Wednesday, October 27, 2010

The Wonderful World of Yoga



Our world has quickly become one of less overall movement and more of just doing nothing when it comes to physical activity.  Just think of the typical day for most people.  We sit at home, we sit at work, and we even sit when we go out to enjoy ourselves (eating out, watching movie, etc.)  In fact, the CDC reports that only about a third of us engage in regular leisure-time physical activity.  That's a lot of us who are doing a lot of nothing.


I'm sure I don't have to tell you that exercise and regular physical activity is good for you.  But did you know that a recent meta-analysis study showed that regular moderate physical activity reduced overall death rates by nearly 20% in men and 24% in women compared to those who were only mildly physically active¹.  For anyone who enjoys living that's certainly motivation to get busy.  And moderate physical activity isn't the chore that you might think it is.  You can achieve this by doing simple things like walking, biking, or practicing yoga on a regular basis which brings us to our topic of discussion today.


Yoga is a combination of physical exercises and poses, breathing practices, and meditation techniques that have many positive health benefits associated with it.  Let's go over a handful of health benefits you can obtain from practicing yoga:


1.  Stress Reduction - Yoga has long been touted as an excellent stress reliever and who doesn't need less stress?  A study of employees at a British university showed marked improvements in feelings of clear-mindedness, composure, elation, and energy along with increased life purpose and satisfaction, and feelings of greater self-confidence during stressful situations by participating in just one 60 minute yoga class per week².

2.  Increased Flexibility - Yoga has been shown to increase lower body flexibility in older adults by as much as 34%³ but anyone who practices yoga is bound to see their flexibility increase regardless of age.

3.  Increased Muscle Tone & Strength - The variety of poses and stretches will work muscles that you didn't even know you had and you'll see a lot more definition as a result as well as increased strength.

4.  Better Posture - Yoga works a lot of your core muscles that are located in your abdomen and lower back which lead to better overall posture.

5.  Breathing - Your breath is the connection between your body and your mind and helps you relax as you learn how to synchronize both breath and movement together.  Individuals who practice yoga on a regular basis were shown to have better lung capacity and pulmonary function than both athletes and individuals leading a sedentary lifestyle⁴.

6.  Weight Loss - A study of 15,550 individuals found that yoga practice for 4 or more years was significantly associated with weight loss in overweight individuals⁵.

7.  Other Health Benefits - Yoga has been proven to improve type 2 diabetes⁶, hypertension⁷, arthritis⁸, and can even lower cholesterol⁹.


As you can see there are a number of reasons why you should start practicing yoga if you haven't already.  Yoga has made its way from its origin in India to the western world and is now becoming part of our everyday fitness language.  And it's not just for women anymore either.  Plenty of guys are now giving their yoga mats a run for their money.  Even professional athletes such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, LeBron James, and Shaquille O'Neal  have practiced yoga to increase their performance come game time.

If you're looking for some excellent resources where you get some more in depth information on yoga then check out these sites below:




So what are you waiting for?  Grab a friend, sign up for a yoga class, and get started today towards a healthier you!

Now I'd like to hear from you.  Have you thought about doing yoga?  Do you regularly practice yoga as part of your workout routine?  What benefits have you seen from doing yoga?  What different types of yoga have you done?  Do you have any advice for those who are new to yoga?

Have a wonderful day everyone!







If you like what you see here then you'll LOVE our daily Facebook and Twitter posts!  Also, don't forget to sign up for  Our Free Online Mailing List  to get all the latest updates from the Plant-Based Pharmacist!
by Dustin Rudolph, PharmD
Clinical Pharmacist

Check out Dustin Rudolph's book The Empty Medicine Cabinet to start your journey towards better health. This step-by-step guide leads you through many of today's common chronic diseases (heart disease, obesity, diabetes, cancer, and more), giving you the facts on foods versus medications in treating these medical conditions. The book also contains an easy-to-follow guide on how to adopt a whole foods, plant-based diet as a part of an overall lifestyle change, producing the best possible health outcomes for you and your family. Hurry and get your copy today!

We'd love for you to join us in spreading the good word about plant-based nutrition and lifestyle medicine by telling your family and friends about our website at www.PlantBasedPharmacist.com

Share and rate this post below or tell us what you think by posting a comment. Thank you again for stopping by and until next time... be happy, be healthy, and live the life you've always dreamed of!


References:
1 Löllgen HBöckenhoff AKnapp GPhysical activity and all-cause mortality: an updated meta-analysis with different intensity categories. Int J Sports Med. 2009 Mar;30(3):213-24.
Hartfiel NHavenhand JKhalsa SBClarke GKrayer AThe effectiveness of yoga for the improvement of well-being and resilience to stress in the workplace. Scand J Work Environ Health. 2010 Apr 6.
Schmid AAVan Puymbroeck MKoceja DMEffect of a 12-week yoga intervention on fear of falling and balance in older adults: a pilot study. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2010 Apr;91(4):576-83.
Prakash SMeshram SRamtekkar UAthletes, yogis and individuals with sedentary lifestyles; do their lung functions differ? Indian J Physiol Pharmacol. 2007 Jan-Mar;51(1):76-80.
Kristal AR, Littman AJ, Benitez D, White E. Yoga practice is associated with attenuated weight gain in healthy, middle-aged men and women. Altern Ther Health Med. 2005;11:28–33.
6 Agte VV, Tarwadi K. Sudarshan Kriya yoga for treating type 2 diabetes: a preliminary study. Altern Complem Ther. 2004;10:220–2.
Bijlani RL, Vempati RP, Yadav RK, Ray RB, Gupta V, Sharma R, et al. A brief but comprehensive lifestyle education program based on yoga reduces risk factors for cardiovascular disease and diabetes mellitus. J Altern Complem Med. 2005;11:267–74.
Badsha HChhabra VLeibman CMofti AKong KOThe benefits of yoga for rheumatoid arthritis: results of a preliminary, structured 8-week program. Rheumatol Int. 2009 Oct;29(12):1417-21.
Mahajan AS, Reddy KS, Sachdeva U. Lipid profile of coronary risk subjects following yogic lifestyle intervention. Indian Heart J. 1999;51:37–40.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Kids - They Really Can Teach Us A Lesson

It's not every day that an 11 year old kid can make us adults look like we just got schooled on a topic that we should know more about because it's sitting there right in front of our face on a daily basis.  But that's exactly what a young chap named Birke Baehr has done in this presentation with his passion for good old fashion farming as he shares the story of how today's food industry works.


I think you'll be impressed to say the least at how smart he really is as he makes it almost impossible to not get excited about supporting local farmer's markets and non-GMO, organic food.  So sit back, relax, and enjoy the words of wisdom from the next generation of organic farmers.












If you like what you see here then you'll LOVE our daily Facebook and Twitter posts!  Also, don't forget to sign up for  Our Free Online Mailing List  to get all the latest updates from the Plant-Based Pharmacist!
by Dustin Rudolph, PharmD
Clinical Pharmacist

Check out Dustin Rudolph's book The Empty Medicine Cabinet to start your journey towards better health. This step-by-step guide leads you through many of today's common chronic diseases (heart disease, obesity, diabetes, cancer, and more), giving you the facts on foods versus medications in treating these medical conditions. The book also contains an easy-to-follow guide on how to adopt a whole foods, plant-based diet as a part of an overall lifestyle change, producing the best possible health outcomes for you and your family. Hurry and get your copy today!

We'd love for you to join us in spreading the good word about plant-based nutrition and lifestyle medicine by telling your family and friends about our website at www.PlantBasedPharmacist.com

Share and rate this post below or tell us what you think by posting a comment. Thank you again for stopping by and until next time... be happy, be healthy, and live the life you've always dreamed of!

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

A New Approach to Fighting Cancer


"You've got cancer."  These are words that no patient wants to hear from their doctor.  The impact of those three words can be devastating and has affected millions of individuals and families in the U.S. and worldwide.  In fact, it’s estimated that over 1.5 million people in the U.S. will be diagnosed with cancer this year and a little over 500,000 will die from cancer in 2010¹.
Modern medicine has come a long way in it's attempt to tackle cancer.  Five year survival rates for all cancers in the U.S. was at approximately 50% in the mid 1970’s and has climbed to 68.5% as of 2002¹.  The conventional forms of cancer treatment include surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy.  All of these approaches aim to remove or kill the existing cancer cells and have been proven effective in many cases but they usually come with a price.  Many patients experience extreme fatigue, hair loss, nausea, vomiting, complications from surgery, etc.
But what if there was a different way to approach cancer?  An approach that could either compliment conventional treatments or even prevent cancer from developing in the first place.  And what if this approach had little to no side effects?  Wouldn’t this be revolutionary in our war against cancer?
It turns out that there is a safe and very effective way to prevent and/or treat cancer that has been flying under the radar for years.  This approach has to do with the foods we consume.  What we eat has a huge impact on the development and progression of cancer in our bodies.  There are two main concepts that I want to talk about today by which food enacts its cancer fighting powers.
The first concept deals with the ability of different amounts and forms of protein to either turn on or turn off cancer cell growth.  This theory was first discovered in an experiment done in India in 1968.  A known carcinogen called aflatoxin was given to rats which had been shown to predispose them to liver cancer.  One group of rats was fed a 20% protein diet while the other group was fed a 5% protein diet.  The 20% protein group all developed liver cancer and died while none of the 5% protein group acquired cancer and they remained healthy².  This experiment was repeated by Dr. Campbell and colleagues in 1992 when they divided up two groups of rats and fed them either a 20% or 5% casein diet (casein is an animal-based protein that makes up approximately 80%-87% of the protein content in milk).  Dr. Campbell’s experiment produced the very same results³.
Dr. Campbell wanted to take this one step further and decided to design another experiment where he divided the rats up into 3 separate groups.  The first group was fed a 20% casein (animal-based protein) diet.  The second group was fed a 20% soy (plant-based protein) diet.  And the third group was fed a 20% gluten (plant-based protein from wheat) diet.  All the rats were again given the known carcinogen aflatoxin and the results were rather remarkable.  The 20% casein group all developed cancer while the 20% soy and gluten group was found not promote cancer growth⁴.
It has become quite evident that both the amount and the type of protein consumed plays a major role in cancer development.  Plant-based proteins appear to be safe and effective at preventing cancer development and progression while too much animal-based protein does the exact opposite.  The cutoff point for the ability of animal-based proteins to “turn on” cancer growth was shown by Dr. Campbell to be at the 10% mark⁵.  In essence, you have the ability to either “turn on” or “turn off” cancer growth based on the foods that you eat.
The second concept that I want to cover is a newer area of research involving antiangiogenic treatments to fight off cancer.  Angiogenesis is defined as the growth of new blood vessels from existing ones.  Why is this important in the battle against cancer?  Because cancer cells much like normal cells can’t grow and develop unless they are supplied with oxygen and nutrients to do so.  It makes sense doesn’t it?
There are a handful of new medications that have been FDA approved to fight different forms of cancer by exerting antiangiogenic effects on the existing cancer tumors.  While these new medications are proving beneficial they also have side effects (although much less pronounced than conventional chemotherapy) that include elevated blood pressure, bleeding problems, mild blood clotting, skin toxicities, diarrhea, fatigue, nausea, etc.  They should not be discounted though and are definitely worth discussing with your oncologist if you’re finding yourself battling cancer.
What’s even more exciting is that you can still get these same antiangiogenic effects from foods that you eat without any of the side effects that the medications exhibit.  Plant-based foods which predominantly include fresh fruits and vegetables exert these same benefits and are equally or even more effective than various medications used as antiangiogenic therapy.  And not only can you obtain the benefits from these foods while battling cancer you can also consume these foods as a method of preventing cancer development in the first place.  This is truly exciting and empowering news!
To learn more about this subject please watch the following video by Dr. William Li (President, Medical Director, and Co-founder of the Angiogenesis Foundation).

Dr. Keith Block has also revolutionized the approach to treating cancer by combining both conventional strategies (chemotherapy, radiation, etc.) with alternative and often safer progressive strategies (antiangiogenic, nutritional, & supplemental treatments).  Dr. Block founded and currently runs the Block Center which focuses on Integrative Cancer Treatment.  He has also written a very resourceful and useful book for cancer patients titled Life Over Cancer that you can check out below.

In conclusion, based on what science has shown us it is quite clear that you can dramatically reduce your chances of getting cancer if you consume a diet that consists of less than 10% of it’s total caloric intake from animal-based proteins and consume more plant-based foods that are rich in cancer fighting substances such as phytochemicals, anti-oxidants, vitamins, and minerals.  To learn more about how to do this please visit my website below.
I wish you the very best in your quest to prevent or even fight cancer whatever your situation may be.  A life without cancer would be a true blessing.  Even though we never have a 100% guarantee on whether or not cancer will be in our future just knowing that you have a significant amount of control over this is a very comforting feeling.









If you like what you see here then you'll LOVE our daily Facebook and Twitter posts!  Also, don't forget to sign up for  Our Free Online Mailing List  to get all the latest updates from the Plant-Based Pharmacist!
by Dustin Rudolph, PharmD
Clinical Pharmacist

Check out Dustin Rudolph's book The Empty Medicine Cabinet to start your journey towards better health. This step-by-step guide leads you through many of today's common chronic diseases (heart disease, obesity, diabetes, cancer, and more), giving you the facts on foods versus medications in treating these medical conditions. The book also contains an easy-to-follow guide on how to adopt a whole foods, plant-based diet as a part of an overall lifestyle change, producing the best possible health outcomes for you and your family. Hurry and get your copy today!

We'd love for you to join us in spreading the good word about plant-based nutrition and lifestyle medicine by telling your family and friends about our website at www.PlantBasedPharmacist.com

Share and rate this post below or tell us what you think by posting a comment. Thank you again for stopping by and until next time... be happy, be healthy, and live the life you've always dreamed of!

References:
1 Altekruse SF, Kosary CL, Krapcho M, et al. SEER Cancer Statistics Review, 1975-2007, National Cancer Institute. Bethesda, MD, http://seer.cancer.gov/csr/1975_2007/, based on November 2009 SEER data submission, posted to the SEER web site, 2010.
2 Madhavan TV, Gopalan C. The effect of dietary protein on carcinogenesis of aflatoxin. Arch Pathol. 1968 Feb;85(2):133-7.
3 Youngman LD, Campbell TC. Inhibition of aflatoxin B1-induced gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase positive (GGT+) hepatic preneoplastic foci and tumors by low protein diets: evidence that altered GGT+ foci indicate neoplastic potential. Carcinogenesis. 1992 Sep;13(9):1607-13.
4 Schulsinger, DA, Root, MM, Campbell, TC. Effect of dietary protein quality on the development of aflatoxin B1-induced hepatic preneoplastic lesions. J. Nat'l. Canc. Inst. 81, 1241-1245 (1989).
5 Dunaif, GE. Campbell, TC. Dietary Protein Level and Aflatoxin B1-Induced Preneoplastic Hepatic Lesions in the Rat. J Nutr. 1987 Jul;117(7):1298-302.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Forks Over Knives


On May 6th, 2011 your life will be opened up to a whole new world of possibilities when Forks Over Knives hits theaters.  Our current state of health in America and in many other affluent countries around the world is becoming a very dismal scene as the rates of obesity, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and many other degenerative diseases take hold of us.  Many of us have become accustomed to hearing that it's just because we're getting old.  Those things just happen when we age right?  Wrong!


Dr. T. Colin Campell and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn have teamed up and created a fascinating eye-opening journey into the daily battles that many of us face with our chronic diseases.  They explain how much of the suffering that takes place can be completely prevented and even reversed in many cases by simply changing what we put on our plate three times a day.


Dr. Campbell has spent his entire career as a nutritional scientist doing research on how different types of food either promotes or diminishes our overall health.  He has been involved in some of the largest epidemiological studies ever done on nutrition and health.  Dr. Esselstyn has spent many years of his career at the renowned Cleveland Clinic as one of the top surgeons and head of the Breast Cancer Task Force there.  He currently directs the cardiovascular prevention and reversal program at The Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute.  What both of these pioneers have discovered is that our skyrocketing rates of chronic, degenerative diseases are a product of our consumption of animal-based and processed foods.  The financial burden that this puts on us individually and on our nation as a whole is devastating and can be felt all around us.  Our healthcare system has become crippled & overwhelmed and is unable to truly heal people and bring them back to the vibrant life that they once led.


But the great news is that you can be a part of turning this scenario around!  All you have to do is take the time to learn about what Dr. Campbell and Dr. Esselstyn have uncovered and then start applying it to your life.  You can do this by checking out my website and also their websites below:


www.PursueAHealthyYou.com


Dr. T. Colin Campbell's site


Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn's site













If you like what you see here then you'll LOVE our daily Facebook and Twitter posts!  Also, don't forget to sign up for  Our Free Online Mailing List  to get all the latest updates from the Plant-Based Pharmacist!
by Dustin Rudolph, PharmD
Clinical Pharmacist

Check out Dustin Rudolph's book The Empty Medicine Cabinet to start your journey towards better health. This step-by-step guide leads you through many of today's common chronic diseases (heart disease, obesity, diabetes, cancer, and more), giving you the facts on foods versus medications in treating these medical conditions. The book also contains an easy-to-follow guide on how to adopt a whole foods, plant-based diet as a part of an overall lifestyle change, producing the best possible health outcomes for you and your family. Hurry and get your copy today!

We'd love for you to join us in spreading the good word about plant-based nutrition and lifestyle medicine by telling your family and friends about our website at www.PlantBasedPharmacist.com

Share and rate this post below or tell us what you think by posting a comment. Thank you again for stopping by and until next time... be happy, be healthy, and live the life you've always dreamed of!