Medical Health

Green Tea Extract, Niacin, and Liver Stress

If you are taking a prescription medicine that is known to stress the liver, then you should be very careful about taking supplements such as green tea extract and niacin. Both green tea extract and niacin can be hard on the liver. In fact my doctor says that most herbs and herbal extracts can elevate liver enzyme levels. (And of course you have heard the ongoing news about the dangers of taking too much Tylenol.)

If you are taking a medication that is known to stress the liver, and you want to take green tea extract or niacin (or other supplements), then discuss your plans with your doctor and have your liver enzyme levels tested.

More About Cancer Prevention

In addition to my Anti-cancer Diet and Vitamin D, I work out at the gym 3 days a week and take walks and/or lift weights at home 3 to 4 days a week. At the gym, I run 2 miles and then lift weights for an additional 60 to 90 minutes.

I also take numerous 6- to 9-hour hikes up mountains and into canyons, sometimes for 7 days in a row. The hiking may help ward off colon cancer, and I am a firm believer that running helps stave off lung cancer.

Increased My Vitamin D to 2000 IU Per Day

I recently read a reputable article that said that we should be taking 1500 to 2300 IU of Vitamin D each day. I think I read the article on a life extension web site: http://www.lef.org/news/.

Mayo Clinic says that the upper limit for vitamin D is 2000 IU per day. See http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/vitamin-d/AN01864. In Canada, doctors often recommend 1000 IU per day as a potential cancer preventative.

Previously, I was taking 1000 to 1300 IU each day, every day, rain, snow, or shine, 365 days per year.

Cancer Prevention Foods and Spices

As part of your cancer prevention diet consume dark chocolate, cabbage juice, homemade tomato sauce, pharmaceutical grade fish oil, green tea, turmeric, and ginger every day. But don’t overdo it: fish oil, turmeric, ginger, green tea, garlic and cinnamon thin the blood. When you thin the blood too much, you are susceptible to hemorrhagic strokes and other serious health problems. If you already take prescription blood thinners (such as warfarin), you should talk to your doctor about using fish oil, turmeric, ginger, green tea, garlic and cinnamon as health supplements.

Your dark chocolate should be at least 70% cocoa and you should consume 1 ounce (about 30 grams) each day. Eating more than an ounce a day will add to your fat load and make you gain weight.

You should be sure that your fish oil is pharmaceutical grade. Lower quality fish oil products contain contaminants. I take Nordic Naturals fish oil. From what I have read, Dr. Sears and Dr. Weil also market quality fish oil.

My homemade tomato sauce consists of strained Italian tomatoes (from the bottle) slightly simmered with Italian spices. Cooking tomatoes makes the lycopene antioxidant more accessible.

I make cabbage juice every day and drink it immediately after preparing it. I also include a heaping teaspoon of organic turmeric, a half teaspoon of organic powdered ginger, one ounce of 80% – 90% dark chocolate, a mug of green tea (steeped for 15 minutes), and Nordic Naturals fish oil in my daily regimen.

Take turmeric and powdered ginger the easy way: put them in a protein shake at lunch.

Great Resource on Herbs and Alternative Medicine

The University of Maryland Medical Center is one of the very best online references for finding out about herbs. The site comes with a variety of cross-reference tools: Conditions by Organ and Body System, Interactions by Drug, Conditions by Signs and Symptoms, Interactions by Herb or Supplement, Herbs & Supplements by Uses, and Depletions by Drug.

Colitis, Fish Oil, Chocolate, Tea and Spices

If you suffer from colitis and you still have problems with bleeding, you should consider removing chocolate, green tea, fish oil, garlic, turmeric, ginger, and cinnamon from your diet — they thin your blood, making you more prone to bleed. (And if you exercise, you should probably lift less weight for awhile. Strength training puts pressure on your guts.)

Once you have the bleeding back in control you can reintroduce small amounts of these foods and spices back into your diet.

P.S. If you are taking vitamin E capsules (at dosages of 200 IU and up), you should probably discontinue those for awhile, too. Vitamin E thins the blood. (And I suppose you have already quit aspirin and ibuprofen.)

Smoking and Obesity

The media keeps saying that today’s kids are obese and that today’s parents may be the first generation in history to outlive their children. Yet, in the United States and Canada, smoking and lung cancer are on the decline, which makes me wonder whether cigarettes would keep our teenagers and twenty-somethings slim, allowing them to outlive their parents (rather than the other way around), even though they eventually die of smoking-related illnesses.

Ulcerative Colitis and Diet

If you are looking for dietary methods for toning down the symptoms of ulcerative colitis, read Dr. Barry Sears’ book The Anti-Inflammation Zone: Reversing the Silent Epidemic That’s Destroying Our Health, where he explains how to remove grains from your meals and how to balance protein, good fat, and favorable carbohydrate.

If you are to the point of recovery where you can again tolerate spices, be sure to try adding organic tumeric and organic ginger to your meals. Both spices fight inflammation and ginger alleviates gas and diarrhea. (But don’t go overboard: these spices can thin your blood and increase bleeding. SEE the “Colitis, fish oil, chocolate, tea, and spices” post.)

You might have a problem finding organic fresh ginger, but Frontier brand organic ground ginger root works just fine. Their Web site is www.frontiercoop.com.

Cabbage Cures?

They say cabbage heals ulcers and prevents cancer. Here is one great site for finding information: The World’s Healthiest Foods: Cabbage.

Some people drink cabbage juice (the fresh juice is sweet, with a bit if an edge). If you buy a good WIDE MOUTHED juicer, the process is quite easy.

Others go on cabbage soup diets, but I am sure that you would want to investigate its health effects, since boiling the cabbage destroys nutrients and since protein is an important component of all healthy dietary regimes.

Anxiety

From what I have read about foods, they say that for anxiety you should cut back on caffeine (coffee, tea, chocolate) and you should try taking honey every time you feel bad.

Yes, good ol’ honey.

You might also try a calcium supplement — even Tums will do.

And like I said before, when I feel anxiety, I usually take a nap, even if it’s still morning.