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Many people wonder how they can stay well this winter, considering the onset of the flu season and the fear of a possible influenza epidemic. Fortunately, acupuncture and Oriental medicine provide proven steps toward preventing illness and maintaining good health in cold weather.

We hear about so many people catching the flu - but in reality it is only a portion of those exposed to a virus that get sick. Why? According to Oriental medicine's teachings, our bodies get sick when we are in a weakened state. It is only when our immune systems are weakened and our bodies are out of balance that we are vulnerable to sickness.

Acupuncture originated in China between 3,000 and 5,000 years ago. It corrects imbalances in the body's energy systems that cause illness. Practitioners of Oriental medicine identify Qi (pronounced "chee") as the life giving energy that needs to flow freely through the body for good health. Integrated with a wise lifestyle, Oriental medicine can help prevent illness.

Here are Five Tips for Avoiding Illness This Flu Season:

1. Exercise a little bit everyday. Exercise moves the lymphatic system, thereby helping to detoxify the poisons in your body.

2. Keep warm. Make sure your neck and chest are protected from wind, drafts and cold. Use a scarf around your neck when going outside and wear turtle neck shirts or sweaters. The neck is an area where wind can invade the body and cause sickness. The Oriental medical perspective is that wind invasions make people more vulnerable to developing colds and flu. Always keep your feet warm and dry.

3. Get adequate sleep and relaxation. Your body is vulnerable to stress without enough rest. Think about doing some deep breathing exercises to help relax and unwind at the end of the day. Use stress-reduction methods like Qi Gong meditation or yoga.

4. Eat smart. Avoid refined sugars (processed food and baked goods, alcohol, etc.). A diet of refined or simple carbohydrates (white sugar, white bread) raises the body's Ph and allows bacteria, mold, yeast and fungi to thrive. Simple carbohydrates suck up the nutrition your body needs to detoxify, nourish and build new cells and antibodies. This makes you MORE susceptible to illness. Vitalize your nutrition by eating more fresh, organic foods and less processed food. This food has more "Qi" in it.

5. Get Acupuncture. When you get regular acupuncture treatments (as little as once per month) it actually boosts your immune system. Acupuncture strengthen the "Wei Qi" or the protective energy that safeguards us against colds and flu.

Use these Five Tips for Avoiding Illness to keep your body strong and healthy this winter. You can resist illness, the flu or the common cold.

For more than 19 years Steven Sonmore helped people transform their health problems into solutions for attaining better health. Steven is a licensed acupuncturist, Oriental bodywork therapist and herbalist. He offers complete health care with acupuncture, Chinese herbs, nutritional counseling, Oriental massage, and facial rejuvenation. He is licensed by the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice and certified by the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. For more information visit http://www.orientalmedcare.com or write to info@orientalmedcare.com or call 612-866-4000. Copyright 2005 by Steven Sonmore. All rights reserved.

Secrets of Weight Loss, Open Sesame! (The Fat Burning Abilities of Sesamin)

Have you ever noticed that when you first start a new diet, the pounds seem to literally just start melting away? But soon, you start to notice that as time passes, the results start petering out.

Youre not alone this is a built in mechanism of the bodys energy processing system. And unless you can find a way to interrupt or alter this process, youll constantly find yourself facing this same dismal plateau in your pound shedding process.

Heres why it happens:

Your body likes to get comfortable its not a big fan of change. Despite your best intentions, your body is stubbornly stuck on functioning at a specific amount of body fat, which is known as your set point.

Once you start melting the fat away, your body starts cutting down the concentration of your fat-burning enzymes, and starts cranking up the enzymes that encourage fat storage. Enzyme shifts like this can be as big of a problem as hormonal and other chemical changes. In this case, its your fat-burning capabilities that get caught in the cross-fire.

If you want to accelerate weight loss, youve got to interrupt this natural inclination to start warehousing your fat stores.

There are two primary ways to confront this issue. First, you could opt for a weight loss supplement that boosts the release of fatty acids in the hopes that your body will burn them as a fuel source. However, theres no sense in cranking out more fatty acids if theres no way for your body to oxidize (burn) them.

The other option is to control the actual enzyme activity in such a way that it prompts fat oxidation, instead of ushering in a mad grab to store the flab.

If you can unlock this potential, the pounds will start shedding but more will happen as well.

Believe it or not, the secret is as simple as a seed.

Sesame Seed Secrets

Sesame seeds contain whats known as a lignan thats called sesamin. It has a special ability thats worth your attention especially if youre trying to lose weight.

Not only does sesamin promote fat oxidation, it also increases your bodys capacity to do it while at the same time whittling away at your fat stores.

The secret of sesamin is its relationship with a special receptor known as Peroxisome Proliferation Activator Receptor Alpha (PPARalpha). It binds to, and then activates, the PPARalpha, and it can be found naturally in your:

Muscles

Your liver

Your kidneys and

Your heart.

Its assignment is to regulate your lipid (fat) metabolism with a focus on the genes involved in fatty acid beta-oxidation and something known as lypogenesis.

The Mystery at the Molecular Level Sesamin works at the molecular level by increasing fat oxidation in your mitochondria (your cellular powerhouses) and the peroxisomes the majority of this going on in your skeletal muscles and your liver. It does this by upping the instance of the specific enzymes needed for the fat burning mode to kick in:

CPT a rate-limiting enzyme in the burning (beta-oxidation) of fatty acids, and is found in the outer membrane of the mitochondria, where it binds to and escorts the fatty acids inside. More CPT means more fat-burning can occur.

UCP these are uncoupling proteins and they decrease the energy efficiency of your mitochondria. Think of it like a car the less efficient the engine is, the more fuel is needed to make it from Point A to Point B. In your powerhouse, it means more calories are needed to perform every day tasks. This phenomenon known as calorie wasting, and its a key component to high-impact weight loss.

By increasing these key enzymes, sesamin increases both the speed and the total capacity with which cells are able to burn fat.

In the meantime, sesamin is also going to work at burning fat on the hormonal level as well. It does this by influencing leptin levels and has been shown in documented studies to actually restore insulin sensitivity in overweight lab rodents.

This could prove beneficial not only for those who are overweight, but diabetics as well. Behind the scenes, sesamin works to regulate your leptin and insulin levels, keeping them at an ideal balance.

Emptying the Reserves The influence of sesamin isnt just felt in fat oxidation, but fat storage as well. Its known as lipogenesis, and sesamin decreases fat storage by limiting the number of lipogenic enzymes present in your liver.

It works by decreasing:

Sterol regulatory element binding protein-1 (SREBP-1)

Acetyl-CoA carboxylase and

The fatty acid synthase

Sesamin also plays an important role in ketogenesis. After fatty acid oxidation reaches a critical mass where the liver cant use the fatty acids for fuel, ketogenesis kicks in. All of the extra acetyl-CoA gets transformed into ketones, which increase in your liver and in your bloodstream.

Guess what organ relies heavily on ketones? Your brain!

And guess when theyre critically needed? During low-card/high-protein diets. Usually, youd get what you need from glucose. But when glucose is limited, ketones are the next fuel source it turns to.

More importantly, getting a ketone boost helps spare you from your protein getting devoured and keeps you from melting muscle instead of fat.

How Many Seeds Do You Need? Unfortunately, sesame seeds and sesame oil just dont have enough sesamin to get the job done. Youll have to invest in a high-quality supplement to get the levels you need. However, when you take a look at just a few of the other benefits you can take advantage of; youll likely agree that sesamin supplements are a worthwhile investment. Here are just a few to ponder as you head off

Its a powerful antioxidant and helps the recycling of Vitamin E

It helps increase good (HDL) and lower bad (LDL) cholesterol levels

Sesamin helps you to lower your blood pressure

It can offer protection against alcohol for your liver

It can help improve overall liver and kidney health and function

Sesamin has no stimulant properties, and

It can serve as an anti-inflammatory much like Ibuprofen.

Im hardly going out on a limb when I say its worth a little attention!

Rhadi Ferguson is a 2004 Olympian in Judo and a World Renown Strength and Conditioning Coach. If you're looking to get the weight off and keep it off, check out http://www.thebodyweightworkout.com

Do you enjoy cycling so much that you take your bike on holidays/vacations? If you are one of these people, that is great! If you have just thought about it, yet have not done it that is fine too.

I have personally taken my bike on some holidays/vacations with me. They were short, long weekend, holidays but I have still done it.

The most memorable experience I can think of was the time some friends and I plus our families went to a place called Mormon Lake in Arizona.

I remember it well because it was late spring or early summer so the weather was wonderful. We got there the night before and camped out. The following morning was an overcast day. It was looking like it was going to rain. We all decided to go on a ride anyway.

We were on our way around the lake! The scenery was very beautiful with green trees providing a canopy over the road. The grass was green, long and gently swaying in the breeze.

On our ride around the lake we realized the whole way the roads were wet but we had not been rained on. Once we got back to our camping spot our families told us that the rain had been ahead of us the whole time. So we were able to enjoy a wonderful ride without being rained on!

I think I remember this ride because of the scenery yet also because it was my first biking holiday/vacation. The ride was great and the weather was particularly wonderful.

We all had a great time riding and spending some time together.

It is always nice to get away from the city traffic or your normal riding routes and enjoy a change of scenery.

There are a variety of places that you can get away and enjoy a pleasant bike ride. You might know of some good places you have wanted to try out.

If you can afford to go outside your own country there are great places to ride in Italy and along the northern California coast. If you look hard enough there are great places to ride near and far from where you might live.

You might be thinking do I have to take my own bike or can I just rent one and the answer is you can do either. Dont let anything stop you from experiencing new and exciting places to ride.

The choice is yours as to how far you would like to go away from home.

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