Science Now Says That Your Subconscious Thoughts And Beliefs Can Actually Cause Molecular Changes In Your Genes.

By Mindvalley

I recently read an article via TunedBody.com, “Scientists Finally Show How Your Thoughts Can Cause Specific Molecular Changes To Your Genes,“ that cites a recent study published in the journal Psycho­neuro­endocrinology, and talks about just how powerful our subconscious blocks can be in terms of governing our life.

Here are the quotes that I loved:

“The major problem is that people are aware of their conscious beliefs and behaviors, but not of subconscious beliefs and behaviors.”

“Most people don’t even acknowledge that their subconscious mind is at play, when the fact is that the subconscious mind is a million times more powerful than the conscious mind and that we operate 95 to 99 percent of our lives from subconscious programs.”

“Your subconscious beliefs are working either for you or against you, but the truth is that you are not controlling your life, because your subconscious mind supersedes all conscious control. So when you are trying to heal from a conscious level–citing affirmations and telling yourself you’re healthy–there may be an invisible subconscious program that’s sabotaging you.”
This is part of the reason why I’m such a big believer in methods that alter subconscious beliefs.

And another great article on the subject, this time from the New York Times.

“…researchers do not yet know how or when, exactly, unconscious drives may suddenly become conscious; or under which circumstances people are able to override hidden urges by force of will. Millions have quit smoking, for instance, and uncounted numbers have resisted darker urges to misbehave that they don’t even fully understand.

Yet the new research on priming makes it clear that we are not alone in our own consciousness. We have company, an invisible partner who has strong reactions about the world that don’t always agree with our own, but whose instincts, these studies clearly show, are at least as likely to be helpful, and attentive to others, as they are to be disruptive.”
On Mindvalley Academy, perhaps our best-selling author on this topic of subconscious blocks is Christie Marie Sheldon.

Source: http://blog.mindvalleyacademy.com/alternative-healing/scientist-show-subconscious-thoughts-can-cause-specific-molecular-changes-genes

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What are Brain Waves?

Your brain is made up of billions of brain cells called neurons, which use electricity to communicate with each other. The combination of millions of neurons sending signals at once produces an enormous amount of electrical activity in the brain, which can be detected using sensitive medical equipment (such as an EEG), measuring electricity levels over areas of the scalp.

The combination of electrical activity of the brain is commonly called a brainwave pattern, because of its cyclic, “wave-like” nature.

Brainwave Frequencies

With the discovery of brainwaves came the discovery that electrical activity in the brain will change depending on what the person is doing. For instance, the brainwaves of a sleeping person are vastly different than the brainwaves of someone wide awake. Over the years, more sensitive equipment has brought us closer to figuring out exactly what brainwaves represent and with that, what they mean about a person’s health and state of mind.

The Significance of Brainwaves

You can tell a lot about a person simply by observing their brainwave patterns. For example, anxious people tend to produce an overabundance of high beta waves while people with ADD/ADHD tend to produce an overabundance of slower alpha/theta brainwaves.

Researchers have found that not only are brainwaves representative of of mental state, but they can be stimulated to change a person’s mental state, and this in turn can help with a variety of mental issues.

DELTA WAVES (.5 TO 3 HZ)

Delta brainwaves are the slowest but loudest brainwaves (low frequency and deeply penetrating, like a drum beat). They are generated in deepest meditation and dreamless sleep. Delta waves suspend external awareness and are the source of empathy. Healing and regeneration are stimulated in this state, and that is why deep restorative sleep is so essential to the healing process.

THETA WAVES (3 TO 8 HZ)

Theta brainwaves, occur in sleep and are also dominant in deep meditation. Is also what you’ve experienced when you’re in that time of sleep just as you’re waking up in the morning or just as you’re falling asleep at night.

While you are in Theta state, the mind is capable of deep and profound learning, healing and growth. It is also the state where you can manifest changes, the ones that you want in the material world.

It acts as our gateway to learning and memory. In theta, our senses are withdrawn from the external world and focused on signals originating from within. It is that twilight state which we normally only experience fleetingly as we wake or drift off to sleep. In theta we are in a dream; vivid imagery, intuition and information beyond our normal conscious awareness. It’s where we hold our ‘stuff’, our fears, troubled history, and nightmares.

ALPHA WAVES (8 TO 12 HZ)

Alpha brainwaves are present during quietly flowing thoughts, but not quite meditation. Alpha is ‘the power of now’, being here, in the present. Alpha is the resting state for the brain. Alpha waves aid overall mental coordination, calmness, alertness, mind/body integration and learning.
These Alpha frequencies are associated with creativity, imagination and even intuition. This is a very dynamic state to be in.

BETA WAVES (12 TO 38 HZ)

Beta brainwaves are present in our normal waking state of consciousness, when you’re totally aware of your surroundings and using your 5 senses to process your physical objective world.

Beta brainwaves dominate our normal waking state of consciousness when attention is directed towards cognitive tasks and the outside world. Beta is a ‘fast’ activity, present when we are alert, attentive, engaged in problem solving, judgment, decision making, and engaged in focused mental activity. Beta brainwaves are further divided into three bands; Low Beta (Beta1, 12-15Hz) can be thought of as a ‘fast idle, or musing. Beta (aka. Beta2, 15-22Hz) as high engagement. Hi-Beta (Beta3, 22-38Hz) is highly complex thought, integrating new experiences, high anxiety, or excitement. Continual high frequency processing is not a very efficient way to run the brain, as it takes a tremendous amount of energy.

GAMMA WAVES (38 TO 42 HZ)

Gamma brainwaves are the fastest of brain waves (high frequency, like a flute) and relate to simultaneous processing of information from different brain areas

It passes information rapidly, and as the most subtle of the brainwave frequencies, the mind has to be quiet to access it. Gamma was traditionally dismissed as ‘spare brain noise’ until researchers discovered it was highly active when in states of universal love, altruism, and the ‘higher virtues’. Gamma rhythms modulate perception and consciousness, disappearing under anaesthesia. Gamma is also above the frequency of neuronal firing, so how it is generated remains a mystery. The presence of Gamma relates to expanded consciousness and spiritual emergence.

WHAT BRAINWAVES MEAN TO YOU

Our brainwave profile and our daily experience of the world are inseparable. When our brainwaves are out of balance, there will be corresponding problems in our emotional or neuro-physical health. Research has identified brainwave patterns associated with all sorts of emotional and neurological conditions.

Over-arousal in certain brain areas is linked with anxiety disorders, sleep problems, nightmares, hyper-vigilance, impulsive behaviour, anger/aggression, agitated depression, chronic nerve pain and spasticity. Under-arousal in certain brain areas leads to some types of depression, attention deficit, chronic pain and insomnia. A combination of under-arousal and over-arousal is seen in cases of anxiety, depression and ADHD.

Instabilities in brain rhythms correlate with tics, obsessive-compulsive disorder, aggressive behaviour, rage, bruxism, panic attacks, bipolar disorder, migraines, narcolepsy, epilepsy, sleep apnoea, vertigo, tinnitus, anorexia/bulimia, PMT, diabetes, hypoglycaemia and explosive behaviour.

ALTERING YOUR BRAINWAVES

By rule of thumb, any process that changes your perception changes your brainwaves.

Hypnosis, relaxation and meditation can alter your brain function, when practiced regularly  they can dramatically improve your health at all levels.

Want to lose weight? Eat all your food in an eight-hour time frame – NEVER snack at night.

By Ben Spencer
Want to lose weight? Eat all your food in an eight-hour time frame – and NEVER snack at night

-Scientists in California said stopping eating after 4pm and sticking to regular meal times helps the body burn calories.

Eating only within an eight-hour window each day could help you shed weight, a study has found.
Limiting the times you eat could reverse obesity and reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. And it doesn’t even matter whether you have fatty or sugary foods. The eight-hour limit seems to undo the harm done by an unhealthy diet.
Researchers believe that sticking to strict meal times allows the body to predict when it will eat – meaning it is better prepared to burn calories.

Mice fed a high-fat diet within an eight hour time frame – for example between 9am and 5pm – were both healthier and slimmer than those given the same number of calories throughout the whole day.
Even when obese mice had their eating window reduced to nine hours, they were able to drop 5 per cent of their body weight within a few days – while still enjoying the same amount of calories.
The research was carried out at the Salk Institute in California.

The scientists think that allowing the body to predict regular meal times helps it synchronise the digestive system with genes and proteins, preparing it to process food.
It also affects the balance of bacteria found in the gut which control metabolism. The findings, published in the journal Cell Metabolism, add to mounting evidence that when we eat is just as important to health as what we eat.
Professor Satchin Panda, who led the study, said: ‘Most of the advice is, “You have to change nutrition, you have to eat a healthy diet.” But many people don’t have access to healthy diets.

‘So the question is, without access to a healthy diet, can they still practise time-restricted feeding and reap some benefit?’
He added: ‘We found that animals fed within a window of eight to 12 hours had a number of protective and therapeutic health benefits compared with animals allowed to eat the same number of calories from the same food source at any time.’
The protective effects were maintained even during ‘cheat days’ – when the mice were allowed unrestricted food over the weekends.
This is good news for dieters. It suggests that an occasional lapse won’t do any real harm.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2857829/Want-lose-weight-Eat-food-eight-hour-time-frame-NEVER-snack-night.html

I Love Nutritional Science: Dr. Joel Fuhrman (TED Video)

This man has passion for nutrition like no other! In this short TEDx video discover insight into how nutritional science is the true medicine.

Joel Fuhrman, M.D., is a board-certified family physician, New York Times best-selling author and nutritional researcher who specializes in preventing and reversing disease through nutritional and natural methods. He is an internationally recognized expert on nutrition and natural healing.

Watch as he shows you 6 real-life cases of just how powerful food as medicine can be.
Source: TEDx

Hypnosis – does it really work?.

 

At last, it’s official. Hypnotism really does work – and it has an impact on the brain which can be measured scientifically, according to one of America’s leading psychiatrists.

David Spiegel, from Stanford University, told the prestigious American Association for the Advancement of Science that he had scanned the brains of volunteers who were told they were looking at coloured objects when, in fact, they were black and white.
A scan showing areas of the brain used to register colour highlighted increased blood flow, indicating that the volunteers genuinely ‘saw’ colours, as they had been told they would.
‘This is scientific evidence that something happens in the brain when people are hypnotised that doesn’t happen ordinarily,’ Mr Spiegel told delegates.He added that there were ‘tremendous medical implications’ and envisaged people being able to manage their own pain and anxiety.Well, I am relieved to know that the people I have hypnotised on stage down the years were not just putting it on to please me and the audience. And, more importantly, that those I have cured of fears and phobias were genuinely cured.I am delighted that this research confirms what professional hypnotists, such as myself, who have been successfully using the technique for medical purposes, have known all along – hypnotism has a genuine effect on the functioning of the mind, as well as the body.Let me give you one example of my recent work in New York. Patricia was a high-flying business executive who had put off having a child for
many years because her career came first. Now the biological clock had clicked in and she desperately wanted a baby, but she could not get pregnant.There was no physical reason for her infertility, and I soon came to realise that she had simply done a fine job of selfhypnosis, programming her body to reject pregnancy.
I re-hypnotised her to switch that part of her body back on, and within a couple of months she was pregnant and now has twins.

Another area in which hypnosis works is pain control. We can all remember concentrating desperately hard on, say, putting up a shelf.

Your screwdriver slips, you cut your finger – and it hardly registers. It is only when you have finished that you realise the finger hurts intolerably, and you notice blood running down your arm.
I have used that principle to help several women to have painless childbirths by hypnotising them into concentrating on things other than the forthcoming pain.
And it is even possible for selfhypnosis to do the trick. I know from experience that it is possible to teach that technique.

Recently I was talking to Dr Roger Bannister, the man who ran the first four-minute mile back in the Fifties. It had been deemed an unbreakable barrier. But within a year or so of his epic feat, some 30 other runners had done the same.

Had the world suddenly produced a new breed of supermen-Of course not. What had happened was that Roger’s astonishing feat had changed the mindset of many runners.
Instead of saying ‘That’s impossible’ they were now saying ‘You know, I could just do that’. And the mental shift impacted on their bodily functions.

Much of the work I now do with leading athletes involves that principle. I hypnotise them into accepting that they could do even better than they are doing.
Do I succeed? All I can say is that many of those sportsmen and women report back to me that their performance has improved, and they send their friends to consult me – which is the highest compliment.

The other area in which, in my experience, hypnotism works well is in curing irrational fears and phobias – as well as addictions such as smoking or overeating.
A good hypnotist can rid you of anxieties within half an hour, and in New York I conducted a televised experiment which proves it.

I hypnotised Gina, a young lady who had a morbid fear of flying. Then I took her up in a C111 transport plane and at 3,000ft opened the rear door and stood with her (harnessed of course) a mere 12in from the drop, while she calmly enjoyed the breathtaking view of the city.
As far as I am concerned, anything which says to the sceptics that hynotism is more than either a showbiz con or a simple matter of the weak-minded ‘victim’ being influenced by the stronger-willed hypnotist is worthwhile.

Please don’t misunderstand me. I have no worries about hypnotism as entertainment. That is how I started out, and I still love to perform on stage and television, although it can involve drama and hype and a slightly contrived, spooky atmosphere.

But, like many others, I soon came to realise that there is much more to the art than merely persuading people to do foolish things as a bit of fun.
As I looked into the history of hypnotism I learned that in its modern form it was first practised as ‘animal magnetism’ some 200 years ago in Vienna by one Dr Franz Anton Mesmer (hence the word mesmerised).

He was highly successful but he ended up ruined and driven out of the city by the medical establishment, having been accused of faking and practising magic.
Or take the case of 19th century surgeon James Esdaile. He practised in India and, as a matter of necessity, performed dozens of operations, including major amputations, without anaesthetic and without his patients feeling pain.

He claimed a 95 per cent success rate, at a time when most surgeons killed some 40 per cent of their patients. But when he came back to this country and tried to interest his colleagues in his discovery, he was laughed out of court by the medical authorities.

Is it any wonder then that those who discovered they had the power to hypnotise soon found they could do better by taking their skill on to the stage rather than into the consulting rooms?
Now I hope that the research conducted by David Spiegel and others will finally enable hypnotism to take its proper place as a serious part of medical science. It is high time.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-101490/Hypnosis–does-really-work.html

5 Science-Backed Health Benefits Of Hypnosis.

By Sarah  Klein.

It sounds like the work of sorcerers and scam artists, but hypnosis can play a very real role in protecting and promoting health.

This isn’t the “You are getting very sleepy…” hypnosis you’re used to seeing in pop culture references, but a clinical procedure used in conjunction with other therapies and treatments, according to the American Psychological Association. Hypnosis for health benefits “should be conducted only by properly trained and credentialed health care professionals (e.g. psychologists) who also have been trained in the use of hypnosis and who are working within the limits of their professional expertise,” according to the APA’s website.

The “state of inner absorption, concentration and focused attention” brought on by hypnosis may help us use our minds more powerfully, according to the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis (ASCH). And harnessing the powers of the mind has inspired researchers and clinicians in various fields to explore the use of hypnosis in a number of health outcomes.

Medical hypnosis, sometimes called hypnotherapy, uses verbal repetition and/or mental imagery (facilitated by a hypnotherapist or one’s self) to induce a “trance-like state” of increased focus. It’s typically described as feeling calm and relaxing and usually opens people up to the power of suggestion, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Once disregarded as a parlor trick, hypnosis is increasingly believed to improve many of those outcomes. The American Medical Association approved hypnosis as a therapy in 1958 (although it later rescinded its position, according to the ASCH), and the APA followed suit three years later, according to Harvard Medical School. That’s not to say it’s a panacea: In fact, more research is needed to prove lasting benefits of hypnosis for certain facets of health, such as weight loss or smoking cessation. But more promising results exist in other areas of study. Here are a few of the science-backed benefits of hypnosis to consider.

Hypnosis can help improve deep sleep.
In previous studies of the effects of hypnosis on sleep, study participants were simply asked to report back on how well (or poorly!) they felt they slept after hypnosis. But in a recent study, Swiss researchers were able to measure its effects by monitoring brain activity in a group of healthy, young women as they took a 90-minute nap after listening to a hypnotic suggestion tape. The women who were deemed the most susceptible to hypnosis spent 80 percent more time in slow-wave sleep (the deep, restorative phase of our shut-eye) after listening to the hypnosis tape than they did after listening to a neutral spoken text. “[T]he results may be of major importance for patients with sleep problems and for older adults,” lead researcher Maren Cordi of the University of Zurich said in a statement. “In contrast to many sleep-inducing drugs, hypnosis has no adverse side effects.”

It can ease symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome.
In a 2003 study, 71 percent of 204 irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) patients reported improved symptoms after 12 weekly hour-long hypnosis sessions, the APA reported. Of those who reported improvements, 81 percent continued to feel better up to six years after the hypnosis treatment had ended, according to the study. In a 2012 study, 85 percent of IBS patients who reported improvement after hypnosis still felt better up to seven years later. “The conclusion is that hypnotherapy could reduce both the consumption of healthcare and the cost to society, and that hypnosis therefore belongs in the arsenal of treatments for IBS,” researcher Magnus Simrén said in a statement.

Hypnosis can quell hot flashes.
Among postmenopausal women who reported at least 50 hot flashes a week, five weekly hypnosis sessions cut hot flashes by 74 percent 12 weeks later, a 2013 study found. Meanwhile, women who did not receive hypnosis but instead had weekly sessions with a clinician only experienced a 17 percent drop in hot flashes.

It can ease pain.
Hypnosis is perhaps most well-researched in the context of managing pain. Two meta-analyses of existing pain and hypnosis research, published in 2000 and 2009, deemed hypnosis effective at lowering pain associated with a number of conditions, including fibromyalgia, arthritis and cancer, but noted that few psychologists were using it, and those who were had little standardization in administering hypnotherapy.

Hypnosis can calm nerves.
Because of its ability to harness the powers of the mind, hypnosis is often employed to relieve anxieties related to other medical procedures, like surgery, scans or even giving birth, called state anxiety. “The mechanism may be similar to the placebo effect — in which patients’ expectations play a major role in how they feel,” Melinda Beck wrote for the Wall Street Journal in 2012. “Hypnosis, in turn, can help patients adjust those expectations to minimize pain, fear and disability.” More research is needed to determine if hypnosis might alleviate generalized anxiety disorder or what’s called trait anxiety, or anxiety relating to personality rather than a specific event, according to a 2010 review of the research. Preliminary studies have started to examine hypnosis in depression treatment as well, but more research is needed.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/02/hypnosis-health-benefits_n_5523210.html

I Tried It: Hypnosis for Weight Loss.

Can mind control really help you lose weight?
By Charlotte Andersen.
Hypnosis may be best known as the party trick used to make people do the chicken dance on stage, but more and more people are turning to the mind-control technique to help them make healthier choices and lose weight. Case in point: When Georgia, 28, decided she needed to lose the 30 or so pounds she put on after foot surgery in 2009, the dieting veteran turned to hypnosis. The mind-control technique had helped her overcome a fear of flying in the past, and she hoped it would help her make “fundamental changes” to her habits.

At first the self-proclaimed foodie was surprised by her hypnotherapist’s recommendations. “[She had] four simple agreements to which I would need to adhere: Eat when you’re hungry, listen to your body and eat what you crave, stop when you’re full, eat slowly and enjoy every mouthful. As such, no foods were off limits and I was encouraged to eat everything in moderation—music to my ears!”

As the treatments progressed—Georgia saw her hypnotherapist about 8 times over a 1-year period—she saw measureable improvement. “The weight dropped off slowly and surely, without huge changes to my lifestyle. I was still eating out numerous times a week, but often sending plates back with food on them! For the first time ever, I was really tasting my food, spending time to take in flavours and textures. Almost ironically, it was as if I had recommenced my love affair with food… only I was able to lose weight doing so.” In between appointments she adds that she did her best to maintain her new healthy habits.

Dispelling the myth that hypnosis feels “weird” or out of control, she says, “Under hypnosis, I always feel very lucid and still in control.” But there were funny moments like when was told to visualize stepping on the scale and seeing her goal weight. “My overly creative mind had to first imagine myself removing all clothes, every bit of jewelry/watch/hair clip and jumping on in the nude (anyone else do that, or is it just me?!).” (Side note: No, it’s not just you Georgia!)

Two years later she has happily maintained her weight loss, occasionally checking back in with her hypnotherapist when she needs a refresher. “Overall, I found hypnotherapy to be a great way of readjusting my habits and really enjoyed the flexibility and inherent ‘sensibleness’ of the whole approach.”

To read more about Georgia’s adventures, check out her blog Fabulous Food and Frolicking!

Source: http://www.shape.com/weight-loss/weight-loss-strategies/i-tried-it-hypnosis-weight-loss

 

Harvard Unveils MRI Study Proving Meditation Literally Rebuilds The Brain’s Gray Matter In 8 Weeks.

It is important to highlight that meditation and hypnosis are very similar. The results of this study are significant, an eye opener for many out there who were skeptical about the unlimited power of the mind. Let’s hope there are more studies to come!.

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Test subjects taking part in an 8-week program of mindfulness meditation showed results that astonished even the most experienced neuroscientists at Harvard University. The study was led by a Harvard-affiliated team of researchers based at Massachusetts General Hospital, and the team’s MRI scans documented for the very first time in medical history how meditation produced massive changes inside the brain’s gray matter.

“Although the practice of meditation is associated with a sense of peacefulness and physical relaxation, practitioners have long claimed that meditation also provides cognitive and psychological benefits that persist throughout the day,” says study senior author Sara Lazar of the MGH Psychiatric Neuroimaging Research Program and a Harvard Medical School instructor in psychology. “This study demonstrates that changes in brain structure may underlie some of these reported improvements and that people are not just feeling better because they are spending time relaxing.”

Sue McGreevey of MGH writes: “Previous studies from Lazar’s group and others found structural differences between the brains of experienced meditation practitioners and individuals with no history of meditation, observing thickening of the cerebral cortex in areas associated with attention and emotional integration. But those investigations could not document that those differences were actually produced by meditation.” Until now, that is. The participants spent an average of 27 minutes per day practicing mindfulness exercises, and this is all it took to stimulate a major increase in gray matter density in the hippocampus, the part of the brain associated with self-awareness, compassion, and introspection. McGreevey adds: “Participant-reported reductions in stress also were correlated with decreased gray-matter density in the amygdala, which is known to play an important role in anxiety and stress. None of these changes were seen in the control group, indicating that they had not resulted merely from the passage of time.”

“It is fascinating to see the brain’s plasticity and that, by practicing meditation, we can play an active role in changing the brain and can increase our well-being and quality of life,” says Britta Hölzel, first author of the paper and a research fellow at MGH and Giessen University in Germany. You can read more about the remarkable study by visiting Harvard.edu. If this is up your alley then you need to read this: “Listen As Sam Harris Explains How To Tame Your Mind (No Religion Required)”.

Source: http://www.feelguide.com/2014/11/19/harvard-unveils-mri-study-proving-meditation-literally-rebuilds-the-brains-gray-matter-in-8-weeks/

The 5 Surprising & Less-Known Reasons You’re Packing On Extra Weight.

By Jeff Roberts.

Obesity has become a massive issue in the United States. How big of an issue you ask? It’s reported that 1 out of 3 Americans today are obese. That’s a statistic that can’t be ignored much longer.

In her article, Americans Are Huge: 5 Surprising Reasons Why We May Be Getting Fatter, author Martha Rosenberg notes that the weight of the average American increased by 24 pounds in the four decades between 1960 and 2000, the likes of which she believes is associated with 5 key factors.

However these factors may be surprising to most considering that none of the factors mention the most commonly discussed cause of weight-gain, calories.

While calories are definitely a crucial part of the equation, there are a number of other environmental and lifestyle factors that are likely to play a much more significant role, mainly because most people don’t realize they’re affected by them, and therefore fail to address them. These factors are as follows:

#1 Antibiotics In Food & Medicine:

What most people fail to understand is the strong connection between our microbiome and weight gain. Compelling evidence suggests an intricate link between antibiotic overuse and weight gain.

There is a common tendency for people to treat all of their infections with antibiotics. The problem with overusing antibiotics is that it wipes out the good bacteria in your gut. Beneficial bacteria (probiotics) are, in fact, so crucial to your health that researchers have compared them to “a newly recognized organ.”

The US uses nearly 30 million pounds of antibiotics each year to raise food animals. This accounts for about 80 percent of all antibiotics used in the US. In livestock, antibiotics are used both to ward off disease and to promote weight gain.

Research suggests that antibiotic ridden meat has the same weight-gaining effect on humans who consume it.

#2 Other Growth-Enhancing Drugs Used In Livestock Production:

Other drugs used to fatten up livestock have weight-gaining effects on humans. Ractopamine is one example. This beta-agonist drug works as a growth promoter by increasing protein synthesis, thereby making the animal more muscular.

In human medicine, beta-agonists are also found in asthma medication, and stubborn weight gain is in fact a common complaint among asthma patients using Advair (a beta-agonist drug)—so much so that the manufacturer has added weight gain to the post-marketing side effects.

Other countries have banned the use of growth-enhancers on animals, and for good reason. These drugs have been known to cause infertility, birth defects, disability, and even death.

#3 Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals:

Many common household products contain endocrine disruptors, some of which are structurally similar to hormones such as estrogen and therefore can affect a person’s normal bodily functions.

Examples include bisphenol-A (BPA), PCBs, phthalates, triclosan, agricultural pesticides, and fire retardants.

Certain agricultural chemicals, glyphosate in particular, may also affect your weight by obliterating healthy gut bacteria. Recent research has shown that glyphosate causes extreme disruption of microbes’ functions and lifecycles, and preferentially affects beneficial bacteria, allowing pathogens to overgrow.

In the US, the vast majority of the glyphosate people are consuming comes from genetically engineered (GE) sugar, corn, soy, and conventionally-grown desiccated wheat. Besides altering your gut flora, glyphosate also enhances the damaging effects of other food-borne chemical residues and environmental toxins.

#4 Artificial Sweeteners (AS):

Again, there is a massive misconception when it comes to AS. They are marketed as ‘diet’ go-to’s, however research suggests otherwise.

AS have been shown to stimulate the appetite, increase cravings for carbs, and stimulate fat storage and weight gain. AS trick our brains into thinking it’s receiving sugar, and when no sugar arrives, the brains signals that it needs carbs. Hence a weight-gain promoting cycle.

A study cited in a recent Democrat & Chronicle article, “found that frequent drinkers of diet sodas had waist circumference increases that were 500 percent greater than non-drinkers of diet soda.”

#5 Stealthy Junk-Food Marketing:

Kids are the primary target for junk food marketing. We see this in check-out lines where chocolate bars, candy, and soda are strategically placed at the eye levels of children. This type of marketing must be working, because one out of three (1/3) children in the US today are considered obese. This type of lifestyle is obviously detrimental to children both physically and emotionally.

Kids are now exposed to marketing via brand licensing, product placement, schools, stealth marketing, viral marketing, DVDs, games, and the internet. According to a 2013 report by the Institute of Medicine (IOM), children aged 2-11 now see an average of more than 10 television food ads per day.

United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter recently warned that “obesity is a bigger global health threat than tobacco use.” The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) also recently issued a position statement on obesity and cancer, in which they too state that “obesity is quickly overtaking tobacco as the leading preventable cause of cancer.”

During this year’s World Health Organization’s annual summit, De Schutter urged nations to join forces to place stricter regulations on unhealthy foods, saying: “Just as the world came together to regulate the risks of tobacco, a bold framework convention on adequate diets must now be agreed.”

How To Avoid The Aforementioned Weight-Gain Factors:

Like previously mentioned, one of the main ways to avoid weight-gain is to examine the quality of the food you are eating, rather than the quantity (calories).

Organic food does not contain harmful chemical preservatives, hormones, or pesticides that cause weight-gain. Stay away from overly processed food as you will only get frustrated when you discover the food you’re eating is laced with the aforementioned weight gain factors.

If foods are advertised, it is almost certain they are bad for you. When was the last time you saw a commercial advertising apples? Kale? Didn’t think so.

Buy whole, organic foods, and cook from scratch. This will automatically reduce your sugar consumption, which is the root cause of insulin resistance and weight gain. If you buy organic produce, you’ll also cut your exposure to pesticides and genetically engineered ingredients, and in ditching processed foods, you’ll automatically avoid artificial sweeteners and harmful processed fats.

Healthy fats are essential, so make sure you aren’t consuming the wrong fats. Sources of healthy fats to add to your diet include avocados, coconuts and coconut oil, unheated organic nut oils and raw nuts and seeds.

Opt for glass packaging and storage containers to avoid endocrine disrupting chemicals.

Make the process a learning journey, implement slow changes and have fun along the way. Eating clean doesn’t have to be a struggle.

Source: http://www.collective-evolution.com/2014/11/15/the-5-surprising-less-known-reasons-youre-packing-on-extra-weight/

Australian man’s dramatic weight loss through hypnotherapy.

Australian man’s dramatic weight loss through hypnotherapy.

An Australian man has revealed his dramatic weight loss of more than 200kg, astonishingly achieved through hypnotherapy. Jordan Tirekidis, 47, weighed a whopping 310kg back in 2012. Today, Mr Tirekidis has lost an outstanding 202.4kg, now weighing in at 107.6kg. “I’ve been reborn, the old Jordan is gone and I’m a new person,” Mr Tirekidis told A Current Affair. Motivational speaker and hypnosis guru Mark Stephens has been treating Mr Tirekidis of at the Little Forest Health Retreat on the New South Wales South Coast over the last two-and-a-half years. “Nobody in Australia has shed 200 kilos,” Mr Stephens said. “The mind is the ultimate weapon we have in the battle of the bulge.” Mr Stephans says hypnosis is the only way to convince the mind to change habits and make you want to eat right and exercise. “Jordan was eating himself to death one mouthful at a time,” Mr Stephens said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To lose the weight, Mr Tirekidis constantly underwent hypnosis to remove the desire for junk food from his mind and to encourage in him the want to exercise. “If you don’t get your mind in the right place you don’t do it,” he said. Mr Tirekidis credits Mark Stephens for saving his life. As well as eating right, growing his own vegetables and cooking his own food, Mr Tirekidis has trained every day with a personal trainer. But after losing so much weight, Mr Tirekidis was left with too much excess skin and underwent cosmetic surgery to remove the drooping and lift up his belly button. After each surgery, Mr Tirekidis revisits the Little Forest retreat to heal and restart his exercise regime. As hard as the process has been for Mr Tirekidis, he says the results have been equally rewarding. “It was like standing at the bottom of Mount Everest and looking up and having to climb up in flip flops,” Mr Tirekidis describes. “I had to do it the hard way and I did it… and now I’m at the top, the view is good and I love it.”

Source: http://www.9news.com.au/national/2014/11/17/19/03/hypnotherapy-helps-aussie-man-lose-a-whopping-200kg