Q? What do heart attack, stroke, cancer, diabetes, obesity, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, autoimmune disease, gastritis, fibrosis, rhinitis, sinusitis, asthma, arthritis, dermatitis, depression, ADD, dyslexia, schizophrenia and an army of diseases ending in the suffix, “itis”, have in common? A. Inflammation. We need inflammation to survive. It’s the body’s response to trauma and injury to help repair itself. Without inflammation, infections would go unchecked and wounds would never heal. It is however when inflammation does not resolve the problem that it becomes a longer term issue. Acute inflammation occurs in response to an infection or injury. It is a life-saving process and generally short-lived and localised. It resolves when the body removes the damaged cells and replaces them with...
The human body is exquisitely clever. We possess intricate mechanisms to cope with all sorts of regular or irregular situations. We don’t instruct our body to run any particular program, it intuitively knows which one to select depending on the coding received from our senses. During times of stress – a number of areas of the brain receive a call to action. In the first instance, the amygdala, the area of the brain that can process emotional signals, sends out a distress call to our command centre, the hypothalmus. The hypothalmus is the part of the brain that generates a fight or flight response. It determines the size of the lion, whether to run or stay still, or the...
Chronic or acute pain is one of life’s most frustrating and limiting problems. Many people are faced with limited options like long term pain medications, surgery and rehabilitation often with little hope for a pain free life. There are many natural supplements which may help with the reduction of pain and inflammation. But first, you need to know what the problem is. Once you know what the cause is, you can look into all things that would help, which may include physical therapy, exercise, and diet changes, as well as anti-inflammatory supplements. Natural anti-inflammatories may relieve inflammation and thereby reduce pain, help to reduce symptoms, improve daily function and allow you to go about your day-to-day activities. They may even...
If there was only ONE vitamin people EVER took, it should be a very good B complex! They are the cornerstones of a healthy body, and play roles in everything from energy levels, brain function to metabolism.
Have you noticed your weight increasing year after year? Perhaps you have tried every diet strategy but yet the weight still creeps up and your metabolism remains sluggish. You may experience hunger and cravings and never really feel satisfied after a meal. Leptin is a hormone produced by fat cells that helps the body regulate energy by telling the brain it’s had enough to eat. It controls our hunger and feelings of satiety. Leptin’s action is to inhibit appetite, to stimulate the burning up of fatty acids, to decrease glucose, and to reduce overall body fat and weight. Leptin is supposed to tell your brain that when you have enough fat stored you don’t need to eat and can burn...
