From aerial yoga to aerial treatments

This image presents an example of how one can smooth muscular tensions and physical and mental stesses with the help of a soft material and of Gravity.

Aerial yoga helps the body with compressions and decompressions on all body parts, from legs to arms to the trunk, ameliorating in this way the lymphatic and blood circulation. Furthermore it brings to the relaxation of tensed body parts thanks to the work of gravity on the suspended body. Aerial yoga is very effective on backaches and scaitica issues since it allows the back to freely adn gently stretch under the effct of gravity. Aerail yoga helps also increase flexibilty and strength: it strengthens the core of the body, working on abs and dorsal muscles, strenghtens the arms that lift the body with the help of the 'silk', as well as the legs which are in constant contration to control the balance.

coconut oil miracles?

I would never have thought that my coconut cookies had such beneficial effects for so many ailments and were preventative for disastrous diseases! I recently dove into research on the properties of coconut oil and discovered some very interesting results. 

Coconut oil ameliorates the cholesterol1 profile: it reduces total cholesterol1, triglycerides, phospholipids, LDL, and VLDL and increases HDL cholesterol.
 
Coconut oil is strongly antioxidant2 due to the presence of lauric acid and phenolic compounds, as was measured in the liver, heart and kidneys. It has antimicrobial effects, antibacterial, antiviral and anti-mycotic (treats infections from Candida): some of the viruses that have been destroyed by a derivative of lauric acid contained in coconut oil include HIV, measles, herpes simplex virus-1, vesicular stomatitis virus, influenza and cytomegalovirus. For its antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory effects it is used in treating acne. 

There is also evidence that the coconut oil prevents osteoporosis, stimulates the thyroid functions, is thermogenic, helps reduce body weight and abdominal fat, is hepatoprotective, protects the heart by protecting heart mitochondria (producers of energy on all cells), alleviates arthritis, and has shown to improve Alzheimer’s disease condition and cognitive functions and to attenuate progression of weakness and spinal cord motor neuron loss in ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis).

Most of the properties of coconut oil derive from it being a saturated fat3 (yes a SATURATED fat, you read well!). Moreover, it contains medium chain fatty acids (and not long chain as in most vegetable oils). Beside their beneficial chemical properties, MCfas are burned for energy and do not accumulate as body fat!


So…my cookies. I am never a good deliverer of recipes because I never measure ingredients but mix them by eye and feel. So let’s say I will approximate a recipe which changes at every time, but which always gives good results!

Hearty Coconut Cookies
3/4 cup of wholewheat flour (you can replace with spelt or any other liked flour)
1/2 cup of buckwheat flour
1/2 cup of coconut flour
3 spoonfuls of coconut oil
2 eggs
1/3 cup of raw sugar
¼ cup of raisins
1/4 cup of dark (80%) chocolate chips
1 teaspoonful of cardamom
2 teaspoonfuls of cinnamon

(if the dough is too brittle, you can add 1/2 cup of oatmeal milk or soya milk)
 
Work the dough with your hands until smooth, flatten with roller, cut cookies at a 3 mm height, place in over at 180 degree Celsius and cook for 15-20 minutes. Taste after cooling!

1 Soon to appear on this blog, a summary of latest research on cholesterol and why, according to many doctors and researchers, it is not always a good idea to lower it.
2 In a future post I will be talking about oxidation and the deeds caused by such a devastating chemical event
3 In an imminent post I will discuss about saturated fats, the not so bad (the best?) fats to better include in the healthy diet.

Fats and health, Part I: cholesterol and other fats

News have been flowing through the papers, tv and the web that fats are not our worst enemies. Nutritional research has been claiming this for the past 20+ years. But as usual, the information to the normal public through media (mainstream and alternative) arrives - even if with interpretational errors - with a little delay compared to science.

CHOLESTEROL is not all bad, and not even the splitting between LDL (bad?) and HDL (good!) tells the whole metabolic tale of cardiovascular disesases risks. So, should we lower it or not? Check this research done in Australia project that disclosed that at higher serum LDL and TOTAL cholesterol corresponded better memory in women bewteen 52 and 63 years old.

There is also information that in people over 60, the rates of death and dementia go UP if cholesterol is lowered beyond 250. (btw. why did it used to be 350?). Simple to understand, the brain NEEDS fats and it is high in cholesterol, which acts as precursor of neurotransmitters. Take away those fats and the brain does not function that well.


But here come the so ever popular statins, which DO reduce cholesterol, but also cause neuropathies and myopathies, by lowering the level of CoQ10, highly demanded by the heart (!). Statins lower CoQ10 by up to 40%. So, we lower the fats that are needed for good functioning of the brain and the same time lower a substance that is essential for optimum health and longevity of all cells, and especially those of the heart (Wait a minute, don't we take statins to prevent CARDIO vascular problems??).

Anyway, coming back to the fats and how their reputaion has incredibly improved so that they are considered our passport to a good health.... Let's consider the fact that in the past 40 years we have been told to stop eating butter and move to margarine, to stop eating lard and cook with vegetable oils, and yet, the rates of obesity, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, Alzheimer's disease, dementia, cardiac disease, hypertension and cancer have been skyrocketing. Now the culprit is understood to be grains, or charbohydrates or complex sugars, which have been replacing the free slot left by low fat diets. 

So, the 'new' diet recommendation tells us to move to high proteins, low or no carbs, and high fat (including SATURATED animal fats!) diets: the Paleolothic diet. This regime, with its compelling logic, is taking the place of the low fat diets of the 80s and 90s.

PALEOLITHIC: in the past 10,000 years, our DNA hasn't YET had the time to adapt to the grain and milk farming of the pastoral civilizations, therefore we should still be eating grass-fed meat, nuts, roots and berries. Right. Without going to extremes and excesses and depriving ourselves of self indulging and short-term rewarding carbs-rich foods, we should keep in mind that QUALITY is more important than QUANTITY. We do not have to sacrifice our cooking pleasures to measure and weight grams of proteins and avoid all grains as the devil. However, we should be aware of choosing the good foods. The GOOD FATS, to undo the mistakes of the low-fats preaching, should be NATURAL, not man-made, not saturated and industrially-manipulated- such transformations are mostly introduced by the food companies for getting longer-lasting packages that can sit on shelves for months and NOT to provide the healthiest foods.

Still in terms of quality, the rate between OMEGA 3 (craved by the brain) to omega 6 fatty acids has been decreasing in western diets from 4:1 during the processed food revolution, to 8:1 in WWII times, to 20:1 as today, while this same ratio should be 1:1!!! Now, the problem with omega 6, is that they are favoring inflammatory states, which are implicated in issues like atherosclerosis, asthma, arthritis, thrombosis, cancer, autoimmune diseases and dementia! Where do we get such omega 6? Seeds oils! Soybean, sunflower, cottonseeds, peanut, grapeseed, corn oils etc. The under-represented omega 3 are found in linseeds  (flax), canola, cold water fish and nuts such as walnuts and few others.


So, coming down to few simple recommendations: avoid processed food (which always contain processed omega 6 rich oils), cook with coconut butter (or, if you are not lactose intolerant, a little butter, organic and from grass-fed cows) and use extravirgin olive oil for crude condiment. Eat tons of antioxidants in the shape of vegetables. Eat few grains and focus on others than wheat (which has been loosing its protein content with farming processes and gives gluten intolerance or low tolerance to many) such as buckwheat (not a grain), whole oats and barley, quinoa, amaranth.


This article is not to be taken as a suggestion to stop using statins. Please keep to your doctor's recommendations, while you are always free to ask clarifications.