MCVitamins News

Your Nutritional Education Site

1. Probiotics Benefit Metbolic Syndrome Patients
2. High Triglycerides & Cholesterol How to Lower Them Naturally
3. Damaged Cell Receptors and Diabetes  
4. Why You Don't Want Reduced Fat Milk in Your Diet!

Probiotics Benefit Metabolic Syndrome Patients

A study found that probiotics could help improve the metabolic syndrome by counteracting the adverse effects of a high-fat diet. Metabolic syndrome is a condition characterized by central obesity, hypertension, and disturbed glucose and insulin metabolism

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/05/13/probiotics-benefit-metabolic-syndrome-patients.aspx 

High Triglycerides & Cholesterol How to Lower Them Naturally

This is the third in a series of articles that is discussing in more detail each of the symptoms resulting from insulin resistance. Each article is designed to give you a better understanding of what is causing these symptoms to occur and how to effectively reverse them.

High levels of triglycerides [fat particles in the blood stream] and cholesterol often accompany the diabetic condition. In truth, the high blood sugar levels, high triglycerides and high cholesterol levels are in fact three of the many symptoms caused by insulin resistance. The use of medical drugs and a low fat diet are not the answer to bringing down cholesterol or triglyceride levels. Even the theory behind the cause of high levels of triglycerides and cholesterol were incorrect to begin with as you can see from the following excerpt:

“Ever since the daily intake of dietary cholesterol was considered a major causative factor in coronary heart disease, the theory behind this type of thinking has had serious inconsistencies. First of all, one of the inconsistencies is the fact that 80 percent of those who suffer heart attacks have normal cholesterol in their blood. Secondly, most of the cholesterol that exists in the body comes not from the dietary intake of fatty foods, but rather is produced by the body, and in particular by the liver. Blood levels of cholesterol do not correspond, therefore, to dietary levels of the substance in everyday situations.”

“Moreover, physicians at the Mayo Clinic have shown that the severity of arteriosclerosis [disorders of arteries] is not always related to the levels of serum [liquid part of blood] cholesterol, much less dietary cholesterol. They discovered, for example, that people with low serum cholesterol could have just as severe arteriosclerosis as those with high serum cholesterol.”

excerpted from Victory Over Diabetes
by William H. Philpott, M.D. & Dwight K. Kalita, Ph.D.

In other words, what these physicians found was that you could have high cholesterol levels in the blood stream and have no plaque buildup on the insides of your arteries, or you could have low levels of cholesterol in the blood stream and have serious plaque buildups in your arteries.

The understanding of the causes of high triglycerides and cholesterol levels is now very slowly spreading through the medical community. Yet, newspapers, magazines, radio and television continue to lead the public in the wrong direction:

“Hundreds of scientists are now reporting that an excess of insulin has been linked to high blood pressure, undesirable blood-fat levels and atherosclerosis [the build-up of plaque in the arteries], heart disease, stroke, adult-onset diabetes, and more.”

“Investigation into the relationship of diet to blood sugar, blood fat, and insulin, all overwhelmingly point to the key roll that carbohydrate-rich diets and high insulin levels can play in raising your blood-fat levels. And, although major studies report that low-fat diets are failing to help most of us reduce our blood-fat levels, the media continues to act as if low fat is the answer.”

“Certainly, big business appears to play a major role in the low-fat cure-all push. Food manufacturers have found big sales in ‘healthy foods’ that are full of artificial, and often cheaper, ingredients.”

excerpted from The Carbohydrate Addict’s LifeSpan Program
by Richard Heller M.S., Ph.D. & Rachael Heller M.A., M.Ph., Ph.D.

Most medical schools in the Unites States offer little or no training in diet and nutrition, or the use of vitamins and minerals to reverse health challenges. As a result doctors most often direct their patients to the use of drugs, medications or operations to handle health problems, problems that could very often be handled with correct nutrition and proper supplements:

“According to the American Heart Association, substituting carbohydrates for fats may raise triglyceride levels and may decrease HDL (‘good’) cholesterol in some people. Yet most doctors persist in telling patients who gain weight easily to cut down on fat and meat. For some, this advice is a recipe for disaster. Why?”

“Decreasing fat and protein in the diet inevitably means increasing carbohydrates. This shifts the metabolism toward fat storage – and higher triglycerides. Not only that, it also leaves the person feeling hungry all the time and subject to blood sugar swings.”

“When the situation is reversed, however – when carbs are cut and replaced with dietary fat and protein – the opposite happens. Blood sugar metabolism normalizes, triglycerides go down, HDL cholesterol goes up, and body fat is lost.”

“All of these benefits occur without hunger and irritability that are trademarks of low-fat, reduced-calorie diet plans.”

“Many of you with evidence of insulin/blood sugar problems already have suffered years of nutritional deficits [shortages].”

“Although it might be possible to overcome this accumulated deficit with diet alone, to regain your health as rapidly as possible means supplements are needed.”

“A vitamin is an organic substance that your body needs but can’t manufacture. [With few exceptions the body cannot manufacture or synthesize vitamins.] Minerals are inorganic substances such as calcium and magnesium. Some minerals are essential, meaning that you must have them, even if only in very small amounts.”

“Vitamins and minerals are crucial for the smooth operation of the thousands of chemical processes that are constantly taking place in your body. You need a constant and adequate supply of them.”*

excerpted from Atkins Diabetes Solution
by Mary C. Vernon, M.D., C.M.D. & Jacqueline A. Eberstein, R.N.

To further illustrate the point of the difference between an incorrect approach and the right way to handle high triglyceride and cholesterol levels, here is an excerpt regarding a patient named “Jayne” who was apparently healthy but on a routine physical examination was found to have triglycerides of 3,000 (normal is usually 100-250)and cholesterol levels of 750 (considered normal if 200 or less). Her doctor put her on a high carbohydrate – low protein diet, and two potent cholesterol-lowering medications:

“Jayne faithfully followed her doctor’s orders for six months, although not without difficulty. The medications nauseated her, and the diet kept her constantly hungry.”

“By the time Jayne returned for her recheck, she was desperate for improvement. And she had improved some, but not nearly enough. Her cholesterol had dropped to 475 and her triglycerides to 2,000 – an improvement for sure, but still cause for great concern to both Jayne and her physician. They discussed her treatment options. Her doctor suggested either increasing the dosage of her cholesterol lowering medications or adding yet another medicine to her regimen.”

“Jayne wanted to think about it before she decided which option to take. She decided to do neither until she got a second opinion from another physician, so she came to our clinic.”

“We instructed Jayne to stop taking both of her cholesterol-lowering medications and to change her diet drastically. Her new nutritional regimen allowed meat (even red meat), eggs, cheese, and many other foods that most people view as causing cholesterol problems, not solving them. We told her to call in three weeks to check in and to come back to have her blood checked in six weeks.”

“She called at her appointed time and reported that she ‘felt grand’ and that her nausea and hunger had vanished. The results of her blood work astounded her. Jayne’s cholesterol level had fallen to 186 and her triglycerides to 86. Her blood sugar had dropped to 90, everything was back in normal range. As you might imagine, she was ecstatic.”

“How could this happen? How can a diet virtually everyone believes should raise cholesterol actually lower it – and in a person who doesn’t have just a slight cholesterol elevation but a major one?”

“We know Jayne’s case is not a freak happenstance or an aberration because we’ve tried variations of the same regimen on countless other patients – all with the same results.”

“The results make perfect sense, because Jayne’s problem, her illness, is not the elevated cholesterol level – that’s merely a sign of the underlying problem. Her problem is ‘hyperinsulinemia’, a chronic elevation of serum insulin.”

“After six weeks on a diet designed to lower her insulin level, Jayne’s lab work showed that she had dropped hers to almost normal. By treating her real problem – excess insulin – we were able to solve her secondary problems of elevated cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood sugar.”

“Standard medical therapies treat the symptoms of excess insulin – elevated cholesterol, triglycerides, blood sugar, blood pressure, and obesity – instead of treating the excess insulin itself. Unfortunately, the standard treatment of the symptoms may even raise the insulin levels and worsen the underlying problem.”

“For your body to function optimally, your diet must include sufficient amounts of micronutrients [a substance required for normal growth and development but only in very small quantities] – vitamins and minerals. We ask that you ensure the micronutrient adequacy of your diet by supplementing it.”

excerpted from Protein Power
by Michael R. Eades, M.D. & Mary Dan Eades, M.D.

Damaged Cell Receptors and Diabetes

 

Doctors prescribe medications because they are merely handling a symptom and not the cause.  Certain medications increases insulin secretion while others try to get the body to use it's own insulin more effectively and insulin injections are just that, more insulin.  Medical doctors usually try the oral medications first and when those are no longer effective or maxed out they then proceed onto insulin injections.

 

There can be a lot of insulin in the body, but the body is insulin resistant because of damaged cell receptors that don’t allow the insulin to do the job it needs to. The doctor’s medocations introduce more insulin to force the sugar out of the body into the now damaged cell receptors. Your body just ends up building up more and more insulin resistance/tolerance so that the level of oral medications or injections only go up and up.

High sugar levels are only a symptom of the diabetic condition, they are not the diabetic condition itself! Using drugs to keep the blood sugar down is like having a fire burning in the living room and turning on the exhaust fan in the kitchen to pull the smoke out of the house. The fan pulls out the smoke (a symptom of the fire) but the fire is still burning, and will consume the house unless it is handled.

 

In the same way, the diabetic condition continues to get worse, until it (not just a symptom) is addressed and handled. You can see the progression in many cases, where the amount of medication needed to control blood sugar levels continues to increase, because the condition has not yet been handled.

 

What needs to happen is the body needs to resensitize the cells to the insulin your body is making and as a result will lower your blood sugar levels. Diet needs to be used to give you body a rest so that it isn’t dealing with a high amounts of sugar coming in.   A low carbohydrate diet 20-30 carbohydrates a day is recommended until the cells repair themselves.  Carbohydrates are just long chains of sugar molecules.  

For more information go to Diabetes http://www.mcvitamins.com/diabetes.htm

 

Why You Don't Want Reduced Fat Milk in Your Diet!

If you were to visit a milk processing plant, you would see it is filled with all types of stainless steel equipment and machinery.

Inside that machinery, the milk shipped from farms around the processing plant is completely re-made, so that there is so much protein, so much butterfat, etc.

This is done so that the milk products produced are both uniform and meet the standards for milk products set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

First the milk is separated with special machinery into fat, protein and various other solids and liquids. Once separated, these are remixed to set levels for whole, low-fat and no-fat milks.

The butterfat left over goes go into butter, cream, cheese, toppings and ice cream.

When the fat is removed to make reduced fat milks, they replace the fat with powdered milk concentrate. All reduced-fat milks have dried skim milk added to give them body, although this ingredient is not usually on the labels.

The powdered skim milk concentrate is created by high temperature spray drying. The result is a very high-protein, low-fat product.

The milk is forced through a tiny hole at high pressure, and then blown out into the air. This causes the cholesterol in the milk to oxidize (chemically changed).

NOTE: The natural cholesterol found in food contributes to health and is a vital part of every cell membrane in your body.

However, you do not want to eat oxidized cholesterol. Oxidized cholesterol contributes to atherosclerosis (the buildup of plaque inside the arteries), which causes high blood pressure that eventually leads to heart attacks and strokes.

So when you drink any kind of reduced-fat milk thinking that it will help you avoid heart disease, you are actually consuming oxidized cholesterol, which contributes to the process of heart disease as it builds up on the inside walls of your arteries.

The moral to this story is stay away from any kind of reduced fat milk. If you are going to buy milk buy only whole milk!

If you are lucky enough to live where it is available buy raw unpasturized milk, one of nature's finest foods.