High blood sugar causes stroke or heart attack, but according to the recent researches, high blood sugar elevates the risk of cancer and dementia as well.
To prevent high blood sugar, it is recommended to take sufficient dietary fibers that slow down the absorption of sugar, to do exercises, to sleep well, to reduce stress, to take low sugar meals, etc. But it has turned out that there is a totally different method to prevent and improve high blood sugar. It has turned out that there is a food that increases insulin which lowers blood sugar. Insulin is the only hormone which lowers blood sugar in our body. According to a research published in the Europe Diabetes Society 4 years ago, when research participants whose blood sugar are high took extract of the food, their insulin level was more than twice as high as before. Their blood sugar also lowered by 28 %, which was almost normal level. The food increasing insulin is Whey. A cheese called ricotta is made from whey. But even if you are not so familiar with ricotta, there is a familiar food that contains whey. The familiar food is Yogurt. The clear liquid on top of yogurt is whey so that yogurt contains a lot of whey. Major foods containing whey are: (1) Whey protein (2) Whey cheese like ricotta (3) Yogurt (4) Milk Whey contains various substances such as carbohydrate, protein, vitamin C, vitamin B, phosphorite, iron, zinc, copper, sodium, potassium, magnesium, etc. Within these 12 substances, protein helps lowering blood sugar. Protein of whey is milk whey protein which is balanced and rich in essential amino acids. Milk whey protein stimulates the small intestine and the hormone promoting the secretion of insulin increases. Increasing the secretion of insulin suppresses the elevation of blood sugar. The important thing is when you eat yogurt. If you eat yogurt before a meal, milk whey protein promotes the secretion of insulin and when you finish your meal, it starts to suppress the elevation of blood sugar (Fig. 1).
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The liver is the biggest organ in our body.
According to a research published on a medical journal in Europe, people whose liver function is declined have about 2 times the risk of heart attack and stroke, and in the case of men, have 2 times the risk of colon cancer and in the case of women, have 2 times the risk of breast cancer. So it is important to keep the liver healthy to extend a healthy life expectancy. There is nutrition that stops the aging of the liver and rejuvenates the liver The famous foods good for the liver are turmeric and freshwater clam (Shijimi). The liver has more than 200 functions such as detoxification, synthesis of nutrition, etc. The most important characteristic of the liver is the ability of regeneration. The liver can be restored within a couple of months even if the two third of it has been removed. Fibrosis of the liver The function of the liver is to produce the contents of blood. The nutrition required for the body is produced in the liver and is delivered all over the body. But if inflammation occurs in the liver for some reason, the liver forms fibrous tissue to restore it. Fibrosis is like a scab so that the liver gradually becomes hard, the liver function declines and can’t deliver nutrition all over the body, causing symptoms like tiredness, heavy feeling or swelling. Fibrosis of the liver occurs regardless of drinking alcohol. Fig. 1 shows a healthy liver that is red and smooth. Fig. 2 shows a liver that fibrosis is progressed, which is rugged like a stone. Fibrosis of the liver has 4 stages. Stage 1 has 1.6 times the risk of death and Stage 4 has about 7 times the risk of death. But if the stage is less than Stage 3 that has 3.5 times the risk of death, it can be restored to the soft condition by taking “A Nutrition”. Major causes of fibrosis of the liver are overeating and lack of exercise Overeating and lack of exercise increase visceral fat and the amount of the liver fat is proportional to the amount of visceral fat. The fat stored in the liver produces substances to cause inflammation. If this condition continues for a long time, the liver becomes fibrous. Nutrition that prevents and improves fibrosis of the liver The nutrition that stops the aging of the liver is Vitamin E. The food containing a lot of vitamin E is an almond. Vitamin E is one of nutrition that is expected to suppress the aging of the body. Vitamin E suppresses the inflammation caused by the fat in the liver and the ability of regeneration is recovered. How much improvement of fibrous liver can be expected by taking vitamin E? According to a research, the liver that was seriously fibrous was improved by taking 300 mg of vitamin E per day, which was 1000 pieces of almonds. If the liver is mildly fibrous, adding the foods with vitamin E to every meal is expected to be effective. People with fibrous liver tend not to chew well. Increasing number of chewing deceases calorie intake, leading to not eating between meals. Chewing 30 times per a spoon suppresses calorie intake. Experiment How much fibrous liver can be improved in a week by: (1) Chewing more than 30 times a spoon (2) Adding foods rich in vitamin E Food rich in vitamin E: Almond, mayonnaise, Japanese yam (Fig. 3: This amount contains the same amount of vitamin E as about 10 pieces of almonds), paprika, Sencha tea leaves (Fig. 4) 2 table spoons of Sencha tea leaves contain the same amount of vitamin E as about 30 pieces of almonds. You can take only little amount of vitamin E by drinking Sencha tea, so it is important to eat Sencha tea leaves that have been used for drinking tea. A 76 years old female whose liver’s fibrosis was Stage 1 tried the above 2 things for a week. The result is shown in Fig. 5 and 6. Before the experiment, her liver was a little hard, which was Stage 1 and there were green portions that indicated fibrosis, but after the experiment, green portion in her liver decreased. 2.1.4 Yin and Yang (Taste)
Let’s think about the Yin and Yang of tastes. Sweet, sour and spicy hot belong to Yin taste. Salty and bitter belong to Yang taste. Yin taste loosens up your body. Yang taste tightens up your body. When you feel tense, if you take something sweet, you can feel relaxed. When you cough because your bronchioles are tightened up, drink a glass of water with some drops of vinegar, and you will ease the cough. You need to be careful about the spicy hot taste, because most people think it warms up the body. Yes, spicy hot taste temporarily warms up the body, but after that, it chills the body. Spicy hot is good to take in the summer, but if you take it a lot in the winter, it will be a cause of coldness in your body, resulting in various kinds of disease. That is why spicy food is usually eaten in hot countries. Korea is not a hot country, but Korean people eat a lot of spicy food; for example, Kimchee. Before red pepper was sent to Korea from Japan, their Kimchee was not hot. Since they started eating a lot of spicy food, it is said that Korean women have had a lot of gynecological diseases, because it makes their body cold. In western medicine, salt is treated as a bad guy, but salt is very important for the body. What you need to do is take good salt instead of refined salt. It is recommended to take good sea salt, because good sea salt contains a lot of different kinds of minerals and will not cause high blood pressure. Salt contracts our body. If you are lacking in salt, you can’t move your body. Also, salt can stop bleeding. If you have a bleeding stomach ulcer, it is good to take sea salt and ground sesame covered by a cachet. Salt also has the power to sterilize. If you have a urinary tract infection, it is effective to put a handful of salt in the bathtub and warm your lower body. Bitter taste has the function of neutralizing the taste in your mouth. If you eat spicy food and still feel heat in your mouth, you can take something bitter and the spicy taste in your mouth will disappear. Salt tightens your body and get rid of water from the body so it is not good to take salty taste too much, but bitter taste just tightens the body so there is no too much to take bitter taste. I was talking about the Yin and Yang of the 5 tastes up until now, and I would like to talk about one more taste which is very important. That is astringency. This taste may not be familiar to you. When you eat a young persimmon, you experience this taste. Astringency has very strong Yang energy and has the function of contraction. Dried persimmons have even more Yang energy because water, which is Yin energy, has been removed. So when women eat persimmons after childbirth, their uterus and abdominal muscles get firm, resulting in having early menstruation. Persimmons are also effective for continual diarrhea. Even if the persimmons are not dried, as long as they are all natural, they are still effective. In the case of bleeding within the brain (cerebral hemorrhage), it is good to drink the extracted astringency of persimmons in order to stop bleeding. Astringency of a persimmon has the function of dissolving blood clots, so in the case of chronic cerebral infarction or hemorrhage, it is good to do the following: Put ground persimmon (1 lb.) in one cup of black or brown rice vinegar (200 cc) and keep it over night. The next day strain and drink it by the amount of one quarter cup (50 cc) everyday. However, you need to know that unnatural persimmons, in which astringency is removed by alcohol, have strong Yin energy. Therefore, on the contrary, they make the body cold. If you feel like you haven’t gotten rid of the fatigue accumulated lately, you tend to get sick when the seasons change, or my appetite is less than before, you may have a weakened immune system.
Immune strength is an indicator of the activity that immune cells defeat the enemies invading our body. So if your immune system is strong, you can maintain your health forever. But immune strength lowers with age. The immune strength at the age of 70s reduces by half the strength of 20s. That makes you not able to defeat the enemies occurring in the body. As a result, you tend to have cancer or you may have serious pneumonia only by food entering the air tube. An organ important to strengthen immune system That is intestines. Half of the immune cells are created in the intestines. There are the large intestine and the small intestine, but the organ more important for the immune system is the small intestine. The key of immune strength is small intestinal villi which are small, finger-like projections that extend into the lumen of the small intestine. If you have long and busy intestinal villi, your immune system is strong, but if you have short and scattered intestinal villi, your immune system is weak (Fig. 1) (Fig. 2). In an experiment, people who were diagnosed as having long and busy intestinal villi by a blood test had more active NK cells than the referenced value, which indicate the activity of immune system. On the other hand, people who were diagnosed as having short and scattered intestinal villi had less active NK cells than the referenced value. The major role of the small intestine is absorbing nutrition from what you eat, but another important role is the function as immune system. When you eat something, toxins and germs with food get into the small intestine. The immune system of the small intestine prevents them from invading the body. Fig. 3 shows immune cells in villi. These immune cells kill the things trying to invade the body such as germs, pathogenic bacteria. The area of the inside of the small intestine is about 200 square meter (2153 square feet), which is equal to a tennis court. All this area contains immune cells. In the small intestine, there are about 60 % of immune cells in the body, which are more than a few hundred billion. How to make intestinal villi long and busy Intestinal villi are lost or shortened due to aging, but they can be busy by taking a specific nutrition. The nutrition making intestinal villi busy and immune system strengthened is protein. Glutamine acid contained in protein is effective to activate the small intestine. Glutamine acid is considered as extending the shortened intestinal villi and increasing the decreased intestinal villi. Experiment A 70 years old woman whose intestinal villi’s condition was 43.9 (Referenced value: 45) and NK activation representing immune strength was 3.3 (Referenced value: 8.9) tried to eat more protein by adding some protein-contained food such as cheese, eggs, fishes, meats, Tofu to her usual meals for 5 days. After the experiment, her intestinal villi’s condition was improved to 61 (Before: 43.9) and NK activation was improved to 3.6 (Before: 3.3). Stroke and heart attack are caused by the hardness of the artery, but there is a cause drawing an attention in the medical world.
The cause is constipation. Stools accumulated in the intestine produce a huge amount of toxin which damages the blood vessel, developing diseases. According to a research published on The American Journal of Gastroenterology in 2010, having constipation doubles the risk of dying from heart attack or stroke in 15 years compared to not having constipation. So it is important to solve constipation as soon as possible. In general, it is said that dietary fibers and fermented food are good for constipation. Dietary fibers increase the amount of stool and push the stool out. Fermented food regulates the intestinal bacteria, activating the movement of the intestine and promoting a bowel movement. But there are a lot of people who are suffering from constipation Even if they eat dietary fibers and fermented food regularly. The key word to improve constipation is bile acid, which is a type of digestive juices owned by everybody in the body. When bile acid and what is eaten reach the large intestine, the large intestine starts to move actively, forming and delivering stool to the anus. Food increasing the amount of bile acid reaching the large intestine The food is Allium chinense. The more water soluble dietary fiber is eaten, the more Bile acid is included in stool. Allium chinense is rich in water soluble dietary fiber. When you eat general food, bile acid is absorbed in the small intestine and barely reaches the large intestine. On the other hand, when you eat food containing a lot of water soluble dietary fiber, water soluble dietary fiber wraps around bile acid, making bile acid difficult to be absorbed in the small intestine, and bile acid reaching the large intestine activates the movement of the large intestine, improving constipation. Water soluble dietary fiber content (within 100 grams): Okura: 1.4 g Burdock: 2.3 g Allium chinense: 9.1 g Though Allium chinense is rich in water soluble dietary fiber, the amount of water soluble dietary fiber needed to eat in order to improve constipation is 6 grams per day, which is 8 pieces of Allium chinense. Bile acid is secreted more when oil is taken. It is good to stir-fry or deep fry Allium chinense because bile acid can be delivered effectively to the large intestine by taking oil and water soluble dietary fiber at the same time. Experiment: A 70 years old woman who had been suffering from constipation for 50 years and had a bowel movement once in every 3 days attended the experiment. The secretion of her bile acid was poor. She ate 8 pieces of Allium chinense per day for 5 days and had bowel movements 4 times within 5 days. Let's check the condition of your heart
The condition of the heart can be presumed by the color of nails. (1) Squeeze the nail part of an index finger for about 5 seconds. (2) Release the index finger in 5 seconds. (3) Observe the color of the nail. (4) Count the time to return to the original reddish nail from whitish nail (Fig. 1). If the time was within 2 seconds, you could survive when the coronary artery was clogged. If the time was more than 2 seconds, you couldn’t survive. Experiment 11 persons with the ages of 60s attended the experiment. 6 persons’ nails returned to the original reddish color within 2 seconds and according to an ultrasound examination, all 6 persons’ hearts were softer and younger than their ages. On the other hand, 5 persons whose nail didn’t return to the original reddish color within 2 seconds had harder and older heart than their ages. What is the relationship between the color of nail and the condition of the heart? What is observed from the nail color returning test is the condition of capillaries. Capillaries deliver nutrition and oxygen to the whole body. The length of capillaries, if they are all connected, is about two and a half rounds of the earth. If capillaries can be confirmed clearly, it proves that the function of capillaries and the blood flow is maintained. The capillaries in the nail of the person who took 1.8 seconds to return to the original color are clearly seen (Fig. 2-Left). On the other hand, the capillaries in the nail of the person who took 4 seconds to return to the original color are not clearly seen (Fig. 2-Right). The condition of the capillaries in the heart can be analogized from the finger. Maintaining the function of capillaries is the secret to invigorate the heart. The capillaries maintaining the function decrease with age. If the function of capillaries declines, nutrition and oxygen don’t reach throughout the heart, and the risk of heart diseases becomes higher. On the contrary, if capillaries are active, there is a possibility that you can survive even if a coronary artery is clogged. 99.9 % of blood vessels in our body are capillaries. The heart requires large amount of oxygen to expand and contract, so the heart has more capillaries than other organs (Fig. 3). Characteristics of capillaries Con: The function of capillaries declines with age. By aging, blood can’t pass through capillaries or capillaries disappear. Pro: New capillaries can be created (Fig. 4 & 5). When a coronary artery is clogged and the heart doesn’t have enough oxygen, new capillaries extend from another carotid artery to the clogged coronary artery in order to deliver blood to the area where oxygen is insufficient. How to elevate the function of capillaries There is nutrition that elevates the function of capillaries and prevents heart attack. The nutrition is Taurine. Taurine is rich in seafood, especially in shells, octopus, squid and blue back fishes. Cataract is the disease that lens of the eye becomes cloudy due to aging, causing blurry vision, double or triple vision. As a result of that, cataract disturbs daily life. The risk of causing a car accident in people with cataract is about 2.5 times more than people with normal vision.
50 % of vision loss all over the world are caused by cataract. In Japan, 30 % of 40s have cataract, the rate increases with age, and almost 100 % of 80s have cataract. Progression of cataract makes the visual field yellowish. Yellowish visual field makes it difficult to recognize blue light. The fire of oven is blue that is difficult to recognize whether it is on or not, and that causes the risk to ignite clothes. Let’s check if you have cataract or not! Q. What animals are drawn in the circle? (Fig. 1) A. There are 3 animals. If you can’t see a bird, there is a high possibility that you have severe cataract. If you can’t see a rabbit, there is a possibility that you have moderate cataract. If you can’t see a dog, there is a possibility that you have slight cataract (Fig. 2). Vitamin C is effective for cataract According to a research, the group of people who take more vitamin C had 40 % less risk of cataract development than the group of people who take less vitamin C. The food rich in vitamin C is paprika, which contains twice the amount of vitamin C in lemon. Paprika also contains vitamin P which prevents the breakdown by heating so that the density of vitamin C is kept high even if cooked. A half of paprika a day achieves the daily required amount of vitamin C. Surgery for Cataract Progressed cataract should be operated. The surgery for cataract is finished within 10 minutes if the surgeon is skilled. (1) Insert a thin tube and break cloudy part of lens with ultra-sound (Fig. 3). (2) Remove the broken lens (Fig. 4). (3) Implant an artificial lens (Fig. 5).
Q1. Which vegetable contains more dietary fibers?
(A) Lettuce (B) Cabbage (C) Spinach A1. (C) Spinach Within 100 grams, lettuce contains 1.2 grams, cabbage contains 1.8 grams and spinach contains 2.8 grams of dietary fibers. Q2. Which contains more dietary fibers? (A) Rice (B) Bread (C) Udon noodle A2. (B) Bread Within 100 grams, rice contains 0.3 grams, Udon noodles contains 0.8 grams and bread contains 2.4 grams of dietary fibers. If you like eating rice, it is recommended to mix brown rice to get more dietary fibers. Bad Constipation and Good Constipation In 2017, it was published that there was the constipation you can leave as was and the constipation you should not leave as was. Constipation you should not leave as is:
Constipation you can leave as is:
When the constipation is the one you can leave as is, taking laxative can lead to the constipation you should not leave as is or to laxative dependence. Check whether or not you can leave your constipation as is
If you have more than 2 clauses applied to you, you have to be careful. There are 2 types of the constipation you should not leave as is. 1. Constipation with stool like rabbit pellets There is not enough amount of stool, it is good to take dietary fibers to increase the amount of stool. 2. Constipation with pain due to difficulty to pass stool Intestines are twisted and stool is hard so that it is difficult to pass stool. Even if you take dietary fibers, the amount of stool increases only, but stool can’t pass through the narrowed part due to twisting. In this case, it is good to take Soybean oligosaccharides which soften stool and also become the energy source of good bacteria. There is a food which is effective for both types of constipation. The food contains both dietary fibers and soybean oligosaccharides a lot. Dietary fiber within 100 grams Burdock: 5.7 g Dried persimmon: 14 g The food: 18.1 g Soybean oligosaccharides within 100 grams Tofu: 0.4 g Soy milk: 0.5 g The food: 7.0 g Experiment 7 women who are suffering from either type of constipation ate the food for a week. The number of their bowel movements were improved as below. (Before): during the week 1. Constipation with stool like rabbit pellets (1): 5, (2): 5, (2): 6 2. Constipation with pain (1): 5, (2): 16, (2): 7, (3): 9 The food very effective to improve constipation is Kinako (Soybean flour). It is recommended to take 20 grams per day, which about 4 table spoons. Eating Kinako with yogurt is recommended because yogurt contains good bacteria and Kinako contains oligosaccharides which become food of good bacteria. Blood sugar (glucose) level is the density of glucose in the blood.
For a normal person, a fasting blood sugar should be 80-100 mg/dl and 2 hours-after-meals’ blood sugar should be under 140 mg/dl. When blood sugar level is always more than 140 mg/dl, the condition is considered as high blood sugar which raises the risk of diabetes. Recently, blood sugar spikes are considered dangerous, which fasting blood sugars are normal, but after-meals’ blood sugars are always more than 140 mg/dl. Blood sugar spikes increase glucose in the blood rapidly, damaging blood vessels. In the worst case, it can cause stroke, heart attack and cancer. The risk of blood sugar spikes raises with age and persons with more than 40 should be careful. Let’s check the risk of Blood Sugar Spikes
If more than 4 clauses are applied to you, you have the high risk of blood sugar spikes. Substances to Prevent Blood Sugar Spikes 1. Dietary Fibers Dietary fibers slow down the absorption of sugar in the small intestine and prevent the elevation of blood sugar. People who eat more than about 26 grams a day of dietary fibers have 20 % less risk of developing diabetes. 2. MX-Fraction MX-Fraction improve the function of insulin which suppresses blood sugar. Experiment 6 people with blood sugar spikes ate “a specific food” for a week. As a result of that,4 out of 6 people had lower blood sugar spikes and the blood sugar spikes lowered by the average of 36 mg/dl. The food which can prevent and improve blood sugar spikes which raises the risk of sudden death is Maitake mushroom. Maitake mushrooms are rich in dietary fibers and only the food containing MX-fraction. MX-fraction is water soluble, so it is good to eat maitake mushrooms in a cup of soup. 50 grams per day is recommended. Glycemic index (GI) represents the speed to digest and absorb carbohydrate. The food of GI value of more than 55 is considered as easily causing blood sugar spikes. High GI value’s foods: Potato: 90 Carrot: 80 Kabocha squash: 65 Japanese Yam: 55 French bread (baguette): 93 Bread: 91 Basically wheat and rice products have high GI values. When you eat foods with high GI value, you can prevent blood sugar spikes by changing the order of what you eat. It is recommended to eat vegetables which have low GI value such as broccoli (25), maitake mushroom first, and then eat meats, fishes and eggs. |
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