diet culture Archives - Amazing Health Advances

African Tree Fruit Beats Dangerous New “Diet” Drugs

The AHA! Team — Mon, 18 Nov 2024 06:03:14 +0000

Al Sears, MD, CNS – Healers on almost every continent I’ve traveled to have told me about the health benefits of the moringa tree – including its incredible weight loss properties. There’s a hot new trend in the world of quick-fix weight loss solutions… I’m sure you’ve heard about it on the news. I’m talking about the diabetes drug Ozempic. Right now, demand for this drug is so high that even patients who are prescribed it to control their blood sugar can’t get their hands on it. (Of course, I don’t recommend using any Big Pharma drug to control your blood sugar.) Healers on almost every continent I’ve traveled to have told me about the health benefits of the moringa tree – including its incredible weight loss properties. But it’s easy to understand why women are turning to medications like Ozempic in their quest to fight obesity… You see, when you do a quick internet search for “what causes obesity,” the first place Google takes you to is the website of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And the CDC’s first sentence puts the blame squarely on the individual…in other words, you. Then they tell you that the best way to lose weight is to cut calories by eating low-fat foods. More Americans are overweight today than at any time in our history Yet, despite eating less fat, more Americans are overweight today than at any time in our history. The so-called experts continue to get it all wrong. As a result, we’re fatter, sicker, and weaker than ever. In the U.S., the obesity rate is now over 40% – three times higher than it was in the 1980s.1 To lose weight, I advise my patients to ignore mainstream medicine’s bad advice…and return to the foods of our ancestors. And this includes adding leaves from a “miracle tree” to your diet. Let me explain… Healers on almost every continent on Earth – except North America – have introduced me to this tree. Its botanical name is Moringa oleifera. And while most people here have never heard of it – and few doctors would ever think about using it as a treatment – it’s known by at least 210 different names in 82 countries. In several African languages, it’s named “Nebedaye,” which means “never die.” On the Indonesian island of Bali, locals call it “Daun Kelor” or the drumstick tree. And people in Jamaica and Peru call it the “Tree of Life.” Ancient cultures have used Moringa as a superfood and a kind of pharmacy-on-a-tree for thousands of years. Some researchers today think it may even hold the key to human survival. Astonishingly, it’s packed with more than 200 antioxidants, and its bark, seeds, and leaves also have powerful anti-inflammatory and antibiotic properties. But that’s just for starters. Moringa can strengthen weak bones, enrich anemic blood, boost libido, and even help your body build and repair muscle. Ounce for ounce has the calcium of 16 glasses of milk, the vitamin C of seven oranges, the potassium of 15 bananas, and almost 25 times the iron of spinach. I’ve seen traditional healers in Africa and Bali use moringa to treat everything from skin infections, headaches, and constipation to modern diseases like diabetes, heart disease, prostate problems, high blood pressure, cancer, and HIV.2,3,4 Moringa Leaves Contain Powerful Anti-Obesity Properties Now researchers in Asia have revealed that moringa leaves are also a potent gut health booster with powerful prebiotic anti-obesity properties. American doctors should pay close attention to this research because it has the power to alleviate our obesity crisis. Scientists discovered that moringa leaves contain compounds called polysaccharides, on which good gut bacteria thrive. One of those polysaccharides, MOs-2-a, was shown to boost the number of a special strain of gut bacteria with potent anti-obesity and weight-control properties.5 At the same time, MOs-2-a was also shown to strengthen the immune system and improve the function of digestive enzymes that degrade starch, fats, and protein in food. Earlier research found that moringa reduces weight gain and insulin resistance in animals.6 Additional studies show that it slows fat formation and enhances fat breakdown.7 The good news is that – even though American doctors ignore it – you can easily find moringa powder in most health food stores and online. And moringa isn’t just good for you; it’s tasty. Moringa has a subtle, slightly spicy flavor, a little like. You can cook moringa leaves and seeds in oil – a popular dish in Africa. You can use it in salads, curries, and savory dishes. Or sprinkle it into your smoothie and whatever fruits and vegetables you like. Sip Moringa Tea For Weight Loss And So Much More One of the easiest ways to use moringa is by making tea. Here’s a simple recipe I was shown in Africa. You can make it hot or cold. Ingredients: 2 tsp moringa leaf powder Fresh ginger root, thinly sliced Freshly squeezed lemon juice Preparation: Place the moringa powder and a slice of ginger root in a cup and add 8-12 ounces of boiling water. Stir thoroughly and allow the tea to steep, covered, for about 10 minutes. For cold tea, chill in the refrigerator for about half an hour and serve over ice. When I first tried it, I added a little bit of sweetener made from the African katemfe fruit, but a little honey will also do the trick. Moringa capsules are also available. I recommend starting with 500 mg a day. To Your Good Health, Al Sears, MD, CNS References: 1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Obesity is a common, serious, and costly disease.” Accessed April 4, 2022. 2. Mbikay M. “Therapeutic potential of moringa oleifera leaves in chronic hyperglycemia and dyslipidemia: A review.” Front Pharmacol. 2012; 3:24. 3. Gopalakrishnanb L, et al. “Moringa oleifera: A review on nutritive importance and its medicinal application.” Food Sci Hum Wellness. 2016;5(2):49-56. 4. Chan Sun M, et al. “Consumption of Moringa oleifera lam leaves lowers postprandial blood pressure.” J Am Coll Nutr. 2020 Jan;39(1):54-62. 5. Fang Wang, et al. “The beneficial effects of a polysaccharide from moringa oleifera leaf on gut microecology in mice.” J Med Food. 2019 Sep;22(9):907-918. 6. Waterman C, et al. “Isothiocyanate-rich Moringa oleifera extract reduces weight gain, insulin resistance and hepatic gluconeogenesis in mice.” Mol Nutr Food Res. 2015 Jun; 59(6): 1013–1024. 7. Xie J, et al. “Moringa oleifera leaf petroleum ether extract inhibits lipogenesis by activating the AMPK signaling pathway.” Front Pharmacol. 2018 Dec 18;9:1447. To read the original article click here.

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How Toxic Skincare Can Mess Up Your Mental Health

AHA Publisher — Fri, 11 Dec 2020 08:00:47 +0000

Dr. Caroline Leaf – The world of healthy eating can be confusing and overwhelming at times. It can also be toxic and can set us up for a host of mental and physical health issues if we are not careful. In this podcast (episode #235) and blog, I speak with nutritional therapy practitioner and certified personal trainer Noelle Tarrabout how diet culture is dangerous and how to combat the negative effects, how to build sustainable weight loss and fitness habits, how to begin healing orthorexia and body dysmorphia, why we should use clean beauty and skincare products, and more! As Noelle points out, many people hide unhealthy behaviors like extreme dieting and over-exercising by placing them under the guise of “being healthy”. We cannot just change what we do; we also need to change our THINKING. If you hate what you are doing and it is making you feel sick and unhappy, then it is not healthy. In fact, if we don’t focus on our physical AND mental health when we are talking about food, weight and body image, then we are missing a big part of the picture, and our overall wellbeing will suffer as a result! Unfortunately, the wellness industry is, in large part, dominated by modern diet culture. This culture is characterized by the pervasive, dangerous belief in our society that it is better to be smaller and thinner. It tells us that our value or worth is in our weight, shape or clothing size, or our ability to control what we look like. It assumes that food and appearance have moral value, making people feel like they are good or bad people depending on what they eat and how they look. Indeed, most fitness advertisements are completely focused on weight loss. We have forgotten what exercise is really about: optimal MENTAL and physical health, not what you look like or how much you weigh! We need to understand that true health or loving your body is not a destination. You will not reach it at the end of a series of tasks. Your problems will still be there when you reach your ideal size or look if you haven’t changed your thinking. Indeed, you don’t always need to love your body and obsess over it, because your life is not just about your body! We need to normalize change, both in how we feel and how we look. As Noelle notes, it is very normal for our weight to fluctuate over time. A changing body is a “normal” body, because we are always changing, especially as women. We can be healthy at a variety of weights! We also need to understand that when we are dieting all the time and eating low calories, we are also eating low nutrients. We are essentially setting ourselves up for nutrient deficiency, and our body and mind will start to act funky! The food that we eat and the exercise we do will either set us up for success in every area of our life or failure.When we chase after something that we think we should do or an image we think we should look like, our health will take a turn for the worse. We shouldn’t live our life pursuing fleeting social images of “ideal” bodies—it is not worth it! Unfortunately, modern diet culture has not only led to a rise in body dysmorphia (obsessing over flaws in our appearance/body), but also increasing rates of orthorexia in our society. Orthorexia is a classified eating disorder that involves and unhealthy obsession with healthy eating and dieting. Someone who is struggling with orthorexia is completely consumed with monitoring what they eat and how much they eat. The first step in healing orthorexia is getting to the root of your behavior. Why do you do what you do? What are the intentions behind your choices and actions? What drives your obsession with healthy eating and weight? How can you undo the damaging diet culture beliefs that dominate your thinking? If you don’t change the way you see yourself, your worth and food, you will not achieve long-term, sustainable healing. You need to learn how to take your focus off the scale and mirror and back onto what is going to serve YOU, physically, mentally and emotionally. But, as Noelle points out, health is not just about what we put into our body, but also what we put onto our body, especially when it comes to our hormonal health. Many skincare, cleaning and beauty products have chemicals that act as hormone disrupters, which can impact both our mental and physical health. Indeed, research has shown that some of these chemicals can stay in our blood stream for up to a month! This is why Noelle is a part of the company Beauty Counter, which focuses on clean and healthy beauty, bath and skincare products that make you feel good on the outside and inside. To read the original article click here. For more articles from Dr. Leaf click here.

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