VeganAthleteGuide

Category: Diet

How are Organic Foods better for you
There is often the assumption that organic foods are not much better than non organic foods. This might be true in terms of taste but how are organic foods better for you in terms of your health and weight?

Do organic foods have more nutrients than conventional foods?
Organic foods seem have not much advantage when it comes to vitamins and minerals. The major difference in nutrients is in the antioxidants (phytonutrients) amount.
Organic foods can have almost twice as much antioxidants than non organic ones as shown in this study. This means organic foods are more potent in protecting your cells.
So you can already say that organic foods are better in keeping you healthy and giving longer youth. And they also have better antimutagenic properties what is beneficial in cancer prevention.
One substance higher in non organic foods is cadmium. It is poisonous and similar to mercury and lead and can be found in amounts double as high compared to organic foods.
This is because of phosphate fertilizers non organic foods are dependent on due to the destruction of the soil through synthetic pesticide products. Those pesticides are also poisoning the groundwater.

Are low amounts of toxic pesticides harmful?
There is evidence that farm workers who work with pesticides, suffered from genetic damage.
But the amounts in the food is of course significantly lower. There is a debate about if those amounts are harmful or not.
And what seems to be often studied are the health risks of the pesticides isolated. Though the products that contain those, have many other ingredients.
Glyphosate is a pesticide that is an ingredient in the product Roundup. It was tested in a study financed by it’s owner Monsanto as not harmful for humans. But another study that was testing the product Roundup itself with all its ingredients, rather than only the single ingredient glyphosate, found that it has harmful effects.
And similar results have been shown for any synthetic pesticides. Only if all the ingredients combined in the pesticide product are tested, the active pesticides are harmful for humans.
Roundup that is sprayed on GMO foods like soy, flax, canola, corn and other crops has following health risks:
Infertility
Birth defects
Hormone imbalance
Brain or nerves damage
Leaky gut development
Cancer
Another thing that I would like to mention is that pesticides do bring money (a lot of money) to certain companies like Monsanto, DuPont and Novartis. And bad news about pesticides bring bad business to those companies. So these businesses pay studies and have methods to change the facts in favor of the business. Like monsanto did by increasing the allowance of glyphosate from 0.2 mg/kg to already 40mg/kg so it is legal to put it on your plate. You can read about it on rt.com.

Do organic foods play a role in weight loss?
It is clear that pesticides are toxins. And toxins that your body is absorbing have to be eliminated to prevent harm or quarantined in fat cells that are stored in your connective tissue.
So by eating too much pesticide foods you could force your body to store the toxins isolated in fat and transferred inside your connective tissue around all your organs. That means between your skin and muscles too which is visible.
By having an excess amount of the so called conventional foods, your body can be always in quarantine mode because it doesn’t have the time to get rid of the toxins. And by passing the intestines first, a damaged digestive tract can be the result.
Additionally to fat gain this will also lead to a malfunctioning connective tissue that is storing nutrients for your organs.
I actually wonder how beneficial it might be to try to lose weight and force the body to burn these quarantine fats. Because it would also force it to get rid of the toxins that might be too much to handle, what could have possible adverse health effects.
A better solution would be to give your body a detox supplement to cleanse it.
And please do not think that organic junk and processed food have no effect on weight gain.

Conclusion
The question about how organic foods are better for you wouldn’t be asked so often, if we would maybe label foods in a different way.
Why did we start to call conventional food organic at some time? Instead of changing the name for the pesticide foods to unconventional foods. This fact already starts to play with your mind psychological, by telling you that you eat harmless traditional food.
It should be clear by now that non organic food isn’t harmless. And that you have to change your mindset about the food you eat to prevent negative effects for yourself and the environment that is damaged as well.
How high and how many health risks exactly there are won’t be easy to determine, when businesses are fighting to bring up their “truth”.

Make use of the sharing buttons.

See ya
Alex
February 10, 2017
Balanced Vegan Diet Plan for Weight Loss – Eat the right calories
Gone vegan but still can’t lose unnecessary weight? Or thinking of going vegan to lose weight easier? All you need is a balanced vegan diet plan for weight loss and some exercise to fire up your hormones. But let’s focus on the diet only for now and begin with a question before we come to the diet plan.
Do calories in a balanced vegan diet matter for weight loss?
The difference for a vegan diet compared to a “normal” western diet is that your body needs more work to convert the plant nutrients to make them bioavailable for you. Because of that your body will not overconsume calories and therefore calorie counting might be not necessary.
But there are a few more things to consider.
Women tend to store more fat than men because of another biology and less muscle mass. Muscles are great to burn fats even when you are not active, but you need to exercise first to get more muscles. So women might need to watch more for calories because they are very good in storing them as fat.
But calorie is not calorie. It is more important what calories you eat than how many calories. The difference in what calories you take lies in the form of the food. You have to always ask yourself: Is my food whole or not whole?
Processed white rice for example has no fiber like the natural form brown rice. Brown rice has fiber, that makes it more time consuming for the body to absorb all the calories.
Because it is harder for your body to get all the calories it needs from the food with fiber, it will take in less. So even though you eat the same caloric amount of white rice and brown rice, your body will have fewer calories from the brown rice absorbed.
Carbohydrates in the fiber-less food are absorbed too fast. Because of that your body can fill up its need for carbs faster. This will lead to an excess amount of carbs that your body won’t waste but convert into fat as energy reserve.
But your goal is not to store more fat but to burn it!
And there is one more factor that counts to the question “Is my food whole or not whole?”.
If you would take the brown rice and put it into a blender and make it into a puree, you would break down the fiber and make the digestible carbs easier available. You basically predigest the food for your body and take up more calories faster this way. This would result in more fat storage again.
So eating 100 g bread made of whole grains or just the 100 g whole grains makes a difference too. And a whole fruit would be better than a blended fruit and a blended fruit would be better than a juiced fruit because a blended fruit still has fiber.
So what is the answer to the question: Should I count calories for weight loss or just eat whole foods without counting?
Like you see from the example above, it isn’t such an easy task to count calories, if you have to guess how many calories your body actually absorbs. And your genetics and gender makes that not easier too.
If you want to be on the safe side, then you avoid processed foods as much as possible and start to count your calories only if you don’t see results (intensive bodyweight exercise included). After some time you will know from experience how much of what to eat and won’t need to count calories anymore.
It must be self explaining that vegan junk food like meat substitutes will give you a hard time to lose weight and be healthy.
Vegan meat substitutes and junk food will not do you a favor. What you really need is better cooking skills!

How to count calories
The reason I wrote that you count your calories only if you don’t see results, is because done wrong can lead to more harm than good.
There are things you can do wrong. In case you set your caloric need to low you can face the famous yo-yo effect after, if you should decide to eat more again.
Another one is that your body adapts to the caloric deficiency and starts to be more productive with less calories. You might end up with malnutrition as well as the infamous fat wheel!
The fat wheel (a term I just invented) is the following: You eat lesser, your body adapts. You still don’t lose weight and get stressed about it. Your body will put itself under stress too. The stress raises your cortisol hormone what makes fat loss even more impossible.
To do it the safe way you go to cronometer.com and enter your details. Then you will see how many calories you need to stay at your weight. Don’t forget to include your activity level.
Next you use cronometer to enter the foods you had during the day. Your goal is to be 250 calories below the calories you need.
Then during a 6 week period you check if you lose fat. And I mean check for fat not weight! If you see no change, then you can try to lower 250 more.
If you are obese, you can go for 500 calories below straight. But never do more than 500.
With the right food and correct exercise you should see results. If not, then the issue shouldn’t be the calories. So please don’t overdo it!

What food you should have in your kitchen
If you want to live a healthy life with a high quality body, you need high quality food. That’s why you should prefer organic food and save your money somewhere else.
Some people believe that there is no much difference in organic and non organic food. It can make a difference for your weight too.
Food to have in your cupboard:
Millet Flakes, Buckwheat Flakes, Oats
Almonds, Peanuts, Cashew, Walnuts, Brazil nuts
Flax Seeds, Chia Seeds, Hemp Seeds, Sunflower Seeds
Whole Grains (Millet, Buckwheat, Brown Rice, Amaranth, Quinoa, Spelt, Rye, Barley)
Legumes (Lentils, Peas, Beans)
Olive Oil, Hemp Oil, Avocado Oil, Coconut Oil (All virgin)
Dried Raisins
Still Spring Water
Food to have in your Fridge:
Broccoli, Cucumber, Capsicum, Tomato, Cabbage, Sweet Potato, Carrots, Arugula, Spinach, Wild Plants.
Orange, Kiwi, Banana, Pineapple, Pomegranate, Berries
Virgin Flax Seed Oil
Food to have in your medicine shelf:
Garlic
Cinnamon, Turmeric, Milk Thistle, Parsley, Oregano, Black Pepper and other herbs
There are other nice healthy foods that I haven’t mentioned.
And if you don’t buy candies and have fruits at home instead, you won’t have cravings for them.

How to use the food in your kitchen
This is based on the way I do it and can be altered of course. I exercise regularly and therefore eat some more calories. The amount in grams for food should be altered on personal needs.
If you want to use dry legumes like me, that are cheaper and have no additives, you will have to acquire the habit to think ahead of what you want to eat tomorrow, because you need to soak them before cooking.
But with a big fridge you can store the already soaked foods for several days and be more flexible this way.

Breakfast (Muesli)
100 g Millet flakes
1 Kiwi
10 g Brazil Nuts
30 g Almonds
30 g Flax Seeds
30 g Dried Raisins or preferably fresh berries
Still Water

You have to soak the flax seeds one day before you want to eat them. Either in the morning while preparing your breakfast or in the evening before going to sleep. Unsoaked ones will drain water from your intestine and could cause constipation.
You don’t have to soak the almonds and brazil nuts, but I would recommend it because soaking gets rid of the phytic acid and makes the micro nutrients more available and digestible. Phytic acid in a low dose however has shown to be beneficial against cancer.
The next day you blend a kiwi with around 0.4l still water in a blender. Add all ingredients into a bowl.
I know that it is not the best way to eat the kiwi in terms of what I have mentioned above, but combined with the water as well as the fat of the nuts, the sugar intake will be slowed down.
Variations:
You can use oats or the buckwheat flakes too. In case you have some gluten intolerance, oats might be a problem for you.
Instead of flax seeds you can take chia seeds or hemp seeds too. The reason I prefer flax seeds is because of the higher omega 3 amounts.
Walnuts would be a great alternative for almonds. But they are low in vitamin E.
Brazil nuts are the best known selenium source. 10g brazil nuts have a maximum of 200 micrograms selenium what will give you more than you need to protect your cells. More than 400 micrograms selenium are believed to be toxic though this should apply more for medication than natural sources.
The reason I choose kiwi is due to the high vitamin C amount. You can use other fruits like orange too if you like.
Caution with dried fruits though because most of them are industrially dried with sulfur and can harm your digestive system. So better use fresh fruits if you can.
And of course you can add all the above-mentioned variations in a good mix if you like.

Lunch
150 g Whole grains
75 g Legumes
500 g Vegetable salad
10g Flax seed oil

The vegetables will provide your cells with many vitamins, minerals and digestive enzymes (if raw). It is best to always have some raw vegetables before your main meal.
You can use flax seed oil on top of your salad and some herbs if you like. What I like to do often is to eat my vegetables separate and put the oil into the cooled down grains or legumes with some seasonings.
Other oils I use are avocado, olive, hemp and coconut oil. They don’t interfere much in your omega 3 to omega 6 ratio balance.
Never heat up flax seed oil or any oil high in polyunsaturated fatty acids (Omega 3 and omega 6). That will lead to trans fats and is highly unhealthy and will cause your body to isolate them with even more fat. The only oil you should use for high heat is coconut oil.
You can cook the first two ingredients as instructed. I would soak dry beans and peas usually 24 hours instead of just 12 as often recommended. That will make them better digestible. Dry lentils should be soaked too, but can be used unsoaked as well in case you forgot to soak something.
Special trick: Because beans can make you produce more butt air than you want and you usually don’t want to use it to launch to the moon (or someone beside you to send you there with his fist ), you can add one tablespoon bicarbonate of soda into the soaking water. This seems to help.
For whole grains soaking is less important, but maybe better. Which one you choose for your meal is your decision. All have a unique taste. Quinoa is usually more expensive than the others, but is praised highly for its health benefits and is my favorite in taste.
Herbs
You can try to include turmeric from time to time into your meals. It has some very good health benefits like detoxification of organs and can be made up 1000 times stronger by combining it with black pepper.
The thing with herbs though is that they are meant to heal specific areas by poisoning them and forcing the body to detox the problematic area more intensively. Thus neglecting the parts the body gives usually more priority to.
Therefore, it might be not wise to overuse any herb and that’s the reason you shouldn’t “overdose” herbs and use them probably more when really needed for a period. The bitter taste alone tells you that they are toxic. And garlic for example has the same effects like herbs.
Further knowledge can be probably best found in traditional Asian medicine and exclude my knowledge so far.

Dinner
50 g Peanuts or peanut butter
50 g Green leafy vegetables

A quick meal for the evening are some peanuts or if you like a peanut butter on a bread or a rice cracker. Or you can also make a salad with green leafy vegetables with peanut toppings.
You can use other nuts too. Look for the ingredients though and make sure it contains 100% nuts only.
Alternative:
If you have a ripe avocado you can make yourself an avocado salad.
Just add some cucumber, tomatoes and some green leafy vegetables.

Snacks during the day
Almonds or/and Cashew/Peanuts/Walnuts/
Bananas and fruits in general.

Almonds will be your best vitamin E source. Cashew can aid your zinc intake. Peanuts are very high in vitamin B3 and high in vitamin B5. Walnuts are the best source for Omega 3 from nuts, but still higher in Omega 6 though.
Bananas will be a good potassium source and are a great food after a workout, because they raise your blood sugar levels. This is ok after a workout. Other fruits should be preferred other times.
And drink enough still spring water from glass bottles if possible instead of fruit juices or soft drinks so you stay away from sugar.

Conclusion
Having a balanced vegan diet with whole foods is in my opinion the best way to lose weight. Not the only one but the best because it comes with health benefits.
If you stick to a good exercise plan as well, you will reach your goals fast enough.
Get started with a free workout plan for weight loss

Be consistent and most of all patient. There are no magic pills that will take the excess fat from your body in 2 weeks.

I am sure you have a lot of questions. If so, leave them in the comments, I am happy to help.

See ya
Alex
February 7, 2017
Best Vitamin B12 Supplement for Vegans and the rest of the World
If you are looking to supplement your vitamin B12, you will find many products to choose from. To make the choice easier I will explain how these supplements differ so you can get the best vitamin B12 supplement for yourself.

What Supplements you can choose from
You can get vitamin B12 in different forms. Not only in shape and structure like in pill- melting tablet- or liquid form but different in chemical forms too.
The shape form is the less important to focus on. But if I would choose one, I would take a liquid one, because digestion starts already in the mouth and it doesn’t have so many other ingredients like the melting tablet.
The main focus should be on the chemical form of B12 and there are mainly 4 to choose from. We have cyanocobalamin, hydroxocobalamin, methylcobalamin and adenosylcobalamin.
Three of those are occurring naturally in the body and in food. Cyanocobalamin compared to the other three is synthetic.
Hydroxocobalamin and adenosylcobalamin are higher available in meat products. Methylcobalamin is higher available in milk products. There are more forms of B12 (Cobalamin) that are usually not present in food but are produced through conversion in the body.

What are the differences in these Vitamin B12 Forms
The major difference between these four B12 forms is that only two of them are bioactive and can be used by your body. That doesn’t mean that the other two are useless but need to be converted by the body into active forms first.
To give you an understanding of the converting process look at the infographic below.
As you can see the cyanocobalamin needs up to four conversion processes and the hydroxocobalamin up to three to produce the bioactive coenzymes methylcobalamin and adenosylcobalamin.
Methylcobalamin can be converted to adenosylcobalamin but not the other way around.

What is the best Vitamin B 12 Supplement
The synthetic cyanocobalamin has the negative effect of leaving cyanide during the conversion in the body. Cyanide is a toxic substance that has damaging effects in the body. It was used during world war 1 and 2 because of that.
So it is already clear which vitamin B12 form you better avoid.
The only positive thing about it is, that it is very cheap to produce and thus cheaper to buy.
Hydroxocobalamin has the positive effect to stay the longest in your bloodstream as a deposit. Another positive effect is its ability to detox the mentioned cyanide as well as nitric oxide. Cyanide is usually accumulated in the body through smoking. Too much nitric oxide can cause migraines.
The downside is that during conversion from Cob(II)alamin, S-Adenosyl methionine (in short SAM or AdoMet) is used to produce methylcobalamin.
S-Adenosyl methionine is a cosubstrate that has shown in studies to have:
the same positive effects on depression like regular anti depressions
similar positive effects on colon cancer like chemotherapy
pain relief in osteoarthritis patients due to probably anti-inflammatory effects
benefits for liver health, where it is produced and used in the body.
You can read more about it on www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
To avoid SAM being used up in your body, a reduced intake of hydroxocobalamin would be beneficial.
The best vitamin B12 supplement suitable for vegans I would recommend you to take, would be a mixture of methylcobalamin and adenosylcobalamin. This helps your body to get the two important coenzymes it needs without converting them and using up your body’s resources.
Hydroxocobalamin can be considered as well for detox reasons. Because of its long durability in the body, compared with the two coenzyme forms, it won’t be necessary to take it on a regular basis.

Some people have a missing gene to convert the cob(I)alamin into methylcobalamin what seems to cause side effects. In case you realize side effects you should focus on getting your B12 from hydroxocobalamin, if you already know that you have a problem with methylcobalamin.
Don’t hesitate to share your experience or questions about the mysterious vitamin B12. You might help someone or can get new insights. You can read about my experience here.
See ya
Alex
January 5, 2017
Vitamin B12 deficiency in Vegans – What you should know

Vitamin B12 for vegans is one of the nutrients people think won’t be sufficiently obtained on a vegan diet. Instead of the other things like protein, iron, calcium and what else some tend to see as problematic, vitamin B12 deficiency in vegans is the only thing that is truly being a problem that you can’t overcome with a vegan diet. At least with a tasty diet.. (more below)
So that you not face any problems, I will give you the things you need to know and my experience about the experiment I made with not supplementing with vitamin B12.

Experiment on a Vegan diet without Vitamin B12 Supplementation
Going vegan I made tons of research on this diet form and stumbled across one major issue in a vegan diet. As you already know it was vitamin B12. So having the “paleo way” in my mind I wasn’t really into considering supplementation but a way to get the B12 on a natural way.
What I have found about getting the B12 natural (back then) was that if you have a healthy gut flora, your body will absorb a sufficient amount of B12 from your gut. Important to know is that B12 is actually produced in your colon, the only problem is that the colon is not absorbing a sufficient amount into your bloodstream and the B12 is ending up wasted in the toilet.
Other ways I read of getting vitamin B12 are eating dirty vegetables, meaning not washed after harvest, what meant to me the only healthy way doing this is to grow your own food (what I couldn’t do). And another would be to drink water from a natural spring. I have a spring near my place and gave that approach a try.
So assuming to have a healthy gut flora, eating organic foods (but cleaned) and drinking my water from a spring I put it to the test. After 2 years I had obvious symptoms I couldn’t neglect and did a regular blood test to check my B12 status. It is not the best approach for a B12 test but good enough, if you are really deficient and it turned out that I was deficient.

Vitamin B12 is recycled in your Body
The reason why I could go for two years without having symptoms of a vitamin B12 deficiency is mainly because vitamin B12 can be reused and therefore your body won’t get rid of it so fast.
But after I started to be sleepy throughout the day as well as more forgetful, I did the blood test to check what it could be. Already being very sure it can only be the B12 the tests showed exactly that. The doctor added that he is surprised that my hemoglobin (red blood cell) size is normal as it should usually get bigger. I’m not sure if that has something to do with unknown super powers (probably not).
So my test failed and I can tell everybody not to repeat this experiment because it can end in damaged nerves in your body that can cause an inability for a lifetime, if you don’t react quick enough. Another thing I learned is to invest into blood tests instead of just thinking everything is fine.
After taking vitamin B12 supplements for some weeks and recheck myself again on the B12 issue, the results have been alright. But soon after I realized that I could have prevented this from happening. There was another way I could have obtained the vitamin B12 naturally, if I only had thought about it more simple.

Vitamin B 12 can be obtained on a Vegan diet but…
… that’s for the hardcore vegans. Like I mentioned before B12 is produced in the colon and then wasted in the toilet. Well, thinking simple would be: “Why waste it?”
If you would eat your poo, you would get a sufficient amount of B12. And that was actually already known in the late 50s when Dr. Sheila Callender treated vegans with low B12 with water extracts from their poo. That is documented on onlinelibrary.wiley.com.
Vitamin B12 isn’t hard to get naturally. Just hard to eat.
Looking at the animal kingdom you will find animals like our beloved dogs eating poo. The reason behind it is that they are lacking in nutrients (like B12) they can get by reusing their “brownies”. This a legitimate and natural way to get B12 even if you are on a vegan diet. You can argue that poo is not vegan but vegetarian and I would’t participate in that debate, because I think that time could be better used like in trying to sell one’s poo.
Luckily we have science that can produce vitamin B12 in capsule form so you don’t need to live a poopy live.

Vitamin B12 should be taken seriously
No matter if you want to take supplements or tend more to poo, which I wouldn’t recommend, watch out to keep your vitamin B12 up. Too low levels can also cause depression what can result in obesity as well.
A Vitamin B12 deficiency isn’t only a vegan or vegetarian problem. The average Joe can have it too and people with a higher age tend to be deficient as well. Therefore, you should always do yearly check ups on any deficiency to prevent age related diseases.
You can find out about what vitamin B12 supplement you should take here.

Did you have a similar experience like I did or did you even have found a better way nobody knows about getting your vitamin B12? Let me know in the comments.
See ya
Alex

December 13, 2016
What is the Best Vitamin D Supplement? – How much do you really need

To stay healthy during winter time you need to know what is missing when Santa Claus is coming (except the presents). The days are short, the sun is in a lower angle and hits you with fewer rays. And thus you start to suffer from Vitamin D deficiency. “What is the best Vitamin D supplement?” It will be answered when you understand first how much “Hormone D” (Yes it is actually a hormone, if you do not know already) you really need. So that you can stay healthy all year round and keep on exercising.

Vitamin D Dose

Knowing that Vitamin D is actually a Hormone and not a Vitamin leads to the important fact that it needs to be balanced for optimal health. If other hormones like estrogen and progesterone are out of balance in woman for example, it would lead to several health issues (that are most likely treated wrong). So you should better have an optimal level for “Hormone” D.

The Optimal Level looks like in the Chart below. (If you are overweight, I would recommend you to keep the dosage closer to normal weight rates for your size)

I just realized that I need a balcony to write this. This chart is based on the recommendation of Dr. John Cannell who is specialized in Vitamin D. The Chart is showing you the total amount of Vitamin D from supplements or/and sun exposure needed. So if you go out in the Summer regularly, you will need none or little depending on how much you are exposed to the sun. Our ancestors from Africa have been under the sun for the whole day. Today you go into cave offices to earn paper with numbers called money and return to cave houses using your turtle with wheels.

One other thing your body needs “mainly” to process Vitamin D efficiently is magnesium. If you are on a Vegan diet and following a meal plan similar to this one you will have more than enough and don’t have to worry about it. The minimum Magnesium intake daily should be from 600-800 mg depending on your weight.

The Vitamin D hormone is necessary to process calcium in your body. Calcium is what your bones depend on. Back pain from working in the office can actually be a calcium deficiency.

Vitamin D2 or Vitamin D3 Supplementation?

Yes there are two types on the market.

The difference between them is that your body can only absorb up to about 2000 IU with Vitamin D2 because it can’t store it. So if you take more it would be useless.

D3 on the other hand can be stored in your fat cells for several weeks just like Vitamin D from sunlight. That means you can take a very high amount and that will be stored. But you shouldn’t take more than double your recommended IU/day daily for a long period of time to risk intoxication. However, you can take up to 7 times your recommended dose weekly if you like.

So which one to choose? I would recommend the D3 for Winter and outdoor workout in summer. The D3 should not be higher than 1000 IU per capsule for proper dosage, especially if you want to give it to children.

If you are taking medicine, ask your doc for advice before taking Vitamin D supplements.

Vitamin D Supplementation VS Sunlight exposure

For some reason I’m thinking of tanning my big white butt. Well that’s one benefit of sun, it can make you look nice. Might be because it’s an instinctive sign of health to look a bit tanned (like having visibly enough D). That’s on courtship.

Summer sunlight is the natural way your body learned to use for Vitamin D production and will always be the best. No need to look on a chart, just go out and it will be done for you. You might heard you need only 15 minutes of summer sun a day. That’s true for most Swedish maybe, but depending on your skin type it could be up to 8 times as much. The general rule is: You don’t need to turn into a tomato. If you know how much time it roughly takes for you to get red you just divide it into half.

Depending on how long and how much your skin will be baked, you can get 2 to 5 times the IU of Vitamin D you need. And there is no need to panic if overdose. Like mentioned before, your body can handle the sun better than supplements and prevent overdosing. The Winter season is crucial for some Vitamin D supplements though.

And finally sunlight helps your body to produce Coenzyme Q10 by combining with Chlorophyll (plant blood form veggies). [wp-svg-icons icon=”wand” wrap=”i”] This is another pro for the natural source.

Protection of too much sun exposure

Number one product for sun protection: The Shade. 100% Organic, no side effects, free until out of stock. Get it NOW!

Truck driver Bill McElligott is a good example that a car glass can only filter UVB rays but not UVA. The UVA is not burning your skin but is causing it to age faster and can lead to skin cancer. The fairer your skin is, the more you should care about proper sun protection.

I am no fan of chemical Sunscreen and thus don’t recommend it. The ingredients in most sunscreens are more likely to produce skin cancer than the sun itself. In case you will be under longer sun exposure and want to protect your skin from burns, there is one antioxidant called Astaxanthin that helps many people to prevent sunburn.

One other thing you can do to protect yourself from sun damage, is to install a window film on your windows.

In general, darker skin types have higher pigmentation and melanin that protects them more efficiently from UV damage. But damage does still occur.

Something unclear? Share your experience or write your questions down in the comments section.

Cheers

See ya

Alex

September 12, 2016
Iodine for Weight Loss – Why you might struggle losing that fat

Many people are suffering from obesity they just can’t get a solution for. Or some just can’t get rid of those last fats on the waist for that nice beach and nothing seems to help. Are you having the same issues? What is wrong with you? Are you maybe another human species, that is related to the hippos? See a documented case about a Hippo sapiens here. One thing you might have never thought of is to take iodine for weight loss.

What Iodine does

Iodine is necessary for your thyroid, so your thyroid can produce thyroid hormones. These hormones which have iodine bound in them are necessary for your body cells to function properly and increase their metabolism.

Especially the health of female breast and ovary cells is affected, which ensure a balanced hormone production of estrogen and progesterone. A good balance of those two hormones leads overall to a better energy usage of carbohydrates and fats. So your body starts not to store energy in form of fats, but use it and burns excess fats stored in your connective tissue. This helps you to lose weight and get rid of cellulite.

Male prostate cells are affected by the thyroid hormones as well. If those are insufficient, it can lead to prostate cancer.

Your thyroid uses iodine to produce mainly thyroxine (T4) and partly (~10%) triiodothyronine (T3). Most of your cells can only use T3 hormones. So the T4 needs to be transformed into T3. This happens mainly in the liver and partly in the intestines and in low amounts in the kidneys, brain and muscles.

So to have enough T3 you have to have a healthy liver and healthy intestines with a good bacterial flora or your T3 will be too low. If you make a lab test and have good amounts of T4 but too low amounts of T3, you will know why now. So keep your liver clean and stay away from unnecessary substances like alcohol, cigarettes and candies. Several medications can harm your organs as well and could be the cause for low T3. And of course constant release of cortisol due to e.g. chronic stress will decrease any thyroid hormone production.

Nine out of ten women are found to be at least six times more deficient in iodine than men. For some reason they seem to be less efficient in transforming the T4 into T3. I wonder how that could be possible and thinking logically about it, I assume it might be related to all the cosmetics, contraceptive pills and other pharmaceutical drugs woman are using, men don’t use at all (…most).

Those substances can increase your estrogen levels in your body, and too much estrogen does block the thyroid receptors from working properly.

Common believes

The official (RDA) average amount of recommended iodine supplementation is 150 mcg (0.15 mg). This is enough to keep your thyroids working and from enlarging (hypothyroidism). The question though is, if it is enough to keep other organs in the body to work efficiently.

The unofficial belief is that we need about 12.5 mg of iodine like the Japanese take in naturally with their high intake of seaweed. Japanese are taken as an example because they suffered very rarely from thyroid issues and from breast, ovary or prostate cancer.

These two recommendations are like someone is telling you, you should climb a hill and another one is saying you should climb the Mount Everest.

So how much iodine do you need?
After putting hours of research for such a seemingly easy question, I came across this:

So as you can see from this video, the belief of many that we should take around 12.5 mg of iodine because that is what the Japanese take daily, is a false belief. A study made in 2011 because of this dispute figured that the Japanese consume between 1-3 mg of iodine a day through seaweed.

So like Dr. Haskell explained, you should go with a dosage of not higher than 3 mg Lugol’s Iodine. One drop of a 2% Solution daily will do. There will be doctors that say that you can or should take 12.5 mg or 30 mg or even higher amounts, what might be reasonable for short term, if you already suffer from a disease.

There are two different iodine supplements on the market. Some might say you should take the newer produced Nascent Iodine which is made in the laboratory into a single atomic form of iodine. The other one is Lugol’s Iodine and is around for over 150 years. It has a double atom combination of iodine and potassium iodide.

Iodine in nature binds with another atom like iodide. If iodine is bind to a second iodine atom and you would take such a solution, you would leave this green planet. Science has made it possible to make iodine not to bind to another atom but stay as a single atom which is called Nascent Iodine and is claimed to have no overdosing effect. This should aid the thyroid to produce its hormones faster by skipping the splitting process inside it. Whether that is good or not is not judged by me. I personally would stick with Lugol’s.

The best way to go, is having some before- and after- and more after check ups for T4 and T3 to be sure it works for YOU and not for someone else. Everyone is different and lives in a different environment and is differently intoxicated and deficient in other nutrients that influence the iodine absorption and thyroid function.

The Thyroid Enemies

Like every good story, this one has its foes as well. The villains are Mr. Fluoride, Ms. Chlorine and Bromine aka Mr. Americaz. The problem with those chumps is, that they have the same structure like iodine (halogens). So your Thyroid receptors will be blocked with those and their function inhibited.

Chlorine is found in every country with water treatment. Fluoride is not used in every country for tap water, but often used in toothpaste instead. And Bromine that is only permitted in the US as food additive, is used mainly in soft drinks, flour products and processed foods but sometimes also for swimming pools instead of Chlorine.

If you live in the US and have a very healthy lifestyle, you would have no big problem avoiding Bromine. For Fluoride and Chlorine, it would be better to have a water purification systems. Especially for your shower because Chlorine and Fluoride are gases under normal temperatures and are easily absorbed by your lungs into your bodies system when you shower.

Depending on your water supplier you could have Chloramine instead of Chlorine in your water, what needs another filtration system than the Chlorine. So careful with that.

Avoiding those bullies is the first step and taking Lugol’s Iodine the second to clean up your Thyroid.

The Thyroid Allies

You will need to have good amounts of Selenium, Zinc and Iron in your diet to increase the transformation of the T4 into T3. And like mentioned in the video, Selenium helps to protect your body from overdosing iodine supplements.

Selenium doesn’t need to be supplemented or taken by polluted seaweeds. Your best source for it are Brazil Nuts. Only 10 g of Brazil Nuts contain already the recommended 200 mg of Selenium. So make sure to have them when supplementing with iodine and don’t worry about overdosing with Selenium from Brazil Nuts.

Actually you should always have them in your diet. Your Body can manage nutrients from foods better and make the decision of how much it needs while storing or getting rid of the rest. So there is no big risk of overdosing and you can have some more to be sure you have enough Selenium to support your Thyroids.

A good diet with all necessary nutrients like all B Vitamins is of course also important, as well as enough Vitamin D.

Iodine from Nature

If the Japanese can do it, you can do it. The highest source for iodine can be found in seaweed growing in the sea. The problem with seaweed for you though is, that it is the cleaner of water. And humans are dumping a lot of waste into the sea you are not updated in the news about daily like other “important” topics. So it is questionable how good it is to consume seaweed nowadays.

It might be maybe enough to take usual organic foods grown on iodine rich soil, if we would live in a natural environment. But we do live in a human altered environment Mr. Americaz could sing you a song about. So relying on nature might be not enough for you.

Application of Lugol’s Solution

An easy way of using Lugol’s Iodine, is to apply it on your skin. Put it on an easy absorbed place on your skin like your inner forearm. Don’t try to wash the stain away but check how much time it needs to be fully absorbed and gone. If gone before 6 hours, then you might be deficient.

Another sign for iodine deficiency in women are tender breast during the menstruation cycle. To have more accurate indicators if you are deficient, you should go and see a specialized doctor.

You can take Lugol’s orally by putting it into a cup of water as well.

Try to incorporate iodine into your life, if your diet hasn’t enough and don’t forget that it is not only useful to lose your fat, but also to protect you from diseases like breast-, ovary- and prostate cancer. Pregnant and breastfeeding woman should especially take iodine to make sure that your child has a good brain development.

The benefits of the potassium iodide in Lugol’s Iodine is, that iodide can take radioactive iodine out of your body and thus protect you from radioactivity. So you might want to have a bottle in case Homer Simpson pressed the wrong button.

Side Effects

Taking Lugol’s Iodine can cause detoxing reaction of heavy metals. You might not feel so well for the first weeks taking it and should drink enough water and give your body enough of other nutrients to aid the detox. If the detoxing effect seems too strong, then you should consult a doctor.

See ya around

Alex

September 5, 2016
What is the Best Vegan Protein Powder – With Vegan Protein Shake Recipe
Going to have some hard workout but not sure which vegan protein powder to take after? Then let’s get to the point. What is the best vegan protein powder? Well, the best vegan protein powder is actually combining two vegan protein powders. I will show you which these are and how to combine them into a protein shake for efficiency and taste.

The best Protein Powder (actually two)

Here are the two main Ingredients in your vegan protein shake:
- Rice Protein Powder
- Hemp Protein Powder
Why these two?

Rice Protein Powder
- has 80 grams of Protein per 100 grams
- has all three BCAAs in a sufficient amount. BCAAs are amino acids (Proteins) that your body can use directly and send them straight to your muscles which is a good thing to have after a workout
- is made of soaked sprouted and fermented whole brown rice. Sprouting activates enzymes and makes vitamins and minerals easier to be fully digested by your body. Same goes for Protein
- has good amounts of Vitamin B’s that are acting as coenzymes and are necessary for proper enzyme function and muscle recovery.
- can preserve all enzymes and vital substances if not heated over 42 degrees (Raw). The enzymes will support your organism and digestive system in processing the nutrients in your food
Raw rice protein powder of high quality

Hemp Protein Powder
- has 40 grams of protein per 100 grams
- is one of the vegan protein sources with all essential amino acids your body can’t produce itself
- has high amounts of magnesium, iron, and zinc which are cofactors and necessary for testosterone production and muscle repair
One raw hemp protein powder with 50 grams of protein per 100 grams

These proteins combined give you all essential amino acids the BCAAs for quick support for the muscles after a workout and benefit your testosterone production and regeneration. Both proteins are high in the amino acid Arginine which has known effects on wound healing and hormone function, both necessary for recovery and growth.

Your simple Vegan Protein Shake Recipe

You need:
- Banana (~150 g)
- Rice Protein Powder (15 g)
- Hemp Protein Powder (30 g)
- Water or Almond Milk (0.5 l)
- Mixer
You probably already got the trick. You add everything in your mixer and press the start button. The banana has a higher glycemic index than most other fruits, which will raise your insulin to absorb the proteins faster and will fill up some carbohydrates. It will add almost 2 grams of protein and help your muscle recovery by adding 50 mg of magnesium and 600 mg of potassium. Magnesium to support your muscles and your nervous system and increase the fat burn by activating enzymes related to it. Potassium to help your muscles to recover. Your body will lose both when doing sports

You would get about 25 grams of protein from this shake. You can add more or less if you want just to keep the Rice Protein to Hemp Protein ratio around 1:2.

This would be enough to help your body to recover. But to get more out of your shake in terms of taste and efficiency…

What else to add for more benefits and taste
- Barley Grass Powder (5 g)
- Maca Powder (7 g)
- Carob Powder (5 g)
Barley Grass Powder will give you lots of vitamins and minerals. Through it, you can add some Vitamin C and Chlorophyll into your shake to increase the absorption of the iron inside the Hemp Protein.

Only 5 grams cover
- 10% of the recommended daily Vitamin C intake
- 10 % of the recommended daily Folate intake
- over 40 % of the recommended daily Vitamin K intake
- 15 % of the recommended daily iron intake
- 15 % of the recommended manganese intake
And Barley Grass has many health benefits
- lowers cholesterol
- has strong antioxidants that protect your cells and keep you young
- aids your skin and connective tissue
- raises your pH level
- is used to treat some cancer like skin cancer and breast cancer
- aids your intestinal health
- high in Chlorophyll which gives you red blood cells for transporting oxygen and with sunlight regenerates CoQ10 which is believed to aid energy levels and recovery from exercise
Maca Powder is the secret weapon. It will give you energy, balance your hormones and build your muscles. The “side effect“ will be enhanced sex drive with more performance and higher fertility.

You should take about 1g Maca for every 10kg of bodyweight. It might take some days or weeks to feel the benefits. And it is better to stop using it for some time so your body doesn’t adapt to its effects. Either you take it for 4 weeks and 1 week off or 6 days and 1 day off.

Health benefits are
- balancing hormones
- better immune response
- building muscle by indirectly increasing testosterone
- strengthens bones
- improving sexuality and fertility
Maca is a kind of natural steroid and Viagra in one. You can get it raw or gelatinized what should work better because the ingredients seem to be more activated through the process.

Carob Powder will add a little more minerals and vitamins to your shake and give it a sweeter taste. I have used cacao powder before but found out that this hyped “Superfood” has more toxins than it has minerals and vitamins. It won’t kill you but will put your liver into much stress if eaten too much daily. So for the extra flavor, there is the tastier Carob Powder which is safe.

In addition, you can eat raw pineapple that contains the enzyme bromelain. Its function is to break down and digest proteins. I don’t really like to add pineapple to my shake though. What about you? Any special advice or questions? Then leave a comment.

See ya

Alex
September 5, 2016