At Bio-regeneration we seek to improve the quality of life of our patients by using the latest clinical research. We are dedicated to providing safe and effective stem cell treatments for our patients at our point-of-care facilities. This means using only your own adult cells harvested from fat .We are committed to becoming the leading Centre bringing proven stem cell treatment options to the general public throughout Jamaica and the world.
A Mouthful of Health
There is a silent threat that we often don’t think about. It could be hiding now, right in the mouth!
Oral hygiene plays a critical role in whole-body health that is sadly overlooked by most doctors. An unhealthy mouth can contribute to a wide range of serious diseases such as type 2 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and hardening of the arteries resulting in heart disease and stroke. In addition, some cases of diabetes that are hard to control may be because of long standing mouth infections. People with gum disease are almost twice as likely to suffer from heart disease as those without! There is also scientific evidence linking certain bacteria in the mouth with ulcers, obesity, and even cancer.
There may be a two to three-fold increase in oral cancer from tooth loss and gum disease. London and Harvard researchers have linked periodontal disease with lung, kidney, gastric, blood and especially pancreatic cancer, one of the most deadly cancers. In offering an explanation for their findings, the Harvard scientists believe that gum disease may cause general inflammation in the body, which can promote tumor growth, or it could be a sign of a weakened immune system.
Although bacteria and fungi naturally co-exist with us, a healthy balance of our own good bacteria is preferred compared to disease causing bacteria. At Essential Medical, we balance the healthy bacteria in the body to reduce inflammation in whole system. In addition to visiting your dentist twice a year, this is one of the best strategies for healthy fresh breath, healthy colon and a strong system.
Richard Hoo-Fung, Physiotherapist
Are you ready to create a complete fitness program based around activities you enjoy?
Do you need help in setting up your program inclusive of detailed instructions for developing and maintaining fitness?
If so this information concerns you.
Step 1: Set Goals
Setting goals to reach through exercise is a crucial first step. Ask yourself, “What do I want from my fitness program?” Develop different types of goals-general and specific, long term and short term. General or long-term goals might include things like lowering your risk for chronic disease, improving posture, having more energy, and improving the fit of your clothes. It’s a good idea to also develop some specific, short-term goals based on measureable factors. For example, to reduce the time it takes you to jog 2 miles from 22 minutes to 19 minutes, increasing the number of push-ups you can do from 15 to 25, and lowering body mass index (BMI) from 26 to 24.5. Having specific goals will allow you to track your progress and enjoy the measureable changes brought about by your fitness program.
Physical fitness assessment tests are essential to determining your goals. They help you decide which types of exercise you should emphasize, and they help you understand the relative difficulty of attaining specific goals. If you have health problems, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, or serious joint or muscle disabilities, see your physician before taking assessment tests. Measure your progress by taking these tests about every three months.
You’ll find it easier to stick with your program if you choose goals that are both important to you and realistic. Remember that heredity, your current fitness level, and other individual factors influence the amount of improvement and the ultimate level of fitness you can expect to obtain through physical training. Fitness improves most quickly during the first 6 months of an exercise program. After that, gains come more slowly and usually require a high-intensity program. So don’t expect to improve indefinitely. Improve your fitness to a reasonable target level, and then train consistently to maintain it. Sometimes you may lose fitness-due to illness, injury, missed workouts, or on a vacation- so you must begin again at a lower level. Developing fitness is a dynamic process that involves gains and losses. Even if you lose ground occasionally, stay with your program, and you’ll be able to achieve your goals.
Step 2: Select Activities
It’s usually best to include exercises to develop each of the health-related components of fitness.
- Cardiorespiratory endurance is developed by activities such as walking, cycling, and aerobic dance that involve continuous rhythmic movements of large-muscle groups like those in the legs.
- Muscular strength and endurance are developed by training against resistance.
- Flexibility is developed by stretching the major muscle groups.
- Healthy body composition can be developed by combining a sensible diet and a program of regular exercise, including cardiorespiratory endurance exercise to burn calories and resistance training to build muscle mass.
One strategy is to select one activity for each component of fitness-bicycling, weight training, and stretching, for example. Another strategy applies the principle of cross-training, using several different activities to develop a particular fitness component- aerobic classes, swimming, and volleyball for cardiorespiratory endurance, for example.
[Cross-training: Alternating two or more activities to improve a single component of fitness.]
If you select activities that support your commitment rather than activities that turn exercise into a chore, the right program will be its own incentive for continuing. Consider the following factors in making your choices.
- Fun and Interest. Your fitness program is more likely to be successful if you choose activities that you enjoy doing. Start by asking yourself, “Is this activity fun? “Will it hold my interest over time?”
- Your current skill and fitness level. Your current fitness level may limit the activities that are appropriate for your programme. For example; if you have been inactive a walking programme would be more appropriate that a jogging programme. Activities in which participants control the intensity of efforts such as walking cycling and swimming for example, are more appropriate for a beginning fitness programme than sports that are high paced such as football, basketball and tennis
- Time and convenience. Unless exercise fits easily into your daily schedule you are unlikely to maintain your programme over the long term. As you consider activities think about whether a special occasion of facility is required. Can you participate in the activity close to your residence, school or job? Are the necessary facilities open and available at times convenient to you? Do you need a partner or a team to play? Would a home treadmill make you more likely to exercise regularly?
- Cost. Some sports and activities require equipment, fees, or some types of membership investment. If you are on a tight budget, limit your choices to activities that are in expensive or free. Many activities require no equipment beyond an appropriate pair of shoes.
- Special Health needs. If you have special exercise needs due to a particular health problem, choose activities that will conform to your needs and enhance your ability to cope. If necessary consult your physician about how best to tailor an exercise programme to your particular needs.
Step 3: set a target frequency, intensity and duration for each activity
The next step is to set a starting frequency, intensity and duration for each type of activity you have chosen. One way to check whether the total duration you have set is appropriate is to use the calorie costs. This is the amount of energy used to perform a particular activity, usually expressed in calories per minute per pound of body weight.
Refer to your physical therapist for further details.
Step 4: set up a system of mini goals and rewards
To keep your programme on track, it is important to set up a system of goals and rewards. Break your specific goals into several steps, and set a target date for each step. For example, if one of the goals of your programme is to improve upper body strength and endurance you could use the push-up test. If you can currently perform 15 push-ups you might set up intermediate goals of 17, 20 and 25 push-ups. By allowing several weeks between mini goals and specifying the rewards you’ll be able to track your progress and reward yourself as you move towards your final goal. Reaching a series of small goals is more satisfying than working towards a single more challenging goal that may take months to achieve. Realistic goals, broken into achievable mini goals, can boost your chances of success.
Step 5: include lifestyle physical activity into your programme
As part of your fitness programme plan, specify ways to be more active during your daily routine. Identify routine opportunities to be more active and add these to your programme plan.
Step 6: develop tools for monitoring your progress
A record that tracks your daily progress will help remind you of your ongoing commitment to your programme and give you a sense of accomplishment. Post your log in a place where you see it often as a reminder and as an incentive for improvement. If you have specific, measureable goals, you can also graph your weekly or monthly progress towards your goal. To monitor the overall progress you may choose to reassess your cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular strength and endurance, flexibility, and body composition every 3 months or so. Be sure to compare results for the same assessment over time.
Step 7: Make a commitment
final step in planning your programme is to make a commitment by signing a personal contract. Find a witness for your contract preferably one who will be actively involved in your programme. Keep your contract in a visible spot to remind you of your commitment.
It’s the start of a new year and an opportunity to start over. Here are a few tricks to getting off to great start. The four elements of Aristotle may be the boost you need to reclaim your health. Read along and feast upon this.
Cholesterol cure-all.
Another study has recently substantiated the efficacy of using tocotrienolsto significantly lower high cholesterol levels. Tocotrienols are a sub-fraction of vitamin E in which four forms of tocotrienols and four forms of tocopherols make up the entirety of the vitamin E complex.
Source: Effect of Mixed-Tocotrienols in Hypercholesterolemic Subjects
By: Lisa Paris
Raw nut milks are healthy, delicious and easy to make. Give this great milk substitue a try!
Yields 2-3 cups
1 cup raw nuts (almonds, macadamia, walnut, pecan etc.) or pumpkin seeds
2 cups purified water
Your favorite healthy sweetner (stevia, dates, honey etc) to sweeten
This is a “nut milk bag” also known as a paint strainer. Paint strainers can be found at any hardware store for a couple of dollars or you can order a nutmilk bag online…
Blend your nuts or seeds, favorite sweetner and water until liquid becomes white:
Pour liquid into strainer over bowl:
There will be nut/seed pulp in the bag. Squeeze as much liquid from it as you can:
Pour into a glass or store in the fridge in an airtight, glass container. Your nutmilk will keep for 3-5 days.
Enjoy!
Heather Pace, Raw Dessert Chef
Envision yourself floating through life with love, ease and grace. Sounds like a pretty awesome place to exist, right? This approach to life is your birthright, and is the space where optimal physical health flourishes.
Vibrant health requires healing your head just as much as your body. Check out these tools for letting go and gettin’ your mind right!
Kung Fu-ing Fear
Fear can arise in disguise. Frustration, confusion, thinking you can’t handle a situation- these are all forms of fear. Fear rev’s up the body in all types of unhealthy ways, and it is impossible to let go when in a fearful state…
Dissolve fear with light. Identify what is causing the fear by writing down all the things that are bothering you. This will bring light and clarity to your emotional state.
Take a step back and go over your list, your emotions. Observing something as opposed to living it will help you realize how you feel more clearly.
Some of the things on your list you may be able to dispel and release, other issues may require a call to action to correct the situation. Answer the call. Begin to plan how to rectify the issues in order to release the negative feelings they are causing.
Trusting that you can handle a situation will release fear, and help you ease your way back into your state of grace.
Kiss Judgment Goodbye
Guilt surfaces when we worry about what others think of us. The reality is that passing judgment on someone generally comes from our own insecurities.
If someone criticizes you, take a breath instead of reacting with anger. Take a moment to see where they are coming from. This usually brings light to the fact that their judgment stems from their own issues.
Seeing the situation in this way makes it easier to poof- let it go!
Changing You is All You Can Do
Reminding yourself that “the only person you can change is yourself”, is golden. This understanding is key to attaining the “letting go” state of mind because it is a realization that leads to feeling in control.
You may not be able to control the people around you but can let go of the frustration or anger that you feel about their behavior, and relinquishing these negative feelings is the goal!
Take Your Time, Do it Right
Shifting into a lovely “letting go” state doesn’t happen overnight. The small steps you take each day will grow into a beautiful shift over time.
Increase consciousness one thought at a time, moment by moment. Acknowledge your growth and enjoy the process.
An amazing life isn’t about where you go, it’s about how you get there…
Image provided by Gourmet Raw Dessert Chef Heather Pace of Sweetly Raw.
Summer is here and many of us are ready for an inner and outer make over… Warm weather welcomes a renewed sense of self, and is the perfect time for a Detox!
Detoxification is one of the most exciting tools in the holistic health world. The practice is beautifully simplistic, low in cost, and offers superior therapeutic results- a wonderful opportunity for a new, glowing you!
Committing to a detox plan is a powerful experience. Levels of physical and spiritual health soar, and the results are felt almost immediately.
Our bodies are in a constant state of detoxification as a natural function. It is when our systems become overloaded with toxins that our detoxin’ machine slows and symptoms pop up.
Talkin’ Toxins
Toxins come from both outer and inner sources. A major external source is the pollution and pesticides in food sources. These toxins put the kidneys and liver (our detox organs) under a lot of undue stress.
Improper digestion and imbalanced “gut ecology” also have a negative impact on our detoxin’ powerhouse. This un-tasty combo leads to metabolic by-products that stem from certain bacteria. This type of bacteria causes toxic side effects and compromises our wonderful detoxing ways.
Besides having low energy levels and an invisible glow, toxic overload may also contribute to more serious conditions like autoimmune diseases, inflammatory/rheumatoid arthritis and neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
The Detox Glow Party
Detox provides a wealth of relief from symptoms like: digestive problems, bad breath, fatigue, irritability, general malaise, constipation, headaches, itchy skin, skin rashes, joint pain, weight loss resistance and poor concentration.
A carefully planned detoxification program can offer you: anti-aging effects, clearer skin and eyes, increased productivity, greater motivation and creativity, weight loss, reduction of allergic symptoms.
Detox Mental Makeover
Cleansing the mind of negative thought patterns is essential to health. On an emotional level, a detox helps us uncover and express hidden frustrations, anger, resentments and fear. By experiencing these emotions we can then release them with awareness, replacing them with forgiveness, love, joy and hope.
Summer Group Detox with BIOregeneration
The BIOregeneration center is planning a one month group detox this summer! This exciting program utilizes food changes with targeted nutrients and herbs to buffer the system and allow detoxification without unpleasant side effects.
For more information please contact the BIOregeneration Center!
Relax… Breathe… Go For Walks…
Enjoy The Change of Season…
You are a Priority…
This is a Time For You to Care For Your Unique Self…
The road to becoming a health food all-star is paved with many helpful tips, one of which being the right food combinations. Proper food combining keeps the digestive system clean, healthy, and working at optimum efficiency.
Keeping it proper with food combinations will help the body by diverting precious healing energy from the digestive process to the processes of detoxification and healing. Beyond all this, you will feel like a health hero with more energy to burn and less digestive issues- it’s a win win situation.
Fruit
In terms of epic food combining maneuvers, fruit is best eaten first thing in the morning or on an empty stomach. Fruit likes to fly solo in the digestion process, so if you’re still hungry after a fruit meal it is best to wait 20-30 minutes before eating anything else.
Another stellar move would be to not eat fruits with, or immediately following any other foods. Fruit is great as a snack 3 hours after your last meal, ensuring that the stomach is empty for your party-o-fruit.
To break it down: fruit is best as a solo mission.
Proteins and Starches
Proteins and starches do not play nice, and are best kept at separate meals. Eat proteins at lunch, with non-starchy vegetables. Eat starches at dinner, with non-starchy vegetables (see previous post on holistic diets for a list of proteins and non-starchy vegetables).
Examples of Properly Combined Meals
Kick healing and energy levels up a notch with these winning combinations…
Breakfast:
Standard Diet: Bananas with cream or oatmeal with butter and cinnamon.
Vegetarian/Live Food Option: Apples, oranges, and dried fruit.
Lunch:
Standard Diet: Tuna fish and vegetable salad, lean meat with sautéed onions and vegetable salad or vegetable salad with cold turkey or chicken.
Vegetarian/Live Food Option: Large vegetable salad with raw nuts and seeds.
Dinner:
Standard Diet: Baked potato stuffed with sautéed onions and butter or sour cream with vegetable salad and two non-starchy vegetables, spaghetti with marinara sauce and a vegetable salad or baked eggplant or vegetable casserole with garlic bread.
Vegetarian/Live Food Option: Raw vegetable crudités with fresh salsa and steamed quinoa or steamed sweet potato with large vegetable salad.
Hippocrates knew the deal when he said, “let thy food be thy medicine”. Holistic diets are where it’s at!
Good health and healing occurs when the body is properly nourished. By eating this way, a full day’s eating will only require about 15% of the day’s allotment of energy. This leaves 85% of your body’s energy available to get the job done in terms of natural detoxification and healing.
Adjusting your current eating regimen to match the following will have you on the road to stellar health.
Healing Waters
Drinking ample amounts of pure water cleans cells and keeps the kidneys running strong. Aim to drink six to eight glasses a day, drinking one glass first thing in the morning. Fifteen minutes before each meal have an additional glass of the good stuff, as a hydration cue is often confused with hunger.
By keeping hydrated, you will eat less. The less you eat, the longer you live- a proven method of anti-aging!
Power Foods
Strive to eat 70% whole, complete, unprocessed food.
If possible eat an all fruit meal in the morning. It’s good to have fruit for breakfast because it cleanses the body for a new day and follows the guidelines for proper food combining (check back in next week for our blog post on the guidelines to proper food combining).
Have a “live food day” once per week; eat only raw fruits and raw or slightly steamed vegetables with plenty of fresh salad and natural, fresh juices. Strive for live food the whole day or major portion of it.
Change up your table salt to sea salt and get plenty of iodine by increasing the amount of sea vegetables you eat.
Take any suggested nutrition supplements with meals, and take digestive enzymes with any cooked meal.
The Food Breakdown
NUTRIENT SOURCES OF PROTEIN (concentrated foods) – coconut, eggs, fish, fowl, meats, milk, nuts and nut butters, seeds and seed butters
CARBOHYDRATES (concentrated foods) – Beans, bread and crackers, cereals, lentils, pasta, potatoes, pumpkins, rice, split peas, whole grains, winter squash
NON-STARCHY VEGETABLES – Artichoke, asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, chard, cucumbers, dandelion greens, kale, leeks, lettuce (all varieties), mushrooms, parsley, peppers (green and red – the non-pungent type), radish, spinach, watercress, zucchini
Foods to Avoid
Avoid white flour, sugar, junk foods and fried foods (especially with re-heated oils).
Limit meats to no more than three (3) times a week. When possible, eat organically raised meats and give preference to fish, poultry, veal, lamb, beef and pork (in that order).
More Tips to Hook Up Your Health
Space an interval of three hours between the end of dinner and bedtime.
If getting 3-5 servings of vegetable is hard, try juicing and having fresh vegetable juices from carrots, beets, leafy greens. It’s easy to get 6 servings of vegetables in one glass.
Have a minimum of 1-2 bowel movements a day- constipation is not your friend.
Get plenty of fresh air and sunlight daily. Cultivate gratitude, appreciation and continue to love deeply.
When adjusting your diet, detoxification issues can occur that are troublesome. Listen to your body and seek advice if this occurs. Check back in next week for tips on proper food combining and more!
Have a beautiful weekend.
Bio-Regeneration Integrated Medical Centre Ltd. 
