1. Blood Pressure
   Your ideal blood pressure should be about 120/80 without taking any medication. Elevated insulin is a major contributors to elevated blood pressure but anxiety, stress and tension may also contribute to this problem. If you’re suffering from hypertension, drugs should not be your first option. Seek out a health care professional who practices stress-relief methods, such as EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique), which is Dr. Mercola’s personal favorite.
2. Cholesterol
   Checking your cholesterol levels can be a confusing thing. One of the reasons is the big emphasis on the importance of the total cholesterol, when the more important predictor of cardiovascular risk is actually the ratio of good cholesterol (HDL) to total cholesterol.
   Dr. Mercola uses the percentage of HDL and obtain this number by simply dividing the HDL by the total cholesterol (HDL/Total Cholesterol). This number ideally should be above 24 percent. Levels below 10 percent are very dangerous and usually indicate an imminent cardiovascular problem. Some clinicians obtain this ratio by dividing the total cholesterol by the HDL (Total Cholesterol/HDL), and in this case, the numbers should be lower. A poor ratio would be any number greater than 4, with greater than 10 having serious problems.
3. Insulin
   You have about one gallon of blood in your body and there’s only one teaspoon of sugar in that gallon, Dr. Mercola explains. If your blood sugar level were increased to one tablespoon, you would go into a hyperglycemic coma and die. It’s insulin’s job to keep your blood sugar at the appropriate level. Eating grain and sugar-rich foods, however, will force your body to make more insulin. You then develop insulin resistance and eventually become a diabetic.
   You need the hormone insulin to survive but many people have far too much of it floating around, leaving them prone to chronic degenerative illness and hastening the aging process. Ask your doctor to do a fasting blood insulin test to determine your insulin levels. If you get a level above 5, it means you have to significantly reduce your consumption of grains and sugars until you lower your level.
4. Weight
   Two out of three Americans are overweight and one out of three is obese. A simple way to find out if you have a weight problem is by measuring the distance around the smallest area below the rib cage and above the umbilicus (belly button) using a tape measure. Waist circumference is the best and simplest anthropometric measure of total body fat and is better than body mass index (BMI). It is also the best indicator of intra-abdominal fat mass. Men would be classified as obese if their waist size is above 40 inches and 37 is the obesity indicator for women.
   BMI, on the other hand, is useful in determining your ideal weight. The National Institutes of Health has a simple online BMI calculator that can help you painlessly calculate your ideal weight.

Before you can truly and fully take control of your health, listen to your body; you can trust it to provide you with the clues as to what is good for you. Consult your physician for more guidance.

Among the many health myths that perpetrate popular consciousness is that eggs are bad for your heart. The real dish, however, is that this food doesn’t only decrease heart disease risks, but also hold a number of health benefits.

Eggs Are Not Bad For Your Heart or Cholesterol

An Int’l Journal of Cardiology March 2005 study reveals that in healthy adults, eating eggs every day DID NOT produce (1) a negative effect on endothelial function, an aggregate measure of cardiac risk, and (2) an increase in cholesterol levels.

The researchers studied 49 adults, assigning them to eat two eggs or oats every day for six weeks. Through this, they assessed the effect of egg and oat ingestion on endothelial function.

The specific findings say that six weeks of:

• Egg consumption had no effect on LDL or total cholesterol

• Oat ingestion significantly lowered levels of both LDL and total cholesterol

Thinking Healthy? Eggs Are the Way to Go

Top natural health expert Dr. Joseph Mercola agrees that eggs improve bad cholesterol.

Dr. Mercola also refutes the popular believe that eggs are not good for you. He specifically points to raw eggs as the healthy way to go.
“I am a fond proponent of using raw eggs as a major food in your diet. Raw whole eggs are a phenomenally inexpensive and an incredible source of high-quality nutrients – protein and fat, for instance – that many of us are deficient in,” Dr. Mercola says.

Selecting your eggs, however, is a different story and requires the following insights:

• Choose free-range organic eggs. Check the box or labels to know that you’re getting only the healthy eggs.
• Omega-3 on your eggs is a plus! Though unnecessary in your eggs, Omega-3 may hold additional benefits.
• If possible, contact the company producing your healthy eggs.  As eggs are only organic when the chicken is fed organic food, you can double-check and ask your supplier. You wouldn’t want the chicken source to be fed with grains that have high, bioaccumulated levels of pesticides. If flaxseed is used to increase the Omega-3 fats, it won’t be as beneficial as when the chicken is fed seaweed or kelp with beneficial DHA and EPA.
• Purchase eggs directly from farmers. Dr. Mercola recommends this for ensured quality. If this isn’t possible, then organic eggs from the store would be the next best option.
• It is wise NOT to refrigerate your eggs. “If you have ever been to Europe or South America and gone into the grocery stores you will know that this is commonly done in those countries,” says Dr. Mercola.

Raw milk from grass-fed cows is milk in its natural state and is one of the healthiest foods you can consume, says Dr. Thomas Cowan, co-founder of the Weston A. Price Foundation.

Dr. Cowan is convinced that a large part of disease in the United States is linked to how Americans handle or mishandle milk and milk products. It is a little known fact that pasteurized milk is the number one allergic food in the country and has been associated to a number of health problems, including:

• Arthritis
• Autism
• Bloating, Cramps and Gas
• Cancer
• Diarrhea
• Heart Disease
• Infertility
• Leukemia
• Osteoporosis
• Recurring ear infections and colic in infants and children

Dr. Joseph Mercola explains that raw milk is generally not associated with any of the above health problems. Even people who are allergic to pasteurized milk can typically tolerate and even thrive on raw milk.

Pasteurization, which heats milk in temperatures between 145 to 150 degrees Fahrenheit, alters the structure of delicate milk proteins, transforming it from something beneficial to something harmful, allergenic and disease-causing.

Raw milk from grass-fed cows is an exceptional source of nutrition and is superior to processed milk in every aspect. It is a completely balanced food composed of :

• Proteins – Raw cow’s milk contains all the standard amino acids, which your body does not need to convert into usable form. Almost 80 percent of milk proteins are caseins, which are easily digested and reasonably heat stable, while the remaining 20 percent are whey proteins, which are also easy to digest but very heat sensitive. Raw milk also contains complex proteins called immunoglobulins, which help fight viruses, bacteria and bacterial toxins and may also help relieve asthma symptoms.
• Carbohydrates – Lactose (milk sugar) is the main carbohydrate in raw milk. Lactose-intolerant people cannot digest milk because they are incapable of producing the enzyme lactase, which is necessary to break down milk sugar. The lactose-digesting Lactobacilli bacteria is found in raw milk, which may allow people who have traditionally avoided milk to drink raw milk.
• Fats – About two thirds of milk fat is composed of saturated fat, which helps construct cell membranes and important hormones, provide energy storage and protection for delicate organs, and serve as a vehicle for important fat-soluble vitamins such as vitamin D. Grass-fed raw milk also contains up to five times more Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA), which has cancer-fighting properties, helps inhibit the formation of body fat, lower insulin resistance, enhance muscle growth, lower cholesterol and triglycerides, and help reduce food allergies.
• Vitamins and Minerals – Raw milk is a complete food which contains both water and fat soluble vitamins, unlike pasteurized milk, which needs to be enriched. It also contains a number of minerals ranging from calcium and phosphorus to trace elements.
• Cholesterol – We naturally manufacture most of the cholesterol we need in our bodies. Milk contains about 3mg of cholesterol per gram.
• Beneficial bacteria – While most food normally go bad as it ages, raw milk actually gets better because it has self-protective properties from good bacteria.
• Enzymes – Raw milk contains 60 functional enzymes, some native to milk and some coming from the beneficial bacteria present in raw milk. These enzymes all have their respective roles to help keep you healthy. For example, consuming food that contains enzymes help lessen the load on your pancreas. Enzymes also help make milk safer to drink by protecting it from bad bacteria.

Stop missing out on the benefits of raw milk. Drinking and buying raw milk is perfectly legal in all states. What’s illegal, is selling it to the public, except in eight states: Arizona, California, Maine, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Washington. The other 42 states have a number of different rules. For more information on how to find raw milk in your area, visit http://www.realmilk.com/where.html

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