SWFL Integrative Medicine

07/30/2025

Avoiding nitrites and high temperature cooking will reduce carcinogens

The American Institute for Cancer Research guidelines tell us to “avoid processed meat” because “data do not show any level of intake that can confidently be shown not to be associated with risk.”

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) published its report in 2018 on processed meat and concluded that products including bacon, ham, hot dogs, lunch meat, and sausage are cancer-causing, classifying processed meat as a Group 1 carcinogen.

Critics questioned putting processed meat in the same carcinogenic classification as asbestos or to***co, but the classifications only relate to the strength of evidence that the agent causes cancer––not how much cancer it may cause. This does not mean that they are all equally dangerous.

So, how dangerous is processed meat? The relative risk of colore**al cancer is 18% for every 50 grams a day, which is about one hot dog, two breakfast links, or two slices of Canadian bacon or ham. A daily sandwich with one or two slices of baloney would increase colore**al cancer risk by 18%, and a half-pound pastrami on rye would bump it up more like 80%.

How does 18% increased cancer risk compare to other risky behaviors? Living with a smoker increases risk of lung cancer by 15%. So, breathing in secondhand smoke day in and day out increases lung cancer risk almost as much as eating a serving of processed meat day in and day out increases risk of colore**al cancer.

Colore**al cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death for men and women combined, after lung cancer. So, if you don’t smoke, colon and re**al cancer may be your greatest cancer nemesis. We can drop our risk of getting it by about a fifth with a single dietary tweak: Cut a serving of processed meat out of our daily diet.
Not just colon and re**al cancers either. If you look at the science since the IARC decision was published, processed meat may also increase the risk of prostate cancer, breast cancer, and pancreatic cancer.

Watch the video “How Much Cancer Does Processed Meat Cause?” at https://bit.ly/3MbdgAG
Cancer guidelines: https://see.nf/3ZtyVd1
PMID: 29949327, 27780763, 31198660, 28450127, 20669524

07/01/2025

03/16/2025

Don’t count on a pill to fix your bones

12/27/2024

And so the saying”Let food be your medicine “

Your regular routine is really what determines your long-term health. Our body has a remarkable ability to recover from sporadic insults, as long as we’re not habitually poking it with a fork.

Ideally, on a day-to-day basis, we should maximize our intake of fruits, vegetables, legumes (which are beans, split peas, chickpeas, and lentils), whole grains, nuts, seeds, mushrooms, herbs, and spices—basically, real food that grows out of the ground. These are our healthiest choices.

Watch the video "Dining by Traffic Light: Green Is for Go, Red Is for Stop" at https://buff.ly/2FM2RdR to learn more.

12/04/2024

No pill takes the place of taking care of of yourself

How can we help prevent osteoporosis? Include exercise in our daily routine. Exercise creates force throughout our body that sends signals to our bone-building cells to get to work. Are certain kinds of exercise better than others?

To improve bone strength at the spine and hip, the most effective exercise appears to be a combination of progressive resistance and impact training at moderate to high intensity. Low intensity exercise does not appear to be sufficient.

On its own, walking has no significant effect on bone mineral density in the spine, wrist, or overall skeleton, but it has been shown to significantly improve hip bone density in studies that have lasted more than six months. More effective would be walking briskly, walking with a weighted vest, or combining walking with more vigorous exercises, such as jogging, stepping, or stair-climbing. Non-impact activities, such as cycling or swimming, seem to have little or no effect on bone density.

An elegant study to determine the optimum frequency of high-impact exercise for bone health involved hopping on one randomly chosen foot, with the other leg acting as the control. Women were randomized to hop 50 times on that one same leg either seven days a week, four days a week, two days a week, or not at all for six months. The brief, daily hopping increased hip bone density, but less frequent hopping was not effective. The only jumpers who built significantly more bone in their hip compared to the non-jumping side of their body within those six months were in the seven-day-a-week group. If you jump 50 times while wearing a weighted vest (about 10 lbs / 4.5 kg), however, you may be able to preserve your hip bone density with just three sessions a week instead of daily.

Note, though, that weight-bearing impact exercise may not be advisable in those with severe osteoporosis or recent history of fracture. Make sure you check with your medical professional before you get going.

See the video “The Best Exercise Type and Frequency for Bone Density” at https://buff.ly/3ZrOYs8 to learn more.

PMIDs: 33357833, 24149921, 30503353, 20004758, 10995045, 29710770

11/16/2024

Help your body heal

True wellness starts from within. I believe it's important that we don’t just mask symptoms but instead we discover and address the root cause of health concerns for lasting vitality.

08/26/2024

This is a sustainable diet using all the food groups and is so much more than decreasing inflammation. It helps prevent chronic conditions of every variety

Dr. Weil’s Anti-Inflammatory Diet ranked 8th in Best Overall Diets.

07/13/2024

A millimole in U.S. units is 39 points. If you exercise your whole life, you may only increase your lifespan by six months, and stopping smoking may net you nine months. But, dropping your LDL cholesterol by about 39 points could let you live three to six years longer. How can you lower your LDL by a millimole? You can take cholesterol-lowering drugs for days on end or eat a diet packed with fruits, vegetables, and nuts for just two weeks. Talk to your doctor about your cholesterol-lowering options.

Check out our four-part video series on statins:
Who Should Take Statins? at https://buff.ly/4eXQdVN
Are Doctors Misleading Patients About Statin Risks and Benefits? at https://buff.ly/4cVlNSv
The True Benefits vs. Side Effects of Statins at https://buff.ly/3Lg6sjv
How Much Longer Do You Live on Statins? at https://buff.ly/3xOQFF9

PMIDs: 27539057, 9691106, 11288049

06/22/2024

05/30/2024

Give this a try

A split-face study involving the application of three drops of a 10 percent L-ascorbic acid solution for three months found significant improvements over the placebo side of the face in fine and coarse wrinkles, sallowness, and skin tone (firmness). Not knowing which side was which, 16 out of 19 patients—84 percent—correctly identified the side getting the vitamin C treatment as the one showing improvement.

Unfortunately, L-ascorbic acid is unstable in creams, turning an unsightly brown when it oxidizes, limiting its shelf life. So, the skin care industry uses more stable vitamin C esters or derivatives, such as ascorbyl palmitate, magnesium ascorbyl phosphate, ascorbic acid sulfate, and ascorbyl stearate. Unfortunately, there is no evidence that these compounds have comparable effects to L-ascorbic acid, likely because they are poorly absorbed and only minimally convert to the active form.

The good news is that you can make your own DIY solution simply by buying L-ascorbic acid in bulk and mixing 3 grams into 30 grams of water at a cost of about a nickel per ounce. You can mix it in an eyedropper and drip four to five drops on the palm of your hand and use your fingertips to apply over your face, neck, and upper chest daily. Just be careful and avoid getting it into your eyes.

See the video "The Benefits of Topical Vitamin C for Reversing Skin Aging" at https://buff.ly/48ZLRt4 to learn more.

PMIDs: 10522500, 15258452, 12823436
Cosmeceuticals and Active Cosmetics, 3rd Ed (2016)

05/04/2024

Turmeric turmeric turmeric

Having higher levels of C-reactive protein in your blood may increase your risk of dying prematurely by 42 percent. Those with the highest levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6), another marker of inflammation, may increase premature death risk by 49 percent. What can we do to lower these levels?

The most pro-inflammatory food component is saturated fat, which is found in meat, dairy, eggs, and junk, along with other pro-inflammatory food components like cholesterol and trans fat.

The most anti-inflammatory food component is fiber. It appears that an increase of just 10 grams of fiber per 1,000 calories would equate to four fewer years of cellular aging. Now, of course, diets high in fiber and diets with significant amounts of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains go hand in hand. So, fiber just may be a marker of eating lots of whole, healthy plant foods.

Anthocyanins, the antioxidant pigments that give berries those bright red, blue, and purple colors, have been demonstrated in dozens of randomized controlled trials to reduce inflammation.

Half a dozen studies combined show that pomegranates, a fruit packed with anthocyanin pigments, can bring down inflammation over time. Turmeric, garlic powder, and ginger powder were also found to reduce IL-6. Antioxidant supplements, specifically vitamins C and E, beta-carotene, and selenium, as well as turmeric supplements, however, provided no benefit for reducing markers of inflammation.

How else can we bring down inflammation? When individuals switched to strictly plant-based nutrition, their diets flipped to become anti-inflammatory. Not all plant-foods are anti-inflammatory, though. If all you do is boost your intake of less healthy plant foods, like juice, white bread, white potatoes, soda, and cake, you can end up with more inflammation. A really clean diet of whole plant foods can significantly reduce levels of Lp(a) (which we didn’t even think was possible with diet), as well as drop LDL cholesterol. It can also reduce levels of inflammatory markers. We’re talking about a 30 percent drop in C-reactive protein and a 20 percent drop in IL-6. Cutting down on both animal products and processed foods may be the most effective dietary strategy to combat inflammation.

How Not to Age is out now! Borrow a copy from your local library or order one today: https://buff.ly/48XNwiN

Watch the videos “Which Foods Are Anti-Inflammatory?” at https://buff.ly/33YvZLW and “What to Eat to Prevent Telomere Shortening” at https://buff.ly/4ctCFQA. Learn more about anti-inflammatory diets at https://buff.ly/3Qoa1XT.

04/16/2024

This special Good Earth Kale Cobb (from True Food Kitchen restaurants) includes avocado, tomato, asparagus, watermelon radish, garbanzo bean, dried sweet corn, gorgonzola, cashew poblano ranch.