Mind Body & Spirit

By James B. LaValle, RPh, MS, ND, CCN

When our eyes don’t take in enough sunlight, we can “experience a serious mood change… sleep too much… have little energy… crave sweets and starchy foods… [and] feel depressed,” according to the National Library of Medicine. Studies link those symptoms to low levels of brain chemicals like serotonin and melatonin. Not only do we need sunlight in our eyes to produce those neurotransmitters, we need sunlight on our skin to produce vitamin D.

We’ve long known that vitamin D is critical for building and maintaining strong bones. But a big surprise in recent years has been that vitamin D also plays a critical role in insulin regulation, making it important for the prevention of diabetes and heart disease. It’s also important for the regulation of your immune system, with studies linking low vitamin D levels to an increased risk of breast, prostate, and colon cancers, as well as to multiple sclerosis (an autoimmune condition).

It’s hard to get enough sunshine during the winter months. And in summer, many avoid exposure to direct sunlight because they’re concerned about skin cancer. In addition, drugs used to treat heartburn, acid indigestion, and ulcers can deplete the body’s stores of vitamin D.

What this means is that you have a good chance of being deficient in this critical vitamin.

It’s easy to restore the vitamin D your body needs. You can get it by spending a few minutes in the sun each day. You can also get it from food sources, especially eggs, fatty fish, and fish liver oils. And if you don’t like fish, there are supplements.

When taking supplements, avoid the old form of vitamin D (ergocalciferol). Vitamin D 3 (cholecalciferol) is the best form to use. Experts are now recommending that we get at least 1,000 IUs per day.

[Ed. Note: It truly is possible to improve your health just by making wise choices when it comes to diet and lifestyle. James B. LaValle, RPh, ND, CCN - founder of the LaValle Metabolic Institute and a nationally recognized expert on natural therapies - can give you easy-to-understand directions for living the healthy life you've always wanted. Learn more here.

Dr. Al Sears and Jon Herring reveal the amazing, life-saving benefits of sunshine in Your Best Health Under the Sun.]

This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, a free newsletter dedicated to making money, improving health and secrets to success. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.

By James B. LaValle

I read a study recently that could be some of the most important health news I’ve seen in a long time, especially for you “apple” shapes out there. Yet there have been no headlines - at least not yet.

The study - published in the Journal of Nutrition - found that taking in plenty of non-starchy vegetables and more magnesium helped increase the production of adiponectin, a hormone found in fat cells. The researchers were careful to look for any other factors that could have affected the results, but found none.

Adiponectin increases the effectiveness of insulin. In other words, it helps your cells absorb glucose. If you have plenty of adiponectin, your insulin production is lower, your blood sugar is better controlled… and that adds up to a lower risk of diabetes and heart disease. But it may also mean you would have a much easier time controlling your weight.

Unfortunately, when we gain weight - especially in the waist or belly - adiponectin production goes down. (This is one reason belly fat is so harmful for your health.) And, indeed, the researchers found that the higher the subject’s adiponectin level, the lower the subject’s weight. The lower the adiponectin, the higher the weight.

So the big news is that simply by increasing your intake of non-starchy vegetables and supplementing with magnesium, you can increase a hormone that will help you lose that belly fat and decrease your insulin resistance.

Reduce your intake of starchy carbs - especially refined flours and sugars. And eat eight to 10 servings of non-starchy vegetables every day. Non-starchy vegetables are very low in carb grams and calories. They are nutrient-dense foods - loaded with antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, and other beneficial phytochemicals in a very low-sugar, high-fiber package.

A little extra magnesium helps too. The best food sources are nuts, seeds, and beans. However, I recommend taking in at least an extra 300 mg per day, especially if you show any signs of being low in magnesium (e.g., tense and tight muscles, constipation, or restless leg syndrome). The best forms are magnesium malate or amino acid chelates like magnesium glycinate or magnesium taurate.

This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, a free newsletter dedicated to making money, improving health and secrets to success. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.

By Kelley Herring

The effect of stress takes a nasty toll on your life. But it doesn’t just damage your psyche. It harms your body too.

Stress increases dangerous inflammatory factors called cytokines… damages the hippocampus, causing memory loss and mood disorders… reduces the brain’s ability to repair itself… increases abdominal fat… interferes with thyroid function… and even increases the stickiness of the blood (which can lead to dangerous clots).

But there’s something very simple you can do to help alleviate the effects of stress. Stimulate your vagus nerve.

The vagus nerve controls the relaxation response through the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. And this anti-stress machine can be turned on in a matter of minutes.

Here is the exercise.

Take a deep breath into your belly to the count of five. Pause. Breathe out slowly to the count of five. Keep your belly soft. Repeat 5 times.

With this simple and effective exercise, you instantly reduce your levels of cortisol and help your body get back to a peaceful state of balance.

In addition to a few minutes a day of soft-belly breathing, you can bolster your body’s defenses against stress by engaging in regular vigorous exercise, eating a clean diet of healing foods, and enjoying fresh air and sunlight.

[Ed. Note: These days, you’ve got more stressors than ever before. If stress doesn’t kill you outright, it most likely WILL plunge you toward all the diseases of aging, much faster than you deserve! Learn how to make your body more resilient to stress, so you can have the health and energy you need to build a brighter future.

Eating right goes a long way toward making you feel better.

This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, a free newsletter dedicated to making money, improving health and secrets to success. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.

By Kelley Herring

Nuts are undoubtedly one of the healthiest foods you can eat. Research shows that nut noshers have the slimmest waistlines and a significantly lower risk of heart disease.

But the benefits don’t end there. Nuts are packed with life-essential minerals, including magnesium and selenium. And they are a concentrated source of brain-nourishing and blood-sugar-balancing fats.

Still, manufacturers have found a way to meddle with the nut and muck up Mother Nature. In fact, the “Diamond” brand has been turning treasure into trash by adding genetically modified corn oil and BHT to its walnuts, hazelnuts, and other naturally pure tree nuts.

Protected by their shells, nuts are a relatively “clean” plant food - unadulterated by pesticide toxins - even when grown conventionally. But add corn oil - which is high in inflammatory omega-6 fats as well as being genetically modified almost 90 percent of the time - and you’ve completely changed their lipid profile and biochemical nature.

Corn oil itself is a preservative, but Diamond adds BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene) to ensure shelf stability. BHT prevents oxidation. It is used to preserve food odor, color, and flavor. It is banned in Australia, Japan, Romania, and Sweden due to its carcinogenic activity. In the United States, BHT is prohibited only in infant formula.

Avoid inflammatory corn oil and carcinogenic BHT by reading the labels before you buy. You’ll be pleasantly surprised to find that many inexpensive brands of nuts are free of these unnecessary additives. They contain only one simple ingredient: “nuts.”

Just take a few moments to pick the treasure… and leave the trash.

This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, a free newsletter dedicated to making money, improving health and secrets to success. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.

By Kelley Herring

Do you struggle to lose weight - even though you’re eating a clean diet and getting vigorous exercise? If so, there’s something else you need to do: Balance your bacteria.The gastrointestinal system is home to trillions of microbes that carry out dozens of essential functions. They train the immune system, synthesize vitamins (including B vitamins and vitamin K), and regulate hormones. And new research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows they affect weight too.While the “good bugs” in the intestinal tract (Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus) promote digestion and elimination, harmful gut bacteria (including Bacteriodes and Clostridium) slow the motion that propels food forward, causing stagnation and weight gain.

The good news is that “friendly bacteria” can crowd out those fat-storing flora. All you have to do is feed them the right food. Boost your friendly flora with a high-fiber (especially soluble fiber) diet that’s low in sugar. Aim for at least 60 percent of your food to be fresh (not processed), and always opt for organic and naturally raised.

This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, a free newsletter dedicated to making money, improving health and secrets to success. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.

December 26, 2008 on 3:24 pm | In Stress Relief |
by Michael Masterson

You can’t lead a happy, healthy, and productive life when you are feeling
crummy. You can’t work very well. You can’t be creative. And you can’t enjoy
the company of others.
So why is it that so many people, so much of the time, are downright miserable?
Is it the existential situation - the psychological default program that kicks in
when we realize we are alone? Is it the result of thinking we are alone when
we are not? Is it what happens when we live without purpose, as Victor Frankl
suggests? Or is it merely too much sugar?

Answer: All of the above.

But what do you care? You can’t avoid getting into a funk now and then.
However, you can learn to recognize the onset of a bad mood and get
yourself out of it before it ruins your day (or your life).

I should know. I’m a moody bastard. If I could gather up all the time I’ve spent
fretting, frowning, grousing, and/or complaining, I’d have enough to become a
medical doctor and start my own emergency clinic. (That would cheer me up!)

Grumping around is not only wasteful; it’s limiting and potentially destructive.
When you feel bad, you lack the emotional strength to try new things or
overcome obstacles. As a consequence, you tend to spend your time on very
ordinary chores, the kinds of tasks that will ensure the same old ho-hum life.

I once read a book on optimism and pessimism that made the case that the
difference between feeling sad and clinical depression is not one of kind but of
degree. If this is true, two conjectures come immediately to mind:
That moodiness should be actively combated, because moodiness can lead to
despair.
That despair is an extreme form of moodiness, and so some of the techniques
that eliminate moodiness can cure clinical depression. Versions of despair - cynicism, anger, and fear -
have no place in your business or personal life. If you let them in, you will give up too easily - and
that can cost you.

Bad feelings are usually triggered by stress - some external event that
creates a feeling of emotional discomfort. To lead a psychologically
comfortable life (free of unnecessary stress and open to happiness and other
good things), you must learn to recognize stress in its early stages and do
something to reduce it.

Avoiding a bad mood is much like avoiding a common headache: If you can
feel it coming on early enough and get some aspirin into your system, you’ll
never be in pain. But if you wait till the pain is planted in your head, you’ll have
a very difficult time getting rid of it.

Eliminating Stress
One way to deal with stress is to get rid of the external cause of it. If, for
example, a new client is a royal pain, figure out how to deal with him or pass
him off to a competitor. If a new set of regulations is making your routine work
difficult, master them and they’ll cease to give you stress.
Another, sometimes more practical, way to defeat stress is to change the way
you react to it. As Victor Frankl pointed out in his classic book “Man’s Search
for Meaning“, it is impossible to control the external circumstances of our
lives. We must accept what comes to us with equanimity.  But we do not have
to accept the way we respond.

Frankl argues that if you see a purpose in your role in life, you’ll have a much
easier time avoiding the stress of not knowing what to do. Two thousand
years ago, Marcus Aurelius said, “If you are distressed by anything internal,
the pain is not due to the thing itself but to the view you have of that thing.
How you view anything is a power you can revoke at any moment.”
Here are 12 ways to deal with problems without getting stressed over them:
1.  Forgive yourself for feeling bad. Depending on your biology, your
upbringing, and your circumstances, you may feel blue rarely, sometimes, or
often. Accept it as normal.
2.  Count your blessings.
3.  Take a nap. You’d be surprised by how often you can make yourself feel
better simply by taking a 10-minute catnap.
4.  Take a stress break. If you work as hard as I do, you will be forever on the
verge of a nervous breakdown unless you do something about it. One of the
best things you can do is schedule at least two (and preferably three or four)
stress breaks every working day. A stress break is not a stress break unless:
You get at least 10 feet away from your desk.
You are completely distracted by it.
It lasts at least five minutes.
It relaxes you.
It energizes you.
If you have good control over your daily schedule, you can plan stress breaks
between tasks. Ideally, you’ll want a five-minute break every 90 to 120
minutes. If your schedule is too frenetic or unpredictable to do it that way, use
an egg timer and simply break away from whatever you are doing when it
rings.
5.Cut out the crap food. Remember, sugar and starch are poisons. Be aware
of how they affect your moods.
6. Spend as much time as you can with upbeat people. Moody people are
often helpful, productive, inspiring, and useful. But they are always an
emotional drag. If your life involves moody energy-sappers, refresh with
positive friends.
7. Follow Dale Carnegie’s Three C’s: Don’t criticize. Don’t condemn. Don’t
complain.
8. Make sure you are getting enough sleep. If you are not sleeping well,
chances are you are irritable and somewhat unproductive. This is a vicious
circle. Get out of it. Get some sleep.
This will not only keep your stress level in check but will also improve your
overall health. And remember this: The sleep you get before midnight is twice
as good as the sleep you get afterward. So go to bed early. In fact, your
entire health-and-fitness program should be based on the “early to rise”
concept. Get to bed early enough so that you can wake up refreshed and
stress free, eat properly, get your cardio workout done, and get to work at
least an hour before you have to. (Two hours earlier is better.)
9. Exercise. Intense exercise will tire you out, but it won’t reduce stress.
Walking, biking at a medium pace, swimming slowly - these are the sorts of
exercise that can reduce stress.
10. Play. Again, be cognizant of what forms of play reduce stress and which
add to it. Golfing is mostly, from what I’ve seen, a stress producer. So are
most competitive sports. Yes, they’re fun if you have a competitive nature.
But they don’t reduce stress.
11. Work to improve things. If you are bummed out about problems at work, do
this: Compose a list of your five most pressing incomplete jobs. Then break
down each job into specific tasks that can be accomplished in an hour or less.
Arrange those tasks in order of priority. Finally, choose one. Just one. Put
everything else out of your mind and get to work on it. Immediately. No
excuses.
12. Listen to classical music. Researchers have discovered many interesting
things about the effects of classical music - especially Mozart’s - on the brain.
For example:
In 1996, the College Entrance Exam Board Service conducted a study of all
students taking their SATs. Students who sang or played a musical instrument
scored an average of 51 points higher on the verbal portion and 39 points
higher on the math portion of the test.
In a controlled University of California study, students who listened to 10
minutes of Mozart before taking SATs had higher scores than students who
didn’t.
Major corporations like Shell, IBM, and Dupont, along with hundreds of
schools and universities, have started using classical music to cut learning
time in half and increase the retention of newly learned material.
and in a University of Washington study, people who listened to light classical
music for 90 minutes while copyediting a manuscript caught 21% more
mistakes.
Even if you rarely listen to classical music, give it a try. “The Mozart Effect”
will help you on some level by having a positive, lifelong effect on your health,
learning, and behavior.
This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, a free newsletter dedicated to
making money, improving health and secrets to success. For a complimentary
subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.

by Kelley Herring (09/15/2008)
Do you eat potatoes, toast, crackers, chips, cereal, or other carbohydrate-rich foods cooked at high temperatures? If so, you’re exposing yourself to
acrylamide - a dangerous carcinogen that’s been linked to several types of cancer in humans.
To prevent exposure to acrylamide, your best bet is to avoid these high-glycemic, nutrient-void foods altogether. But for the occasional indulgence,
there’s something you can do to protect yourself. Just add some rosemary.
Recent research published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry found that adding a small amount of rosemary to dough prior to baking wheat-
based buns at 225 C (437 F) reduced the acrylamide content by up to 60 percent.
So if you choose to roast some redskin potatoes or make whole-grain bread from scratch - add a bit of rosemary to boost flavor and help protect yourself
from this harmful carcinogen.
 This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, an e-zine dedicated to making
money, improving your health and quality of life. For a complimentary
subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.

by Kelley Herring (06/30/2008)
Like berries and chocolate? One food naturally bursts with those delicious

flavors, as well as with antioxidants, anti-inflammatory agents, and essential

fatty acids. It’s called acai (ah-sigh-ee), and it’s the super-potent berry from

an Amazonian palm tree.

Listed as Dr. Perricone’s #1 Superfood, recent research published in the

Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry found that acai is a powerful

inhibitor of cox-1 and cox-2 enzymes that promote inflammation - the cause of

many chronic diseases and a main culprit of visible aging.

Whirl some flash-frozen acai into a summer smoothie to satisfy your sweet

tooth and quell inflammation. Sambazon Organic Acai Smoothie Packs have

zero grams of sugar and are a convenient way to drink in the benefits of this

superfood

This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, the Internet’s most popular

health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit

http://www.earlytorise.com.

“There is only one success - to be able to spend your life in your own way.”

Christopher Morley

By Brian Tracy

Your success in life will be largely determined by your ability to find your true

calling, the right work for you to do, and then putting your whole heart into

doing it very well.

The happiest people are those who have carefully thought through who they

are, what they want, where they are going, and then decided exactly what

they need to do to get to their goal. Asking yourself five targeted questions

can help you home in on whatever path is right for you.

#1: What do I do easily and well?

When you are seeking your true calling, you must look at the activities that

have always been easy for you but which have been difficult for others. Often,

you will get comments and compliments on how well you do a particular task.

You will be surprised when you hear those remarks, because you never even

thought about it that much. It just seemed natural for you from the very

beginning.

My daughter is a natural and spontaneous little actress. From the time she

was three or four years old, she has memorized lines and acted in every

school play and function that has ever come up. In fact, by the time she was

six, she was memorizing every line in the school play, not only her own but the

lines of every other child. When the other children forgot their lines, Christina

would whisper them and keep the play on track.

When Christina was 11 years old, she appeared at a city council meeting and

gave a speech in favor of a permit allowing her school to expand. She stood

up at the meeting, on a chair, in front of 150 adults, and gave an impassioned

little talk. As a result, the permit was granted - and Christina was on the front

page of two newspapers the following day.

#2: What are the things that I have done in life that have been most

responsible for my success?

In looking back over your work and your activities, what are the things you

have done that have given you the greatest rewards and satisfaction? If you

work for a company, what are the activities you have engaged in that have

achieved the very best results for yourself and your company? Your previous

success experiences are signposts pointing to the sort of things that you

should be doing more and more of if you want to deploy yourself more fully for

greater happiness and satisfaction in life.

#3: What would I do differently, knowing what I know now?

Is there anything that you are currently doing that you wouldn’t start up again if

you had to do it over? Is there any relationship that you are in that you

wouldn’t get into if you could make the choice today? Is there any job or part

of any job that you are doing that you would not embark upon, knowing what

you now know, if you had to do it over?

As many as 95 percent of people working today are under-employed, not

working to their full capacity for themselves and their companies. Only 5

percent, when interviewed, will say that they are working fully extended at

their current job. Only 5 percent feel that their entire potential is being

consumed and that they are working on the outer edge of their abilities. These

people also tend to be the happiest, the highest paid, and the most fulfilled in

any organization or enterprise.

#4: What work would I choose to do if I won a million dollars, cash, in the

lottery tomorrow?

This is a question I sometimes ask my seminar audiences. When you hear

this question, your gut reaction is a good indicator of where you are today and

possibly where you should be going in the future. Most people, when they

think of winning a million dollars, think of quitting their current job and doing

something else. There is nothing wrong with that. Since most people have

backed into their current jobs, taking them because they just happened to be

there at the time a job was needed, most people probably should be doing

something else.

Napoleon Hill once said the key to success in America is to find out what you

really enjoy doing, and then find a way to make a good living at it. What do

you most love to do?

Successful people don’t feel like they work at all. They are doing what they

love to do, and they are so busy doing it that their work becomes their play.

Their work life and their personal life blends together like a hand fitting neatly

into a glove. There is no separation. They are totally committed individuals

who are accomplishing far more in a shorter period of time than the average

person who is merely going through the motions.

#5: If I were absolutely guaranteed tremendous success in any job I chose,

what field would I go into?

One of the major reasons people hold themselves back from doing what they

are truly meant to do is that they are afraid they will fail in some way. And

being afraid that you will fail is the surest guarantor that you will fail.

But what if you are absolutely guaranteed success in any field you choose?

What would it be? What would you want to do if you had unlimited time,

unlimited resources, and guaranteed success?

The answer to that question should cause you to tingle a little bit. It should

make your stomach flutter. It should send a thrill of excitement and anticipation

through you that tells you this is the job you should be doing.

Asking and answering the above five questions can change your life.

You have within you talents and abilities so vast that you could never use

them all if you lived to be a thousand. You have natural skills and talents that

can enable you to overcome any obstacle and achieve any goal you could

ever set for yourself. There are no limits on what you can be, have, or do if

you find your true calling.

When you become one of the few people who are doing what they love to do,

who are totally absorbed in doing something they really care about, you will

make more progress in a couple of years than the average wage slave makes

in five or 10 years. You will come to the attention of people who can help you

and open doors for you. You will be happy and fulfilled in both your work and

your personal relationships. You will have more energy, enthusiasm, and

creativity. You will unlock your true potential, and your future will become

unlimited.

[Ed. Note: Finding your true calling can help you find happiness, success, and

even wealth.

This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, the Internet’s most popular

health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit

http://www.earlytorise.com

by Michael Masterson (05/24/2008)
When you’re trying to get healthy, fiber is a super-substance that you can’t get enough of. That’s why I try to include 100 grams or more of fiber in my
daily diet. One way I get fiber is in my bread - hemp bread. After I mentioned that in ETR, Charles Lowen of Fort Worth e-mailed me: “I have heard about just about
every kind of organic bread there is. However, no one in the health food stores here in Texas seems to know what hemp bread is. Could you please let
me know more about it and where to buy it?”
I have been eating hemp bread because it was the only bread I could find with more than 2 grams of fiber per slice. It is a compact bread with a very grainy
texture, so it takes a little while to learn to like it.
The brand I eat is French Meadow Bakery’s Healthy Hemp Sprouted Bread. Each slice has 95 calories, 5 grams of dietary fiber, and 7 grams of protein.
You won’t find hemp bread in your local grocery store. But it is available atWhole Foods and many other specialty markets, as well as online at
frenchmeadow.com.
Recently, K discovered a high-fiber bread at the grocery store that you might like better. It’s called Nature’s Own Double Fiber Wheat Bread, and it has 50
calories per slice, 5 grams of dietary fiber, and 3 grams of protein. Try it and let me know what you think.
This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, the Internet’s most popular
health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit
http://www.earlytorise.com