Going beyond diet and exercise.

This is Part 2 of my series on aging and oxidative stress. Please read my previous post, Oxygen is Killing Us.

I don’t want to get old. Really, I’m just not interested.

Yeah, you can lecture me on the wisdom we acquire as we age. I couldn’t agree more. I’m totally down with that. But that’s not what I’m talking about. The aging I’m referring to is the kind that shuffles down the street, drives 50 mph in the fast lane, and knows when a storm is coming by how his joints feel. Nope. You can count me out of that one.

And no, I’m not in denial. I’ve been known to pluck a gray hair or two. I know my hairline isn’t what it used to be. Yet if it were possible to slow down the aging process and avert the litany of degenerative diseases that come along with it, who wouldn’t be intrigued by that prospect?

In the late 1950s, a scientist by the name of Denham Harman, M.D., Ph.D., proposed what is known as the free radical theory of aging. As you may recall from my previous blog post, free radicals are an inevitable byproduct of metabolism. They hold the dubious distinction of being a fact of life and at the same time a contributor to death and disease.

With all due respect, Harman’s postulation resides within the realm of what I consider to be common sense. If our bodies are made up of trillions of cells, it is not a stretch to surmise that the condition of the cells determines the condition (and function) of the body. The accumulation of wear and tear on our cell membranes and the structures, organelles, and DNA within them is without question a major factor in aging and degenerative diseases.

A weathered, dilapidated home with poor plumbing and a leaky roof was at one time brand new. So goes the human body.

To review, the mechanism by which free radicals sabotage cellular function is through a process called oxidation or oxidative stress. In other words, there is an ongoing looting spree going on within our bodies. The free radicals aren’t actually up to no good, they’re just following the laws of chemistry.

If you flash back again to high school chemistry, you likely recall that electrons prefer to travel in pairs. One is the loneliest number, even for atoms and molecules. Carrying a single unpaired electron, free radicals do what they have to do to hook up. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough electrons to go around. In order to complete itself, a free radical must steal an electron from another cell.

Just think of it as the guy who procrastinates on asking his dream girl to the prom. When he finally asks, she’s already taken. Frustrated and frantic, he scrambles to find a date. Eventually, he steals another guy’s date. Imagine the drama!

Within your cells, the drama can be DNA damage. When this occurs, cells may not divide properly, resulting in a malfunctioning and possibly cancerous cell. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. For the sake of brevity, a malfunctioning cell gives rise to malfunctioning organs, which give rise to malfunctioning systems, which give rise to the diseases of aging. These diseases include, but are not limited to, heart disease, the many neurodegenerative diseases, osteoporosis, and diabetes.

Free radical damage (oxidative stress) plays a role in over 200 diseases. Most of us will succumb to at least one of them.

Again, I’m not interested.

Instead, I choose to use the wisdom of my years to control the free radical fire burning within. To forever walk with long strides. To remain independent until it’s my time to go. To age gracefully.

That’s how it should be.

Stay tuned for Part 3!

Sean Croxton of Underground Wellness
sean@undergroundwellness.com
http://www.undergroundwellness.com

Oxygen is killing us. While its role as the breath of life is well known, the destructive nature of oxygen is more clandestine, slowly chipping away at our health until symptoms emerge.

Oxygen can break down the very cells that make up our tissues and organs, our bones and blood. It can damage DNA and critical enzymes. It can injure and stiffen our cell membranes, making the movement of nutrients in and out of cells more challenging while ruining our receptors for various hormones including testosterone, insulin, and thyroid.

We can hold our breaths for as long as we wish, but that would probably create an even bigger problem. Darned if you do. Darned if you don’t.

How does oxygen kill? The same way metal rusts and a half-eaten apple turns brown, by a process termed oxidation or oxidative stress.

The need for energy is something that we all have in common. The process of producing energy is called metabolism and is dependent upon the food we consume as well as the presence of oxygen. I’ll spare you the complicated details, but you likely already know where this process occurs. Flashback to sixth grade science class! Energy production takes place in the “powerhouse of the cell”, the mitochondria. The end result is the energy molecule ATP.

According to Dr. Russell Blaylock in his book Health and Nutrition Secrets that Can Save Your Life, “about 95 percent of the oxygen that enters our cells goes to the mitochondria…but 3-5 percent of this oxygen escapes in the form of free radicals”. As the name implies, free radicals are in fact free. Free to create havoc as they act like a packet of lit firecrackers burning the vital cellular apparatus including:

DNA: Tells your cells how to function. If your cells are getting the wrong instructions, malfunctions including cancer may occur.

Enzymes: The proteins that drive the chemical reactions within the cells. Some enzymes are responsible for damaging DNA. When free radicals oxidize DNA, these enzymes are responsible for coming to the rescue. If the enzymes are oxidized themselves, the DNA is left to fend for itself.

Membranes: Not only are cells enclosed within a fatty (lipid) bilayer, but the organelles within, such as the nucleus and endoplasmic reticulum, also have their own fatty acid-composed membranes. Free radicals burn these membranes. This process is called lipid peroxidation and is present in over 200 different diseases including cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and ALS.

Oxidative stress is an unavoidable part of life. However, degenerative disease does not have to be our inevitable fate. The key is to find out why our bodies may be generating excess free radicals and also to take the proper measures to neutralize them.

Tune in next time!

Sean Croxton of Underground Wellness
http://www.undergroundwellness.com
sean@undergroundwellness.com

This may very well have been the worst week of my life. You guys almost lost me.

I almost lost you.

The thought of pressing the button crossed my mind more than you’d ever wish to know. I wanted to end it all. The YouTube channel. The radio show. The websites. None of it mattered if I couldn’t have peace of mind. In times like these, to retreat back into that world called Anonymity seems to be the lone solution I can ever come up with.

No more filming.

No more e-mail.

No more radio shows.

No more haters.

No more pressure.

I could have my old life back. Could watch the games from tip-off to the final buzzer. Buy the piece of chocolate raspberry cake without worrying about getting caught. Take my time in the gym. Start at nine. End at five. Heaven.

Maybe it was just Oprah Hangover. To be honest, after all that voting, I grew a bit sick of myself. Maybe it was those people who signed up for an account on the Oprah site just to bash me. They’re probably the same legion of keyboard warriors who find a way to cast a negative light on every positive thing I do.

The same ones who send me 10-paragraph emails denigrating my very existence.

The ones who post my replies online in their own ridiculous attempts at smear campaigns.

The ones who call me a sell-out.

Or maybe it was the dozen or so Facebook friends who dropped me when I changed my relationship status last week.

People…

This is what I get for trying to help?

I know all of this sounds crazy coming from a guy who nearly reached a million Oprah votes in 7 days. And to be perfectly honest, it sounds crazy because it is. It’s bullshit. Pardon my French.

The truth is that I was scared. I’ve been paralyzed with fear for years now. I fear that I’ll say the wrong thing and lose my audience, that I won’t meet the exceedingly high expectations that my clients have for me, that I would indeed be a sell-out. I was doing the two things I tell my clients NOT to do. I was worrying about what other people thought. I was always trying to look good. Both lie at the root of our addiction to self-sabotage. Hypocrisy at its finest.

My troubles above weren’t all I was dealing with. If you’re a Facebook friend, you likely know that I was in the shortest relationship in the history of social media. That one came to an end on Friday. I’ll spare you the details. I’m an open book, but I’m not that open.

Like Eminem says, I hit rock bottom so hard I bounced twice. And as odd as it sounds, I absolutely LOVE that place called rock bottom. More people need to go there. Why? Because change happens when you’ve finally suffered enough.

I’m done suffering. It’s time to put me first. Like the flight attendants say before takeoff, secure yourself before securing your children. For most people, that may seem like a selfish act. But being selfish can be a wonderful thing. If you’re not secure in your health, wealth, and spirit, you will never be able to effectively help others.

Life is all about balance. This week was one of my worst, BUT this weekend was likely the best I’ve ever had. I made many decisions that will better my life. And through the reform of my life and my vision for Underground Wellness, the lives of others will be touched in a way that I never thought possible.

One of my decisions was to dust off this blog and spend an hour a day writing about what’s on my mind. My time is up. I’m a slow writer. See you tomorrow. Wait until you hear about my weekend!

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Yo! Last night’s radio show with gluten sensitivity expert Dr. Tom O’Bryan was one of my favorites of all time! If you missed it, you can listen to it HERE. Also, be sure to visit his website and buy his DVD lecture! It goes even deeper!

As promised, Dr. O’Bryan sent over the scientific references to back up the much-needed information we talked about it. Here they are!

Unlocking The Mystery of Musculoskeletal and Neurological Complications of Gluten Sensitivity

REFERENCES

National Institutes of Health. Autoimmune Diseases Coordinating Committee. Autoimmune Diseases Research Plan. http://www.niaid.nih.gov/dait/pdf/ADCC_Report.pdf Accessed 1/18/07

Selva-O’Callaghan, A., Celiac disease and antibodies associated with celiac disease in patients with inflammatory myopathy Muscle Nerve,2007 Jan;35(1):49-54

Gobbi, G., Coeliac disease, epilepsy, and cerebral calcifications. The Italian Working Group on Coeliac Disease and Epilepsy, Lancet, 1992 Aug 22;340(8817):439-43

Bland, J, Understanding The Origins and Applying Advanced Nutritional Strategies For Autoimmune Diseases. March 2006

Murray, J, The Widening Spectrum of Celiac Disease. Am J Clin Nutr 1999;69:354–65.

Green, P, Mechanisms Underlying Celiac Disease and its Neurologic Manifestations. Cell. Mol. Life Sci. 62 (2005) 791–799

Hadjivassiliou, M, Neuromuscular Disorder as a Presenting Feature of Coeliac Disease, Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry,1997;63:770-775

Helms, S, Celiac Disease and Gluten Associated Diseases. Alternative Medicine Review, Volume 10, Number 3,2005

Feigherty, C, Coeliac Disease, BMJ VOL. 319 24 JULY 1999,236-239

Colin, P, Celiac Disease, Brain Atrophy, and Dementia,Neurology 41: 372-375; March, 1991

Hadjivassiliou, M, Gluten ataxia in perspective: epidemiology, genetic susceptibility and clinical characteristics,Brain, Vol. 126, No. 3, 685-691, March 2003

Zelnick,N, Range of Neurologic Disorders in Patients with Celiac Disease, Pediatrics Vol.113 No.6 June 2004

Addolorado, G, Regional Cerebral Hypoperfusion in Patients with Celiac Disease, Am J Med,March 1, 2004,312-7

Hadjivassiliou, M, Headache and CNS White Matter Abnormalities Associated with Gluten Sensitivity,Neurology, Vol. 56/No. 3, February 13, 2001

Hadjivassilou, M., Gluten ataxia in perspective: epidemiology, genetic susceptibility and clinical characteristics, Brain, Vol. 126, No. 3, 685-691, March 2003

Abrams,J, Seronegative Celiac Disease:Increased Prevalence with Lesser Degrees of Villous Atrophy,Dig.Dis. And Science, Vol.49. No.4, (April 2004),546-550

Lebwohl, Screening For Celiac Disease, N Engl J Med Oct.23 2003,1673-4

Baudon, J Diagnosing Celiac Disease, Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med/Vol. 158, June 2004, 584-588

Arbuckle, M, Development of Autoantibodies Before the Clinical Onset of SLE, NEJM:2003;349:1526-1533

Kaukinen,K, Small-bowel mucosal transglutaminase 2-specific IgA deposits in coeliac disease without villous atrophy: A prospective and
randomized clinical study, Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology, 2005; 40: 564_/572

Salmi, T, Immunoglobulin A autoantibodies against transglutaminase 2 in the small intestinal mucosa predict forthcoming coeliac disease, Aliment Pharmacol Ther 24, 541–552

Ventura,A, Duration of Exposure to Gluten and Risk of Autoimmune Disorders in Patients with Celiac Disease, GASTROENTEROLOGY 1999;117:297–303

Oderta, G, Thyroid Autoimmunity in Childhood Celiac Disease, Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition 35:704–705

Harper, E., Occult Celiac Disease Presenting as Epilepsy and MRI Changes that Responded to Gluten Free Diet, Neurology 68, Feb.13,2007, 533-34

Hallert, C, Evidence of Poor Vitamin Status in Coeliac Patients on a Gluten Free Diet for 10 Years, Aliment Pharmacol Ther 2002; 16: 1333-1339

Verkasalo,M., Undiagnosed Silent Celiac Disease:A Risk For Underachievement, Scan.J.Gastro,2005;40:1407-1412

Braly,J., Hogan, R, Dangerous Grains, www.Celiac.com

Celiac Disease, Brain Atrophy, and Dementia, Neurology 41: 372-375; March, 1991

Pellechia, M., Idiopathic cerebellar ataxia associated with celiac
disease: lack of distinctive neurological features, J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 1999;66:32–35

Niederhoffer,H., A Preliminary Investigation of ADHD
Symptoms in Persons With Celiac Disease, Journal of Attention Disorders, March 2006, 1-5

Corrao,G., Mortality in patients with coeliac disease and their relatives:
a cohort study, THE LANCET, Vol. 358, August 4, 2001

Kieslich, H., Brain White-Matter Lesions in Celiac Disease: A Prospective Study of 75 Diet-Treated Patients PEDIATRICS Vol. 108 No. 2 August 2001

“All my friends are on a diet. It’s just not cool to actually eat lunch. We just sit around the [lunch] table and talk instead.” (Janie, a fourth-grader)

Human nature drives our desires to want that which we cannot have. For those who eventually achieve what once seemed physically unattainable, they are usually met with feelings of emptiness and solitude. Their journeys to their supposed mountaintops are not joyous and redeeming but lonely and demoralizing. Their motivations are out of fear, False Evidence Appearing Real. For most, the apex is nonexistent. It is merely an oasis, a delusion of grandeur. Someday, they will come face to face with the reality that the days that have passed are gone forever. What remains is not worth the pain.

The false evidence of which I speak is everywhere I go. It screams out at me as I impatiently wait my turn in the inappropriately-named Express Lane at the local supermarket. Lose 10 Pounds! Janet’s New Body! Get Shredded in Two Weeks Flat! Most of these headlines are directed toward the opposite sex but even I walk away questioning my physical state. I can only imagine how others feel.

Upon returning home, I turn on the TV and flip through channel after channel of infomercials pitching their latest gimmicks. At that very moment, someone is getting filthy rich as insecure Americans jam the 1-800 phone lines eager to fork over their hard-earned cash for simple weight loss solutions. Frustrated, I settle for a movie but notice that every time the lead actress turns sideways, she disappears.

Enough! I’m going to the gym to blow off some steam! Once there, I find the usual suspects; the ones who spend 2 to 3 hours a day striving for the perfect bodies; the ones who ought to have their mail sent there; the ones who are there more than I am. And I work there! The anorexics we can’t help due to legal issues are on their designated treadmills. The guys who seemed to have put on 20 pounds of muscle over the last 2 weeks while coincidentally acquiring horrendous cases of acne are there too. The girl with the imaginary stomach pooch is crunching. She’s crunching. She’s crunching… The very idea of perfection is in fact imperfect. Like a David Blaine stunt, what appears real is not. Our attempts to achieve similar results remain elusive even when we think we have figured out his secret.

Believe it or not, celebrities are no more immune to cellulite and butt dimples than you and I. They just do a better job of hiding the evidence. How? It’s called airbrushing and your favorite magazines and tabloid rags hire the best of the best to do it. If you can Photoshop your ex out of old pictures, imagine what a professional can do with a patch of thigh cheese.
Early in his career, a make-up artist transformed Eddie Murphy into a Caucasian for an unforgettable SNL sketch about the perks of being a White man. A decade later, he portrayed an elderly White man, an old Black man, and a really bad singer all in the same movie, Coming to America. The same technique has turned Martin Lawrence into a Big Mama and Mel Gibson into a Man Without a Face. Photograph manipulation and make-up artistry have become lucrative careers. Making false evidence appear real is their job. They are very good at what they do.

The “thin is in” concept isn’t just sucking the self-esteem out of average American women; it’s hurting the actresses themselves. As the pressures to be skeleton-thin are mounting, many celebs are jumping ship. The physical and psychological costs of Hollywood are driving both aspiring and successful stars out of town and onto Jobs.com. For them, the money and fame they’ve dreamed of since childhood aren’t worth the self-deprecation. Health is priceless. Shouldn’t you follow suit?

In her book, Life Inside the Thin Cage, Constance Rhodes writes,
“Hollywood plays a dramatic and often self-debilitating role in promoting an image that is increasingly unattainable. But while many stars choose to risk their health and well-being in order to get a part, more and more women are crying out for permission to look like a woman, permission to be who they are. We all deserve this freedom.”

Models
In the dictionary, the word model is defined as:
n. Representation or reproduction of something, usually constructed to scale or in miniature.

However, the models that strut the runways and pose for magazine ads in their size zeros are thinner than 98% of the population! They starve themselves and chain-smoke as they toe the line of anorexia. Just who in fact they are modeling beats the heck out of me.

Why do we envy those in the public eye? Imagine seeing perfectly airbrushed, made-up pictures of yourself in magazines and tabloids, and on billboards, television shows, and movie screens. How would you feel when you had to look in the mirror at your real self? How would it feel to have the expectation to appear flawless everywhere you go? Would your fans examine your every blemish and imperfection? Could the real you live up to your manufactured celebrity image? Personally, I’d avoid stardom like the plague. I have enough problems of my own.

Measure of a Man
And guys, you’re not exempt from this discussion. We have our own issues that no one wants to talk about. Male body obsession is becoming more prevalent than ever as our self-esteems have become dependent on our physical ideals of manliness. If wide chests, bulging biceps, and ripped abs are what make us men, most of us will never escape the firm clutches of boyhood.

Male body obsession and reverse anorexia are closet issues that deserve recognition.

“Women, over the years, have gradually learned, at least to some extent, how to confront society’s and the media’s impossible ideals of beauty. Many women can now recognize and voice their appearance concerns, speaking openly about their reactions to these ideals, rather than letting them fester inside. But men still labor under the societal taboo against expressing such feelings. Real men aren’t supposed to whine about their looks; they’re not even supposed to talk about such things, And so this “feeling and talking taboo” adds insult to injury; to a degree unprecedented in history, men are being made to feel more and more inadequate about how they look, while simultaneously being prohibited from talking about it or admitting it to themselves.” (The Adonis Complex)

We’re All in it Together
* Nearly 65 million American women are on a diet on any given day. Of these, 35 percent, more than 22 million women, progress to pathological eating.
* A 1997 study found that an amazing 45 percent of American men (well over 50 million) were dissatisfied with their muscle tone, almost double the percentage found in the same survey in 1972.
* Eighty percent of women are dissatisfied with their appearance.
* Three-quarters of women within normal weight limits feel too fat, desiring on average to weigh slightly more than anorexic.
* If Barbie were the height of an actual woman, she’d have only a 16-inch waist.
* If the G.I. Joe Extreme introduced in the mid-1990s were full-sized, he would have a 55-inch chest and 27-inch biceps.

No Illusions
“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.”
– Albert Einstein

As children, the concept of illusion merely entertained us. Despite our nascent minds, we remained cognizant of the magician’s primary objective, to deceive our senses. The joy was in discovering the sleight of hand that produced such trickery. Yet, as we grew into adulthood, we lost our ability to decipher reality from its illusory counterpart. The illusion has become our lives. It is as though we depend upon it to fill the gaping hole in which joy once resided.

Life is a gift and when it’s all over, there will be no closing credits, no endless list of names responsible for creating and maintaining the illusion. Chase your dreams and recognize deception for what it is. The moment we let go of expectations that fail to exist, a whole new world will open itself up to us. Fear will cease to exist. We can live out our own lives and simply be ourselves.