During exercise your metabolism generates not only energy from glucose with the mitochondria of your muscle cells, but also a by-product known as free radicals.  These are small oxygenated molecules that have only one purpose in their short life:  to grab electrons from their nearest neighbor and in so doing, destroy them.  Hence, muscle cells are destroyed and have to be replaced.

In addition to free radical oxidative damage, tissues such as your joints, tendons and ligaments can become damaged during hard exercise and competitive performance. This initiates the inflammatory response of the immune system leading to swelling, inflammation and pain. A certain amount of inflammation occurs with most exercise, although it is not always noticeable.

The first benefit of organic cocoa is its high antioxidant content(1).  It contains more flavanoids than highly antioxidant foods such as blueberries and tea(2), and can be used by more than  just athletes seeking to reduce the oxidative stress initiate by training and competition. Antioxidants destroy free radicals on sight – in fact as soon as they are formed. Not only do they prevent the oxidative stress of exercise, but they also prevent atherosclerosis, where free radicals render low density lipoproteins water-insoluble so that they precipitate from the blood and form cholesterol plaques on arterial walls.

With regard to exercise and recovery, however, the antioxidants in organic cocoa prevent damage to muscle cells and the proteins that form muscle tissue. The same phytochemicals also possess anti-inflammatory properties, and so help to reduce the effects of inflammation. It is ironic that the inflammatory response of your immune system is intended to protect your body tissues from damage, but doesn’t know when to stop and ends up causing swelling and pain. Anti-inflammatories are used to alleviate the effects of inflammation that can retard recovery after exercise. Experimental evidence indicates that organic cocoa contains powerful anti-inflammatory effects(3).

Another benefit of organic cocoa is that it can promote cardiovascular health. By dilating your arteries and other blood vessels it can improve blood flow, and hence help to maintain muscle oxygenation during exercise.  This in turn not only permits longer and more effective athletic performance, but also helps to convert exercise into more powerful muscle density. It regulates your hear rate and lowers your blood pressure, and generally promotes athletic prowess and effective exercise.

Another benefit that is not truly appreciated is offered by the neurotransmitter content of cocoa. Remember that great feeling you get after jogging a few miles?  Referred to as ‘jogger’s high’ it can be provided by the endorphin content of organic cocoa. Endorphins are ‘feel-good’ neurotransmitters and cocoa, in providing that plus others such as serotonin promote a positive outlook and a general feeling of well being.

These attitudes are important to athletes, and another that cocoa offers is anandamine, a chemical released by the brain that promotes relaxation and enables you to relax easier after extreme exercise, thus promoting more rapid recovery. Finally, phenylethylamine helps you to focus on the objective in hand, and together with the other neurotransmitters that cocoa either contains or promotes in the brain, can put you in the right mood for hard work and athletic achievement and improve the symptoms of fatigue, particularly of chronic fatigue(4).

1. British Journal of Nutrition (2009), 101, 931-940

2. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Dec 3, 2003.

3. J Cardiovasc Pharmacol. 2006;47 Suppl 2:S163-71; discussion S172-6.

4. Endocrine Abstracts (2006) 12 P68

Copyright 2010 LifeHealthSecrets

Your immune system is your body’s way of protecting itself from disease and invasion by pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, yeasts and fungi. If you are not sure what it protects you from, consider what happens when you die and your immune system shuts down. Your body is rapidly invaded by bacteria and parasites and rapidly degrades. It is only your immune system that prevents this from happening when you are alive.

It is therefore imperative to your good health that this wonder of nature is maintained in tip-top condition. That said, how does it actually work, and what can we do to ensure that our immune system keeps working in the background as we go about our daily lives? Every second of every day you come into contact with pathogens such as the bacteria and viruses that would invade your bodies if they could break down your defenses, so how does this system prevent that from happening?

The immune system is a very complex wonder of nature, and even today it is not completely understood. However, we know enough about it to understand its general biochemical principles, any of which are based upon given and learned memory of the protein structure of the pathogens involved. The system consists of three distinct levels.

Level 1 is your skin and various fluids, such as mucus and tears, that prevent pathogens from entering your body. Healthy skin can prevent bacteria and viruses from getting through, and those other parts of your body exposed to the outside world, your mouth, nose, ears, eyes, respiratory and digestive tract, are continually being flushed by mucus, saliva, tears, urine and so on in order to prevent invaders from taking hold.

Level 2 is known as the innate system, part of which are phagocytes, a form of white blood cell that eat invading organisms alive. It also consists of other systems, such as the inflammatory response that will be discussed later. Another form of Level 2 response comes from Natural Killer (NK) cells, that kill off cells in your body that have been infected by pathogens. By killing the cells, they also kill the pathogen.

Level 3 is known as the ‘adaptive response’, whereby specific pathogens, or antigens, are remembered by associated antibodies, and deactivated by them. The antibodies may have already been formed, the adaptive system having come across them before, or they may be formed fresh within about two weeks of infection by new organisms.

When we are born, we have been provided with a degree of immunity from disease from our mother’s blood. Additional to that, the initial colostrum produced from the human breast is a rich soup of antibodies designed to enhance that immunity. From then on we are on our own. Antibodies are also known as immunoglobulins and your blood can contain many millions of different antibodies at any one time.

As previously mentioned, a part of your immune system is known as the inflammatory response. This is the initial response of your body to infection, and involves the release of chemicals known as eicosanoids and cytokines. The former dilate the blood vessels to allow the large phagocytes to reach the infected area, and also increase the body temperature of the area in order to render conditions unfavorable for the bacteria and viruses to multiply.

The cytokines enable the various white cells to communicate, possess antiviral properties (interferons) and also lead other cells needed by the immune system to the infected area. It is the inflammatory response that causes the temperature increase known as fever and that can make you feel generally bad and run down.

When your body is put under stress, such as through dealing with the stresses of everyday life, people crowding together in offices or busy trains, and with the stresses imposed on the body through hard exercise, your antibodies are unable to deal with pathogens as they enter your body.

Germs get through your defenses and the immune system is activated. Cytokines are generated that trigger the inflammatory response to this invasion, which in turn uses up energy and slightly raises your temperature. Your body protein begins to be converted to amino acids that are broken down by the liver.

In short, you begin to feel tired and run down, and will continue to feel this way unless you do something to change the natural progression of events. Extra antibodies can help you recover from this run down feeling, and an oral immunoglobulin supplement can give your immune system the boost it needs and help reduce the production of the inflammatory cytokines.

The immunoglobulin content of Protein Extreme Energy can help to prevent you from feeling run down through the reaction of your immune system to environmental stress by giving your system a boost of antibodies to overcome the effects of common environmental pathogens. It enables you to withstand the stresses of everyday life without losing athletic ability and endurance.

Copyright 2010 LifeHealthSecrets

Turmeric has been described in Turmeric: A Brief Review of Medicinal Properties, by R.C. Srimals, as possessing the ability to protect the liver against toxic substances, in particular heavy metals such as lead, as well as preventing the formation of gallstones, decreasing the size of stones already formed, and increasing the flow of bile.

Turmeric alcohol extracts have been found to reduce blood sugar levels, and may soon be used in the treatment of diabetes. Clinical trials in China have shown turmeric to reduce serum cholesterol. Turmeric use has been recommended by the World Health Organization.

Lipopolysaccharide, isolated from turmeric root, has been shown to stimulate and increase the activity of the immune system and the cucurmin found in turmeric is being studied as a possible preventative treatment to cancer.

Our immunoglobulin concentrate provides two and one-half times the Immunglobulin G (IgG) found in colostrum, and fifteen times that found in whey isolate. IgG responds against pro-inflammatory cytokines, binding to pathogens and protecting the body from their effects. It has been shown to reduce pro-inflammatory cytokines by up to 95%, resulting in significant improvement in colon health and a systemic reduction of whole body inflammation.

Immunoglobulins have also been shown to help improve liver function, leading to a reduction in LDL (bad) cholesterol. A recent study found that men and women with moderately high cholesterol, 210 to 270 total count, had a 6% drop in total cholesterol after just three weeks of taking an immunoglobulin supplement. More importantly, LDL cholesterol, or the “bad” cholesterol most closely associated with heart disease, decreased by 7% while HDL, the “good” cholesterol, remained constant.

So, age alone does not determine health. Nevertheless, it is useful to ask what the difference is between a typical twenty year old and a seventy year old. How is it that one is full of energy and the other, for the most part, is experiencing degeneration of one form or another?

The answer lies in the internal processes of the body, and there are at least four key issues that influence how our bodies age. The first is free-radical damage and electron loss over time. The second, influenced by the first, is inflammation. The third is the clogging up of our cellular receptor sites. The fourth is the strength of the immune system.

Free Radical Damage

Our bodies are made up of approximately 100 trillion cells. Each of our cells is like a tiny battery, producing energy through cellular respiration. As we age, environmental toxins and unhealthy foods containing free radicals – such as fried foods – rob electrons from our bodies (a free radical is a molecule, atom or ion that’s missing electrons in the outer orbit). Free radicals can cause cellular and DNA damage and mutations, and are thought to be responsible for many forms of cancer. Free radicals have also been named as the cause of many symptoms of aging, and one current theory (the Free Radical Theory of Aging) even points to the accumulation of free radicals in the cells as responsible for aging itself.

Whether reducing free radicals can extend lifespan is still under debate and the subject of much ongoing research, but what is certain is that free radicals cause poor cell respiration, fermentation, waste accumulation, acid buildup, and pH derangements in the body. In short, they cause the “batteries” of our cells to emit a weaker charge. Congestion occurs, and our cells become less efficient at pulling in nutrients and expelling metabolic wastes.

Inflammation

When there is poor cellular respiration, as with free-radical damage, inflammation occurs in the body. Chronic inflammation has been linked to the majority of age-related diseases, including Alzheimer’s, heart disease, diabetes, cancer and stroke, amongst others. Evidently, fighting inflammation is high on the list of anyone interested in healthy aging.

Clogged receptor sites

Receptor sites are areas on the cell that pick up and receive hormones and different nutrients and chemicals, and function much like a shipping dock receiving cargo. People today are exposed to so many toxic agents and chemicals that their receptor sites become clogged. Their shipping docks become completely packed with garbage, and they can’t bring anything else into that shipping dock. Their receptor sites cannot assimilate nutrients so well anymore. Over many years of life, the problem is amplified. Hormonal imbalances can occur, such as in the case of xenoestrogens (false estrogens derived from plastics), which bind to the receptor sites, blocking the body’s natural estrogens and thus cause an excess of the hormone in the body.

Keeping the receptor sites clean and free of these foreign chemicals is important for nutrient assimilation in the cell, which ultimately helps to slow aging by keeping the cells producing energy at their optimum levels.

The immune system

As we age, our immune systems tend to get weaker, with the exception being newborns and toddlers, who are still in the process of building their immune systems. As a general rule, the very young and the elderly are the most vulnerable to viruses and bacteria, and a bad infection or case of the flu can lead to secondary health problems, prolonged weakness, or even death. Therefore, a healthy immune system is essential to healthy aging.

So, what is the difference between a seventy year old and a twenty year old?

The difference between the twenty year old and the seventy year old boils down to the cells in their bodies, and how healthy or “charged” they are. The less charge, or current, running through your body, the lower your ability to assimilate essential nutrients, and the lower your ability to eliminate harmful wastes from your system. The seventy year old’s energy has been diminished through the process of free radical damage/electron loss over time, and inflammation has taken over. Receptor sites have accumulated so much junk that nutrients can’t get through, and as a result of all these factors, the immune system no longer responds as it should. There’s not enough energy in the body to wipe out the intruding viruses and bacteria.

Alright already, what can I do about it?

Enough doom and gloom, you’re saying. What can I do about it? Unfortunately, just consuming anti-oxidants or electron donor foods or supplements isn’t enough. Your body has to be able to recognize and transport those electrons to where they’re needed. Your cells need to be healthy and strong enough to pull in those nutrients.

That’s where Protein Extreme Energy comes in. Instead of addressing the symptoms of aging, Protein Extreme Energy focuses on the causes. Taking Protein Extreme Energy is like turning an electrical switch back on in the body. It reverses the energy loss you experience as you age and charges your cellular batteries so that you can begin to fully assimilate nutrients and expel metabolic wastes again. And healthy, energized cells mean a healthy, energized body.

How does Protein Extreme Energy accomplish this? It attacks aging primarily from four angles. The first is by revitalizing and recharging your cells, countering free radical damage. The second is by fighting inflammation. The third is by cleansing cellular receptor sites. The fourth is by enhancing immunity.

Protein Extreme Energy counters free radical damage by providing a high electron load and establishing a recognizable, transferable electron process. Not only are all the ingredients in Protein Extreme Energy electron donors, but because of our proprietary ratio, they work together to augment this effect.

Protein Extreme Energy supports the fight against inflammation in several different ways. Just by addressing electron loss and increasing cell respiration, it is fighting inflammation. However, the immunoglobulins found in Protein Extreme Energy also act to counter inflammation by fighting inflammatory cytokines in the gut. Turmeric, another ingredient in the Protein Extreme Energy formula, has also been shown to have anti-inflammatory properties.

The method by which Protein Extreme Energy cleanses receptor sites is proprietary.

Protein Extreme Energy enhances the immune system by providing the body with more core or vital energy, so that you have enough internal strength to fight viruses and bacteria as they attempt to take hold. The immunoglobulins in Protein Extreme Energy also work hard to supplement your natural immune system by supplying antibodies to the gut, where they fight against invading pathogens.

Overall, Protein Extreme Energy works to re-establish the life current in your body, so that you can recover the youthful vitality you’ve lost over time.

Copyright 2009 LifeHealthSecrets