In winter time when the days are short, many people (mostly women) suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). 

What was once thought of as a ‘silly mood’ that you should be shaking off  by a bit of positive thinking and some hard work has now been recognized as a real physiological condition with real causes and luckily, real strategies to help.

Winter Blues is the most common kind of SAD.  Its symptoms include:   
•    Depression and/or hopelessness,
•    Anxiety,
•    Oversleeping, 
•    Cravings and Weight Gain
•    Difficulty concentrating and processing

 Everyone experiences some of these at some time so it is worth knowing how to deal with this process.

Serotonin – the Big Culprit

All these low mood symptoms are directly associated with low levels of serotonin, a neurotransmitter. Proper levels of serotonin are created in the brain when there is the proper balance of tryptophan, an amino acid, certain B vitamins, and certain enzymes. It’s creation is also influenced by blood sugars, fatty acids and the proper balance of melatonin – the ‘sleep hormone’.

It’s all in the BALANCE. You can try to ‘fix’ this condition with drugs but that can throw the body balance out and create even worse symptoms. The best solutions involve using whole foods that have been proven for thousands of years to help nourish the body to happiness and simple strategies that bring our daily routine into a more natural rhythm. 

10 Solutions (Fixes):

1. Eat Your Whole Grains
All whole foods have amino acids (proteins) in them in different quantities. For serotonin to be produced you need a higher percentage of tryptophan than other amino acids in your blood stream.  A moderate amount of carbohydrates will create this proper percentage. Whole grains certainly have tryptophan in them and their carbohydrate content also allows the tryptophan to be a high enough % so it can get to the brain where it is needed.  Whole grains also contain B vitamins which help the tryptophan to be converted to serotonin.

The grain that already has the HIGHEST % of tryptophan is buckwheat but most grains work well. They are complex enough and have enough fiber that the sugars are released into your blood stream slowly.  This prevents the energy highs and lows which also complicates your moods. Brown rice is one of those properly balanced grains. For a sugerless tasty brown rice pudding click here. Rice Pudding

2. Eat Your Greens 
The University of Kuopio in Finland conducted a study with 2,313 men for more than 10 years and they found that leafy greens are good for your brain.  Greens are high in almost all vitamins and minerals but they are particularly high in folate – a B vitamin that has been shown to reduce depression. For more about greens click here. Greens

3. Enjoy Your Banana  (and other fruits) 
Even fruits have amino acids in them and bananas are surprisingly high in tryptophan.  That along with its natural sugars makes an ideal situation for creating serotonin.  This is not why monkeys seem so happy but it sure doesn't hurt!  Dates and Papaya are also high in tryptophan, but most fruits have enough to make a difference.  Any food with a sweet taste will have a calming effect on the nervous system beyond its carbohydrate content.

4. Avoid Stimulants & Junk Food (that includes chocolate …sob)
Stimulants like Chocolate and Coffee do create serotonin for a short time but continued use actually interferes with its production by disrupting your insulin levels.  

Ice cream unfortunately is in the same category.  The milk aspect will supply the amino acids and it has the carbohydrates but too much sugar and fats is just a bad combination in the long run. Any of these ‘foods’ taken in small amounts; will not harm you but don’t depend on them for energy or happiness.

5. Eat your Nuts and Seeds  
Most people are low in omega 3 essential fatty acids which have been shown to help increase brain functioning and moods. The brain is after all MOSTY made of fatty acids. A common way to get omega 3’s is with flax seeds and flax oils.  Whole seeds and nuts have the benefit of containing protein and therefore have enough tryptophan to help out. You can learn more about the benefits of almonds, and other seeds and how to sprout them at Nuts & Seeds.

6.  Let the Suuuuun – Shiiiiiiine In
Yes this is much more than a 60’s song title. People with SAD have been found to have higher levels of melatonin than they should during the day. Melatonin’s effects tend to be the exact opposite of serotonin.  It causes the body and slow down and prepare for sleep instead of wake up and be happy.

When your body notices there is no sunlight then the pineal gland signals your brain to convert serotonin into melatonin.  Normally in the morning the pineal gland then signals for your brain to start making more serotonin.  With SAD this cycle has been disrupted because of decreasing daylight hours.

The solution is to add MORE sunlight – by walks outside, drawing back curtains or even using a sun light. The timing of the light is sometimes more important than the amount.
David Avery, professor of psychiatry at the University of Washington, suggests the simplest solution is to use a dawn simulator, a device that creates gradual light, or program your bedside lamp to turn on about 20 minutes before you wake up.

Also nothing can beat a good walk during the brightest part of the day.  This has far more benefits than just your serotonin/melatonin balance.

7.  Exercise    
Exercise is good for so many things that it’s not surprising it helps with your mood. Research has linked exercise with higher levels of serotonin but also increased dopamine levels, which causes relaxation, and endorphins which take away the pain. If that sounds like a powerful combination – it is.

8.  High Quality Protein
One can’t talk about serotonin and tryptophan without talking about turkey.  Many people have heard that the extremely high levels of tryptophan in turkey is what causes that relaxed tired feeling after a Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner.  Many researchers now think this is somewhat of an urban myth.  A turkey dinner certainly would raise your serotonin levels but much of the effect is simply from the HUGE quantity of food consumed.  Your body just needs to focus all its energy on digesting! Turkey and white meats are usually more balancing for your body than beef, port or other red meats. Lowly beans contain extremely high amount of balanced proteins plus provide many other benefits for your body and the environment.

9.  Enjoy your Tea
Nothing is more soothing that a cup of tea during the colder months of the year. Another study from Finland shows that 2,000 surveyed Finns who drank black tea every day reported less incidences of feeling down or depressed compared to Finns who weren’t regular tea drinkers. The study also shows that the theanine naturally found in tea helps calm you down. Herbal teas can have similar benefits depending on the herbs used and they usually don't have caffeine.

10. Get to Bed on Time 
If your serotonin/melatonin balance is messed up one thing you can do is develop routines that TELL your body that you want to go to sleep.  This will start the melatonin cycle early so that it can be finished early and you can enjoy waking up properly the next day.  The old “early to bed, early to rise” saying works.

Copyright ©Randy Fritz You are welcome to share this article with anyone who you think may benefit from this information as long as you give credit to Real Food for Life by including the link to the home page www.RealFoodforLife.com  or the direct link to this post.

Women have known throughout the ages that men are lousy at taking care of themselves.  Now a study by the experts at Stockholm University has proven so. 

Data from a 1990 Swedish Census showed that the factor that was best predictor of a long life for a man was the level his wife's education and NOT the man’s education. This study seems to prove that a wife’s  well intentioned nagging DOES have a positive benefit….IF the woman knows what she is talking about.

The revealing truth is a man will live longer with any woman at his side.  This has been found before in many past research but it was hard to figure out from these studies just which came first – the chicken or the egg. Researchers could always question – do married men live longer than their single counterparts because marriage helps them in some way or is there something about men who live longer that predisposes them to marry? (Perhaps being smarter!)  Now we know for sure it is the woman’s touch.

The trouble with men is that they don’t seem to KNOW how bad they are at taking care of themselves. Given the choice between hooking up with a smart women or a dumb blond a man will most often chose the bimbo because he THINKS he is smart enough for both of them.

Personally I think the real problem is our male ego.  Perhaps we have always known on some level how hopeless we are at so many things but we don’t want to admit it. Maybe the smart women in the study don’t know a lot more about health and nutrition than the less educated ones but they are smarter at getting the men to follow their advice,  or even better – at getting to men to think the advice was the husband’s  idea.

For some reason, I can write about how helpless (dumb) men are – and it doesn't bother me. Perhaps by writing about it – I put a some distance between me and all those 'other ‘ guys.  If you look at this closely, this is just male one-up-man-ship all over again.  And the distance is very small. I had to learn about nutrition and various health strategies because I got myself in trouble, but the fact is, late into my life I am constantly being reminded of how hopeless I am at the most simple of household events. For some reason though, I am happy in my dumbness. It seems to contrast our more noble virtues.  I thought it would be fun to list a few of my KNOWN gaps plus stories I have come across on the net. Please share you own comments and stories below.

5 Plus Ways Men are Helpless (Dumb)

1.  After decades of trying I still haven’t learned how to wash clothes properly. My 20 years old daughter will not allow me to even touch her clothes.  This sounds reasonable with a 20 year old but this started over 10 years ago.

2.  Most women are somewhat horrified by my level of cleanliness. I just don’t get what all the fuss is about. When we have business meetings in my home, one of the business associates, (Diana) comes over an hour early to organize and clean what I think is an immaculate home.

3.  I have friends who think that the way to balance off a meal of pizza and fries or burgers and fries is with equal amounts of coke or beer.  The coke is considered the smart choice because the acid in coke somehow helps digestion.

4. As Shane Watson of the UK times writes,  “Men will only do exercise that results in a calf injury, and only in binges, so they are grey with exhaustion every day for a week, then laid up for the rest of the month" (rather than yoga.) There’s also the “struggle to prevent men walking to work in winter with sopping wet hair, wearing only a shirt; or reminding them not to shut the tea towel in the oven door, because that’s what causes all the black smoke and flames.”

5.  Reasons Why Men are Like Computers: (jokes are usually funny because they are TRUE)

•        They have a lot of data but are still clueles.
•        They look nice and shiny, until you get them home.
•        Even the best are unreliable and insecure.
•        To get their attention, you have to turn them on.
•        Despite years of evolution, they still can't think for themselves.
•        They''ll do whatever you say if you push the right buttons. 

We hope that the health information in Real Food For Life.com  will be a help not only to those dumb men but also to the many women who are trying to take care of those dumb men. Diana's upcoming ebook was made with the beginner in mind. I was very impressed with it.  I don't know what that means. Here is the link to it: http://realfoodforlife.com/randy-reviews-recipe-book/

P.S. The average woman will live longer than a man.  To any guy who is bothered by this – the solution is simple – get married.  If you are already married – start LISTENING your wife!

Got any more stories or ideas?  List them below and we will pick a few of our favorites to acknowledge.

The day I wrote this I was in the grocery store and saw this person checking out with the biggest load of pop I have ever seen in my life. What you see was just part of his load. His shopping cart was literally overflowing JUST with pop. I couldn't stop myself and had to take a quick picture.

Earlier this year New York State Governor David Paterson proposed an 18% so-called ‘fat tax’ on non-diet soft drinks. The government hoped that the tax would reduce the enormous consumption of these sugar-laden liquids, and the income from the tax would assist in helping a growing population of obese individuals.

My first reaction to reading this was “Great – I wonder when they will start taxing the diet sodas too. They can be just as bad. And while they are at it – they could tax the whole junk food industry.”

The state didn’t ask my opinion though and it turns out this tax met too much industry opposition to get passed. To me though, this is a good sign when governments are even thinking of this. These people are not necessarily health advocates but do study the research and see the growing health awareness. The tax parallels cigarette and liquor taxes in its thinking – that these products are consumed by individuals but the whole society ends up paying for the negative influences and therefore deserves to be compensated.

In this case the annual cost of health care for obesity-related diseases is estimated at $79 Billion in the US. You can usually estimate that Canada will be about 10% of that figure. Half of this is met by Medicare in the US, 100% in Canada. – All taxpayers, whether or not they choose to eat a healthy diet, are paying for this.

Are people really being affected by coke and soft drinks? Well…..yes.

Here are Five ways they Rob you of Your Health:

1. Americans drink such LARGE quantities of soft drinks that they represent a significant % of our daily calorie intake. By large I mean the average person drinks 150 quarts per year, or about three quarts per week. A significant part of our diet therefore contains no needed nutrients (such as vitamins, minerals, fibre, protein, or essential fatty acids). Pop is just water, chemical flavours, additives plus usually sugar.
   
2. The sugar makes you fat and contributes to diabetes and other degenerative diseases. This was the government’s position)
   
3. Even diet colas have been shown in studies to cause weight gain.You would think that taking in all these liquids would reduce your consumption of other junk foods but studies have shown to actually INCREASE it
4. Cola intake has also been associated with increased risk of bone fracture in children, and bone demineralisation in adolescent girls
   
5. Colas have been shown to reduce calcification and increase osteoperosis in adults. 

You can read more about these effects by following this link  Soft Drinks Hard Facts  or this link  Just one pop a day .

If these negative are not enough maybe it has to be spelled out in the context of cancer. Both the World Cancer Research Fund and the American Institute for Cancer Research looked at huge amounts of research and advises clearly: “Limit the Consumption of Energy-Dense Foods and Avoid Sugary Drinks.”

The basic problem with these products are that they are NOT REAL FOOD. They are not live food and they are not whole food. The body was never designed to ingest these kinds of products and only gets unbalanced and depleted in the long run.

The solution to this situation couldn’t be simpler because there are so many alternatives.  The most obvious drink is WATER which happens to be the most thirst quenching. If you are wanted something with something extra these are all great replacements which happen to be good for you.

Six Easy Replacements for Pop:

1. Sparkling mineral water with fresh juice added to it which will have the zing of pop.
   
2. Sparkling mineral water with slices of lemon or lime and a few drops of Stevia.
   
3. Lemon or Lime or Orange Water: Put three slices in a pitcher full of water and leave for an hour and it will be gently flavoured water. One of the benefits is that it will ALKALIZE the water
   
4. Water flavoured with pure fruit juice.
   
5. Lemonade made with fresh lemon juice and Stevia to taste.
   
6. Herbal teas sweetened with stevia. My favorite is Fortune Delight tea from Sunrider. It tastes great and lemon, raspberry, peach, plain and cinnamon.
   

Feel free to share your comments below and to pass this information onto others.

I was reminded of this because I have just returned from a health convention in Los Angeles. The convention was great but to get around you have to drive on a seemingly endless horizon of freeways and concrete – one freeway merging into the next – sometimes stacking two or three levels. When you think of all those vehicles – constantly pounding the earth and belching exhaust into the atmosphere throughout the world – its easy to see how this could be ruining our environment and contributing to global warming. Oddly enough though, all the scientific evidence to date shows that the hamburger in your kitchen right now (the beef industry) is actually having a greater impact.

How is this possible?  Hint – it's NOT because of their farts – as has been joked at in the media! This great effect is possible mostly because cattle displace useful plants.  Trees, grasses and other year round plants are what absorb C02 and capture carbon on this planet but they are displaced for specific crops to house and feed cattle.

For decades the Amazon rain forests – with their world saving ecosystems have been methodically destroyed so that consumers  could eat a Whopper or a Big Mac for a nickel less. This kind of process is happening all around the world. If plant displacement is the largest creator of green house gasses from beef – the second is greenhouse gas emissions from cattle and their wastes. Yes – this is where the cow fart jokes are relevant but the consideration of wastes from meat production is no laughing matter. 

Rearing animals for meat contributes significantly to water pollution, with animal waste, antibiotics and hormones entering the water cycle alongside chemicals from tanneries, fertilizers and the pesticides used to spray feed crops. This subject of water usage from beef production is a whole other story, perhaps as critical as greenhouse gasses. Raising cattle for food is incredibly inefficient in terms of water. Meat production is very different in different parts of the world but even the more efficient systems use 1500 Gallons of water to produce a single pound of beef. The less efficient systems use TWELVE THOUSAND GALLONS FOR A SINGLE POUND OF BEEF.

Water is becoming one of the most valuable commodities on the planet right now – particularly with global warming (from greenhouse gas emissions). Most of us will see significant changes in our day to day living in the coming years due to water shortages.  Many economists predict that in the coming years wars will be fought over water because there simply will not be enough for water for everyone to live. With the water used to produce a single hamburger, you could take a luxurious shower every day for two and a half weeks.

I apologize if I am being hard on hamburgers but our food choices really do affect the environment and unless we start making different choices we may all suffer. Even substituting chicken for beef is 13 times less damaging in terms of CO2 emissions so that would be a much better choice. Substituting potatoes for beef is 57 times less damaging. As we have said in our Radiant Energy and Health Slimness Course – we are not saying that you shouldn't eat meat – but for health reasons – and it turns out some critical environmental reasons – most of us could eat  LESS.

PS. Just like last week – the enclosed picture above is still not me (Randy) I'll let you know when it is!

PSS. Feel free to share this post with anyone you feel may benefit from this.  Please send the link to this page.

Question: What is the single biggest question or responce you have to this article?  Put your reply in the comments below. For more information on this topic follow this link  US Livestock Production of Greenhouse Gas

click to see large picture

I was shocked when I saw this two page advertisement in the National Geographic.  I’ve taught the regenerative approach to health for over 25 years and this is what I find in a very popular magazine.  Although they use the same words I have used (like natural) they come up with very different conclusions. The shocking part was in the explanation on the next page….

It reads…….. Greg Pfaff, Deli Owner,  Taking Insulin since 2003.

“I tried to mange my type 2 diabetes with diet, exercise, and pills, so when my doctor said I should add insulin to my therapy, I felt like I’d failed.  But he said adding insulin is just replacing what your body should make naturally, and it unlocks your cells so sugar can get into make energy. Millions of people with diabetes take insulin every day to help reach their blood sugar goals. That’s not failure – it’s success. Now when I look at my blood sugar numbers, I have only one regret: that I didn’t add insulin sooner.”  RETHINK INSULIN  (my bold)

From what I can tell, a one page add in the US costs $185,480.00  US.  This was a two page add with a pull out coupon.

What’s do YOU think about this add?  I’m really interested in your opinion.  You can leave your comments below.   I’ll add mine later but I wanted to give you a chance to express also.

5 reasons you should NOT be Afraid:

   1. Fear just doesn't work. It is unhealthy and unproductive. There is a LOT of false evidence and unsubstantiated rumours which the media has inflamed.  The fear and stress about this situation can have more effect than the flu.  Please don't participate in that.
   2. If you are reading this post you are already probably someone who has been working to bring balance into your body and life for some time.  This is the best possible defence against this kind of problem and you have already achieved that. Relax.
   3. This is not the first outbreak of swine flu and it won't  be the last. Better to have a long term plan for keeping yourself healthy rather than reacting to each small problem… because they are guaranteed to keep coming.  The last outbreak of swine flu in 1976 actually killed LESS people than the massive swine flu vaccine campaign which the government implemented to stop it!
   4. The only fatalities have been in Mexico and from Mexico which has a totally different climate, culture and economic situation from the rest of the world.  Real statistics about who actually has the flu and what kind of lifestyle and food intake these people had been living with is just not available yet.  All organisms thrive best only in unique certain environments.
   5. There were 91 fatalities (the day before this was written) and the warning medical reports coming out about this situation seem to know a lot about this particular kind of flu virus – BUT lets keep this in perspective.  This is the same medical system in which 195,000 people died every year (2000, 2001, 2002) due to preventable in-hospital errors.  In the US, 32,000 die from adverse reaction to prescription drugs every year and 20,000 people die each year from the common flu.   There are a LOT more important issues that you could be addressing.  For example, the second leading cause of death in the US in 2000 (after tobacco) was POOR DIET and PHYSICAL  INACTIVITY which claimed 4000,000 deaths. Why is not the media clamoring over these statistics?   Mostly because it is not NEW and therefore not news.

7  Actions You should be doing Anyway:

   1. Eat a wide variety of WHOLE LIVE FOODS.  Add whole food supplements if these are available.
   2. Reduce stress in any way you know how.   Whatever it takes it's worth it!
   3. Get enough rest.
   4. Get daily exercise – best outside in the fresh air, sun, and nature.
   5. Decrease non foods such as sugar and alcohol which inhibit the immune system.
   6. Avoid quick fix solutions for your health. Echinacea, for example, stimulates your immune system but doesn't necessarily strengthen it long term.  It also happens to increase a certain immune response that researchers have found interacts with the swine flu virus in a negative way.
   7. Avoid eating foods that have been produced in large commercial enclosed animal farms.  It's NOT that you can contract the virus directly from these foods but many health professionals suspect that this virus (and many more) were incubated in the unnatural living conditions of these businesses.  I don't want to support these kind of conditions and I know that eating a lot of food from these unnatural situations doesn't help to regenerate my body.

If you are doing even some of these seven actions you are way ahead of the crowd.  Relax, enjoy and focus on productive things in your life. Copyright © Randy Fritz  You are welcome to share this article with anyone who you think may benefit from this information as long as you give credit to Real Food for Life by including the link to the home page www.RealFoodforLife.com or the direct link to the post Swine Flu

Does this sound like a dream?   Yes about the same ‘dream’ if people expect the government, or any outside agency, to maintain their health and come up with a magic bullet when we are in trouble.  This was brought home to me while reading a recent Scientific American article about the FDA’s actions regarding one of the famous superbugs called MRSA.

MRSA is an antibiotic resistant strain of Staphylococcus bacteria which in 2005 killed more people in the US than aids. Superbugs evolved because every time someone takes antibiotics there is a slight chance that one the bacteria will have mutated and have some slight resistance to the antibiotic which it then passes on to its children. Indiscriminate use of antibiotics hastened the development of these strains which the medical establishment has now become very careful about.
.
This disease first was only known in hospitals but then spread to locker rooms (where it became more famous by infecting some big name players and teams) and later to prisons and child care facilities. The problem is now that it has spread to the farm.

Modern factory farms keep so many animals in such a small unnatural spaces that they are given small doses of antibiotics to shield them from large-scale infections and to increase growth.   If this sounds to you like the perfect condition to create antibiotic resistant bacteria you are right. The first study to test livestock found that 49% of pigs and 45% of pig workers in the survey had the bacteria. The report also stated that the MRSA in animals was thought to be responsible for more than 20% of the cases in humans in the Netherlands.

“In April 2008 a high profile commission of scientists, farmers, doctors and veterinarians recommended that the FDA phase out the nontherapeutic use of antibiotics in farm animals”.  The purpose was to keep these antibiotics useful for sick animals rather than healthy ones. The FDA agreed and announced it would ban the common use of one widespread antibiotic. You can probably guess what happened. Five days before the ban the FDA quietly reversed its position and gave no reason for the change.   “The opposition of the powerful farm lobby is widely thought to have played a role.”

The quotes comes from Scientific American –– not some anti-establishment periodical.  The fact that they bemoaned how we are jeopardizing our food supply safely for the vested commercial interests  reminded me once again of how we have to take responsibility for our health.  The only real safety to this, and many other scary dangers in our environment is a healthy body and a healthy immune system. You can’t accomplish that with a trip to the doctor or a quick fix single pill.  It requires choosing to live a healthy lifestyle and eating the proper foods for a significant period of time. When we focus on those kinds of principles proper health is easy and we don’t have to worry about specific problems. You also don’t worry about forgetting to keep this up…we at Real Food for Life will keep on reminding you.

Feel free to share this article with anyone who you feel may benefit from this information.

Although there has been some attention from the press about this problem – the loss of the honeybees has not received the attention it deserves. Many people categorize this trend in the same distant way that they think about the loss of for example, panda bears. Bees may not be cute and cuddly like pandas but they are so much more vital for our own foods. One third of world’s agricultural production depends on the European honeybee to pollinate the crops at certain vital parts of the year. This pollination results in SEEDS like FRUITS and MORE PLANTS. There are not enough wild bees or bats to accomplish this. Crops like wheat, potatoes and rice do not rely on insect pollination but many fruits and vegetables could become so scarce that their price would skyrocket… IF you could get them at all. It would be a completely different world.

When the task force of scientists starting researching into this problem they found that sometimes bees were being killed by certain factors including, a). Synthetic poisoning from insecticides and other pesticides and  b). Infections from other organisms, like bacteria and viruses.  The trouble with this was that SOMETIMES these factors were present and bee colonies were still healthy.

There seems to be an overriding factor decreasing overall health of the bees; thus making them more susceptible to poisons and infections.  What the scientists suspected and are still proving is that the bee’s natural defenses are being undermined by POOR NUTRITION and other unnatural living conditions.

Nutrition for bees might sound rather odd since they eat only nectar and pollen.  What has happened though, is that honeybees don’t have the VARIETY of flowers available to them because man has destroyed much of their habitat. We humans like our environment orderly so we clear the ditches of wild flowers and kill all the dandelion and clover in our lawns but to bees these areas are now nutritional wastelands.  The bee industry is hopeful that restoring balance to the diet and habitat of bees can improve their well being and prevent total colony collapse. Here’s hoping.

Where have you heard the word VARIETY in our diet before?  Probably from every dietitian and nutritionist who ever lived.  If you participated in our Radiant Energy and Healthy Slimness course, you heard it every week from Diana who was encouraging you to eat more vegetables and fruits.  This is a principle of health and regeneration – that no single wonder food can solve all your problems. Rather you need a balanced diet of whole live foods.  We have such variety available to us in our gardens, farmer’s markets and supermarkets. Let’s all take advantage of that while we can!

P.S.  We realize this is the second straight article about insects.  Don’t worry. We are NOT going BUGGY!  The next article will not be about insects of any kind.

Feel free to share this information with anyone who might find it usefull.