Type 2: “Non-Insulin-Dependent Diabetes”

Type 2 diabetes is by far the more common form of the disease, affecting 90 to 95 percent of diabetics. If you have type 2, your body is producing some insulin but is unable to recognize insulin and use it properly. This is an advanced stage of insulin-resistance.

Since your insulin is inadequate, sugar can’t get into your cells and instead builds up in your blood, causing a variety of problems. This is why diabetics have elevated blood sugar levels.

Symptoms of type 2 diabetes include:

Medications and supplements are NOT the complete answer for type 2 diabetes; restoring your sensitivity to insulin and leptin is what’s needed.

Diabetes is NOT a Disease of Blood Sugar

Diabetes is a disease of insulin and leptin signaling, not a disease of blood sugar . In addition to diabetes, elevated insulin levels are associated with a number of diseases, including:

• Heart disease
• Peripheral vascular disease
• Stroke
• High blood pressure
• Cancer
• Obesity

Diabetes, like all chronic disease, results from cellular miscommunication.

Leptin: Is It the Missing Link Between Obesity and Diabetes?

Leptin is a hormone produced in your fat cells.

One of leptin’s primary roles is regulating your appetite and body weight. It tells your brain when to eat, how much to eat, and most importantly, when to stop eating. And leptin tells your brain what to do with the energy it has. Leptin is largely responsible for the accuracy of insulin signaling and whether or not you become insulin resistant.

The only known way to reestablish proper leptin (and insulin) signaling is through proper diet.

When your blood sugar becomes elevated, insulin is released to direct the extra energy into storage. A small amount is stored as a starch called glycogen, but the majority is stored as your main energy supply—fat.

Therefore, insulin’s major role is not to lower your blood sugar, but rather to store the extra energy for future times of need. Insulin’s effect of lowering your blood sugar is merely a “side effect” of this energy storage process.

This is why diabetes treatments concentrating merely on lowering blood sugar can actually worsen, rather than remedy the actual problem of metabolic miscommunication.

Taking insulin is one of the WORST things you can do for type 2 diabetes, since it will actually worsen your insulin and leptin resistance over time.

Fructose—One of the Major Culprits in Obesity and Diabetes

The presence of massive amounts of fructose in today’s Western diet is a driving force behind our diabetes epidemic.

Regular table sugar is 50 percent fructose and 50 percent glucose, and the two are metabolized very differently. Nearly every cell in your body was designed to use glucose for energy—especially your brain cells—but fructose breaks down into a variety of toxins that can have devastating effects on your health.

Fructose has the following adverse metabolic effects:

• Fructose does not stimulate a rise in leptin, so your satiety signals are suppressed.
• Fructose raises your insulin and your triglycerides, which effectively reduces the amount of leptin crossing your blood-brain barrier. This interferes with the communication between leptin and your hypothalamus. Your brain senses starvation and prompts you to eat more.
• Fructose does not suppress ghrelin like glucose does. Ghrelin is the “hunger hormone,” making you want more food.

All of this also sets the stage for overindulgence and hence overweight, placing you on the path toward diabetes.

I strongly advise keeping your total fructose consumption below 25 grams per day.

However, it would be wise for most people to limit fructose to 15 grams or less as it is virtually guaranteed you will be getting “hidden” sources of fructose from just about any processed food you eat.

This includes fruits, which also need to be carefully measured to make certain that you’re not inadvertently going over the fructose limit. For a helpful chart listing the fructose content of several common fruits, please see the previous article on diabetes I posted.

Some Diabetes Drugs Miss the Mark, and are Dangerous

For example, consider Avandia.

Avandia works by making diabetes patients more sensitive to their own insulin, helping to control blood sugar levels. In fact, most conventional treatments for type 2 diabetes utilize drugs that either raise insulin or lower blood sugar. Avandia, for example, reduces your blood sugar by increasing the sensitivity of your liver, fat and muscle cells to insulin.

The problem is, diabetes is not a blood sugar disease, as I have already explained. So, drugs that focus on the symptom of elevated blood sugar, rather than addressing the underlying cause, are doomed to fail in most cases.

Not only that, but drugs like Avandia have dangerous side effects, including causing  extensive heart problems  that have killed literally thousands of people. In fact, Avandia has been linked to a 43% increased their risk of heart disease and a 64 percent higher risk of cardiovascular death compared to patients treated with other methods!

The good news?

Many diabetics can be successfully treated without medications.

Preventing or Reversing Diabetes in Six Simple Steps

Here are my top six actions to take for increasing your insulin and leptin sensitivity, thus reducing your chances for developing diabetes—or reversing it if you already have the disease:

1. Exercise

Exercise is an absolutely essential factor, and without it, you’re unlikely to get this devastating disease under control. It is one of the fastest and most powerful ways to lower your insulin and leptin resistance.

If you’re unsure of how to get started, I recommend reviewing my exercise program for tips and guidelines. It is also critical to work your way up to include some Peak 8 exercises.

1. Eliminate Grains and Sugars, Especially Fructose

A large reason for the failure of conventional diabetes treatment over the last 50 years has to do with seriously flawed dietary recommendations. Fructose and grains are largely responsible for your body’s adverse insulin reactions.

You will want to eliminate ALL sugars and grains—even “healthful” grains such as whole, organic or sprouted ones. This means avoiding all breads, pasta, cereals, rice, potatoes, and corn (which is in fact a grain).

You might even need to avoid fruits until your blood sugar is under control.

1. Eat Right for Your Nutritional Type

Exercising and avoiding grains and sugars might not be enough unless you balance your protein, carbohydrate and fat ratios for your specific genetic biochemistry. The first step is finding out your nutritional type, which then gives you information about your optimal protein/carbohydrate/fat ratio.

1. Monitor Your Fasting Insulin Level

This is every bit as important as your fasting blood sugar. You’ll want your fasting insulin level to be between 2 and 4. The higher your level, the worse your insulin sensitivity is.

1. Optimize Your Vitamin D

Interestingly, optimizing your vitamin D levels not only treats type 2 diabetes but as already mentioned, can virtually  eliminate your child’s risk of type 1 diabetes if you are pregnant. It’s also vital for infants to receive the appropriate amounts of vitamin D in their early years for the same reason.

Ideally, you’ll want to do this by exposing a large amount of your skin to appropriate amounts of sunshine on a regular basis, year-round. Your body can safely create up to 20,000 units of vitamin D a day by direct UV exposure. If you are not getting regular sun exposure on large amounts of your skin you may need anywhere from 5 to 20,000 units of oral vitamin D3 per day.

However, if neither of these options is available, you may want to use an oral vitamin D3 supplement. But remember, if you choose to take an oral supplement, it’s essential that you get your level tested periodically to make sure it’s in the therapeutic range, which is 60 to 80 ng/ml.

1. Probiotics

Your gut is a living ecosystem, full of both good bacteria and bad.

Multiple studies have shown that obese people have different intestinal bacteria than lean people. The more good bacteria you have, the stronger your immune system will be and the better your body will function overall.

Fortunately, optimizing your gut flora is relatively easy. You can reseed your body with good bacteria by eating fermented foods (like natto, raw organic cheese, miso, and cultured vegetables) or by taking a high quality probiotic supplement.

Consult your doctor, nutritionist and integrative medicine practitioner if you have any questions. I also recommend reading The Sugar Solution by Prevention magazine.

I met a  beautiful and highly competent young lady about to finish Law School who is in a serious relationship with a male MBA former class mate now working at IBM. Before getting serious, they made a commitment that if they turned their eight year, “best friend” status into dating, it would have to be real.  Losing a valuable friendship was not an option.

That’s actually the sentiment expressed by one of their friends, Kamilah who married her husband James in July of 2009 after knowing him since childhood.  They were good friends since the sixth grade but only started dating in 2007.

Kamilah said, “We thought about it before we started dating and we knew we would get married because we were such good friends.”

She moved to Texas and they dated long distance for about a year and a half before marrying. James is a firefighter who felt opportunities would be better for both of them in Dallas, Texas. She is a massage therapist at Aveda and James found work quickly because fire stations are constantly being built there as communities grow.

Kamilah felt secure marrying James because he knew her family well.  She sites their religious beliefs as being  crucial to the happiness of their union. “We’re dedicated to church. I highly recommend the pre-marital counseling we received before marriage. That’s where the hard questions are asked. We wanted to be equally yoked so it was important that our goals, family values, and spiritualism were compatible.” Kamilah, who is 27, plans to enjoy her life with her husband for a few years and then have children when she’s 30.

She said some of their newlywed friends are not faring very well in their marriages.  She surmises it’s because they don’t know what James and Kamilah have learned; the first few years of marriage are challenging and very realistic.  “Once your partner’s representative (the person they would like you to think they are) has left, you’re there learning about each other on a different level.”

“I counsel couples to be prayerful and marry for the right reason.  Then learn how to be considerate of one another,” she concluded.

According to the Pew Research Center, Millennials (those young adults between the ages of (18-29) are less likely to be married now than was the case 20 years ago. Millennials are more likely to be living with other family members (47%), such as their parents, than were the immediate two previous generations at the same age (Gen Xers, 43%; Boomers, 39%). They also are more likely than other previous generations to be cohabiting with a partner or living with a roommate according to their study.

Their hearts are in the right place though. Pew Research found three-in-ten Millennials say having a successful marriage is one of their most important life goals. Among Millennials, whites are more likely than nonwhites to place a high priority on marriage. A third of non-Hispanic whites rank a successful marriage as one of the most important things in their life, compared with 25% of nonwhites.

Roughly a quarter of Millennials (23%) say they are currently married, compared with 59% of Gen Xers and 64% of Boomers. In general, young people are less likely to be married now than was the case 20 years ago according to Pew.

Those statistics didn’t seem to deter Marcus, a 26 year-old manager on the way up the corporate ladder at Target, one of the nation’s largest retailers . He married his girlfriend of four years about two years ago. They live and work in Orlando and plan to continue their corporate careers and grow their family.

Marcus says he got married because he followed his feelings, “We only dated about eight months before I asked her.  I had had a lot of girlfriends, but when I found the one I wanted (Ashley), I didn’t want to let her get away.”

When asked why did he get married, Marcus said  Ashley was easy to get along with and made him want to settle down. “I was 20 years old. She accepted me broke and in college so I felt she would stick with me when we both became successful.” She is a financial analyst at Lockheed Martin and he plans to go to the University of Florida for his Master’s degree.

When questioned about how “equally yoked” he perceived them to be, Marcus answered, “About as equally yoked as one can be.  I actually married someone better than me. She’s the stronger one. After watching the birth of our daughter I had a greater appreciation for her as the woman I love and a greater appreciation for life.”

They plan to have one more child, move into a bigger home and develop their careers.  In the future they may use their business acumen to start a business. Watkins praises his company and the people he works with now and sees nothing but bright days ahead.

A year ago, Hampton University convened a “marriage summit” to discuss the state of marriage and talk about how to reverse trends such as high divorce rates and out-of-wedlock births.

“We discussed the current crisis of marriage and parenting and focused on solutions and how to come together to start moving things in a better, more positive direction for families,” according to event coordinator Dr. Linda Malone-Colon, head of Hampton’s psychology department.

Hampton University, an historically black university, has a National Center on African-American Marriages and Parenting led by Malone-Colon which conducts research and collects data about issues that affect Black marriages and families.

Dr. W. Bradford Wilcox, director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia, said American society has an ever-widening “marriage gap” that largely runs along racial and socioeconomic lines. African-Americans and people of all races who lack college degrees have much higher rates of divorce and unmarried childbearing than White, college-educated people.

And, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics, nearly 40 percent of children born in 2007 had unmarried mothers, up 21 percent from 2002 and 80 percent higher than in 1980. Birth rates for unmarried women rose for all races between 2002 and 2006, with Hispanic and Black women showing the highest out-of-wedlock birth rates in 2006.

The figures are of concern because children born to single mothers generally are at higher risk of health, social and economic difficulties.

President Barack Obama, whose own father left his family when Obama was two, said in a Father’s Day speech, “We need fathers to realize that responsibility does not end at conception. We need them to realize that what makes you a man is not the ability to have a child – it’s the courage to raise one.”

Recent marriage trends are partly rooted in economic shifts since the 1970s, as college-educated men have seen their incomes rise modestly while men without college educations have seen earnings fall, Wilcox says. That makes the latter group “less attractive as potential or ongoing husbands, as being a good provider is integrally tied to being good husbands.”

“People are looking for happiness and fulfillment in their lives and relationships in ways that people would not have done two or three generations ago,” he said. “People are expecting a high level of fulfillment in marriages, and it’s difficult to sustain that day in and day out. That has increased the fragility of marriage in the U.S.”

In this technology driven age, surveys like the ones conducted by Pew Research and the U.S. Census sometimes fail to reflect what we see on the ground. My conversations with Millennial, black college graduates indicates to me that there will be more than 23% of them married. It’s not just a matter of economics (two can live cheaper than one) but the expectation that marriage, if you work at it, brings its own rewards; among them happiness. There is more incentive to graduate from college since it appears that a college degree translates to better life chances for you and your family.

Purdue University Calumet

Checking in the rear view mirror as you drive your children around town, you see little faces that sometimes ask questions and other times nod.  You cannot help but think about what you’ve been entrusted with and it would be a perfect world if you could give them water, food and sunlight and watch them grow.  You can!!

Childbirth practices like other aspects of family life are molded by the society of which the mother and baby are a part.  In many villages and tribal cultures expectant mothers are well acquainted with the childbirth process as the entire community celebrates the occasion.  In western nations childbirth has advanced from home/family centered births to free standing birthing centers.  Preparation for the event includes classes, relaxation and breathing techniques as well as labor coaches.  In some cases couples are euphoric about the blessed event and in other cases single moms are bewildered about the upcoming responsibility. The most important preparation for parenthood takes place in the context of the parents’ relationship.  Expectant couples who are unhappy and have difficulty working out their differences continue to be poor problem solvers with unrealistic expectations after the baby is born. (Cowan and Cowan, 2000; Currant et al 2005)

The gift of a child arrives, hopefully full term, unpackaged and fussy.  During the first two years of life children develop close ties and attachments to caretakers and a sense of self.  At this point parents need to provide constant supervision, enforce safety rules and explain the reasons behind them.  Parents should praise children for following rules and in doing so, encourage them to remember and obey.

Parents should know their child’s temperament by now and should approach child rearing based on the child’s personality, activity, distractibility or curiosity and the level of monitoring required.  This is also the time to eliminate dangers in the home like easy to reach chemicals, guns, medicine containers, colorful liquids and sharp objects. Watch kids around water, pools, and buckets of water.  During automobile travel, use restraints that are age appropriate and properly installed.  All children should be restrained until about the age of eight or until they reach four feet nine inches.

By age two, most children have a speaking vocabulary of around two hundred words.  These words mostly refer to objects and commands.  They will learn rules that include not yelling at others, being a good listener and using the appropriate tone of voice.  Remember that language learning and literacy development are linked.  Sensitive, patient and caring adults use additional techniques that promote language skills.  When children use words incorrectly or communicate unclearly, such adults give helpful, explicit feedback.

Remember, if children are able to use language to express their feelings of happiness or unhappiness, fewer outbursts occur.   By watching parents manage their feelings, children pick up strategies for regulating their own behavior.  When parents rarely express positive emotions, dismiss children’s feelings as unimportant, or have difficulty controlling their own anger, children have problems managing their own psychological adjustment.   Parents prepare children for difficult experiences by describing what to expect and ways to handle anxiety by offering age appropriate solutions.  When given regular feedback, children become sensitive to praise and to blame. Teach kids empathy (feeling with others) and pro-social, altruistic behaviors.  Teach them how to comfort their friends and to understand the perspective of others.  Teach them how to accept responsibility for their actions and to accept consequences.   You want them to experience failure at an early age in order to develop coping skills. Social experiences along with cognitive development contribute to emotional understanding and self regulation. Cognitive development means changes that occur in intellectual abilities including attention, memory, imagination and problem solving, creativity and language development.

Angry and punitive parenting disrupts the development of empathy at an early age.  When parents are warm and encouraging and show sensitive and caring concern, children notice this behavior.  As children reach middle/jr. high school age, they will have a range of emotions and situations that will require strategies to manage crises.  They will need skills to analyze how thoughts and emotions affect decision making and responsible behavior. At the same time they are beginning to evaluate how others express emotions toward them and what should be done during these interactions.   Teach them not to bully, not to join others in taunting, teasing and tormenting other children.  Control their exposure to negative information that may come from media events, web access, misogynous lyrics in music and urban legends.  Adolescence is a difficult time and the parent-child relationship changes because the amount of time children spend with parents declines dramatically.

Despite these new concerns, child rearing becomes easier for parents who established an authoritative style during the earlier years.  Reasoning is more effective when children recall consistency in their parents’ behavior.  They know what to expect with regard to compliance.  When parents communicate openly with children and engage in joint decision making, monitor from a distance, and offer support, children begin to respect parents’ knowledge. In addition to parents and friends, siblings are important sources of support for school age children.  Although conflict rises, most school age children appreciate the companionship and assistance of a brother or sister.  Sibling relationships bring many benefits however, they are not essential for normal development.  Contrary to popular belief, “only children” are not selfish and spoiled.  Many have high esteem, achievement, and motivation.

Applying what we know will encourage us to experiment and provide exposure through a rich social environment and build upon young children’s natural readiness to learn.

Cowan, C.P. & Cowan, P.A., (2000) When partners become parents, Mahwah, NJ:Erlbaum.

Curran, M., Hazen, N., Jacobvitz, D., & Feldman, A. (2005).  Representations of early family relationships predict marital maintenance during the transition to parenthood.  Journal of Family Psychology, 19,189-197.

The result is that I am able to enjoy more time outdoors since climate gives permission. As I walk up the paths created by Atlanta’s Path Foundation, I really count my blessings.  Surrounded by trees, native flora and fauna I silently express my gratitude for my environment.  As others complain about the pollen from the abundance of such trees, I cough and sneeze with reverence for the abundant energy and oxygen the trees give.

I have spent some time in Africa so I know the difference forestation can make in an environment. Millions of acres have been deforested there making it more difficult for  young girls and women forage for fire wood to heat their cooking fires.  Often at risk of attack or kidnapping, these women venture further and further from their villages for tree remnants.  They don’t have the luxury of admiring a shady grove or the sun beaming through the tall boughs. Branches are life giving to many African families. Coal made from burnt trees is the light source for refugees in crowded camps.

Back on my Path path, I dream of the continuation of the legacy of 2004 Nobel Prize winning Dr. Wangari Maathai “for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace”. She was the first woman in east and central Africa to earn a doctorate degree who organized women’s groups in Kenya to plant trees to preserve the environment.  She established the Greenbelt Network, helping women plant over 20 million trees. Before she died last year, she was appointed by the President of Kenya as the Assistant Minister for the environment. Her environmental legacy lives on.

Moving across town to the marvelous Silver Comet Trail which when combined with the Chief Ladiga Trail is almost 100 miles of recreation, I am cheered by the tranquility of the walkers, bicyclists, rollerbladers, dog walkers and horses as they pass me by.

As a concession in a peace treaty in 1832, Chief Ladiga sold the land that is adjacent to the Silver Comet trail for $2,000. As I walk the trail jauntily, I am reminded by how much the Chief must have loved the land. Native Americans, our first conservationists, revered and protected animate and inanimate objects on the ground they walked. Over 200 years after the sale, I inhale the fresh, vibrant air and appreciate the fact that the Path Foundation assumed stewardship and is preserving the land as the natives would have.  It is a day of gratitude that I give thanks for the trees, the birds, the flowers, the streams and the feelings I have when I experience them.

Vietnamese philosopher Thich Naht Hanh teaches us to that if we want to have peace, we must be peace.  How does one become peace?  How do we signal our fellow humans that not only do they have nothing to fear from us, but that we bring peace to share?

Hanh says, “Smiling is very important. If we are not able to smile, then the world will not have peace. It is not by going out for a demonstration against nuclear missiles that we can bring about peace. It is with our capacity of smiling, breathing and being peace that we can make peace”.

Signal peace.  In a sea of humanity a smiling face is a welcoming.  By being on a peace vibration we can bring peace to others.  The best way I have found to modulate our frequencies and be calm is by meditation. Meditation can be a solitary or group practice that has benefits for our bodies and for those around us.  Find a quiet place and be mindful only of your breath for twenty minutes, twice a day. After a while you can summon a meditative state effortlessly and you can bring peace where ever you are.

You can bring peace to the work place as well.  There may not be an empty office or work station that you can privately practice  meditation in a relaxed state, but there are other ways to bring peace to work. Begin the day with an affirmation; a statement that affirms how you intend to actualize your day.

For example you could say to yourself in the present tense as you enter your workplace, “My mind is peaceful throughout the whole day. I radiate peace around me. I attract peace. I speak in a polite, peaceful tone. I choose to act peacefully”. You can also place a peace affirmation at your desk which reminds you all day to be peace. Say, “Everyone around me is at peace with each other” or “my environment is a garden of peace.” Notice how your stress level reduces upon affirmation.

Information that you allow into your consciousness affects your well-being and can alter your state of peacefulness.  If you are a news junkie like I was, you might listen to NPR, a couple of national evening news programs and read a newspaper on line on a daily basis.  Take a news fast every once and a while and escape the bad news that infiltrates your subconscious, bringing you down.

Instead, you might want to listen to peaceful music. If you like the online, streaming music provider Pandora (www.pandora.com) , you can set up “stations” to reflect the mood you want to create.  When I want to be peaceful, I listen to the station I created based on the cosmic music of Jon Serrie.  Every song on that station has the same vibration that I am trying to achieve which puts me in an alpha state.

You can create a sanctuary in your home in any space you designate as such.  You might create an altar or sacred space before which you meditate. This table may contain a candle, representations of the elements like copper, quartz crystals, fresh flowers, water and a special memento of an experience you cherish like a shell from the beach or a stone from a hiking trip.  Be one with nature right in your own bedroom.  Let others in your family know that this space is special to you and thus is very private and untouchable.

You can achieve peace of mind by exercising forgiveness.  Even forgive yourself for decisions you have made based upon the best information you had at the time that did not result in your highest good. Forgive others who have hurt or disappointed you.  It’s beneficial to release attachment to what motivates people to say or do what they do, particularly since you have no control over them. Be mindful of the moment.  The past is like a cancelled check; not worth regretting and fretting over. The Now is of greater value.

You will know when you are moving closer to being peace when you:

• Desire to be kind rather than right.
• Find joy in each moment.
• Lose interest in judging others.
• Avoid conflict.
• Lose interest in interpreting the actions of others.
• Act on faith instead of worrying.
• Start each day with appreciation.
• Connect with others and nature.
• Smile at strangers.
• Take three deep breaths before responding in anger.
• Allow things to unfold, rather than resisting and manipulating.
• Look for more similarities among people than differences

PEACE BE WITH YOU.

I had two locations of yoga retreats to choose from including Jackie’s on the Reef and the Negril Yoga Centre.  Negril is traditionally known for its pristine beaches, cliffs you can dive from and Caribbean night life. I chose the Negril Yoga Centre because it is centrally located in town whereas Jackie’s is secluded on the west end of the island on a hill overlooking the ocean but an expensive taxi ride into town when you want to try the nightlife.

They serve vegetarian meals at the Centre and yoga classes are every morning at 9:30 in the yoga pavilion.  Fanette, a French speaking yogi, slim and perfectly erect begins each session with making sure you  are breathing the yogic breath. My classmate who was pregnant combined breathing exercises with muscle strengthening poses to help prepare her body and mind for labor.

We began with developing a meditative mind to become aware of ourselves from the inside out, not pushing ourselves too hard, too quickly. Our reclining poses were great for relieving tension and fatigue. I did the backward bending poses that the mommy-to-be sat out due to her pregnancy. For me, the backward bending poses were good to open the spine and chest area which are energized.  This exercise is  great for the nervous and digestive systems and also strengthens the arms and shoulders to increase flexibility.

The tree pose is designed to develop balance, strength and agility. I need to work on these balancing poses to get the benefit of muscle tone, coordination and mental concentration. I kept falling off my perch.  I love yoga because it honors your own personal  body standards.  You push yourself no further than where you can comfortably go and practice makes that destination easier to navigate over time.

Of course we did the daily postures of cobra, half locust, locust, bow and forward bending to round out our workout.  I felt exhilarated after my daily class and headed straight for the beach across the street for a meal on the lumbering shore. As I reclined in a beach chair brought by Rastaman Derrick, all my cares drifted away like the waves of the ocean. Colin, who served me breakfast at the Sunset Beach hotel, knew what I wanted from the first day and made sure I got it promptly.

One day while taking my three- mile walk on the beach, I met two Jamaican women who befriended me immediately and invited me to come with them up to “the country” to Grange Hill where men cut cane and the local fishermen catch and sell fish.  It was a treat.  As I approached the shore, the fishermen were cleaning the fish we were about to eat and dropping lobsters in water  heated by a wood fire turning them from brown to orange in no time.

I had wanted lobster for a while and those we ate on the beach that day were beyond my expectation in sweetness and flavor.  I ate several lobster tails and could have eaten more but it was time to head back to town.  We shooed the cows that were blocking the cratered road that had been washed out by rain. We got back to Negril just in time to view one of the most awesome sunsets on the planet.

In the evening I stopped by the Bourbon Bar on the beach and enjoyed reggae music played by a young band fronted by a former member of Bob Marley’s band who sang all of his hits so irie.

I stayed a few more days and took my yoga class each day in the Centre’s pavilion followed by a swim in the ocean each day.  On the last day, I visited Pat, a massage therapist who concocted her own fresh aloe massage oil that left my skin silky smooth and soothed.

Yoga as a daily regimen is an ideal practice to add to or diversify your exercise routine whether you are doing it in your family room or on the beach.  After this Caribbean yoga experience, I have vowed to seek out yoga experiences in other countries to gain from the energy I find there as I learn about other cultures. Come join me.

Nausea, dry mouth, constipation, loss of appetite, tiredness, drowsiness, dizziness, increased sweating, blurred vision or yawning may occur. Or :fainting, unusual or severe mental/mood changes (e.g., nervousness, unusual high energy/excitement, rare thoughts of suicide), shakiness (tremor), decreased interest in sex, changes in sexual ability, difficulty urinating, change and weight loss. Then they say; “Tell your doctor immediately if any of these rare but very serious side effects occur such as stomach pain, bloody/black/tarry stools, vomit that looks like coffee grounds, easy bruising/bleeding, muscle weakness/cramps, yellowing eyes/skin, dark urine, seizures, unusual tiredness, fast/irregular/pounding heartbeat.”

It seems that the side effects from the cure is sometimes worst than the symptoms. Many of us believe that all we have to do is pop a pill and our troubles will disappear.   I sat down with Atun Ra, my nutrition and vitamin authority, and asked him about alternative treatments for depression and he suggested some  natural remedies that were actually good for your whole body when taken in consultation with a professional, not just for the depression.

Atun said that sometimes hormonal imbalances can cause depression. Soy products are a big craze now but occasionally soy can be more harmful than helpful because it increases estrogen (phyto-estrogens).  If you eat out a lot, you may experience depression due to hormonal imbalances from the extra soy that’s in your food. Many restaurants substitute soy for meat products to cut costs.  Atun recommends eliminating foods one-by-one to see if you can determine the source of the reaction.

Passion flower and maca are used to help balance hormones as well. It helps women balance their progesterone and men with their testosterone.

Dehydration is another symptom that can indicate imbalance. Atun reminds us that hydration is very important to the function of the body’s systems.   Your liver keeps the integrity of the blood clean.  Irish moss, a sea vegetable that is high in minerals and a demulcent for cooling  your body to reduce inflammation.

When you are dehydrated, you can increase inflammation in your body and therefore produce more mucous and cholesterol to counteract this affect. You need to increase good fat ingestion by eating avocado, omega fatty acids, olive and coconut oil.

A lack of sleep can affect your energy levels and cause depression.  At night, between the hours of 1 and 3 AM the body is repairing.  Those who work second shifts or who are night owls deplete the energy they would have gained during those hours when the pineal gland is working to restore body function. There are natural sleep aids like melatonin that can help balance your circadian clock.

Observe the quality of your bowels to determine if you are eliminating properly. Plant substances like senna, aloe, and cascara sagrada used to treat constipation can scar the colon wall. From a natural, plant perspective, a better remedy is from the fruit Triphala (3 fruits) .  It has a mild, laxative effect that increases bile production and stimulates the immune function.

In traditional Ayurvedic medicine, Triphala is used for:

• immune system stimulation^[3]
• improvement of digestion^[2][4]
• relief of constipation^[2][4]
• gastrointestinal tract cleansing^[4]
• relief of gas^[2]
• treatment of diabetes^[2]
• treatment of eye disease^[2]

Amla is a high source of absorbable vitamin C. Studies have shown that it is effective in reducing inflammation, age related kidney disease, and complications of diabetes. It supports the immune function. The fruit is an astringent which tones the colon. All three of the fruits create a great environment in your colon.  Just take ½ a tablespoon at night in warm water. These flower essences  are illustrated in yoga and impacts the subtle body.

Depression can also be as a result of mineral deficiency—minerals that are not absorbed through the colon. Sesame seeds (Tahini) are the highest source of calcium.  Hummus is a wonderful dish that is great for mineral supplement.

Excess serotonin can also cause depression. The pineal gland produces the serotonin derivative  melatonin. When the pineal is working properly, all organs are in rhythm. Having a light on in your bedroom (LED, incandescent or otherwise) can reduce the amount of melatonin produced that would help in balancing the function of the organs and help you sleep.  Some people sleep in front of a TV that even when off,  emits LED light from the cable box. A light on an alarm clock can disturb sleep.  When you sleep with a mask on, you can avoid light and sleep better.

Once there is an imbalance just cutting out the lights in the room can help in addition to adding passion flower, poppy seeds, or mimosa to your diet. These essences help to calm you and restore chemical balance so that during the hours of 11 PM to 3 PM your liver can be restored and function better.

All symptoms listed above can be a manifestation of chemical imbalances that can show up as depression which decreases body efficiency and weakens the immune system. All of the remedies are truly divine. They come from the earth, and are non-synthetic. Consult your doctor before using them and be sure they will not adversely interact with medication you are already taking. Even if an underlying cause of depression is a life altering event (like a death or divorce), a well functioning body can fortify you to face whatever adversity there is before you.

Low Vitamin D Increases the Risk for Depression

Wednesday, December 01, 2010 - Byron Richards, CCN

Vitamin D receptors are found throughout your brain so it is not surprising to find that new research demonstrates that those with low vitamin D are 85% more likely to be depressed than those with minimally adequate vitamin D.

Researchers at Georgia State University used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to analyze serum vitamin D and depression in 7970 non-institutionalized U.S. residents, aged 15-39.

“The mechanism through which vitamin D plays a role in mental health is not clearly understood,” said the researchers. “Active vitamin D enhances glutathione metabolism in neurons, therefore, promotes antioxidant activities that protect them from oxidative degenerative processes.”

A lack of vitamin D is one reason for a poor mood as the winter months roll along.  Supplemental intake of 1000 IU to 2000 IU is a general recommendation.  Higher intake of vitamin D may be needed but should be monitored with blood tests.  The target range for optimal vitamin D is 50–80 ng/ml (125–200 nmol/L).  In this study vitamin D levels of 20 ng/ml (50 nmol/L) were associated with depression compared to levels of 30 ng/ml (75 nmol/L) or higher.  A score of 30 ng/ml is the minimal “normal” and is not adequate for optimal health

What follows is a list of four financial issues that ought to be near the top of the discussion list before getting married.

When Lisa J. B. Peterson started her Boston-based financial planning firm, Lantern Financial, she knew she wanted to focus her practice on young professionals. She quickly realized that many of them could use premarital financial counseling and built a program called HarMoney around their needs.

One of the first things she asks clients about is what she refers to as their financial ancestry. “It’s looking back at your own personal past,” she says. “How did your parents deal with money, how does that impact how you deal with it, and how might that impact the couple’s relationship?”

Because so many of our money behaviors are learned, she asks couples to share their earliest money memories — whether their father hid money from their mother or how either parent fretted over the funds available. This can be a particularly intense discussion for people whose parents were divorced, and the stories are sometimes accompanied by tears. “Money is so emotional, and people forget that,” Ms. Peterson says. “You think that it’s just numbers.”

While it’s about the least romantic subject imaginable, your credit history holds a chunk of your permanent financial record. It follows naturally from the ancestry conversation, and Lantern Financial pulls credit reports and scores for its clients.

Full disclosure on the credit front is useful for two reasons. First, a credit report is, in part, a catalog of past mistakes and overall habits — loan payments you missed or department store credit cards you didn’t really need. That in itself is a good starting point for a discussion about what you’ve learned (or still need to learn) about handling money.

There’s an immediate practical side to this, too. If there are errors or low credit scores that a couple can improve, there may still be time to make the fixes so that the couple can get the best rates on a loan for their first home a year or two later.

Figuring out who will pay the bills each month may not seem to be an important conversation or assignment. But it gets tricky when both people want to take it on. “People understand that in a relationship, money is control,” says Jeff Kostis a financial planner in Vernon Hills, Ill., who walks engaged couples and newlyweds through a checklist of questions. “If you’re not paying the bills, you don’t know where the money is going, and you feel like ‘He doesn’t want me to go out with my friends’ or ‘She doesn’t want me to play in the fantasy football pool.’ ”

For two people who have both been on their own for a while and don’t want to give up doing the monthly financial chores their own way, Mr. Kostis suggests, at a minimum, regular household meetings complete with Quicken or other spreadsheets so that the person writing the checks can keep the other one up to speed. With more stubborn couples, he might suggest handing the controls back and forth at the beginning of each year.

If one person is making most or all of the money, does that person get to make most or all of the financial decisions? This should be discussed early on. If you’re the car aficionado or have researched all of the local school options for the children, do you get to make the decisions about those things? “These are the kinds of things that don’t come out when you’re dating,” Kuhlman says.

Here’s another question that tends not to come up during courtship: Just how rich do we want to be one day? Are your career paths going to be something that pulls you together? Or, more often, are they things that will tend to pull us apart, where you’ll really have to be proactive to make sure things are under control.

Mr. Kostis might put it a bit more bluntly, say to a spouse of an aspiring investment banker or corporate lawyer: Are you O.K. with acting essentially as a single parent, with your partner working 80 hours a week until the age of 80? “Not that there is a right or wrong answer,” he says. “It’s just about understanding, going into the marriage, what that would really mean.”

Footnote: Consider the whole picture in 360 degrees from “‘what is our collective college debt ?”  to “how should we pay for our island vacation?” If necessary, use a counselor,  but put the cards on the table or you won’t be dealing with a full deck.

When it comes to retirement, there is more to think about than your retirement account. Preparing for retirement requires over basically putting funds away. While it is essential that you start as young as feasible when working towards your retirement savings, you ought to work on other areas as well.

When they are young, they frequently think that they have lots of time. So plenty of people start their retirement investments late in life. This means that they will retire later with less funds in their retirement money. It also means that they will must invest a bigger portion of their every month income in order to meet their retirement goals.

One of the most important things you ought to do to protect you in to retirement is to stay healthy. Medical concerns are a top issue facing the elderly & their income situations. Getting older happens, but you can work at remaining healthy.

Start with looking after your health by exercising, eating right & getting sleep. Learn to handle stress appropriately & handle health concerns immediately.

No matter how healthy you are, you will find that your medical expenses and insurance premiums will increase as you age. It can often be hard to buy reasonable insurance when you are older. In the event you buy your insurance now, in most cases it is possible for you to to keep it so that it will be there when you are older.

You cannot basically fall back on Medicare, which requires you be 65 years of age (except in special cases). In the event you have a major health issue at 63 without insurance, you will find that your whole retirement fund could be depleted quickly. Even in the event you qualify for Medicare, it doesn’t cover everything. In most cases supplemental insurance is great for taking up the slack.

Don’t think of Social Security as a retirement fund. This may have been true at three times for some people, but things have changed. In most cases, Social Security basically covers the basics, but not an excellent lifestyle. You ought to have retirement savings to fall back on, whether they be an IRA, 401(k) or other kind of investment. In addition, in the event you are young there may be no Social Security when it comes time for you to retire.

Owning your own residence is ideal. You don’t require to have a mortgage orrental payments to cut in to your every month retirement budget. When times get hard, you will still have a place to live. If things get tight, you can always think about a reverse mortgage. This is fundamentally a loan using your house as security. When you die or sell the home, the whole loan, including interest, must be paid back. The payments will be lower than your elderly mortgage payments, but they can help supplement your retirement income.

In addition to owning your own residence, going in to retirement debt free is recommended. If your retirement income will be less than your regular paycheck, your debt payments could become a burden. Start paying off those credit card & auto loans right now. Learn how to budget & pay for things in funds. It takes some time to get out of debt, & it is difficult to keep away from the temptation, but it is worth it.

Preparing for retirement takes over a simple every month contribution to your IRA or 401(k). Have nice health, nice insurance, own your home & become debt free. These three factors will make your retirement simpler on you & your finances.

One of the most popular ways of investing is the one shown here – on the www.freeinvestmentblog.com blog. It is natural that one thinks about future and has a desire to put a cushion for the older age times.

For my fruit smoothies I typically use frozen and fresh fruits or vegetables for flavoring in a liquid of soy, almond or fruit juice.  I like Lifetime’s plant protein with pea, hemp, rice and chia seed for additional minerals and antioxidants. I discovered the healthy, healing properties of various seeds, berries and herbs really enhance the nutritional value of these liquid meals. I always add a few ice cubes to make it frosty.

Some of these supplements have added benefits. Maca increases sperm count and libido.  Moringa is a miracle herb that addresses a multitude of deficiencies and was even mentioned in the Bible. Liquid meals are great for the elderly who sometimes tend to graze and overlook vegetables they don’t like.

You may not want to change your entire diet but substituting a few meals a week with liquid superfoods will give you extra energy and immune system boosts.  Take a look at the details below on the aids I have listed:

Goji Berries

Goji berries have been used for 6,000 years by herbalists in China, Tibet and India to:

• protect the liver
• help eyesight
• improve sexual function and fertility
• strengthen the legs
• boost immune function
• improve circulation
• promote longevity

Goji berries are rich in antioxidants, particularly carotenoids such as beta-carotene and zeaxanthin. One of zeaxanthin’s key roles is to protect the retina of the eye by absorbing the blue light and acting as an antioxidant.  In fact, increased intake of foods containing zeaxanthin may decrease the risk of developing age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of blindness in the elderly.

You should be aware that goji berries may interact with anti-coagulant drugs commonly called “blood thinners”  such as Coumadin if you drink more than 3 cups of goji berry tea a day.  Goji juice, dried berries and snack foods are typical ways to enjoy goji. For example, the health food store Trader Joe’s sells a goji berry trail mix.

Maca (for improved sexual function)

Maca is a plant with a radish-like root that is used as a food and for medicinal purposes. It is used as a folk remedy to increase stamina, energy, and sexual function.According to folklore, ancient Incan warriors took maca before going off to battle to make them physically strong. However, they were later prohibited from taking it, in order to protect conquered women from their heightened libidos.

One study looked at the effect of four months of treatment with maca tablets on semen quality in nine adult men. Treatment with maca resulted in increased seminal volume, sperm count, and sperm motility. A 12-week study determined there was an improvement in sexual desire in the men taking maca. It has no known side effects or drug interactions according to the website altmedicine.about.com.

Maca is consumed as food for humans and livestock, suggesting any risk from consumption is rather minimal. It is considered as safe to eat as any other vegetable food. However, maca contains significant amounts of natural iodine so those with goiters should be cautious.

Moringa

Moringa leaves contain all essential amino acids and are rich in protein, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, and minerals. No wonder it’s called the miracle plant. It is even used in cattle feed to increase weight gain and milk production.

The Moringa tree is an exceptionally nutritious tree with a variety of potential uses. Moringa grows quickly in any tropical climate which makes it an excellent food source for undernourished populations. I first saw the tree in Ghana in West Africa. Within six months of planting a seed or a piece of trunk, one can eat the leaves from the tree. The leaves can be cooked, which looks like cooked spinach, or dried, ground over a screen for several days, and ground into a fine powder that can be added to almost anything as a nutritional supplement.

Moringa is considered to be one of the most useful trees, since almost every part of the Moringa tree has some beneficial property: the leaves, leaf powder, pods, seeds, flowers, roots and bark of the drought-resistant moringa are edible or have some other healing property according to steadyhealth.com.

Moringa tree is rich in iron, potassium and multivitamins, especially Vitamin A. Moringa tree contains four times the amounts of vitamin A as in carrots and thus can prevent blindness. The tree’s leaves contain high amounts of Vitamin C, seven times more than oranges. Moringa tree’s leaves contain twice the amount of protein and four times more calcium than milk. Moringa has triple the amount potassium that’s in bananas.

Chia Seeds

Chia seed may be eaten raw as a whole seed and is an excellent source of omega 3 essential fatty acids and antioxidants. Apart from that, it contains Vitamin B, vitamin C and vitamin E. The seeds can be consumed raw or soaked in water before consuming. Being rich in nutrients, chia seeds also offer various health benefits. The following are some of the chia seeds benefits, which can prove to be beneficial for promoting overall health.

• Being rich in essential fatty acids, chia seeds reduces high blood pressure and is best for cardiovascular health.
• Chia seed’s help diabetics stabilize blood sugar levels.
• The anti-inflammatory properties of chia seeds are beneficial for arthritic patients. It has been found to be effective in reducing the pain and inflammation associated with the condition.
• Chia seeds boost metabolism and also promote lean muscle mass. It is one of those foods, which is rich nutrients and is filling, but is low in calories. So, chia seeds are used for  weight loss and weight maintenance programs.
• One of the most important chia seeds health benefits is that they help in improving brain function. The essential fatty acids promote efficient nerve transmission.
• Chia seeds are considered one of the best energy enhancing foods since it is rich in nutrients. It has been found to be effective in enhancing the performance of athletes.

Sonia Nair reports that apart from boosting the overall health, chia seeds can also prevent medical conditions like heart disease. Even though, side effects of chia seeds are extremely rare, there are reports which suggest that over consumption of these seeds can increase the risk of prostate cancer in men. Some people may develop indigestion and bloating, after consuming chia seeds. Therefore, if you plan to use chia seeds, use them moderately.

Drinking healthy smoothies can be an easy, one-handed way to consume a nutritional meal on the go that will help you get going with more stamina, energy and spunk.

Mama Kali of the Northscale Institute grows moringa on her farms in Ghana and Atlanta.  Her wisdom is sought by many on the historical use of herbs and her knowledge of ethnobotany.  She wrote the following poem for Life 360:

Moringa oleifera – The Biblical Tree of Life

Moringa is the embodiment of pure light from the Sun

It is the Sun manifested in living form

It is the Light of Life

That Divine spark from the plant world

That links the God Force

The breath of God

Into the clay form known as

The human body

by Mama Kali Sichen

Thank you Mama Kali