The Wellness Blog

Griddle and Grub Giveaway!

  

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We’re kicking off this summer with another giveaway. We all know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. This time we’ve created a breakfast bundle that’s sure to kick start your day. We’ve paired all of our sugar-free favorites with a Lodge Cast Iron Iron Griddle.

Reversible Pro Grid Iron Griddle and USWM Sugar-Free Breakfast Favorites (Valued at $150):

-         Pork Bacon

-         Pork Breakfast Sausage

-         Beef Sandwich Steaks

-         Beef Breakfast Sliders (Italian and Polish)

-         Beef Organ Sausages (Liverwurst and Braunschweiger)

Winner will be announced on Thursday, June 13th. Please enter via the widget:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Who's Afraid of a Little Fat?

  

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By: Dr. Al Sears, MD

When I was little, my grandmother’s kitchen was the place to be on Sunday afternoons. That’s when she used to bake pies. She would trim the edges and I got to eat some of the delicious leftovers. Her crusts were second to none.

What was her secret? Homemade pig lard. Good old-fashioned lard is one of the most natural fats. In its unpolluted, unadulterated form it’s also one of the healthiest fats you can eat.

This goes against everything we’ve been told for fifty years. In fact, the diet dictocrats are doing everything they can to ban natural fat from your food because they say it causes heart disease.

Why would they do that? Because natural is not “proprietary.” By proprietary I mean something that they manufacture, patent, trademark, corner the market and sell it to you at a huge profit.

They do this with synthetic fat substitutes…but even before they created synthetic fats they were trying to tell you fat was bad for you. Because carbohydrates are easier to produce cheaply.

Fats in nature have a fixed cost. But carbohydrates…you can grow them in huge quantities, get the government to subsidize and pay you for growing them, and sell them for cheaper than dirt.

That’s what attracted the big food manufacturers to carbohydrate. For example, there’s only about 20 cents worth of wheat in a $4 box of Wheaties. A loaf of white bread has around 15 cents worth of wheat. Peanut butter has maybe 35 cents worth of peanuts.

With fat, it’s hard to make a 5,000% profit like you can selling a box of cereal.

It’s hard to keep perspective with such intense, widespread and effective marketing. I’ve devoted much of my professional career to this subject. I’ve read scores of books on nutrition, I’ve attended multiple conferences and I’m a certified clinical nutritionist. Yet their disinformation campaign is still overwhelming, even to me.

But before you start writing to me telling me how ignorant I am, Let me give you three reasons why telling you not to eat fat anymore is a bad idea. Then I’ll show you the best places to get the healthiest fats.

Reason 1: Fat is one of our three macronutrients.

You need this nutrient to give you energy, maintain your body temperature, transport nutrients, and build a faster brain.

Fat is so important that if your body senses you’re starving, it does everything it can to preserve your fat stores.

Reason 2: We eat less fat than our ancestors and our heart disease rates keep going up.

Reason 3: Saturated fats are a natural part of your diet and they don’t raise your risk of heart disease.

Take a look at the science that backs me up on this.

Contributors to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition did a review of 21 studies and found no evidence that eating less saturated fat lowers your risk of heart disease.(1)

In fact, one study found the opposite. It followed 235 women for over three years and the more saturated fat they ate, the less their arteries got clogged. The women who ate more processed fake fats had the worst progression of atherosclerosis, especially when eating carbs and a lot of high glycemic index foods.(2)

This was backed up by another study that found almost the exact same thing. More saturated fat meant less heart disease.(3)

I tell patients who come to my clinic that I recommend eating as many different natural foods as possible to get the widest variety of healthy fats. You should get at least 50% of your fat from saturated fats.

Here’s a chart I use to give you an idea of which foods have more of the “good” saturated and monounsaturated fats and which have man-made trans-fats:

Also, remember:

• If you want to try lard, you should get it from natural sources. The lard sold in most grocery stores is typically hydrogenated to give it a longer shelf life. It’s not the real stuff. One rule of thumb: If it’s not refrigerated, you don’t want it.
• Other good food sources of healthy, natural fats are eggs and nuts.
• Coconuts have two unique fats – lauric and cupric acid – that are among the heart-healthiest from any food.
• Stearic acid, which is found in beef and pork, skinless chicken, olive oil, cheese, and chocolate, is one of many saturated fatty acids found in food. Other healthy fats include lauric, myristic and palmitic acids.

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Editors Note:  Dr. Al Sears, M.D. is a board-certified clinical nutrition specialist. His practice, Dr. Sears' Health & Wellness Center in Royal Palm Beach, Fla., specializes in alternative medicine. He is the author of seven books in the fields of alternative medicine, anti-aging, and nutritional supplementation, including The Doctor's Heart Cure. To get his free special report on the proven anti-aging strategies for building a vibrant, disease-free life, go here now. You'll learn how to stop Father Time without giving up the foods you love.

______________________________________________________________________________
Resources:

1. Siri-Tarino P, Sun Q, Hu F, Krauss R. “Meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies evaluating the association of saturated fat with cardiovascular disease.” Am J Clin Nutr. 2010 Mar;91(3):535-46.
2. Mozaffarian D, Rimm E, Herrington D. “Dietary fats, carbohydrate, and progression of coronary atherosclerosis in postmenopausal women.” Am J Clin Nutr. 2004 Nov;80(5):1175-84.
3. Griel A, Kris-Etherton P. “Beyond saturated fat: the importance of the dietary fatty acid profile on cardiovascular disease.” Nutr Rev. 2006 May;64(5 Pt 1):257-62.

Get Your Grill On!

  

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Grilling season is upon us! For all you grilling enthusiasts, we have the perfect prize package for you. We’ve paired an assortment of our grilling favorites with a Lodge Cast Iron Sportsman’s Grill. It’s perfect for use at home, camping, or tailgating. We're also giving you some of our most popular grass-fed grilling selections for you to enjoy. So fire up the grill, invite your friends over, and throw on your favorite steaks.

Our new friends at Lodge Cast Iron have agreed to donate one of their wildly popular Sportsman’s Grills. Founded in 1896, Lodge has been producing American made cast iron cookware for over a century. To this day, they remain a family owned and operated business producing high quality cast iron products. For more information on Lodge Cast Iron, visit their website. 

Prize Package from Lodge Cast Iron & US Wellness Meats:

-Cast Iron Sportsman’s Grill (valued at $145)

• -Perfect for any outdoor barbecue
• -Cast Iron Grill gate provides superior results
• -Door allows for coals to be added
• -Sliding Mechanism enhances airflow

- US Wellness Grilling Favorites (valued at $145)

• -Filet Mignons
• -Teres Major Steaks
• -NY Strip Kabobs
• -Beef Short Ribs
• -Beef Patties
• -Beef Franks

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Please use the widget above to enter. Giveaway open to US residents only. One lucky winner will be randomly selected and announced on Monday, May 20. Thank you for your participation. Happy Grilling!

Photo of the Day: Picturesque Tasmania

  

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Photo of the Day: Sunset on the Farm

  

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Organ Sausages: General Characteristics, Thawing Tips & Storage

  

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We get a lot of questions about our wildly popular organ sausages, so we thought we would compile a special blog post to answer the most frequently asked questions. We hope you find this information helpful in choosing the perfect selection for you and your family.

Organ Sausages

-Liverwurst (Ingredients: beef, beef liver, beef kidneys, beef heart, water, sea salt, onion powder, white pepper, coriander, marjoram, allspice)

-Head Cheese (Ingredients: beef, beef heart, beef tongue, water, sea salt, onion powder, white pepper, coriander)

-Raw Uncooked Beef Braunschweiger (Ingredients: beef, beef liver, water, sea salt, onion powder, raw honey, white pepper, coriander, marjoram, allspice)

-Fully Cooked Beef Braunschweiger (Ingredients: beef, beef liver, water, sea salt, onion powder, white pepper, coriander, marjoram, allspice)

-Chicken Braunschweiger (Ingredients: beef, chicken liver, sea salt, onion powder, raw honey, white pepper, coriander, marjoram, allspice)

General Characteristics

Head Cheese and Braunschweiger will be milder in taste compared to Liverwurst. Liverwurst has the strongest flavor of all our organ sausages due to the kidneys being a vital ingredient. Weston A. Price members have made our Liverwurst the best selling organ sausage at the annual conference. Overall, it is our best selling organ sausage as well. It is the most diverse in the kinds of organs (liver, kidneys and heart); due to this diversity, Braunschweiger actually contains more liver. 

We personally love the Raw Braunschweiger. Because the Braunschweiger is raw, we are able to easily mix it with ground beef. This is particularly useful if you are new to incorporating organ meats into a diet. It has a consistency similar to bread dough. Once thawed, the Raw Braunschweiger will be quite soft as compared to the firmer, fully cooked sausages. 

Head cheese does not contain cheese! Historically, versions have varied greatly by region and culture; our Head Cheese is a simple cold beef sausage which contains heart and tongue.

Color variances are normal for all organ sausages- the outside of the product is typically darker and the inside lighter in color. We do not use any dyes in our products. 

Thawing Tips

You may notice purge or the water that is released every time you freeze and thaw meat. We use none of the phosphorus and dairy binders that the commercial sausage makers use to cover up this issue, so some customers are surprised to find a red liquid upon thawing. Although not the most visually appealing, this is a natural occurrence and no cause for concern.

The Liverwurst will show the most purge as it is richest in the organ meats compared to the Braunschweiger that will have just a bit, and the Head Cheese that rarely has noticeable purge.

The Chicken Braunschweiger is softer than the beef organ sausages. When slicing, we prefer to only partially thaw the Chicken Braunschweiger. We have found this allows for easier slicing of this organ sausage variety.

With the exception of the Raw Braunschweiger, the organ sausages are fully cooked and ready to be thawed and enjoyed. Slower thawing in the refrigerator will produce less purge as compared to faster thawing on the counter at room temperature.

Storage

Once thawed, the organ sausages will last about a week in the refrigerator as we do not add preservatives or nitrates. If you like, the organ sausages may be partially thawed, portioned and refrozen. We use this method ourselves.

For some customers, organ meats recall flavors they haven't tasted since their childhood; for others, this is an entirely new experience. The palate may take time to adjust to the richness of organ meats. Many customers have commented that pairing the organ sausages with mustard or cheese, drizzling slices with olive oil or even chopping into chunks and using as a salad topping helped make this new flavor more familiar and enjoyable.

While most customers simply thaw and enjoy our cooked organ sausages, you may also enjoy some tried and true recipes including Liverloaf, Ulster Fry, and Beef Bacon Braunschweiger Sliders.

Do you have a favorite organ sausage? Do you have any recipes or advice for someone trying organ sausages for the first time? Feel free to share your comments.

Photo of the Day: Spring Grazing

  

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US Wellness cattle are enjoying spring pastures in sunny southern Alabama.  

Grassfed Flat Iron Stir-Fry with Portuguese Butter Sauce

  

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Grassfed flat iron steak has a wonderful, deep, beefy flavor, and can be very tender. But there is an issue, the steak usually comes with a big wad of sinew in the middle, and there are thinner parts of sinew in other parts of the meat. Sinew is not a pleasure to bite into.

The grassfed flat iron steak sold by U.S. Wellness Meats has a fair amount of the sinew already removed, but some does remain.

This recipe was designed to deal with the sinew issue, which is why it is cut up for stir-frying. The combination of traditional Portuguese flavors and the stir-fry format, along with the use of butter as a cooking medium, really works. In other words, this dish is flat out delicious, tender, with incredible flavor.

I recommend using imported bay leaves, as the bay leaves grown in the U.S. are from a similar but different tree, and do not have the taste of the traditional ingredient. Smoked Spanish paprika also gives incredible flavor to the dish, but it is delicious with any good European paprika.

The time you stir-fry the beef depends on how you like it. If you like meat very rare, two minutes may be enough, but if you like it medium rare, three to four minutes would be better. No matter how you cook it, do not miss out on the wonderful cooking liquid, which makes a marvelous butter sauce, and is best poured right onto the meat.

Serves four.

INGREDIENTS

2 pounds U.S. Wellness Meats flat iron steak

For the Marinade

4 tablespoons unfiltered organic extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons dry white wine

4 cloves organic garlic, finely chopped

8 imported bay leaves, crumbled, (optional, but they do add a lot of flavor)

1 tablespoon Spanish paprika, preferably smoked

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground organic black pepper

For the Cooking

3 tablespoons pastured butter

1 tablespoon organic extra virgin olive oil

DIRECTIONS

1. Combine all ingredients for the marinade, and mix well.
2. Cut the meat into pieces approximately 1-inch long, trimming off the sinew as you go, (I save the sinew and use it in homemade broth)
3. Combine the cut, trimmed meat with the marinade in a glass bowl, and cover the bowl. Marinate 2 hours at room temperature. Alternatively, you can marinate it 1 hour at room temperature, and let it marinate in the refrigerator overnight.
4. If you have marinated the meat in the refrigerator, remove it from the refrigerator 1 hour before cooking, so it can come to room temperature.
5. Heat the butter and oil over medium high heat. When the butter is hot and bubbly, add half of the meat , and stir-fry at medium high heat for 2 to 4 minutes, or until the meat is done to your taste.
6. Remove the first batch of meat to a warm place, then add the rest of the meat and contents of the bowl to the pan, and stir-fry for 2 to 4 minutes, until the second batch is done to your taste.

Combine the two batches, serve, and enjoy the incredible flavor. Be sure to pour the flavorful pan drippings over the meat, as they actually are a wonderfully flavored butter sauce.

Stanley Fishman is a cookbook author and blogger who is an expert on cooking grassfed meat. Stanley uses traditional flavor combinations and cooking methods to make the cooking of grassfed meat easy, delicious, and tender. Stanley has written two cookbooks that make it easy to cook grassfed meat —Tender Grassfed Meat: Traditional Ways to Cook Healthy Meat and Tender Grassfed Barbecue: Traditional, Primal and Paleo. Stanley blogs about real food and the cooking of grassfed meat at his blog Tendergrassfedmeat.com.

Are You Deficient in this Disease-Fighting Nutrient? (40% of People Are!)

  

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By: Kelley Herring, Healing Gourmet

With the rates of chronic disease – including heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer’s – on the rise, most of us are seeking natural ways to protect our health into our golden years.

And while eating a whole foods diet that’s free of processed junk and rich in a wide variety of nutrients is a smart safeguard, there’s one nutrient that is of particular importance when it comes to disease prevention and life-long vitality:

Vitamin B12.

The Common Nutrient with Extraordinary Benefits

You might be surprised to learn that Vitamin B12 has been shown to possess a wide array of anti-aging and disease-fighting benefits. This common nutrient can reduce your risk of:

• Cardiovascular disease
• Cancer
• Alzheimer’s disease (as well as dementia, cognitive decline and memory loss) 
• Depression and other forms of mental illness.

And that’s not all. It can also help to prevent infertility, learning and developmental disorders in children, as well as autoimmune and neurological disorders, including multiple sclerosis (MS).
How could one nutrient benefit such a wide number of health concerns?

The Critical Importance of Vitamin B12

Vitamin B12 is the largest and most chemically complex vitamin. This complexity is what allows it to serve so many health-promoting, disease-fighting functions in the body.

Take a look:

• HEART HEALTH: The results of more than 80 studies show that even moderately elevated levels of the amino acid, homocysteine, increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. Other studies show that this substance can impair the brain and memory and may also be associated with Alzheimer's disease. But vitamin B12 produces a critical enzyme, called methionine synthase which converts dangerous homocysteine into harmless and beneficial compounds.
• CELLULAR HEALTH: Vitamin B12 is also required for the biological process called methylation, which is vital for creating healthy cells and preventing damage to DNA. These are two key factors for preventing cancer.
• BRAIN & NERVOUS SYSTEM HEALTH: Vitamin B12 is involved in manufacturing a special protective insulation that surrounds nerve cells, called the myelin sheath. Myelin not only helps to protect the nerves, it also helps to ensure that nerve impulses are conducted efficiently.
• DEPRESSION: Vitamin B12 is required for the synthesis of SAMe -  a substance that acts as a precursor to the “feel-good” neurotransmitter, serotonin. A recent study of 3,884 elderly men and women with depression found that those with vitamin B12 deficiency were almost 70% more likely to experience depression than those with normal levels.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg for what vitamin B12 does for human health!

But unfortunately, most of us just aren’t getting enough.

Are You Deficient in Vitamin B12?

According to the Tufts University Framingham Offspring Study, as many as 40% of people ages 26 and 83 have plasma B12 levels below the “normal” range.

What’s more, many people with “normal” levels of vitamin B12 (between 200 pg/mL and 350 pg/mL) experience symptoms of deficiency. This suggests that what is considered “normal” is too low.

The symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency are often shrugged off as the effects of “aging.” These can include: muscle weakness, fatigue, shakiness, unsteady gait, incontinence, low blood pressure, depression and poor memory.

The good news is that it’s easy and inexpensive to test your levels of vitamin B12 (DirectLabs.com offers a test for $60). If you discover that you are deficient in this critical nutrient, you should work with a holistic practitioner to identify the underlying causes of your deficiency. These can include:

• Low Stomach Acid
• Digestive illnesses, including intestinal dysbiosis, leaky gut, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, celiac or IBS
• Pernicious Anemia
• Medications (especially PPIs and other acid-suppressing drugs, as well as diabetes drugs like metaformin)
• Alcohol consumption
• A vegetarian or vegan diet. Because B12 is only present in animal foods, it is estimated that 50% of long-term vegetarians and 80% of vegans are deficient.

If you find that you are deficient, here are the best sources of vitamin B12 to include in your diet each day: 

• Clams (84 mcg in 3 oz serving)
• Liver (83 micrograms in a 3.5-ounce serving)
• Mussels (20.4 mcg in 3 oz.)
• Crab (8.8 mcg in 3 oz. serving)
• Wild Salmon (2.4 mcg in 3 oz. serving)
• Beef (2.1 mcg in 3 oz serving)

Considering the implications for your health and longevity, it is critically important that you consume foods that are rich in vitamin B12. The good news is that it is easy, inexpensive – and delicious – to ensure that you are getting enough.

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Ed. Note: Kelley Herring is the Founder and Editor of Healing Gourmet  - the leading provider of organic, sustainable recipes and meal plans for health and weight loss. Be sure to grab Healing Gourmet's free books - Eating Clean & Saving Green: Your Guide to Organic Foods on a Budget (includes 100+ foods at the best prices) and Eat Your Way Into Shape: Flip Your Body's Fat Blasting Switch and Melt 12 Pounds in 2 Weeks (includes a delicious 7 day meal plan!). Claim your free copies here...  

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REFERNECES

1.    New York Times. It Could Be Old Age, or It Could Be Low B12. By JANE E. BRODY. Published: November 28, 2011
2.    Carmel R. Cobalamin (Vitamin B-12). In: Shils ME, Shike M, Ross AC, Caballero B, Cousins RJ, eds. Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2006:482-497.
3.    Shane B. Folic acid, vitamin B-12, and vitamin B-6. In: Stipanuk M, ed. Biochemical and Physiological Aspects of Human Nutrition. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders Co.; 2000:483-518.
4.    Baik HW, Russell RM. Vitamin B12 deficiency in the elderly. Annu Rev Nutr. 1999;19:357-377.  
5.    Ho C, Kauwell GP, Bailey LB. Practitioners' guide to meeting the vitamin B-12 recommended dietary allowance for people aged 51 years and older. J Am Diet Assoc. 1999;99(6):725-727.  
6.    Weir DG, Scott JM. Vitamin B12 "Cobalamin". In: Shils M, ed. Nutrition in Health and Disease. 9th ed. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins; 1999:447-458.
7.    Gerhard GT, Duell PB. Homocysteine and atherosclerosis. Curr Opin Lipidol. 1999;10(5):417-428.  
8.    Quinlivan EP, McPartlin J, McNulty H, et al. Importance of both folic acid and vitamin B12 in reduction of risk of vascular disease. Lancet. 2002;359(9302):227-228.  
9.    Clarke R, Lewington S, Sherliker P, Armitage J. Effects of B-vitamins on plasma homocysteine concentrations and on risk of cardiovascular disease and dementia. Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2007;10(1):32-39.  
10.    Fenech M. Micronucleus frequency in human lymphocytes is related to plasma vitamin B12 and homocysteine. Mutat Res. 1999;428(1-2):299-304.  
11.    Wu K, Helzlsouer KJ, Comstock GW, Hoffman SC, Nadeau MR, Selhub J. A prospective study on folate, B12, and pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (B6) and breast cancer. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 1999;8(3):209-217.  
12.    Lajous M, Lazcano-Ponce E, Hernandez-Avila M, Willett W, Romieu I. Folate, vitamin B(6), and vitamin B(12) intake and the risk of breast cancer among Mexican women. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2006;15(3):443-448.  
13.    Lajous M, Romieu I, Sabia S, Boutron-Ruault MC, Clavel-Chapelon F. Folate, vitamin B12 and postmenopausal breast cancer in a prospective study of French women. Cancer Causes Control. 2006;17(9):1209-1213
14.    Nourhashemi F, Gillette-Guyonnet S, Andrieu S, et al. Alzheimer disease: protective factors. Am J Clin Nutr. 2000;71(2):643S-649S.  
15.    Clarke R, Smith AD, Jobst KA, Refsum H, Sutton L, Ueland PM. Folate, vitamin B12, and serum total homocysteine levels in confirmed Alzheimer disease. Arch Neurol. 1998;55(11):1449-1455
16.    Wang HX, Wahlin A, Basun H, Fastbom J, Winblad B, Fratiglioni L. Vitamin B(12) and folate in relation to the development of Alzheimer's disease. Neurology. 2001;56(9):1188-1194.  
17.    Seshadri S, Beiser A, Selhub J, et al. Plasma homocysteine as a risk factor for dementia and Alzheimer's disease. N Engl J Med. 2002;346(7):476-483.  
18.    Ravaglia G, Forti P, Maioli F, et al. Homocysteine and cognitive function in healthy elderly community dwellers in Italy. Am J Clin Nutr. 2003;77(3):668-673
19.    McMahon JA, Green TJ, Skeaff CM, Knight RG, Mann JI, Williams SM. A controlled trial of homocysteine lowering and cognitive performance. N Engl J Med. 2006;354(26):2764-2772.  
20.    Eussen SJ, de Groot LC, Joosten LW, et al. Effect of oral vitamin B-12 with or without folic acid on cognitive function in older people with mild vitamin B-12 deficiency: a randomized, placebo-controlled trial. Am J Clin Nutr. 2006;84(2):361-370.  
21.    Homocysteine-lowering trials for prevention of cardiovascular events: a review of the design and power of the large randomized trials. Am Heart J. 2006;151(2):282-287.  
22.    Tiemeier H, van Tuijl HR, Hofman A, Meijer J, Kiliaan AJ, Breteler MM. Vitamin B12, folate, and homocysteine in depression: the Rotterdam Study. Am J Psychiatry. 2002;159(12):2099-2101.  
23.    Williams AL, Girard C, Jui D, Sabina A, Katz DL. S-adenosylmethionine (SAMe) as treatment for depression: a systematic review. Clin Invest Med. 2005;28(3):132-139.  

How Do Women Outlive Men?

  

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By: Dr. Al Sears, MD

You probably know that women outlive men.

The question is, why? What advantage do women have that allows them to live from 5 to 10 years longer?

The answer could be “good genes”… but not in the way you think.

Because despite what you may have been told, you aren’t just born with good genes. You can now create good genes for yourself so you can live better and longer. And today I’m going to show you how.

I started thinking about this as I was looking at the latest list of “supercentenarians” on my long plane ride here to Africa.

Every year the members of the Los Angeles Gerontology Research Group put together a list of people verified to be 110 years old or older.

It’s fascinating to see where everyone comes from and how old they are. Right away you notice that three of the four oldest people in the world live in Japan.

It surprised me to see that seven of the world’s 12 oldest people live in America.(1) That should give all of us who live in the States a bright outlook on 2013.

But what struck me the most is that almost all of the supercentenarians are women. And it got me to wondering what they might have in common? What secrets can we learn that can help you live a long, healthy life?

In looking at the supercentenarians list for clues, there’s really no way to know who lives what lifestyle. But when we do research on what helps people stay young, we find that women generally have longer telomeres than men.

That’s not entirely due to women having inherently “good genes” though. They do, but it’s more than that.

Because I found, when I dug a little deeper, that it’s not that women are born with longer telomeres. Men have telomeres that shorten faster, while women’s telomeres stay longer.

Part of the reason is that women have much less oxidative stress than men. You produce fewer free radicals that cause inflammation, and more antioxidants like glutathione and SOD to douse inflammation. And as it turns out, telomeres are VERY sensitive to oxidative stress. Studies show that oxidative damage to mitochondrial DNA is four times higher in men than in women.(2)

Women also have stronger immune systems than men, helping them live longer. When you put these two findings together, the connection becomes clear. The telomeres of immune cells are very responsive to increased telomerase, the enzyme that helps rebuild telomeres. And there’s a lot of evidence that estrogen helps regulate telomerase, protecting women’s telomeres as well.

What we can take away from this isn’t that you need more estrogen for longer telomeres. But that whether you’re a man or a woman, we now know of two easy ways to live longer, healthier lives.

You can restore up to 10 years of youth in a very short time by maintaining your telomeres and reducing oxidative stress to your body.

Fortunately, there’s an easy, effective way to accomplish both. By increasing a little-known liver hormone called IGF-1.

We already know that IGF-1 is a cell regulator, and that when you have more of it, you have less body fat, a higher IQ, more muscle mass, stronger bones, sharper hearing, better joint health and a more robust heart.

IGF-1 is also known to be a powerful protector against all forms of oxidative stress.(3)

But new studies show that more IGF-1 also means longer telomeres.

One study looked at 476 unrelated people of mixed ages and gender. At every age and no matter the gender, higher IGF-1 meant longer telomeres.(4)

Another study looked at 2744 older men. Those with the logest telomeres had significantly more IGF-1 in their bodies compared with those who had the shortest telomere lengths.(5)

So how do you increase your IGF-1? One of the best ways I know is with a nutrient called creatine.

Your body – primarily the liver – makes a small amount of creatine naturally. Creatine not only protects cell membranes (they leak with age), and reduces oxidative damage,6 but it also increases IGF-1.7

Many studies show that increases in IGF-1 and increases in creatine correlate with each other.(8)

You can get creatine from foods like grass-fed beef, fish and apples. For every 2 lbs. of beef you eat, you will gain 5 grams of creatine.

If you don’t think you can get enough creatine through your food, you can easily supplement. The amount you should take is related to body weight and gender. See the table below for guidelines.

Creatine Supplement Guidelines:

Take the loading dose daily for 10 days. Then continue with the maintenance dose. Be sure to avoid taking creatine with your morning coffee as creatine and caffeine do not interact well.

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Editors Note:  Dr. Al Sears, M.D. is a board-certified clinical nutrition specialist. His practice, Dr. Sears' Health & Wellness Center in Royal Palm Beach, Fla., specializes in alternative medicine. He is the author of seven books in the fields of alternative medicine, anti-aging, and nutritional supplementation, including The Doctor's Heart Cure. To get his free special report on the proven anti-aging strategies for building a vibrant, disease-free life, go here now. You'll learn how to stop Father Time without giving up the foods you love.

_________________________________________________

Resources:

1. Hesslink R Jr, et al, “Cetylated fatty acids improve knee function in patients with osteoarthritis,” J Rheumatol. 2002;29(8):1708-12.

2. Kraemer WJ, et al, “Effect of a cetylated fatty acid topical cream on functional mobility and quality of life of patients with osteoarthritis,” J Rheumatol. 2004 Apr;31(4):767-74.