounds amazing, doesn’t it? If you have history in your family of any of the diseases or ailments discussed in this article, consider seriously getting a good curcumin supplement and adding turmeric to your diet. The science certainly backs up many of these claims discussed here, especially with curcumin supplements. Nobody wants to experience Alzheimer’s, cancer or heart disease so be proactive and consider all possibilities of prevention!

Reference

Healthline

Selenium is one of these essential trace minerals that everyone should be making sure they’re getting enough of in their diet. It plays many roles in our bodies including cognitive functioning, our immune systems and fertility. In terms of hormones, it interacts with the thyroid which is a major hormone gland, producing some very important hormones for us that affect all parts of the body. Selenium also plays a role in DNA synthesis, protects against oxidative damage and infections. Very important, indeed!

The Health Benefits of Selenium

Cognitive Decline

Heart Health

Cancer

Thyroid Issues

Hormone Balance

Risks of Taking Selenium Supplements

Food Sources of Selenium

• Tuna
• Halibut
• Brown rice
• Brazil nuts
• Eggs
• Bread

Intermittent fasting is a hot topic right now, with people from all walks of life interested in fasting: weight lifters, vegans and millennials. Fasting comes with different benefits than just plain dieting. It has been practiced for thousands of years, across many different cultures.

Some studies have claimed that intermittent fasting promotes faster weight loss (in a healthier way), boosts growth hormone levels and even increases the life span. A group of researchers wanted to find out if intermittent fasting affects brain functions and structures, especially in an anti-aging kind of way. The scientists began their research on mice to get preliminary data.

Research Suggests Intermittent Fasting Improves Brain Functions

The mice were divided into control, intermittent fasting and a high-fat diet group. The control group mice were allowed free access to regular rodent food. The intermittent fasting mice group were allowed free access to rodent food every other day with zero food on the alternate day. The high fat diet mice had free access to high-fat food (45% fat). This diet style continued for 11 months. Water was never restricted. The high fat diet group was supposed to represent the typical Western diet in terms of fat consumption.

After the 11 months, the mice were then subjected to Barnes maze which was designed to test spatial learning and memory. Both short-term and long-term memory retention was tested. After the Barnes maze, the mice were subjected to a fear conditioning experiment with freezing behavior recorded. After fear conditioning, motor coordination and exercise tolerance was evaluated. Here, the mice were placed on an accelerating rotarod to see how long they could stay on it for (tolerance). Other biometrics were taken, such as blood samples for levels of lipids/glucose, western blot analysis and measurements of the brain/hippocampus. This study was a lot of complex work!

Intermittent Fasting Improves Learning and Memory

The Barnes maze and fear conditioning results suggested that intermittent fasting improves learning and memory. In addition, the thickness of a layer of the hippocampus (brain structure) was increased, suggesting improved brain structures. Other benefits demonstrated for the brain was the reduction of oxidative stress as shown by the ratio of certain proteins in the brain. Oxidative stress is known to cause injury to cells and premature aging. If intermittent fasting can reduce oxidative stress, that would certainly cause anti-aging effects and improvement in brain structures and functions.

The high-fat group (typical Western diet) did not show impaired learning and memory (surprisingly!) and no significant difference in oxidative stress. However, they ended up being obese with hyperlipidemia. Their exercise tolerance was significantly worse but no harm to brain structures or functions were observed. The authors are worried about the effects of long-term obesity on the brain and need further research to come to a conclusion.

This study was very complex and the details cannot be delved into here, but the link is available below for your own study. In conclusion, it appears that intermittent fasting may have some seriously awesome benefits which probably translate over to humans as well. It would make sense as to why fasting has been such a popular diet for centuries, if you can call it a diet. Some people may call it a lifestyle.

In fact, the best way to adopt healthy eating is not through diet but rather, through a change in your lifestyle. Make healthy eating and intermittent fasting a habit and youll start seeing the benefits quickly!

Reference

PLOS ONE