Vitamin K is the term that encompasses a group of three fat soluble vitamins: vitamin K1 or phylloquinone, which naturally occurs in plants; vitamin K2 or menaquinone, which is produced by bacteria found in your gastrointestinal tract; and, vitamin K3 or menadione, a synthetic form of vitamin K.

Natto, a traditional Japanese food produced by fermenting soybeans, is the best natural source of vitamin K2. On the other hand, vitamin K1 is found in vegetables like asparagus, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, collard and salad greens, green beans, and spinach.

Dr. Joseph Mercola believes vitamin K is one of the few supplements you should seriously consider taking because only one in four Americans are getting the recommended daily levels of this nutrient. Dr. Mercola suggests at least 100 mcg of vitamin K2 daily and gives five main reasons why you should get more vitamin K:

1. Boost your Immune System – Vitamin K may have antioxidant properties more potent than coenzyme Q10 or vitamin E.
2. Blood clotting – Vitamin K is important in the process of blood clotting. It is so-named because coagulation comes from the German word “koagulation.”
3. Fight Cancer – Studies have found vitamin K to be beneficial in the fight against hepatocellular carcinoma (a type of liver cancer), lung cancer, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and prostate cancer.
4. Prevention of Arterial Plaque and Heart Disease – Vitamin K helps lower your risk of heart disease and heart failure as it prevents your arteries from hardening. Studies show that it can also help prevent damage in your arteries by keeping calcium out of your artery lining.
5. Strong Bones – Vitamin K2 increases the production of osteocalcin, a vitamin K-dependent protein which your bone tissues need to use calcium.

Dr. Mercola warns, however, that taking vitamin K while on anticoagulation drugs may cause adverse side effects. Patients on blood-thinning medications and those who have had a stroke or cardiac arrest, and are prone to blood clots should not take vitamin K without first consulting their physician.

But what no longer needs further debate is the fact that breast milk is healthier than infant formula, says Dr. Joseph Mercola. Breast milk contains at least 400 nutrients which are not found in infant formula. Dr. Mercola gives mothers 7 reasons why breastfeeding is best for babies:

1. Breastfeeding boosts your baby’s immune system
   Studies show that babies who have been breastfed exclusively have better functioning immune systems and have added protection against allergies, asthma, Crohn’s disease, eczema, heart disease, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, lymphoma, respiratory infections, and Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. Breast milk contains antibodies and gives an infant immunity to illnesses that the mother is immune to. Also, if a baby is exposed to a germ, he/she will transfer it back to the mother while nursing. The mother’s body will then manufacture antibodies to that particular germ and transfer them back to the baby at the next feeding, Dr. Mercola explains.
2. Breastfeeding is good for your baby’s brain
   Breastfed babies tend to have higher IQs than babies fed with infant formula. An 18-year study of over 1,000 children showed that kids who were breastfed achieved more academically than kids who were formula-fed as babies. Interestingly, breastfed babies spend more time in what is called the “quiet alert” state, which is most conducive for learning, Dr. Mercola points out.
3. Breastfeeding reduces the risk of obesity
   Breast milk contains high levels of adiponectin, a protein which affects how the body processes fat. Low levels of adiponectin have been associated with coronary artery disease, insulin resistance, obesity, and type 2 diabetes. The risk of obesity appears to be lowered the longer a child is breastfed.
4. Breastfeeding helps babies develop emotionally
   Babies need to be held. The physical act of nursing is one of the most comforting things for a newborn. Leaving a baby alone with a bottle does not make him/her feel safe or secure. Breastfeeding also stimulates the release of the hormone, oxytocin, which facilitates maternal behavior and bonding between mothers and their newborns.
5. Breastfeeding reduces the mother’s risk of cancer and other diseases
   Breastfeeding women were shown to have a lower risk of breast and ovarian cancers and osteoporosis later in life.
6. Breastfeeding helps mothers lose weight faster
   Mothers who breastfeed return to their pre-pregnancy weight faster. A woman needs about 500 calories daily to produce milk and breastfeed – the equivalent of a 5-mile jog. Breastfeeding also stimulates contractions in the uterus that help it go back to its normal, pre-pregnancy size faster and reduce lower body fat.
7. Breastfeeding helps save time and money
   Mothers don’t have to prepare bottles and infant formula because breast milk is always fresh and ready to go. The economy has been tough and mothers can save some money because they don’t need to buy infant formula. Breastfed babies also tend to require fewer visits to the doctor and therefore, decreased medical expenses.

Mission: Readiness, an organization composed of retired admirals and generals, recently reported that an alarming 75 percent of all young adults aged 17 to 24 are not qualified to join the military.

Many young adults are not eligible to become men in uniform because they either fail to graduate from high school or have criminal records. But the MAIN reason is obesity.

Child obesity rates have more than tripled in the past three decades. Now, one in three children, 10 to 17, is overweight or obese; and 27 percent of young adults, 17 to 24, are too heavy to join the services.

As a result, roughly 15,000 prospective recruits flunk the physical entrance exam because they are too overweight.

Dr. Joseph Mercola believes that fructose, a cheap sugar commonly used in processed food products and soft drinks, is one of the culprits in the obesity epidemic, both in children and adults.

Today, more than 50 percent of manufactured foods and beverages are sweetened using fructose in the form of high fructose corn syrup. This sweetener is found in soda, the number one source of calories in America.

How Fructose is Making Americans Fat

Every cell in your body uses glucose or blood sugar, Dr. Mercola explains. Glucose is immediately burned up immediately after you consume it. When you eat 120 calories of sugar in the form of glucose, less than one calorie is stored as fat.

But fructose is a completely different story. Consuming fructose is essentially consuming fat, Mercola warns. Your body converts fructose into free fatty acids, LDL (the damaging form of cholesterol), and triglycerides, which get stored as fat. Consuming 120 calories of sugar in the form of fructose means you store 40 calories as fat!

Studies show that soda and sugar-sweetened drinks increase the risk of obesity in children. And because high fructose corn syrup is also found in many processed foods, that further increases the chances of your children regularly consuming this dangerous sugar.

Why Kids Should Not Consume High Fructose Corn Syrup

Studies and estimates show that:

• Obese children are more than twice as likely to die before the age of 55 than children with a healthy weight
• Obese teenage girls are more likely to die between ages 36-56 than their normal weight peers
• Moderately obese teen girls increase their risk of death in adulthood by 50 percent
• Obese teens more than double their mortality risks compared to their slimmest peers

Yes, having more obese children and young adults may affect the military’s recruitment in the long run but more importantly, as they mature, obesity is exposing them to diseases like cancer, diabetes and heart disease, robbing them of a chance to live healthy and happy lives.

As a Parent, What Can You Do About It?

Changing your lifestyle will help you and your family achieve your ideal weights. You should keep your fructose consumption to under 25 grams per day by avoiding fructose-rich fruits, fruit juices and soda.

Check what your kids are eating at the school cafeteria. Better yet, prepare their meals at home so you can be sure that they’ll be eating healthy even when they’re at school.

Exercising as a family is also a step to the right direction. You can go for walks, bike rides, teach them how to swim or skate, the activities are only limited by your imagination. Limit their time in front of the television and playing videogames because a sedentary lifestyle compounds obesity woes.

Known for his successful practice of integrative medicine, Dietrich Klinghardt, MS, PhD sorts through the material and reveals some of the “toxic causes” leading to autism, which currently afflicts 1 out of 150 infants.

“Dr. Klinghardt helps make the picture become much clearer,” shares top natural health expert Dr. Joseph Mercola, who considers Klinghardt one of his primary mentors and a pioneer in natural medicine.

“One commonality among most people with autism is that their pathways of detoxification have become overwhelmed by both man-made and microbial toxins,” Dr. Mercola reveals, sharing some of Dr. Klinghardt’s recent findings on what possibly makes autism happen:

• Autoimmune disease
  A precondition that “should be looked into,” according to Dr. Klinghardt,  are a greater rate of autoimmune diseases – food allergies, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, to name a few – in parents of autistic children, especially mothers.
• Gene mutations
  “Children with autism tend to have more gene expressions that are inefficient for detoxification,” quotes Dr. Mercola from Dr. Klinghardt’s findings, adding that these “mutations” tend to be unpredictable.
• Lyme disease and chronic infections
  Extremely common in autistic children are chronic infections such as Lyme disease, which may even be causing the gene mutations. “Typically, the child gets the disease not from a tick bite but from their mother, who may be a silent carrier of the illness,” Dr. Mercola says, adding what Dr. Klinghardt discovered: 4 out of 5 children with autism who came to his office tested positive for Lyme disease. “Children with autism not only have overwhelmed detoxification pathways and often heavy metal toxicity, but, according to Dr. Klinghardt, they also have a silent, daily toxin production in their body caused by toxic microbes,” Dr. Mercola explains further.
• Electromagnetic fields (EMFs) from cellphones
  When toxic microbes in your body are exposed to EMFs, says Dr. Mercola, they think they are being attacked. In turn, they produce more biotoxins to prolong their survival.
  Dr. Mercola quotes from Dr. Klinghardt that this increase in EMF exposure not only causes autism, but also “helps explain the avalanche of children with neurodevelopmental disorders.”

And don’t forget about mercury, adds Dr. Mercola, especially delving on vaccines as toxic, mercury-containing offenders.

“Carefully review the vaccination issue, including the conventional vaccination schedule. Know that in most U.S. states, you have the right to opt out of vaccines,” he says.

In the article of Tim O’Shea titled “Autism and Mercury” and excerpted from The Sanctity of Human Blood,  American children by age 2 are seen to have received 237 micrograms of mercury through vaccines alone. This “far exceeds” current EPA safe levels of 0.1 mcg/kg per day.

Thus Dr. Mercola pushes for a multi-faceted approach to treating autism, which includes the following:

1. Having informed choices on vaccines
2. Eating according to Nutritional Type
3. Avoiding pasteurized milk
4. Completely eliminating sugars, juice, soda, French fries and wheat from diet
5. Getting proper sun exposure
6. Addressing emotional stresses through tools such as the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT)

As a hormone, oxytocin has powerful, health-promoting properties which start from the moment you are born. Oxytocin is released during childbirth, stimulating the contractions which guide the baby through the birth canal toward delivery. It also promotes the release of milk during breastfeeding and facilitates maternal behavior and bonding between new mothers and their infants, Dr. Joseph Mercola explains.

Only three percent of all mammals are able to form lasting monogamous relationships. This tiny list includes bats, beavers and a few other rodents, certain foxes, a few hoofed mammals, otters, and some primates, including humans.

The Three Stages of Love

Researcher Helen Fisher, author of Why We Love: The Nature and Chemistry of Romantic Love, defines three stages of love, each marked by hormones which influence your behavior and feelings:

1. Lust – In this stage, both men and women are driven by the sex hormones testosterone and estrogen. This occurs from a few weeks to a few months.
2. Attraction – During this time, the initial lust progresses towards a desire for a specific partner. Romance and commitment develop as the neurotransmitters adrenaline, dopamine and serotonin are at work.  Attraction usually lasts a year to three years.
3. Attachment – Oxytocin and a similar hormone, vasopressin, are at work in this final and most important stage. Oxytocin is released by both men and women during sexual intercourse and steadily strengthens the feelings of attachment and closeness. The bonding which occurs is necessary for a long-term relationship.

Love can start in any one of these stages, Fisher explains. Some people have sex with a new partner and fall in love after. Some fall in love first before becoming more intimate. Others develop a deep feeling of attachment first, then experience romance and mutual sexual attraction.

Studies suggest that the location of receptors for oxytocin and vasopressin, makes all the difference when it comes to long-term social bonding and monogamy, Dr. Mercola points out. The more receptors you have in your brain associated with reward and reinforcement, the more likely you are to fall in love and remain monogamous.

How to Experience the Health Benefits of Oxytocin

Oxytocin’s health benefits stem from its ability to counteract stress. The more oxytocin your pituitary gland releases, the better your ability to handle stressful situations, as it decreases the levels of cortisol and other stress hormones and lowers your blood pressure during moments of anxiety.

This hormone has also been found to reduce the cravings for alcohol, drugs and sweets.

Dr. Mercola believes that oxytocin likely contributes to why people with pets recover faster from illness, why couples live longer than singles, and why support groups work for people with addictions and chronic diseases.

But he is strongly against the use of artificial forms of oxytocin because synthetic hormones can seriously harm you. An exception to this would be in the case of a difficult delivery and labor is not progressing smoothly.

Cultivating warm, loving, intimate relationships, no matter what stage of life you’re in, is the best way for you to facilitate the natural release of oxytocin in your body.

Touch, positive interactions and psychological support are known to increase oxytocin. Here are some tips on how you can experience the benefits of the love hormone:

• Take care of a pet
• Hold hands, hug and kiss more
• Give and receive a backrub
• Nurture others
• Get a massage
• Practice mind-body therapies like breathing exercises and yoga

Having healthy relationships contribute to a healthier you. This is something for you to ponder on this Valentine’s Day.