Where do you get your Protein?

As vegetarians, we are this question all the time. We are also asked “what do you eat?” The answer to the first question is everything! Anything from plant or animal kingdoms are made of cells which are constructed from protein.

I saw the following picture snd it just said it so well.

America, The Nation of Drugs!

Does it bother anyone else that we have become so drug oriented in our medicine? It would be OK if we were getting healthier but we are NOT! America is getting sicker and sicker. Insurance costs are alarmingly high. Most people, of all ages, are on some drugs. Only vegans seem to bypass this curse. When I watch TV commercials it’s amazing how many are for drugs. Then you watch beautiful scenery, nice people being happy as they read the many many side effects of the drug. I often sit there amazed that people take these drugs for a relatively minor symptom and have series side effects to deal with. Why?

I know some drugs are necessary and are helping people but most are just making money and causing serious side effects. I have been lucky with my diet I don’t take any drugs. My doctors are always amazed. Live right and be healthy. Live to be happy not just enduring it!

 

Why do we get sick?

With the power of nature and our epigenetics, why can’t our bodies adjust and keep us healthy? Nature takes millions of years to adjust to changes. Normally changes come slowly. When they o come fast they wipe out a major part of a species and those left need to adjust rapidly or go extinct. Both scenarios occur all the time. We are making changes to our bodies and environment at a very rapid degree. Our epigenetics tries to adjust but some of the changes cause conditions that can not be overcome! Take a diet that turns ON cancer genes and turns OFF tumor fighting genes. This makes it near impossible to fight the disease.

We have changed our environment in so many ways:

1. Global warming
2. Processed foods
3. Not enough consumption of plants
4. Stressful lives
5. Negative thinking and beliefs
6. Little or no exercise

This causes our bodies to be overwhelmed to the extent that our bodies become ill. All of these things are choices we all have. Make the right choice and you have a higher probability of health and extended life. Make the wrong ones and that probability drops rapidly. What choices do you make on the above items? How is your healthy? How many medications are you on? Choose wisely.

 

Cholesterol and Breast Cancer

One in every eight woman will be diagnosed with breast cancer. That is sad but the really sad thing is it can be prevented with a dietary change. Dr Greger says that broccoli, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and other plant-based foods can reduce the risk. He says new studies show a link between cholesterol and breast cancer. The cholesterol fat feeds the cancer and allows it to grow. the study shows a 17% increase in cancer risk for women with cholesterol over 240 as opposed to those under 160. This may be why cholesterol drops in cancer patients. The cancer is eating it up.

Eggs are a major source of cholesterol and fat. All animal protein foods contain this as well (cheese, milk, meat and butter). We have reported on studies that show meat can turn ON/OFF cancer (The China Study and others see my book). Once cancer is turned ON, cholesterol and fat feed it. This allows it to grow rapidly out of control. Feed your body correctly and you will enjoy good health!

 

Reading Labels

Do you read food labels? It is not just about fat and calories! Look at what is in the product. Processed foods (what most Americans eat) have all kinds of preservatives in them. If you can not read the name it’s not good for you. Also scan the list of ingredients taking note of what is on top of list and what is at bottom. They are listed in order of amount in the product. If you are cooking an instant mashed potato product (why you don’t just cook some potatoes and mash them I don’t understand) is potato on the top or bottom of list? I have seen products where it is at the bottom. That means there is very little real potatoes in the product. Next question you should ask “if my mashed potatoes have little of no potatoes, what am I eating?”

Labeling is a game. Manufactures set serving size so percentages look small. If you are eating several of their serving sizes you may be getting much more fat, sugar or salt than you think. We very seldom buy anything in a box, can or frozen package. We do buy pasta in a box. It is from Italy with no GMOs and no preservatives. Try to buy more things that grow and are farmed organically. Your body will thank you with good health. Remember labels serve to adversities as well. Advertisement is designed to make you buy something you really don’t need or want.

 

Eat your beans!

Phytates or Phytic Acids are widely misunderstood but they may be what is in beans that are so healthy for us. Dr Greger says studies show that this ingredient may be what helps prevent cancer in those that eat a lot of beans. Meat eaters (including white beat) has a 2-3 times higher rate of colon cancer than non meat eaters. Beans seem to lower that rate. So if you must eat meat, eat your beans as well. No single food will give us good health. We all should be eating more vegetables and fruits than the average American consumes.  Each plant seems to have its own protective substances that keep us healthy, happy and strong. Are you and your family consuming enough vegetables?

 

How Incredible Our Bodies Are!

Friday, I posted a very important video from Dr. Lipton on how our cells are intelligent. They communicate with each other, reproduce, respond to stimuli, take in nutrients and get rid of waste. He discussed the fact that the nucleus with our DNA was NOT the brain of the cell but a database of blueprints to build things needed by the cells. The brain was external to the cell, the environment. It stimulates our cells in good and bad ways. Nutrients cause the cells to move toward the nutrients while toxins cause the cell to move away. Genes are turned ON/OFF by different stimuli from the environment. Cancer genes gets turned ON (epigenetics) because of things in our environment like poor diet & exercise, toxins and negative thinking. We are creatures made up of all the living cells in our bodies. They are trying to react to the various stimuli in our environment. Sometimes this causes a break down in control; resulting in disease. Sometimes our bodies overcome negativity and take in positive thinking and good nutrients and survives disease free.

We are amazing creatures designed to evolve with our planet. We are changing all the time but it takes time for the cells to catch up to major environmental changes. In the last few hundred years we have increased toxins, poor nutrients, introduction of toxins in our food supply and stress in our lives. All of this is overwhelming our cells. This causes diseases like cancer, heart disease, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, dementia, COPD and many other chronic diseases. Many times these diseases lead to premature death.

You can reverse this by changing your lifestyle! Eat better (non processed whole organic foods and less animal products), exercise more, think more positive and lower the stress on yourself. For more information see my book “Food for Thought”!

Exercise vs. Diet

On Monday I BLOGged on How Much Exercise we Need. Exercise is very important for many reasons. If you eat a very bad diet, you can not exercise your way to a slim body. If you are already slim, you may be able to maintain it. Exercising without a good diet will not save you from diseases. Look at how many athletes get cancer or die of a heart attack. We must find a combination of exercise and diet if we want to maintain our health.

The plant kingdom evolved with us over millions of years. All the nutrients we need that are missing from our bodies is contained in plants (fruits & vegetables). Modern medicines are based on nutrients found in plants. They are synthesized not actually taken from plants. We need plants to survive in this world.

Now fast forward to current time! The SAD (Standard American Diet) is a sad diet. Most Americans are eating less and less plants and more and more meat, sugars and salt. This type of diet will kill most people eating it. If you really want to protect your family, start improving your diet and start a family exercise program. It can be as simple as walking together.

 

About Me

I write this BLOG on health and how the science of epigenetics affects all of us. I have written a book on epigenetics and how everyday items like diet, positive/negative thinking, beliefs, environment and attitude can affect our health and well-being. It is called Food for Thought – An Epigenetic Guide to Wellness. It appears that we are NOT hard-wired by our DNA but have a “software” like system above the hardware called epigenetics. Epigenetics “expresses” or turns ON our genes. It can also block or turn OFF certain genes. The effect of these changes can be health or sickness.

My background is Physics and Math in college. I then spent most of my career in the computer business. I have a strong scientific and computer background. I was a public speaker for Microsoft as a Regional Director in charge of New York City. This allowed me to speak to as many as 2,000 participants at a conference on the latest and greatest in computing. I see epigenetics more from a computer point of view than do most scientists. This is an advantage given the current understanding of this subject.

I have always had a healthy interest in why things happen and what influences them. Biology of the body and DNA always was an interest to me. I became fascinated by the fact that this DNA somehow made each of us and created our intelligent brains. Scientists began to determine that there just wasn’t enough DNA to do the job. I began to see it like a computer. Computers have a relatively few  simple instructions that when arranged in different orders produce all the programs in the world. They range from Windows to word processors to spreadsheets to digital programs to corporate programs and on and on.

What in our bodies was like software sitting on top of the hardware instructions? This fascinated me for years. Then I read an article about epigenetics and it became clear that epigenetics sits on top of DNA like software sits on top of hardware. It was the missing link that allows simple instructions to be arranged in infinite ways to creat complex outcomes. I began to read everything I could on epigenetics and a hundred plus books later and some online doctorial courses later, I have some knowledge of this subject.

We are about to enter a new age of better understanding how our bodies work. We will also gain knowledge on what affects our bodies both in good and bad ways. The field of epigenetics coupled with nutrigenomics has promising potential to link diet to illnesses. It will be a long hard up hill road but the results will be well worth the wait.

I would love your comments, ideas and thoughts on this subject. Biologists and epigenetists please comment on the technology and science of epigenetics. Thanks for reading my BLOG!

George J. Febish

Epigenetics – What is it?

EPIGENETICS

1) Belief and Epigenetics

2) Diet and Epigenetics

3) Thinking and Epigenetics

Two great examples of DNA vs. epigenetics are:

1. Our DNA is like a computer’s hardware and epigenetics like its software. The environment (food, thinking and physical environment) is like data to the software. In a computer system the software uses the hardware instructions to accomplish its goals. It reads data and acts upon it to complete the original programmer’s ideas. In our bodies epigenetics uses the DNA instructions (genes) to accomplish its goals. The environmental conditions are data that causes the epigenetics to meet nature’s goals.
2. Our DNA is like a musical instrument and epigenetics is like the musician. The sheet music is like our environment. A musician reads the music and uses his or her skills to play the instrument (hardware). In our bodies epigenetics uses environmental conditions to play our DNA. Just like some musicians may play well and others may play badly; our environment causes our epigenetics to either play well or poorly.

How can we tell what changes are good or bad for us?