Lycopene. Do You Know What It Is?

Tomatoes have long been known for their health benefits -- courtesy of lycopene, an antioxidant carotenoid whose health benefits include reduced risk of cancer, atherosclerosis, and exercise-induced asthma, just to mention a few.

Lycopene gives tomatoes their red color, and works by fighting damaging free radicals in your body.

But there are at least a couple of caveats that you need to be aware of.

First, researchers have discovered that other chemicals in the tomatoes help to boost the effectiveness of the lycopene, so you likely will not obtain the same health effects from lycopene supplements. In general, I am opposed to taking many supplements. I believe that it is far better to consume large amounts of whole foods, as outlined in my nutrition plan, and this is no exception.

Secondly, in order to absorb its nutrients, you need to eat your tomatoes with a little bit of fat.

It’s interesting to note that the lycopene in cooked tomatoes has been found to be more bioavailable than raw tomatoes, which is in partial conflict with the principle that raw foods are better.

However, tomatoes likely contain additional beneficial substances that are lost or destroyed when the tomatoes are cooked, especially if they undergo additional processing. So substituting ketchup, for example, for fresh tomatoes will not do you any good (for a variety of reasons).

But tomatoes are not the only food containing beneficial lycopene. Below is a table listing the lycopene content of several foods:

Approximate Lycopene Content of Various Foods
Food Lycopene Content
(mg/100g wet weight)
Apricot, dried 0.86
Grapefruit, raw pink 3.36
Guava, fresh 5.40
Guava juice 3.34
Papaya, fresh 2.00-5.30
Tomatoes, fresh 0.88-4.20
Tomatoes, cooked 3.70
Tomato sauce 6.20
Tomato paste 5.40-150.00
Tomato soup, condensed 7.99
Tomato powder, drum or spray dried 112.63-126.49
Tomato juice 5.00-11.60
Sun-dried tomato in oil 46.50
Watermelon, fresh 2.30-7.20

Source: Clinton, -S.K.1998. Lycopene: Chemistry, Biology, and Implications for human health and disease, Nutrition Review,56(2)P35-51

Carotenoids, such as lycopene, are the pigments responsible for red, yellow, and orange colored fruits and vegetables. They’re also found in some dark green vegetables such as spinach.

Money On AutoPilot

Dave Kazda
Health Educator/Healer
Aromatologist
Herbalist
Quantum Touch Therapist
Member: SelfGrowth.com
knowledge_quest2002@yahoo.com

Drugless Methods To Regain Health

The reason I use no drugs is partly because they are ridiculously priced; they are toxic to any living thing, and they are not designed to get your health back. This is not conjecture on my part; I have done the research into the drug cartel.

If the public knew that most all disease was curable, and they knew they could do it with a few dollars to perhaps a few hundred, the drug cartel would lose trillions of dollars. The drug industry is money driven. Not health driven. Which is why cures like the cures for cancer and AIDS have been suppressed.

So to add a little common sense to the mix of health(and I've said similar before), to regain or maintain health, some tips would be to:

Eat natural foods as much as possible. Meaning raw, and preferably organic.

Leave chemicals alone. Don't buy them, don't use them. You do NOT need them for anything. Chemicals kill.

Citrus foods such as grapefruit and lemon have a component called Limonene, which is known to be anti-cancerous.

Green foods(must be raw) are high in chlorophyll, which adds oxygen to the body. When a disease like cancer hits, lack of oxygen is at the root of the problem. Remember this. There may be a test coming up. Down the road that you may have to answer for yourself, how to get rid of cancer. Many green foods are also very high in a wide variety of nutrients.

Raw foods such as potatoes, tomatoes, celery, lettuce, spinach, radish, etc.; all speed up your metabolism and feed the body crucial enzymes. Want to lose weight? Drink more 'clean' water(no chloride or fluoride), and eat raw foods.

Kelp and many other seaweeds add necessary iodine into the body to help the thyroid. The thyroid is critical to maintaining your health.

Get direct daytime sun as much as possible without burning the skin. Stay away from sunscreen. It is not the sun that causes cancers. It is sunscreen and the chemicals you put on the body after a burn that cause cancer. And I can you you thinking; "of course the sun can cause cancer". I am here to be a little bit in your face and tell you it does not. Let me explain......

Since we know the cause of cancer is always a lack of oxygen to the cells, which in turn prevents nutrients from entering the cells, what does the sun do? Why it dries out the skin of course. Adding sunscreen is harmful in at least three respects.

One is that is suffocates the skin(cancer causing). Another is nearly all of it has chemicals(cancer causing), and the final that I know if is that it prevents most of the absorption of sunlight which allows the body to create vitamin D, the most powerful anti-cancer vitamin known.

So not only are you causing cancer by using sunscreen, you are preventing the body from healing itself by blocking the UV rays which allow the body to manufacture vitamin D. And you may be thinking, "But I will just add vitamin D capsules into the diet". While this may be beneficial, it is not a highly reliable method.

Supplementation of D is not nearly as effective as direct sunlight. And there is a good chance of overdosing on supplementation of that vitamin. This harms parts of your body including the kidneys.

It is rare that overdosing on vitamin D happens while using sunlight as your prime source. If you take supplemental D, it would be best to have your vitamin D levels checked every few months. Most of the health experts agree those levels should be checked about every 3 months.

Therapeutic quality Lavender oil can help alleviate burns and also add essential nutrient back into the skin.

Dave Kazda
Health Educator/Healer
Aromatologist
Herbalist
Quantum Touch Therapist
Member: SelfGrowth.com
knowledge_quest2002@yahoo.com

Do You Have Psoriasis?

Psoriasis is a skin disease that most commonly appears as “plaque psoriasis,” which is raised, inflamed red patches covered by a silvery white scale. It can appear anywhere on your body.

Psoriasis is not contagious and may seem like an unattractive and inconvenient part of your life, but it can become more serious. Psoriasis can develop into psoriatic arthritis, a condition characterized by inflammation, pain and swelling of the joints.

This chronic disease affects some 7.5 million Americans, and it appears that psoriasis is a more serious diagnosis than previously thought.

New research shows that psoriasis puts you at risk for:

* Heart disease
* Cancer
* High blood pressure
* Depression
* Obesity
* Crohn’s disease

With documented risks like these, psoriasis is more than just a cosmetic disease.

Common over-the-counter and prescription treatments of psoriasis aim to slow cell turnover and reduce scaling, but experts have not yet found an “official cure”.

The Inflammation Connection

Psoriasis is linked to systemic inflammation. Inflammation is your body’s response to stress from diet, lifestyle and/or environment. It causes many diseases like arthritis and cancer, as well as psoriasis and general aging.

One of the main causes of inflammation is low-grade bacterial, viral or fungal infections in our blood, tissues and cells.

Common treatment of psoriasis includes anti-inflammatory drugs like aspirin and ibuprofen, but these just temporarily ease the symptoms.

Some things you can do to help eliminate psoriasis are to cleanse the liver using foods such as organic grapefruit, wolfberry(known under the colloquial name of goji berry), lemon, and any sulfur foods such as onions & garlic. Also using black cumin, or black seed oil, can help.


Fill Your Life With Abundance

Dave Kazda
Health Educator/Healer
Aromatologist
Herbalist
Quantum Touch Therapist
Member: SelfGrowth.com
knowledge_quest2002@yahoo.com

Words of Health

Aromatherapy, due to it's powerful nature, is a profound healing tool. And while I stated a couple of blogs ago, that it was the most powerful healing tool we have, I will have to change that a little. It is the most powerful known tool other than energy healing and faith.

This blog will be the final one on aromatherapy for awhile. Essential oils have hundreds of applications. The oils listed this time are given with known and documented properties.

Pine Oil is anti-fungal, anti-infectious, antimicrobial, antineuralgic, antirheumatic, antiscorbutic, antiseptic (pulmonary, urinary, hepatic), antiviral, bactericidal.

Orange Oil is antibiotic, anticoagulant, antidepressant, antigenic, anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, antispasmodic, bactericidal, calmative, carminative, cholagogue, choleretic, depurative, digestive, diuretic, fungicidal. It is also one of the oils highest in the compound of Limonene, a known anti-cancer component.

Tangerine Oil is antiseptic, antispasmodic, calmative, carminative, digestive, diuretic (mild), hypnotic, laxative (mild), sedative, stimulant (digestive and lymphatic), and tonic.

Roman Chamomile is analgesic, anti-anemic, antibiotic, antidepressant anti-inflammatory, anti-neuralgic, anti-phlogistic, antiseptic, antispasmodic, bactericidal, calmative, carminative, digestive, hepatic, hypnotic, immuno-stimulant, nerve sedative.

Elemi Oil is Antiseptic, balsamic, cicatrizant, expectorant, fortifying, regulatory, stimulant, stomachic, and tonic. Also called "poor mans Frankincense".

Grapefruit Oil is Antidepressant, anti-infectious, antiseptic, antitoxic, astringent, bactericidal, depurative, digestive, diuretic, restorative, stimulant (lymphatic, digestive), and tonic. Also high in Limonene.

Juniper Berry Oil is antiseptic, astringent, nervine. This oil has been used extensively thoughout history due to its benefit to the kidneys and digestive system. This essential oil company's sponsor is ID 119459.

I could literally go on for days with the benefits of therapeutic quality aromatherapy. Non-therapeutic has little to no value in health. An essential oil applied topically, will enter every cell of the body within minutes. One of the best places to apply an oil topically is the bottom of the feet. The pores are larger here, and will rapidly open to accept the oils.

If you are unfamiliar with using aromatherapy, you should always consult a practioner who is familiar before you begin. Used properly, therapeutic quality essential oils can literally be life-saving.

"Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation."
-- Brian Tracy, Author

Dave Kazda
Health Educator/Healer
Aromatologist
Herbalist
Quantum Touch Therapist
Member: http://www.selfgrowth.com
knowledge_quest2002@yahoo.com