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Contents

Introduction ........................................................................................................... 3

Chapter 1: Before You Begin ................................................................................ 4

Chapter 2: Fasting for Quick Weight Loss ............................................................ 6

Chapter 3: Eating for Sustained Weight Loss ....................................................... 9

Chapter 4: The Importance of Hydration ............................................................. 11

Chapter 5: Sleep More to Lose More .................................................................. 12

Chapter 6: Calorie-burning Activities ................................................................... 13

Chapter 7: Building Muscle to Burn Fat .............................................................. 15

Chapter 8: Vitamins, Herbs & Supplements ........................................................ 17

Chapter 9: How to Beat Bloating Every Time ...................................................... 18

Chapter 10: Laxatives & Colon Cleansers .......................................................... 19

Chapter 11: Put a Stop to Emotional Eating ....................................................... 20

Chapter 12: Tips for Staying Motivated ............................................................... 21

Chapter 13: Addressing Medical Concerns ......................................................... 24

Chapter 14: Your 14 Day Weight Loss Schedule ................................................ 25

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Introduction When it comes to losing weight, one thing’s a certainty: It took time to gain the

excess weight, and it will take time to lose it. But there are steps you can take to

speed up the process. If you play it smart, you can lose up to 14 pounds in 14

days!

Of course, not all of that will be fat loss. You will also lose weight by getting rid of

the retained fluid, bloating, and waste products that keep your weight high. By

the time the two weeks are up, you’ll feel like a new person – a much lighter one!

This e-book will be your guide through every step of the 2-week journey. You will

begin by learning how to mentally and physically prepare yourself for rapid

weight loss. In chapter 2, we’ll discuss the benefits of fasting for quick weight loss

and learn how to do it safely.

Chapter 3 will explore the best nutrition plans for sustained weight loss. You can

avoid regaining the weight you initially lose by following these simple rules.

Chapter 4 describes the importance of hydration. Water plays a vital role in

fitness and fat loss. You will learn how to determine how much water you need

each day (Hint:: Not everyone needs 8 glasses a day!)

In chapter 5, you will learn why sleep is so important for weight loss. If you’re not

getting 8 hours a night, you’re not alone. But you’re not losing weight as quickly

as possible if your body doesn’t get regular recharges.

Chapter 6 will introduce you to the basics of calorie burning through exercise.

Working out doesn’t have to be a chore; you will be presented with dozens of fun

activities that will burn more calories than a trip to the gym.

Muscle-building is the subject of chapter 7. Did you know that muscle tissue is a

24-hour fat burner? You will learn how to eat and exercise to build maximum

muscle tissue and burn more calories than ever before – even while you sleep!

Chapter 8 will examine various herbs, vitamins, and foods that are rumored to

jump-start your metabolism. Which ones work, and which ones don’t? You’ll soon

be able to tell fact from fiction when it comes to dietary supplements.

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Chapter 9 is the first part of a quick and dirty guide for beating the bloat monster.

You’ll learn why bloating happens, and how to get rid of it – and get back into

your skinny jeans – in no time.

Chapter 10 is a follow-up that explores the embarrassing but very real problem of

constipation and sluggish bowels. You might be shocked by how much weight

you’re carrying around due to waste products.

In chapter 11, we will look at the sometimes devastating condition of emotional

eating and eating disorders. Sometimes you have to deal with underlying

psychological triggers in order to stop overeating. This chapter will get you

started on the road to recovery.

Chapter 12 contains tips and ideas for staying motivated long past day 14. You

will learn how to motivate yourself, how to use outside influences for motivation,

and how to keep your eyes on the prize.

Chapter 13 delves into medical conditions that can cause you to stop losing

weight, or even cause you to gain weight. Many can be detected by simple blood

tests, and most can be treated with prescription medicines. Diagnosis is the first

step. You will learn some of the most common symptoms to help you decide if a

trip to the doctor is in order.

Finally, in chapter 14, we’ll teach you how to keep losing weight and keep it off

for life.

You will learn valuable skills for healthy and permanent weight loss.

Without further delay, let’s set off on your two-week weight loss journey!

Chapter 1: Before You Begin

Does your dieting past still haunt you? Do you find it harder than ever to lose

weight after years of yo-yo dieting? Well, you’re in luck: You’re about to embark

on the last weight loss plan you’ll ever need.

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It starts with a 14-day regimen designed to melt away pounds and even heal your

diet-damaged metabolism. Even if you’ve been subsisting on very few calories

(and not losing any weight), you can change your habits and get back the fast

metabolism you enjoyed before. If your metabolism has never been speedy, get

ready to see it come alive like never before.

Before you start any diet or exercise plan, you need to make sure your doctor is

okay with it. The tips outlined in this e-book might not be appropriate for

someone with diabetes, malnourishment, or a compromised immune system.

Dieter discretion is advised.

Keeping that in mind, let’s walk through the steps you can take to prepare

yourself for 14 days of weight loss.

Step 1: Forget the Past

Don’t let past diet failures discourage you. This is a new beginning, and you will

have new results. Get ready to try as though you’ve never failed, because you

will never fail again!

Step 2: Set Concrete Goals

Your first goal might be to lose 14 pounds, but which activities will you do to burn

calories? What types of food will you buy? When will you make time to work out

and cook healthy meals? Goal-setting isn’t just about ideas; it’s about fleshing

out the logistical details, too.

Step 3: Purchase Supplies

You’re going to need plenty of fresh produce, lean protein, and pure drinking

water. If you don’t already have those things on hand, you’ll need to plan a

shopping trip. Try to think of other items that could prove helpful. For example,

weight loss requires adequate sleep. If you have trouble sleeping at night, invest

in some earplugs or a sleep mask that blocks out ambient light.

Step 4: Plan Your Schedule

If you work during the week, you might want to start the initial fasting phase on a

Friday evening. That’s because fatigue is common when you’re starting out, and

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you want to give your body enough time to grow accustomed to the new regimen.

After two days, you will feel more energetic than ever.

Step 5: Make a List of Rewards

Think up some tangible rewards you can give yourself for losing weight. Since

you want to lose a large amount of weight in a short amount of time, avoid using

foods as treats. Instead, buy yourself a new book, or rent a movie you’ve wanted

to see. Go for a walk through a new neighborhood, or splurge on a pedicure.

There are plenty of ways to celebrate your success that won’t sabotage your

efforts.

Chapter 2: Fasting for Quick Weight Loss

Some experts warn that fasting is no way to lose weight. But proponents of

fasting claim that taking a break from food can have all sorts of health benefits.

They credit fasting for giving them everything from increased energy to elevated

mood and even clearer skin.

Here’s the secret: Fasting is not the same thing as starving. There are different

levels of fasting. Some even allow you to eat solid foods. Of course, you can also

restrict your intake to just liquids, or to just water, but such fasts shouldn’t be

sustained for very long.

Fasting is usually done for detoxification purposes. Think of how many processed

foods you eat each day. All of them contain chemicals designed to extend shelf

life or enhance flavor. Those chemicals can build up in your system, making it

hard for your body to function normally. Fatigue, achiness, and depression can

result.

Now consider how many toxins you pick up from other sources. How many

chemical cleaners, pest control sprays, cosmetics, and other chemicals do you

come into contact with? How is the air quality in your area? How is the tap water?

You could be polluting your body simply by eating, drinking, and breathing.

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You can kick off your 14 day diet plan and give your body a break by fasting. To

do this, you should first determine how extreme of a fast you’re willing to try.

Here are some popular types to choose from.

Sugar Fast

A sugar fast is a relatively mild fasting technique. All it requires you to do is give

up sugary foods and white flour products. Those foods will be replaced with

healthier carbohydrates in the form of low-glycemic fruits, fibrous vegetables, and

whole grain products.

Prepare for some adverse effects in the first few days of your sugar fast,

especially if you’re something of a sugar addict. You might experience

headaches, lethargy, and even nausea while your body cleanses itself of sugar.

Just take it easy for a couple of days and drink plenty of clean water to flush the

toxins from your system. You can do a sugar fast pretty much indefinitely, as long

as you continue to eat healthy carbs.

Raw Food Fast

Food loses a lot of its fiber and nutrition when you cook it, so proponents of raw

food diets insist that their way of eating delivers the most nutrients and the

highest fiber content.

Obviously, there are many foods which should be cooked before consumption. A

raw food fast will limit you to safe raw foods like fruits, vegetables, nuts, and

grains. Some people eat raw for life, but if you’re a meat fan, you should probably

make it a temporary weight loss technique.

Juice Fast

Juice fasts gained notoriety among the Hollywood set. Now they’ve gone

mainstream, with hundreds of web sites devoted to the merits of fresh fruit and

vegetable juice.

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Juice fasts can be healthy when they’re done right. To get enough vitamins and

fiber, you’ll definitely want to do your own juicing using fresh produce. Pre-

packaged fruit juices are typically high in sugar and lack fiber content.

Some of the most popular homemade juices include “green” smoothies, which

blend fruits, vegetables, and silken tofu; fresh orange and carrot juice for a

massive dose of vitamins C and A; and cucumber melon smoothies to keep you

hydrated at a very low calorie cost.

As long as you’re getting a variety of fruits, veggies, and soy protein, a juice fast

can last for several days or even a week. The nutrient-dense drinks are easily

digestible. You might feel revitalized right away as your body absorbs the

vitamins and macronutrients.

Water Fast

For some, only a total water fast will do. As the name suggests, a water fast

means giving up food altogether and drinking pure water instead.

While this doesn’t provide nutrients like eating solid food does, fans of water

fasting insist that the process gives them mental clarity, clearer skin, and

increased energy.

Due to lack of nutrition, water fasts should not be sustained for more than a few

days at a time. Ask your doctor for permission before you embark on a water

fast.

The Master Cleanse and More

The Master Cleanse gained notoriety because several high-profile celebrities

used it to shed extra pounds. Beyonce Knowles lost a fast 25 pounds in

preparation for her role in Dreamgirls, thanks to the Master Cleanse.

This plan is a liquid fast that requires you to drink several cups of juice made

from lemons, cayenne pepper, and maple syrup. Salt-water drinks and laxative

teas are sometimes incorporated for a full-body cleanse.

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The Master Cleanse is effective for cutting weight, but not for long-term loss. It

just departs too radically from normal eating. It’s also possible to become

dehydrated while following the plan, so dieter beware!

The Final Word on Fasts

A fast that cuts out junk food but leaves you with plenty of nutrition is the most

sustainable type of fast. Kick off your 14-day plan with a sugar fast or raw food

fast, and see how great you feel!

Chapter 3: Eating for Sustained Weight Loss

To start losing weight right away, you’ll need to know the scientific principles

behind weight loss. Let’s start by learning how many calories you actually need

each day.

Your basal metabolic rate, or BMR, dictates how many calories your body needs

to perform its functions for the day. This number is the bare minimum; it tells you

how many calories your body needs to simply survive and carry out natural

processes. If you’re an active person, you will require more calories than your

BMR suggests. The sum of your BMR plus the calories you burn during daily

activities is your Total Energy Expenditure, or TEE.

There are various formulas you can use to help you figure out an appropriate

number of calories for weight loss. The most widely used is the Harris-Benedict

formula, which considers your age, gender, height, and current weight to come

up with a suitable number of calories. Here is an example of this formula in

action:

Men: BMR = 66 + (13.7 X wt in kg) + (5 X ht in cm) - (6.8 X age in years)

Women: BMR = 655 + (9.6 X wt in kg) + (1.8 X ht in cm) - (4.7 X age in years)

(For calculation purposes, 1 inch = 2.54 cm and 1 kilogram = 2.2 lbs.)

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Example:

A 35 year old female who stands 5’4” (163 cm) tall and weighs 130 pounds (59

kilos) would use the following equation:

655 + 566 + 293 – 165 = 1,349.

The woman in the example would need 1,349 calories a day just to lie around in

bed and keep her organs functioning. If that number seems small, it’s because

we haven’t yet taken this woman’s activity level into consideration.

Activity multipliers work as such:

Sedentary people (office jobs, no real exercise) multiply their BMR by 1.2.

Lightly active people (exercise 1 – 3 times per week) multiply their BMR by 1.35.

Moderately active people (exercise 4 – 5 times per week) multiply their BMR by

1.55.

Highly active people (sports or hard exercise most days) multiply their BMR by

1.725.

Extremely active people (hard exercise every day) multiply their BMR by 1.9.

Let’s revisit the woman in our example. We’ll assume she works a desk job and

is sedentary most days of the week. Even at such a low activity level, she would

expend extra calories walking around, driving to and from work, typing, and

fidgeting at her desk.

Her BMR (1,349) multiplied by her sedentary activity level (1.2) reveals that she

needs about 1,619 calories each day to maintain her current weight. If she

started exercising just 2 or 3 days each week, her daily calorie requirement

would increase to 1,821.

So how do these numbers help you lose weight? Easy: To lose a pound of fat

each week, you must burn 3,500 more calories than you consume. In order to

lose a pound of fat, the woman in our example would need to eat 1,119 calories

a day if sedentary, or 1,321 a day if lightly active.

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As you can see, it’s much easier to lose weight through diet and physical activity

than through diet alone.

Chapter 4: The Importance of Hydration

We’re often told about the importance of adequate water intake, but do you know

why it’s so important? Water can contribute to weight loss – even fast weight loss

– in several ways.

First, since our bodies need water to survive, they have a self-defense reaction

when we don’t consume enough water. In response to dehydration, they start to

hold on to every bit of fluid they get. This is called fluid retention, or bloating, and

it can cause the scale to leap up by several pounds.

The cure for bloating is to drink more water. If you drink at least 8 glasses a day,

your body will start to let go of the fluid it has been retaining. Your waist will

shrink, and you will lose some superfluous pounds.

To tell if you’re bloated, clench your hands into fists. Do they feel tight and puffy?

Are your rings leaving indentations on your fingers? If so, you might be bloated,

and water can help.

Secondly, water acts as a vitamin delivery system. The vitamins you consume

through food and supplements will be distributed throughout your body if you’re

properly hydrated. If you haven’t had enough fluids, the vitamins will have trouble

getting where they need to go.

Finally, water keeps our organs functioning at their highest level. This directly

affects your body’s ability to burn fat.

You see, our bodies have a natural filtration system that gets rid of toxins and

built-up fluid: the kidneys. But the kidneys need plenty of water to be able to do

their job properly. If you don’t drink enough water, the kidneys have to call on the

liver for back-up filtration. While the liver is busy helping out the kidneys, it’s not

metabolizing fat as efficiently as it should, and more of the food you eat will be

stored as fat.

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You can avoid this situation by drinking at least 64 ounces of pure drinking water

each day. A more customized approach is to drink 1 ounce of water for every 2

pounds of body weight. Thus, a 150 pound man would need 75 ounces of water

each day. If you do a lot of sweating, or if you have a medical condition that

leaves you chronically dehydrated (like diabetes) you will need extra hydration.

Chapter 5: Sleep More to Lose More

When you think of weight-loss measures, sleep isn’t usually the first activity that

comes to mind. But sleep is one of the most important things you can do when

you’re trying to lose extra pounds.

Like hydration, adequate sleep benefits the dieter in many ways. First and

foremost, sleep relieves stress. Stress is actually counterproductive to weight

loss. That’s because stress triggers a chemical reaction in our bodies that

actually promotes weight gain.

Think about our ancestors: They had to store body fat to help them survive

through times of famine. Therefore, whenever their bodies were stressed (as in

times of starvation), a hormone called cortisol was released. Cortisol tells our

bodies to save up their fat stores in preparation for hard times ahead.

In modern days, we have more stress than ever before due to job schedules,

family obligations, overcrowding, and financial concerns. We are bombarded with

information and advertisements. Many of us work around the clock to make ends

meet.

Add to that a cycle of self-imposed famine in the form of dieting, and it’s no

wonder people are more stressed out – and fatter – than ever.

Sleep soothes the mind and body, gives us a chance to slow down and process

the events of our day, and tells our bodies to replace cortisol production with

endorphin production. Endorphins are feel-good chemicals that relieve stress and

give us a general sense of well-being.

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Finally, sleep gives our bodies the opportunity to repair themselves. If you

exercise, and especially if you do strength-training, you might end up with achy

muscles. That’s because exercise and weight-lifting cause microscopic tears

throughout your muscle tissue.

When you sleep, your muscles repair these tears, rebuilding your muscle tissue

stronger than before. This leaves you with more lean muscle mass, which means

you burn more calories all day and all night, even when you sleep.

In spite of its many benefits, adequate sleep is something few of us enjoy.

Studies have shown that most people don’t get the 7 to 10 hours of sleep that

their bodies require. Insufficient sleep can have a direct impact on how much

weight you lose or gain.

Start your 14-day weight loss program by performing a personal sleep inventory.

Look at the amount of sleep you get each night. Is it enough? If not, what is

keeping you from sleeping more? Sometimes the answer is obvious, like a

newborn baby or a demanding work schedule. Other common culprits include too

much computer time before bed (computer and video games stimulate the brain,

preventing it from winding down in preparation for sleep); alcohol consumption;

and insomnia due to stress or anxiety.

Do what you can to manage your stress level while you’re awake. Get some

exercise each day, in the sunlight if possible. Avoid drinking caffeine after noon.

Journal about issues in your life which are troubling you, or talk to a trusted friend

or advisor. Yoga and meditation can also help. Never use sleep aids unless your

doctor gives you the go-ahead, as you can become dependent on them.

Finally, make sure your bedroom is conducive to a good night’s sleep. If noises

tend to wake you during the night, invest in a cheap pair of foam earplugs, or

drown out background noise with a fan. Make sure the room is dark, and turn off

any electronic devices that have flashing lights. Wind down before bed with a

warm bath, a cup of chamomile tea, and a book. You can also take melatonin

supplements to help you get restful sleep throughout the night.

Chapter 6: Calorie-burning Activities

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As we learned in chapter 3, weight loss comes easier when you add physical

activity. Many of us have plenty of excuses for our sedentary lifestyles: We work

too hard, can’t afford gym memberships, have too many demands on our time, or

just plain don’t like to exercise.

If you hate exercising, it’s probably because you’re not getting the right kind of

exercise. Some people are perfectly happy running on a treadmill day in and day

out, but there are many more who dread the monotony.

If boredom is keeping you from getting a healthy amount of cardio, mix up your

routine with some fun activities. Group sports like basketball and flag softball

burn far more calories per hour than a treadmill, and they’re fun and social to

boot. Call up some friends, or visit your local activity center to sign up for an

amateur sports league.

Swimming is another great way to burn calories. Jump in the pool and paddle

around, then jog as fast as you can in the shallow end. The water provides

enough resistance to kick your metabolism into high gear. If you have a local

beach, brisk walking on the sand will burn more calories than walking on

pavement.

Kids also provide opportunities for calorie burning. If you have a baby, contact

your local stroller club to go on walks with other new parents. You can keep an

eye on your little one while you get in shape. If your child is older, they will

appreciate some one-on-one time spent tossing a football, shooting hoops, or

just swinging and sliding at the playground. These activities help you burn

calories while you bond with your child.

If you have a garden, you’ve got a calorie-burning goldmine. Lawn work,

including mowing the grass and planting shrubs and saplings, is a great way to

firm up and lose pounds. Weeding, pruning, picking flowers and vegetables, and

laying sod are all calorie-burning activities. Spend an hour a day working on your

landscaping, and you’ll soon see the results in your yard – and on the scale.

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Maybe you’re an animal lover. Try walking your dog in the evening, or taking the

neighbors’ dogs for a walk. Take your pet to the park for some Frisbee action.

Saddle up a horse and go for a relaxing trail ride. Don’t have a pet of your own?

Try volunteering at a ranch or animal shelter. Caring for and cleaning up after the

animals is a rewarding act that enriches their lives and helps you stay in shape.

There are also plenty of human-based charities and foundations which can use

volunteers. You could serve your community by helping build homes, stack and

sort food donations, or join walks and runs to raise funds for medical research.

Chapter 7: Building Muscle to Burn Fat

Fat is the accumulation of excess energy. If you don’t burn off the calories you

consume, they will be stored as fat. If you build muscle mass, you will not only

feel better and look leaner, you will actually start to burn fat at a much faster rate.

That’s because muscles tissue is an incredible fat-burner. The more lean muscle

mass you have, the more calories you burn, even at rest. With that in mind, it

makes sense to add strength training to your weekly routine.

First, find out how much of your body is made up of fat, and how much is made

up of lean muscle. This measurement is your body fat percentage. You can find

guides online which will help you determine your body fat percentage, but if

you’re a first-time measurer, you might get better results by asking your doctor or

fitness trainer to measure it for you.

Some “smart” scales can even calculate your body composition by sending a

painless signal through your body. The signal returns data that tells you how

much of your weight comes from fat, muscle, bone, and fluid.

A healthy body fat percentage for women ranges from 14% (for a young, athletic

woman) to 35% (for women over 65). Males have more natural muscle mass

than females, so men can be healthy with body fat percentages between 6% and

25%.

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It’s worth noting that a normal body weight does not protect you from the effects

of a high body fat percentage. People with low weights and a large amount of

body fat (also known as “skinny-fat” or “normal weight obesity”) face the same

health risks as other obese individuals.

So how can you get rid of excess body fat and build lean muscle tissue to take its

place? By working your muscles with strength-training exercises.

Strength training brings to mind images of sweaty guys shouting as they strain,

red-faced, to lift a bar with huge weights on each end. But that’s not

representative of strength training as a whole. In fact, you don’t need a gym or

even weights to make your muscles stronger and leaner.

You can do strength-training in the comfort of your own home. Persistence is the

key. If you’re not accustomed to exercising, your muscles will be weak at first,

and you might not feel like you’re doing yourself much good.

In fact, the opposite is true! Every strength training session will benefit your

muscles tremendously. When you rest the next day, your muscles will reknit

themselves into something stronger than ever before. All you have to do is stick

with the program.

Some of the best strength-training exercises are traditional workouts used in

school gyms and military boot camps: Sit-ups, pull-ups, push-ups, chair dips, wall

sits, and squats.

Don’t worry if you can’t do these maneuvers right at first. You can do modified

versions of these exercises until you build enough muscle strength to do the

traditional versions. For example, if you can’t do a full push-up, you can do knee

push-ups while you grow stronger. If you can’t do a knee push-up, try pushing

yourself away from walls or kitchen counters. Your arms will grow stronger over

time, and you will start building muscle immediately.

Sit-ups are another easily modified strength training exercise. Many people do a

modified version of sit-ups when they do abdominal crunches. You can lower or

increase the difficulty of crunches by changing the way you hold your legs, or by

twisting your body as you come up. Full sit-ups should be your goal, though,

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because they give your entire core a good workout. A well-developed core will

help you perform all of your strength-training exercises.

Start slowly by doing strength-training on a few non-consecutive days each

week. You might start by doing core exercises on Monday, resting on Tuesday,

doing Arms on Wednesday, resting on Thursday, working your legs on Friday,

and resting on the weekend.

As you grow stronger, increase your strength-training to 4 or 5 times per week.

Keep working until your muscles feel weak and wobbly. This is called muscle

failure, and you won’t get much benefit from working out beyond that point. The

more you work out, the longer it will take you to reach muscle failure.

Chapter 8: Vitamins, Herbs & Supplements

Many herbs and supplements are marketed as fat-burners. Some claim to

increase the body’s core temperature, resulting in a higher basal metabolic rate.

Others purport to stimulate the liver, causing it to metabolize fat at a higher rate.

Still others are thought to increase your heart rate, leaving you in the fat-burning

zone for longer periods of time as you work out.

So which supplements are for real, and which ones should you avoid? Obviously,

there is no miracle pill that leads to instant weight loss. If that were the case,

obesity would no longer be a problem. But there are in fact a few supplements

that have been linked to faster weight loss.

The very best supplements for fat loss include green tea, guggul, and dandelion.

Each of these supplements has been studied and found to have measurable

results on weight loss. Guggul in particular was found to help dieters lose 6 times

as much weight as others who were given a placebo pill.

Green tea acts as a mild stimulant and appetite suppressant because of its

caffeine content. But its real power lies in the phytonutrients it contains. The

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that dieters who took 390mg of green

tea extract each day lost twice as much weight as dieters who did not consume

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green tea, even though both groups had identical calorie intake and activity

levels.

Dandelion is a popular fat-burner because it is thought to stimulate the liver’s fat

metabolism process. It also has diuretic properties which can help you get rid of

water weight.

Note that none of these herbs, by themselves, is enough to help you lose fat.

They merely improve the results you get from diet and exercise. Also, though

herbs are natural, they can be dangerous if you have certain health conditions or

if you use them incorrectly. Always seek your doctor’s advice before adding

supplements to your diet.

Chapter 9: How to Beat Bloating Every Time

It happens to the best of us: We indulge in some sugary or salty carbs, and

suddenly we can’t button our skinny jeans. The scale moves up several pounds,

and we feel puffy and miserable.

You would have to eat a truly massive amount of calories to gain 5 pounds of fat

in a single day (somewhere in the neighborhood of 20,000). But it’s painfully easy

to gain 5 pounds of water weight when you’re bloated.

Bloating is usually caused by three things: Over-consumption of sugar, over-

consumption of sodium, or dehydration.

Carbohydrates attract water molecules, which leads to water retention and a

puffy appearance. This is why professional body-builders eat carbs to make their

muscles appear larger, and cut carbs when they want to look as lean as possible.

If you go overboard on the carbs, especially on refined carbs like desserts and

bread, your waistline could quickly expand.

Sodium is another common cause of bloating. The typical modern adult eats far

more sodium than they need. That’s because so many of the processed foods

we eat, even “diet” foods, are packed with sodium as a flavor enhancer and

preservative. Too much sodium causes inflammation inside the body, and the

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body attempts to hold on to fluids to dilute the irritating sodium. And, of course,

retained fluids = bloating.

The same thing happens when we don’t drink enough fluids. Insufficient water

intake causes dehydration, which also causes fluid retention. Deprived of water,

the body tries to hold onto every drop. The result is a decrease in sweating and

urination, and an increase in water weight.

Fortunately, bloating is easy to beat. You can get rid of it by drinking plenty of

water (1 ounce for every 2 pounds of body weight) and limiting your food intake

to lean protein, low-fat dairy products, and fibrous fruits and vegetables. You

could also drink a cup of coffee or a few cups of green tea to “push” the fluids

from your body faster. Avoid sugary sweets, carbonated drinks, and refined white

flour products when you’re trying to beat bloating.

Chapter 10: Laxatives & Colon Cleansers

Laxatives and colon cleansers deserve special mention in this quick weight loss

guide. While they can be useful for the loss of water weight, their potentially

harmful effects make them a bad choice for a long-term weight loss solution.

It’s true that the contents of your stomach and bowels can add a couple of

pounds. If you don’t get enough fiber or water in your diet, you could become

painfully constipated and bloated. It’s healthier to address the root cause of these

conditions (in this case, dehydration and insufficient fiber) than to routinely use

laxatives to force a bowel movement.

Colon cleansers are just laxatives with a fancy name. The makers of these

products would have you believe that the human colon is incapable of keeping

itself clean. In reality, the human body is remarkably efficient at ridding itself of

waste as long as you eat right and drink enough water.

Laxatives and colon cleansers can actually make you gain weight by causing

your body to retain fluids due to dehydration. You can also become physically

dependent on these substances. Our digestive system keeps itself in good

working order by contracting and passing solid waste. If you use laxatives too

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frequently, the digestive system won’t work as hard, leading to a loss of muscle

tone.

In addition, many colon cleansing products are quite expensive. You would be

better off saving your money and increasing your intake of water and fiber.

Laxatives should only be used on rare occasions when you’re in pain and need

fast relief.

Chapter 11: Put a Stop to Emotional Eating

Emotional eating is more common than you might think, but it makes sense.

Think back to your memories of childhood, times when you felt happy, secure,

and cared for. Chances are, those memories involve food.

As children, we did much of our bonding with family members during mealtimes

and holidays. Those fond memories stay with us as adults. When we feel lonely,

bored, or sad, instead of reaching out to another person, we often reach out for

food.

It makes sense on a scientific basis as well. The foods we typically think of as

“comfort foods” are high in fat and carbohydrates. Fat satisfies our hunger, and

carbohydrates cause our bodies to produce the feel-good chemicals known as

endorphins. The result is a sense of relaxation and well-being.

While there are more dangerous coping mechanisms in the world, using food to

sooth your emotional pain can have many negative consequences: guilt, shame,

low self-esteem, and obesity and all of its related health concerns.

Emotional eating also prevents you from getting to the root of the problem. While

the food picks you up temporarily, the underlying problems still exist, causing you

to go back top the food when your emotions flare.

If you are one of the millions of people who engage in emotional eating, there is

good news: You can stop the cycle and learn to identify your true needs. All it

takes is a desire to change and a little persistence.

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The key to beating emotional eating is to identify the triggers that send you off in

search of food. Think back to the last time you ate food for comfort. What was

your emotional state like? Were you sad or stressed out about something? Were

you lonely or bored? Maybe you were angry and didn’t have an outlet for that

anger, so it quickly turned into sadness and despair. Emotions can be confusing,

but they always make sense.

Now imagine the next time you’ll feel the urge to binge on comfort foods. What

will you do differently? Instead of eating to cheer yourself up, maybe you can talk

to a trusted friend, write out your feelings in a personal journal, or simply take a

walk in your neighborhood or local park.

If you typically eat out of boredom, find something else to do to occupy yourself.

This could mean taking up a new craft or hobby, volunteering to help people or

animals in your community, or exercising. Try to avoid activities that you

associate with mindless eating, such as watching television. Find something else

that engages your mind more fully.

If depression is the underlying cause, try speaking with a doctor to discuss

treatment options. Depression can be seasonal, situational, or perpetual. A

doctor or even a therapist could help you get to the bottom of your depression. If

a chemical imbalance is causing it, drug therapy could work wonders.

Once you understand why you feel the urge to eat for comfort, you can take

steps to change your behavior. Then, you can eliminate unnecessary calories

and start to slim down – permanently.

Chapter 12: Tips for Staying Motivated

It’s pretty easy to feel gung-ho about your diet when you’re first starting out. It’s

something new, you’re hopeful and enthusiastic, and you might even be looking

forward to your new way of eating and exercising.

Fast-forward two weeks, and you might find a different story entirely. You’ve

gotten bored with your daily menu, the exercises seem like a chore, and perhaps

you’ve even fallen off the wagon completely.

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Finding the initial motivation can be a challenge, but staying motivated is at least

as difficult. Here are some ways you can sustain your enthusiasm until you reach

the finish line.

Set Small Milestones

For the sake of this example, let’s say you need to lose 30 pounds. That sounds

daunting! The goal might seem more manageable if you break it down into

smaller milestones. For example, you could set yourself the goal of losing one

pound in a week. If you stick to the plan, you can almost certainly reach that goal.

Then you’ll only have 29 more milestones to go, and a sense of accomplishment

to help you pass those milestones.

Treat Yourself Often

Humans are wired to love rewards. Personal achievement might be enough to

keep some people going, but the rest of us need tangible rewards to keep

moving forward.

These rewards don’t need to be expensive, but they do need to be motivational.

For example, let’s imagine you’ve reached your first milestone – one pound gone

in one week’s time. You could reward yourself with a guilt-free evening to goof off

and play video games, rent a movie you’ve wanted to see, or have an at-home

spa session complete with a homemade facial and a do-it-yourself pedicure.

Special milestones, such as the loss of 10 pounds, deserve larger treats! Get

creative, and you’ll come up with several ideas.

Should you use food as a weight loss reward? The concept is pretty

controversial. Experts warn against it, but some dieters say it works for them.

The bottom line is that you have to set up a reward system that will motivate you

to keep going. If that means indulging in a hot fudge sundae, then eat the

sundae. It’s far better to have those extra calories than to give up on your diet

because you feel deprived.

Just be careful. If you tend to eat for comfort, the taste of a sundae could send

you into a binge. Some dieters find it easier to stay on track by rewarding

themselves with non-edible treats.

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Find What Motivates You – and Be Honest

Why do you want to lose weight? Many of us would answer with safe responses,

like “I want to do it for my health”, or “I want to fit into my old clothes again”.

These might be 100% true, but for many dieters, that’s not the whole story.

Be brutally honest with yourself. Even if you think the truth is ugly, go ahead and

take a personal inventory of all the reasons why you want to lose weight. Do you

want to be considered a hottie? Do you want your exes to kick themselves for

letting you go? Do you want to be able to wear more risqué clothing styles? Do

you want to avoid getting jowly as you age?

Some of those reasons might sound vain and selfish, but plenty of dieters use

them as personal motivators. If they help you stick to your diet and fitness plan,

use them.

Keep a Journal

Studies have shown that dieters who keep food journals are more likely to lose

weight and keep it off. But you can keep a journal to track more than just your

calories. Start writing down your moods, level of hunger, and thoughts about your

weight loss journey.

Seeing everything in print can help you identify situations that make you want to

eat. A journal can also help you discover patterns in your eating, like skimping on

breakfast and subsequently overeating at lunchtime.

You can also use a journal to plan your milestones and rewards. Seeing your

next reward spelled out in ink can keep you from giving in to a temporary urge to

binge.

Share With Others

There’s no need to go through your weight loss alone. The Internet has brought

together millions of people who want to lose weight. They have formed

communities, meet-up groups, and social networking sites.

Don’t be shy; many of these people face the same hardships and struggles as

you do. Jump right in and introduce yourself. Ask questions of long-time

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members. Share every little victory and setback, and congratulate and comfort

others when they do the same. You might find that joining a community keeps

you accountable not only to yourself, but to your new friends as well.

Chapter 13: Addressing Medical Concerns

It’s important to note that there are several medical conditions that make it hard

or even impossible to lose weight. Though these conditions are rare, they can

seriously impact your quality of life until they are diagnosed and treated.

Some of the most common medical reasons for weight gain (or slow weight loss)

include Cushing’s disease; hypothyroidism; insulin resistance (or pre-diabetes);

and, for women, polycystic ovary syndrome.

Fortunately, all of these conditions can be diagnosed with simple blood tests.

Once you have a diagnosis, you and your health care provider can decide on a

good course of treatment. As the condition improves, your weight loss will

progress more normally.

Sometimes medical treatments are the culprits behind weight gain. If you take

oral steroids, you might find it very difficult to lose weight or even avoid gaining

weight. Some birth control methods, such as depo-provera injections, are also

linked to weight gain.

Speak with your doctor about treatment alternatives. Medical research has given

us plenty of new drugs to choose from, so chances are good that you can use

one which will not stall your weight loss.

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Chapter 14: Your 14 Day Weight Loss Schedule

Ready to get started? Here’s a sample 14-day diet plan that will have you

shedding pounds FAST! Remember: The more weight you need to lose, the

faster your initial weight loss will be. We tend to lose weight at a slower pace as

we approach our ideal weight.

Things to Do Before Day 1:

Shop for groceries, drinking water, and supplies

Choose a cardio workout plan that sounds fun

Figure out how many calories you need to consume each day

Decide if you will start off the diet with a period of fasting

Take steps to ensure a good night’s sleep

Search for a community of supportive dieters, locally or online

Rule out medical issues that prevent you from losing weight

Sample Plan, Day 1:

Start the day with some green tea and plenty of drinking water. Eat some

lean protein for breakfast, and do your stress-busting yoga stretches.

If you’re a morning person, do your cardio then. Follow it up with 15

minutes of strength-training exercises, focusing on your arms.

Eat small meals throughout the day, staying well below your required

caloric intake.

Drink approximately 1 ounce of water for every 2 pounds of body weight.

Avoid sugary or salty foods.

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In the evening, do a longer session of stretching.

Wind down before bed with relaxing activities like reading or taking a

warm bath.

Sleep at least 8 hours.

The next 13 days will be very similar to the first. Continue to put an emphasis on

adequate sleep and fluid intake, regular meals, and exercise. Vary your cardio

routines, but try to get between 30 and 60 minutes of cardio each day.

Confuse your muscles by focusing on a different muscle group each day during

strength training. Start by focusing on your arms with push-ups, chair dips, and

pull-ups. The next day, work your legs with squats, wall-sits, and lunges. On day

3, work your core with a variety of sit-ups, crunches, and leg-lifts.

On day 14, you’ll be lighter, leaner, healthier and happier. Be sure to reward

yourself with a great treat, and get ready for the next 14 days.

Best wishes on your journey!

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Recommended Daily Supplement

28

CurcuminThe 21st Century Cure

Jan McBarron, M.D., N.D.

OPTIMAL BODY DEFENSE

David Lyons with Arnold Schwarzenegger

Fight Back Against Excess Inflammation

Contents

CHAPTER 1: What Is Curcumin and How Does It Work?, 1

CHAPTER 2: Curcumin and Heart Disease, 7

CHAPTER 3: Curcumin and Cancer, 12

CHAPTER 4: Curcumin, Chronic Pain and Arthritis, 17

CHAPTER 5: Curcumin and Diabetes, 21

CHAPTER 6: Curcumin and Memory: Alzheimer’sand Dementia, 26

CHAPTER 7: Curcumin, Depression and Other Brain Disorders, 35

CHAPTER 8: Curcumin and Digestive Disorders, 40

CHAPTER 9: Curcumin and Other Diseases, 43

Scientifically Validated Curcumin, 47

References, 47

About the Author, 50

C H A P T E R 1

What Is Curcuminand How Does It Work?

AN ASIAN SECRET FOR LONGEVITY

What if I told you there is a common spice that can give youthe gift of a long and healthy life? How about an extract of

this familiar spice that can prevent and even cure heart disease, can-cer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, depression, joint pain and more?

Maybe you would think it’s just a bunch of hype, but I canassure you there is voluminous scientific research that warrantsplacing curcumin at the pinnacle of all healing herbs.

If you love curry, you’ll be familiar with turmeric, a popular vividly-colored spice. Inside turmeric is a compound called cur-cumin, which is found in its rhizome (the stem of the plant found underground). Curcumin is responsible for the golden orange color of turmeric, and is perhaps the most powerful botanical medicine in the world today. However, there is very little curcumin in the spice turmeric. If you’ve seen cheap turmeric supplements on the market, understand that they only contain 2 to 5% curcumin, which may or may not be usable by your body, and they’re not likely to have any effectiveness in terms of prevention or treatment for the diseases we’re talking about. Curcumin is many times more powerful than turmeric.

For centuries, curcumin has given the gift of long life and robust health to the people of India, for whom various types of curries—always made with turmeric—are a dietary staple.

1

Curcumin is an important ingredient in the Ayurvedic medicine tradition and a vital part of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Now I can say without equivocation that it is the cure-all of the 21st century, backed by voluminous research that credits its healing powers to its exceptional antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

Botanically known as Curcuma longa, the turmeric rhizome is a member of the antioxidant-rich ginger family. You might be understandably skeptical when you hear that this humble Indian spice can prevent, treat and cure a wide variety of serious diseases. These include everything from heart attacks to a dozen types of cancer, the pain of all types of arthritis and even “incurable” dis-eases like diabetes and Alzheimer’s. Curcumin also soothes depres-sion and the agony of a variety of digestive disorders, including Crohn’s disease, inflammatory bowel disease and irritable bowel syndrome.

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In this book, I’ll address your skepticism with an in-depthexamination of each of these conditions and the research support-ing curcumin’s role in prevention, treatment and cure.

CURCUMIN: THE TRIPLE WHAMMY AGAINSTCHRONIC DISEASE

Curcumin has proven antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti- cancer properties. This takes in most, if not all, of the chronic dis-eases of aging known to modern science.

Think about rust on the bumper of a car. Rust is caused by oxi-dation or damaging oxygen molecules that corrode and eventuallydestroy the structure of metal.

Those same corrosive oxygen molecules (sometimes called freeradicals) are found inside the human body, and while they are partof the aging process, they are an unpleasant part of it because theycontribute to the deterioration of cells. When these “rusty” cellsreproduce, each generation is just a little different from the last anda little bit less able to perform its function properly. That, in a nut-shell, is how and why we age.

The oxidative aging process is escalated by environmental factors:

• Polluted air and water

• Plastics and other toxic materials that contaminate nearly every-thing we touch, eat and drink

• Pesticides and other poisons and hormones in our food and evenin our clothing

• Processed foods, smoking, obesity, lack of exercise and otherunhealthy lifestyle choices

OXIDATION AND INFLAMMATION CAUSE DISEASE

So, what happens when we get “rust” or oxidative damage in ourcells? Our brain cells begin to deteriorate, so memory becomes

WHAT IS CURCUMIN AND HOW DOES IT WORK? r 3

fuzzy; our hearts don’t beat as efficiently as they once did; ourarteries become clogged; our blood sugars spike and cellular divi-sion is thrown so far out of whack that our cells begin to dividewildly, creating cancers that can kill us.

This oxidative stress can also cause brain chemistry to mal-function, resulting in depression, one of the most common anddebilitating diseases of modern times.

Worst of all, these nasty free radical oxygen molecules causeinflammation, with obvious results if you think of arthritis, joint painand other forms of chronic pain, but less obvious ones as under -lying causes of all of the degenerative diseases already mentioned.

In addition, obesity and inflammation go hand-in-hand. Mostlikely, obesity causes inflammation, although the scientific commu-nity isn’t quite convinced yet. More than 40% of all Americansare obese. When we add in those 30% who are overweight but notyet obese, we find that excess weight plagues 70% of all Americanadults. That makes the inflammation associated with obesity a seri-ous contributing factor in all of the diseases of aging.

THE GOLDEN KNIGHT

Like a golden knight on a palomino charger, curcumin rides to therescue!

Curcumin is by far the most powerful antioxidant known toscience, hundreds of times more powerful than blueberries, whichhave substantial antioxidant capabilities themselves.

A handful of devastating diseases of aging are all partially or totallycaused by oxidation:

! Heart disease ! Osteoarthritis

! Cancer ! Alzheimer’s disease

! Diabetes ! Dementia

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On the ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) scalethat rates the antioxidant power of foods, only BCM-95® Cur-cumin rates over 1.5 million per 100 grams, while antioxidant-rich blueberries have only a 6,000 ORAC rating per 100 grams!This means that just one high-quality curcumin capsule deliversmore than 25 times the antioxidants as the same amount of blue-berries.

Curcumin literally scrubs the oxidative “rust” from your cells,preventing serious disease and reversing diseases you may alreadyhave. It helps stop cell deterioration and restores the cellular genet-ic codes to youthful levels, ensuring those cells will reproduce morelike they did when you were young.

More important, from the viewpoint of damaged cell divisionfound in cancer, curcumin also tells these cells to die when theirtime comes, as ordained by nature, which stops tumor growth.

And that wonderful yellow curcumin stops inflammation andall of its obvious and not-so-obvious damaging effects, relievinginflammatory problems like arthritis and joint pain and eliminat-ing the building blocks for heart disease, diabetes and other diseasesthat have a foundation in chronic inflammation.

In addition, curcumin has a unique ability to cross the blood-brain barrier, a membrane that protects the brain from invaderslike bacterial infections and keeps out most other substances aswell, including those that might be helpful. This gives curcumin theability to deliver its antioxidants and anti-inflammatories directlyto the brain, which is particularly helpful in cases of dementia anddepression.

In the case of cancer, cutting-edge research shows curcumin hasa variety of ways of stopping abnormal cell growth, including anability to affect cell division on the genetic level.

If that’s not enough, studies also show that curcumin protectsthe liver and kidneys.

Curcumin has been compared to pharmaceutical drugs for thetreatment of a wide variety of diseases, and it has come out on topin every case.

WHAT IS CURCUMIN AND HOW DOES IT WORK? r 5

ANOTHER TRIPLE WHAMMY AGAINSTINFLAMMATION

Inflammation is a factor in 80 to 90% of all disease, according tocurcumin researcher Ajay Goel, Ph.D., director of Epigenetics andCancer Prevention at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas.

What’s not to love?“Curcumin demonstrates superior antioxidant and anti-inflam-

matory effects and provides liver- and heart-protective benefits aswell. It is a potent antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, anti-allergenicand has antitumor and anti-cancer properties,” says Dr. Goel.

By knocking out viruses, bacteria and fungi, curcumin offersthe powerful possibility that we can use it to treat everything fromcolds and flu to pneumonia or even to help with something as seri-ous as AIDS or cancer, effectively and without dangerous sideeffects.

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C H A P T E R 2

Curcumin andHeart Disease

Since heart disease is the #1 killer in the Western world, anynutrient, like curcumin, that helps protect your heart and arter-

ies and even reverses heart disease should be most welcome.Curcumin’s heart-protective effects become even more impor-

tant when we add diabetes to the mix. Heart disease is the mostcommon complication of diabetes, and the number of newly diag-nosed diabetics is increasing dramatically every year, with nearly2 million new cases reported among U.S. adults in 2010.

KEEP ARTERIES CLEAR

Clogged arteries raise the risk of heart attack and stroke. Fattydeposits (called plaque) cause arteries to narrow, reduce blood flow,make your heart work harder to move blood through the circula-tory system and harden the arteries. In time, cholesterol buildupcan completely block an artery and cause a heart attack or stroke.

Curcumin raises the levels of HDL or “good” cholesterol thathelps move fats out of the cells, including the cells in the arteries.It also reduces the stickiness of blood cells, preventing clots.

With curcumin, cholesterol improvement can happen fast: AnIndian study showed that human volunteers who took 500 mil-ligrams a day for just a week increased their good (HDL) choles-terol by 29%.

7

In addition, inflammation is a foundational cause of cardio-vascular disease and there is abundant evidence that curcumin isone of the most potent anti-inflammatory substances known toscience. Therefore, it stands to reason that reduction of inflam-mation also reduces the risk of heart disease and stroke. Otherstudies suggest that curcumin may actually change the messagessent by genes that signal the body to build up those fatty depositsin the arteries.

Image of arteries shows normal flow (top), constricted flow (center) and blocked artery (bottom).

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REDUCE HOMOCYSTEINE AND CRP LEVELS

Homocysteine is an amino acid naturally present in the humanbody. When homocysteine starts to build up in the bloodstream, itincreases the hardening and narrowing of the arteries, may causeblood clotting, raises your risk of heart disease and can be predic-tive of a heart attack, stroke and possibly Alzheimer’s disease.

CRP (C-Reactive Protein) is a body signal of inflammation. Itdamages the arterial walls, resulting in hardening of the arteriesand blood clotting. Curcumin helps to relax those arterial wallcells, reduces the hardening of the arteries and allows the blood toflow more freely, dissolving clots and preventing and even revers-ing plaque buildup.

REVERSE HEART FAILURE

Congestive heart failure occurs when the heart can no longerpump enough blood to the rest of the body. It is usually a slowprocess that gets worse over time. As the heart muscle loses its abil-ity to pump oxygen-rich blood throughout the body, it causesfluid buildup in the lungs, liver, gastrointestinal tract, arms andlegs. This lack of oxygen damages vital organs, eventually causingdeath.

Curcumin prevents the creation of scar tissue in the heart mus-cle and helps failing hearts return to their normal pumping capac-ity, according to breakthrough Canadian research published in2008. Scientists at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research dis-covered that curcumin acts directly on the DNA of heart cells, pre-venting them from unraveling under physical stress. Curcumin wasshown to switch off the “unraveling switch” in the heart cell DNAthat keeps scar tissue from developing.

In the February 2008 edition of the Journal of Clinical Investi-gation, researchers at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre of the Toron-to General Hospital reported that curcumin may dramaticallyreduce the chance of developing heart failure.

CURCUMIN AND HEART DISEASE r 9

“When the herb is given orally, it can actually prevent andreverse hypertrophy, restore heart function and reduce scar forma-tion,” researchers wrote.

PREVENT STROKE AND STOP STROKE DAMAGE

Strokes have two major causes. The most common is a blood clotthat travels to the brain and the second is a ruptured blood vesselin the brain. As we learned earlier in this chapter, the buildup ofcholesterol, elevated homocysteine and CRP levels and even con-gestive heart failure are risk factors for stroke as well as heartattack. Since stroke is a cardiovascular disease, a stroke is a “brainattack,” if you will, similar to a heart attack. We already know thatcurcumin has powerful preventive and healing properties for all ofthese conditions.

Strokes almost inevitably damage brain cells. But exciting newresearch shows that curcumin, given intravenously, can minimizebrain damage while a stroke is in progress because it can cross theblood-brain barrier, protecting the mechanisms that help regener-ate brain cells. This is effective if it is administered in an emergencyroom within three hours of a stroke.

SUPER ANTIOXIDANT

Curcumin’s antioxidant properties are one of its most potentweapons against all of the diseases commonly linked with the agingprocess, most notably cardiovascular disease. I like to think ofantioxidants as “rust removers” of the body because they literallyremove the “rust” or the foundational causes of the diseases ofaging connected to excessive free-radical oxygen molecules.

Cholesterol or even excessive cholesterol in itself does not clogarteries. It is the oxidized cholesterol that clogs arteries, restrictsblood flow to vital organs and eventually breaks away to causeheart attacks and strokes.

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By preventing this oxidation in the first place, curcumin’santioxidant properties keep the arteries clear of that potentiallyfatal oxidized cholesterol or plaque.

CONCLUSION

Curcumin’s abilities to protect your heart, brain and cardiovascu-lar system are beyond impressive. Consider the drugs commonlyused to treat the heart conditions discussed in this chapter. Thestatin drugs alone (Lipitor, Crestor and their cousins) carry withthem huge health risks from side effects, including causing deathfrom sudden heart failure.

It only makes sense to use substances that are effective as wellas harmless.

Curcumin is natural and safe. Only rarely do people taking cur-cumin get mild stomach upset at dosages of 10 grams per day ormore. What’s more, even the highest quality products are veryaffordable. Who could ask for more?

CURCUMIN AND HEART DISEASE r 11

C H A P T E R 3

Curcumin and Cancer

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Cancer arouses more fear in the human heart than any other dis-ease. The dread is well placed, even though cancer is not the #1

killer in the Western world.Every year, more than 1.5 million people are diagnosed with

cancer, not including skin cancers, which are by far the most com-mon cancers. Skin cancers afflict 2 million more people every year.

Each year, 569,000 of us will die of cancer.There is probably not a single one of us who doesn’t know

someone who has had cancer and who has personally been touchedby the pain and suffering of this dreaded disease.

It is not the purpose of this small book to detail the varioustypes of cancer and the death tolls they exact, but let it suffice tosay that lung, colon, prostate and breast cancers kill more Ameri-cans than any other forms.

While most of us think that cancer is an inherited disease, sci-ence shows us that fewer than 2% of all cancer is related to genet-ics (broken or mutated genes). That means 98% of cancer is causedby something else.

That “something else” has opened a whole new science calledepigenetics, meaning literally “above genetics.”

The good news is that we have far more control over our epi-genetics than genetics.

Renowned scientist Ajay Goel, Ph.D., of the Gastrointestinal

Cancer Research Laboratory at the Baylor Research Institute atDallas, is at the forefront of epigenetic research.

He explains a complex science in simple terms: “Everything wedo from the day we are born, everything we eat, drink and areexposed to in our environment has an indirect but strong influenceon our genetics. As we age and grow, it is very natural that someof the genes tend to get turned off as a consequence of our eatinghabits, exercise regimens and exposure to toxic environmentalstresses. Doing the right thing in this regard can help us keep ourgenes healthy.”

So, when we don’t eat correctly or exercise and are exposed totoxins, damage to genes takes place and disease occurs.

“Fortunately, unlike genetic defects, epigenetic alterations havea unique characteristic that these changes are reversible,” saysDr. Goel.

“In other words, although we can do nothing if we are bornwith a defective gene, it is certainly within our reach to keep ourgenomes healthy and we can even reverse some of the epigeneticchanges by eating right and with regular consumption of health-promoting natural dietary botanicals and herbals,” he explains.

Here’s where curcumin comes into the cancer picture.“Every cell in our bodies has a finite life span,” says Dr. Goel.

“We have genes in our bodies that govern this natural process ofcell death. But sometimes those genes go into a deep slumber, allow-ing cells to continue to live and reproduce long beyond their time,creating cancerous tumors.”

Curcumin has been scientifically proven to actually “wake up”those sleeping genes, telling cancer cells it is time to die and stop-ping the growth of cancerous tumors.

Dr. Goel and his team have produced ground-breaking researchthat promises to change the way we think about cancer and how itis treated—and curcumin certainly has a strong role in this change.

It almost goes without saying that the anti-inflammatory andantioxidant powers of curcumin are the foundation of its abilityto prevent and treat cancer, since cancer is caused by inflamma-

CURCUMIN AND CANCER r 13

tion and by oxidative stress, meaning, among other things, thatDNA has been damaged, impairing the ability of cells to repro-duce perfectly.

The staid and highlyrespected MD Anderson Can-cer Center has expressed un -characteristic enthusiasm aboutcurcumin’s anticancer proper-ties in a 2003 statement byresearchers published in thejournal Anticancer Research:

“Extensive research overthe last 50 years has indicatedit can prevent and treat cancer. . . Curcumin can suppresstumor initiation, promotionand metastasis.”

Let’s take a look at thelarge body of research thatproves curcumin’s effective-ness at preventing and fighting cancer:

Blocks carcinogenic substances: We’re all exposed to carcinogenson a daily basis from auto exhausts, air pollution, food packaging,pesticides and a broad spectrum of substances with which we can-not avoid contact. Curcumin apparently blocks those carcinogens,preventing them from causing the cellular damage that ultimatelyresults in cancer.

Stops invasion: Cancer cells invade normal tissue with the help ofcertain enzymes called matrix metalloproteinase. Cur cumin slowsor stops the activity of this enzyme, helping halt the spread of can-cerous cells.

Cuts off tumor blood supply: Invasive tumors are fed by their ownspecially developed network of blood vessels through a process

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Breast cancer cells.

called angio genesis. Curcumin slows the ability of these tumors tocreate their blood supply, eventually starving and killing the abnor-mal clusters of cells.

Convinces cancerous cells to die: As Dr. Goel points out, “sleepinggenes” interfere with the cancer cells’ natural life and death cyclecalled apoptosis. Cancer cells quite literally turn off the signal thatit is time to die. Curcumin actually turns on that signal, telling thecancer cells to die, so the tumors eventually die, too. Dr. Goel is cur-rently engaged in more research on the sleeping gene mechanism.

These are the basic ways that curcumin works to prevent andstop cancer. There are literally dozens of studies that show cur-cumin’s effectiveness against specific types of cancer.

Here’s a list of types of cancer for which curcumin has been sci-entifically validated as a preventive or treatment:

Breast Head and neck Oral

Cervical Leukemia Ovarian

Colorectal Lung Prostate

Gastrointestinal Lymphoma Sarcoma

Genitourinary Melanoma Squamous cell

As a final word, even the famed Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centeris on the curcumin bandwagon, endorsing an anticancer cocktailmixed with another known cancer preventive, green tea.

As yet unpublished animal studies show strong evidence thatcurcumin, administered in tandem with more traditional anticancerdrugs, reduces the toxicity of those drugs and improves their effec-tiveness. Three human studies are now underway combining cur-cumin with certain types of chemotherapy drugs commonly used totreat breast and colon cancers. I’m eagerly awaiting more informa-tion on this exciting development. However, there have been sever-al promising studies on the ability of curcumin to improve theeffectiveness of many types of chemo and radiation therapy by

CURCUMIN AND CANCER r 15

making the cancer cells more sensitive to these treatments. How ever,please discuss with your integrative health professional how best touse curcumin if you are currently undergoing cancer treatment.

CONCLUSION

While the scientific evidence in favor of curcumin for all of the dis-eases mentioned in this book is impressive, the quality of proof thatcurcumin prevents and treats a wide variety of cancer is truly excep-tional.

Cancer prevention alone should be a sufficient incentive toinclude curcumin in your daily supplement regimen.

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C H A P T E R 4

Curcumin, Chronic Painand Arthritis

V irtually all of us experience occasional joint and back pain.With luck, it goes away with time, rest and perhaps an occa-

sional ice pack. Sometimes it does not.Each year, about 30 million of us visit a doctor complaining of

joint pain. Another 40 million or so visit a doctor looking for relieffrom back pain. Add in 1.5 million people with rheumatoid arthri-tis, 6.1 million with gout, 5 million with fibromyalgia and 1.5 mil-lion broken bones suffered every year by people with osteoporosisand you’ll see the magnitude of this painful problem.

Long-term musculoskeletal pain affects your entire being. Itdrains your energy and contributes to chronic stress, a conditionthat has myriad negative side effects, including obesity, metabolicdisorders, heart disease and perhaps even cancer. Chronic pain isoften linked with depression. Who wouldn’t be depressed in theface of unrelenting pain?

Joint pain and back pain are most often caused by deteriorationof the cartilage that cushion joints (including the spaces betweenthe vertebrae, causing back pain), causing bone to rub against boneand resulting in inflammation and pain. This can be caused by aninjury, but most often, it is the result of 40, 50, 60 years or moreof wear and tear on the joints.

For most of us, our first remedy is to reach for aspirin, ibupro-fen or naproxen. That can be a fatal mistake. NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) like aspirin, ibuprofen and

17

naproxen plus a handful of prescription drugs like Celebrex,Anaprox, Feldene and Voltaren can cause serious toxicity problemsthat require hospitalization for as many as 200,000 Americans eachyear and kill over 20,000 people annually. Yet 60 million of us usethem regularly and doctors still happily prescribe them.

Exciting new human research confirms that curcumin is aseffective as some of the most popular non-steroidal anti-inflamma-tory (NSAID) arthritis drugs, including Voltaren and Celebrex,without the potentially life-threatening side effects. A combinationformula of BCM-95® Curcumin and a special form of the herbboswellia called BosPure™ was found to be more effective in painrelief and provided better mobility and longer walking times with-out pain for people with knee osteoarthritis, than the prescriptiondrug celecoxib (generic form of Celebrex), the number one pre-scribed osteoarthritis drug. This study was just published in Decem-ber of 2011 in the journal Osteoarthritis and Cartilage.

NSAIDs relieve inflammation by inhibiting the activity of aninflammation-causing enzyme called COX-2. That’s all well andgood, but they also inhibit a companion enzyme called COX-1,which protects the lining of the digestive tract and blood vessels.Therefore, without adequate COX-1 protection, you may haveulcers and leaking of the blood vessels.

THE GOLDEN KNIGHT RIDES AGAIN

It shouldn’t surprise you that curcumin and its formidable anti-inflammatory powers offer an effective and safe alternative to thesedangerous NSAIDs. Curcumin inhibits the COX-2 enzyme but doesnot affect healthy levels of COX-1.

Inflammation causes pain, so if you relieve inflammation, yourelieve pain. Not only does curcumin relieve inflammation andpain, it can actually help rebuild worn cartilage, restoring jointsto their youthful flexibility. Curcumin is also such a potent anti -oxidant that it can actually help repair the oxidative damage causedby inflammation.

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Medicine Hunter Chris Kilham, who has conducted medicalresearch in more than 20 countries, is sometimes called “The Indi-ana Jones of Natural Medicine.” He says curcumin deserves“superstar status” among healing plants.

“Medicines should heal, not hurt. They should promote life,not take it away. In part, due to disappointment with drugs, andin part due to a belief that natural remedies are safer than mostpharmaceuticals, many people seek natural remedies to alleviatepain. But where do they look? Enter curcumin, a derivative ofturmeric root, that literally can erase pain quickly and powerfully,without negative effects,” says Kilham.

The research is very impressive:

Reduce inflammation: Biological indicators of inflammation were reduced by as much as 99% with curcumin, offering almost complete relief for chronic pain sufferers and providing a powerful promise for prevention and treatment of other diseases caused by inflammation.

Cartilage regeneration: Not only does curcumin help reduce theinflammation, it actually helps prevent the breakdown of cartilage(the cushions between joints), preventing arthritis from developingor worsening, as shown by Canadian researchers. At least one studyshows that curcumin can help build new cartilage cells, reversingwhat was once thought to be an incurable degenerative disease.

Pain relief: An Italian study showed that people diagnosed with kneeosteoarthritis were able to reduce their need for NSAIDs by 63%when they took curcumin. As a welcome side effect in this study, itwas discovered that curcumin produced a 16-fold reduction in par-ticipants’ blood levels of CRP, the protein that indicates high levelsof inflammation, which also predicts a high risk for heart attack.

Once again curcumin has proven to be superior to commonlyused pharmaceuticals in relieving joint pain and increasing walk-ing time among people with knee osteoarthritis. In a 2011 studypublished in the journal Osteoarthritis and Cartilage, patientswho took a 500 mg blend of BCM-95® Curcumin and BosPure™

CURCUMIN, CHRONIC PAIN AND ARTHRITIS r 19

boswellia twice daily had significantly better pain relief than thosewho took 100 mg of celecoxib (generic form of Celebrex) twice aday. The curcumin-boswellia blend equaled celecoxib in improvedjoint flexibility. However, Celebrex has serious negative side effects,including irregular heartbeat, depression, increased risk of heartattack and stroke, stomach and intestinal bleeding, chest pain,ulcers, severe abdominal pain, jaundice, one-sided weakness andmore. I cannot for the life of me understand why anyone wouldtake this drug when natural curcumin and boswellia offer betterresults and no serious side effects at all.

Rheumatoid arthritis: A landmark 2006 study from the Universityof Arizona takes the idea of inflammation a step further with thefinding that curcumin might prevent rheumatoid arthritis, anautoimmune disease. Another study showed that curcumin was atleast as effective as one commonly prescribed pain reliever forrheumatoid arthritis.

The most recent research published in the journal PhytotherapyResearch in March 2012 shows that people with rheumatoid arthri-tis taking 500 mg of BCM-95® Curcumin twice daily had as muchpain relief and improved mobility as those who received diclofenacsodium (generic form of the drug Voltaren, a pharmaceutical com-monly prescribed for people with rheumatoid arthritis) with a vast-ly superior safety profile. Side effects associated with Voltareninclude ulcers, bleeding in the stomach and gastrointestinal tract,life-threatening blood loss, irregular heartbeat, chest pain, faintingand many others. No side effects were reported in the patients whoreceived BCM-95® Curcumin.

CONCLUSION

If you suffer from occasional or continuous joint pain, like most ofus, you’ll discover that curcumin offers short- and long-term relief.You can find the same kind of pain relief as my sister, who has suf-fered from chronic back pain for decades and found relief with herfirst dose of curcumin.

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C H A P T E R 5

Curcumin and Diabetes

Type 2 diabetes is the disease of the Western lifestyle. This dis-ease, once known as adult-onset diabetes, was considered the

province of the over-50 crowd. You know the ones I mean, the oneswith the potbellies, vegging out in front of the TV, munching onDoritos chased with half a gallon of Rocky Road.

Now it is the disease of teens raised on Big Macs and gallonsof Coke, 20-somethings with high cholesterol, 30-somethings witherectile dysfunction and 40-somethings with coronary bypasses.

Type 1 diabetes is usually diagnosed in children and is charac-terized by a malfunctioning pancreas that does not produce suffi-cient quantities of the body’s own insulin to properly utilize thenatural sugars in food.

Type 2 diabetes, on the other hand, is a lifestyle disease. Scien-tifically, it is characterized by the body’s inability to respond to theinsulin produced by the pancreas. This is called insulin resistance.

The American Diabetes Association reports that 25.8 millionAmericans suffer from the disease, 7 million of them undiagnosed.Another 79 million are considered “prediabetic,” meaning theyhave some blood sugar malfunction.

It’s important to note that the vast majority of people with type2 diabetes are obese. Alarmingly, the number of people with dia-betes in the U.S. has increased by 76% in the last 20 years in pacewith the increase in obesity.

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Just having to live with blood glucose testing, dietary restric-tions and diabetes meds with a wide variety of side effects is onlythe tip of the diabetes iceberg.

DEADLY COMPLICATIONS

The complications of diabetes are daunting:

• Heart disease is reported as a cause of death in 68% of peoplewith diabetes aged 65 and over.

• People with diabetes have a 2 to 4 times greater chance of dyingof heart disease or stroke than those without the disease.

• High blood pressure is reported in 67% of those with diabetes.

• Diabetes is the leading cause of new cases of blindness in peo-ple aged 29 to 74.

• Kidney failure attributed to diabetes accounts for 44% of all newcases. In 2008, the latest year for which statistics are available,more than 202,000 people with end-stage kidney disease due todiabetes were living on dialysis or with a kidney transplant.

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• Nerve damage is experienced by 60 to 70% of people with dia-betes, often causing erectile dysfunction in men.

• Diabetes causes circulatory problems that led to 65,700 lowerlimb amputations in diabetics in 2008.

• Diabetes is listed as a contributing cause of death in more than231,000 deaths.

Science now generally accepts that diabetes is an inflammatorycondition, as is obesity. As you might well imagine, this is wherecurcumin comes into the picture.

THE GOLDEN KNIGHT REDUX

Remember the role of free radical oxygen molecules as underlyingcauses of most disease processes from Chapter 1?

Curcumin’s antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties areespecially applicable to diabetes and its complications.

Here’s what the studies show curcumin can do:

Reduce glucose production in the liver: A Japanese study showsthat curcumin has the ability to reduce the liver’s natural produc-tion of glucose, which in healthy people is balanced by the pan-creas’s production of insulin to keep glucose levels steady.

Keep glucose out of red blood cells: Scientists treated red bloodcells to mimic diabetes, then exposed them to curcumin for just 24hours. The results: Curcumin normalized the cells in terms of sugarprocessing and prevented the formation of the fatty globules thatclog arteries.

Prevent the development of diabetes: A Columbia University studyshowed that mice with a predisposition toward diabetes and obe-sity given daily doses of curcumin were less likely to developimpaired blood sugar, insulin resistance and full-blown diabetesthan those that did not receive curcumin.

CURCUMIN AND DIABETES r 23

Lower blood sugar, increase insulin: Indian researchers found thatcurcumin contains a particularly powerful antioxidant, tetrahydro -curcumin, which lowers blood sugars, increases insulin in thebloodstream (meaning existing insulin is being properly used) andprotects against fatty deposits in the arteries indicative of heart disease that is very common in people with diabetes. Through itsanti-inflammatory action, several studies show that curcumin canresult in better blood sugar control and, therefore, a small, but significant decrease in body weight and fat, potentially reducingthe risk of Type 2 diabetes.

Promote wound healing: Curcumin also helps in the process ofwound healing, something that is especially important to peoplewith diabetes since their wound-healing capabilities are oftenimpaired, leading to infection and amputations. Curcumin shouldbe used at the time when the skin is beginning to re-form aroundthe wound and new skin is being laid down.

Protect kidneys: Curcumin has also been found to protect the kid-neys, which we know are vulnerable in people with diabetes, andto help prevent glaucoma and cataracts, common complicationsamong people with diabetes.

Reduce liver inflammation: Animal studies show that BCM-95®

Curcumin actually reduced liver inflammation, making the livers ofthe treated obese animals (cats in this case) behave like the livers ofnon-obese animals. Yes, these are “only” animal studies, butexperts like Dr. Ajay Goel of Baylor think that it is logical thatBCM-95® will have similar effects on humans, reducing fatty liverand obesity, among the greatest risks for diabetes.

Reverse diabetes: Probably the most exciting study came fromEgypt in 2008, when researchers discovered curcumin and a bonemarrow transplant reversed diabetes in mice with the disease.Researchers theorized that the anti-inflammatory and antioxidantproperties of curcumin enhanced the ability of the bone marrowtransplant to regenerate insulin-producing cells.

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CONCLUSION

The evidence is abundantly clear: Curcumin has profound effectsagainst one of the most deadly diseases of our time. Its pathwaysof action are widely varied, and it is effective against a number ofthe complications of diabetes as well. While doctors are not yetready to tell every person with diabetes to take curcumin, they areprobably behind the research curve. If I had diabetes, wild horsescouldn’t keep me away from my curcumin. I don’t have diabetes,but curcumin is still a staple of my supplement regimen.

CURCUMIN AND DEPRESSION, DEMENTIA r 25

C H A P T E R 6

Curcumin and Memory:Alzheimer’s and Dementia

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Brain health is at the core of who we are as humans.If you have a healthy brain, you have an inquiring mind, you

are engaged in the world around you, and you communicate clear-ly with others and form nurturing relationships.

Brain chemistry malfunctions take place when, for unknownreasons, brain cells begin to die, resulting in impaired memory, alsoknown as dementia. It is a disease in itself and is not a normal con-sequence of aging.

Alzheimer’s disease is probably the best-known form of demen-tia, accounting for 50 to 70% of all cases of dementia, so the termsAlzheimer’s and dementia are often used interchangeably. Manypeople with Alzheimer’s show signs of dementia caused by strokesor mini-strokes called transient ischemic accidents (TIAs) as well.

Dementia can also be caused by chemical exposures, other neu-rological diseases like Parkinson’s and Creutzfeldt-Jakob (mad cowdisease), long-term depression, multiple strokes, AIDS, chronicdrug use, infections and toxic side effects of medications. It canalso be caused by head injuries, as we’ve learned through recentmedia coverage of compromised brain function in professionalfootball players and boxers who are exposed to relentless blows tothe head. For the most part these, like Alzheimer’s, are incurableand irreversible. Conventional medicine has little to offer in termsof treatment.

There are also forms of dementia that can be treated and poten-tially reversed, including those caused by a blood clot on the brain,a tumor that can be removed, hypothyroidism, hypoglycemia andvitamin B12 deficiency.

It is very difficult to diagnose dementia or to differentiate thespecific disease called Alzheimer’s, so if you or someone close toyou is showing signs of memory loss, it is essential to make a thor-ough investigation to determine if the dementia is caused by one ofthe factors that can be treated and reversed.

THE LONG GOODBYE

Over time, Alzheimer’s inevitably affects memory, thinking andbehavior. People with Alzheimer’s frequently experience personalitychanges, anxiety, anger and may even become combative and violent.

Alzheimer’s has often been called “The Long Goodbye,”because it takes such a terrible physical and emotional toll on itsvictims and their families, usually for years on end.

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Curcumin stimulates electrical communication between brain cells.

The downhill memory slide takes its victims from normal com-petency with occasional memory lapses to the loss of the ability tofunction in the normal world to inevitable death with no apparentmindfulness. Sadly, conventional medicine offers no really effectivetreatment. The few pharmaceuticals on the market have minimaleffects even in slowing the progression of the disease.

The National Institutes of Health estimates that more than5 million Americans have Alzheimer’s. Most of them are over60, although there is an increasing rate of early onset Alzheimer’sthat can begin as early as the 30s. The frightening statistic is thatif you’re lucky to live to the age of 85, you have a 50-50 chanceof developing dementia.

Alzheimer’s is inevitably a fatal disease, but it rarely kills quick-ly. Mercifully, people with dementia often have other diseases thattake them away before the terrible onset of late-stage dementia.

BIOLOGY OF ALZHEIMER’S

Here’s a little painless biology that explains how normal brain cellswork:

I like to think of neurons, dendrites and synapses as an electri-cal system in the brain through which thought processes and con-scious and unconscious biological functions take place. Neurons,the brain cells, grow large finger-like projections called dendritesthat function very much like wiring in an electrical system. Eachneuron has at least one dendrite in and another out in this electri-cal grid that sends a charge to the next dendrite across a tiny spacecalled a synapse. Scientists once thought that we are born with allof the neurons and dendrites we will ever possess, but they’verecently learned that over our lifetimes we can grow new neuronsand even expand our network of dendrites exponentially in aprocess called neurogenesis. Some neurons may have hundreds oreven thousands of dendrites.

Continuing our analogy of the electrical wiring system, you cansee that if one wire becomes damaged, thousands of alternative

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“electrical” pathways can allow the system to continue to functionwithout impairment.

How do you grow more dendrites and refresh your neuron sup-ply? No one is really sure, but there is evidence that the more youchallenge your brain, the more extensive your neuronal networkwill be.

Another process characteristic of Alzheimer’s is the formationof beta-amyloid plaques and tangles. The beta-amyloid plaquesare made of protein that accumulates around the neurons ratherthan being eliminated by the body, as they are in a healthy person,thereby damaging the function of the brain.

In addition, tangled proteins called tau fibers inside the neuronfurther impair the mental process.

These plaques and tangles and disrupted neuronal functionmost often occur in the hippocampus, the lower part of the humanbrain that is responsible for memory. For unknown reasons, Alz -heimer’s and other forms of dementia frequently affect the area ofthe hippocampus that controls short-term memory. That’s whyGrandma may have no idea what she ate for breakfast, but she canrecount in great detail the guest list and menu from a dinner party30 years ago.

Alzheimer’s is usually staged in seven levels, the seventh stagebeing inevitably fatal when the neuronal network has failed to theextent that bodily functions that require little or no thought (likeswallowing or coughing) become so impaired that their failure islife threatening.

The average life expectancy for someone with Alzheimer’s is8 to 10 years from the onset of symptoms, although it may take several years to obtain a diagnosis.

YES, IT CAN BE INHERITED—OR NOT

There is a genetic component of Alzheimer’s, both with late onsetand the increasingly diagnosed early onset. Scientists have identifiedthe genetic component, called APOE that can forecast a person’s

CURCUMIN AND MEMORY: ALZHEIMER’S AND DEMENTIA r 29

risk for the disease later in life. But the presence of the APOE geneis not at all predictive that the carrier of the gene will develop thedisease. In fact, many people who do have the APOE gene neverdevelop Alzheimer’s, and conversely, many without the geneticcomponent do develop it.

Baby Boomers experiencing the emotionally and financiallydraining farewell of their grandparents and parents are under-standably concerned about their own futures.

Prevention and slowing mental deterioration in the early stagesof Alzheimer’s is where BCM-95® Curcumin may be the most help-ful, according to pioneering Alzheimer’s researcher Ralph Martins,head of Australia’s Sir James McCusker Unit for Alzheimer’s Dis-ease Research for more than 20 years.

For most people, Dr. Martins says, “I think curcumin shouldplay an important role in slowing down the disease or possibly pre-venting it.” He adds, “In terms of curcumin’s ability to slow downthe progression of preclinical Alzheimer’s disease, there is now verystrong evidence from animal trials that curcumin markedly lowersthe level of beta-amyloid in the brain and does it primarily byaffecting its aggregation (clumping of the plaque) and facilitating itsclearance (elimination from the body). In addition, curcumin is apowerful antioxidant and thus plays a significant role in reducingbrain damage caused by oxidative stress.”

Dr. Martins is currently engaged in human studies using BCM-95® Curcumin to verify this preliminary work.

OTHER MEANS OF PREVENTION

Increased physical and mental activities have been shown to keepbrain cells active, improve circulation and stave off dementia. Stressmanagement and what the Alzheimer’s Research and PreventionFoundation calls “brain aerobics” (challenging your brain to activ-ities outside your norm—think Sudoku or writing haiku) are alsoimportant elements in preventing dementia.

Several studies also show the healthy Omega-3 fats from fish

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are key components in brain health and memory preservation as isa healthy diet rich in antioxidants like berries, green leafy vegeta-bles, nuts, seeds and citrus fruits.

While there are several anti-dementia pharmaceuticals on themarket, they do not reverse dementia and they have limited effec-tiveness in slowing its progress.

THE GOLDEN KNIGHT RIDES AGAIN

Curcumin’s unique ability to cross the blood-brain barrier meansthat it can affect brain chemistry and the survival mechanisms ofbrain cells (neurons), producing preventive and healing effects thatfew other nutrients can offer.

Curcumin, and particularly BCM-95® Curcumin, holds greatpromise for those with dementia and particularly for people with ahistory of Alzheimer’s in their families. There has been extensiveresearch in this area (a search of curcumin+dementia in the Nation-al Institutes of Health database turns up 134 studies). The enthusi-asm for the results is becoming intense.

Compared to the Western world, there is a much lower rate ofAlzheimer’s disease in India, where curcumin is eaten in large quan-tities in the curries that are a staple of the Indian diet. In fact, therate of Alzheimer’s in India among people ages 70 to 79 is aboutone-quarter of the rate in the U.S. where curcumin is rarely includ-ed in the diet.

Even eating a small amount of curcumin seems to have aneffect. One study showed better memory among 60- to 93-year-olds who ate curry just once a month than among those who neverate it.

Here’s a fascinating story about Indian people who tend to eatcurry two or three times a day, so their dietary intake of curcuminis exceptionally high:

Researchers conducting autopsies on the brains of Indians whodied of all causes found that there was an unusual yellowish colorin their brain stem (hippocampus) tissue. This color, not seen in

CURCUMIN AND MEMORY: ALZHEIMER’S AND DEMENTIA r 31

people of other ethnicities, was taken as proof that curcumin indeedcrosses the blood-brain barrier and that large quantities of it areactually absorbed into the brain tissue.

Here are a few of the most interesting research results on cur-cumin and the brain:

Grow new brain cells: Until recently, scientists believed that it wasimpossible to grow new brain cells, but they busted that myth withthe discovery of neurogenesis, the scientifically validated creationof new brain cells. University of Florida researchers have now con-firmed that curcumin stimulates the birth of new neurons, particu-larly in the hippocampus, the seat of memory in the human brain.

Protect brain cells: Authors of a study published in the journal Cur-rent Alzheimer’s Research were enthusiastic about antioxidantproperties of curcumin to prevent brain cell deterioration anddeath. Inflammatory cells called cytokines have a role in speedingup Alzheimer’s, and the abilities of curcumin to inhibit the COX-2enzyme can help protect those brain cells.

Destroy plaques and tangles: Scientists at UCLA called curcumin“anti-amyloid” for its ability to overcome the beta-amyloid proteinthat forms the plaques and tangles. They also noted that peoplewith Alzheimer’s show signs of inflammation in their brains andcredit curcumin’s anti-inflammatory properties with an ability toaddress that problem. Another UCLA animal study showed cur-cumin supplements reduced substances believed to cause plaqueby 43 to 45%. Some researchers have suggested curcumin bindsdirectly to plaques and eliminates them.

The most exciting new research on curcumin, and particularlythe BCM-95® formulation, suggests that curcumin helps dissolvethose beta-amyloid plaques that are widely believed in the scientificcommunity to cause the neuronal “short-circuit” that results in mem-ory loss indicative of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.

The 34 participants in this study published in the Journal ofPsychopharmacology had all been diagnosed with probable or possible Alzheimer’s disease based on criteria set by the National

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Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders andStroke–Alzheimer Disease and Related Disorders Association.

They were given either a placebo or one or four grams of BCM-95® Curcumin. There were few side effects and, interest ingly,the most side effects occurred in the placebo group.

Researchers commented on the resulting increased levels ofbeta-amyloid in the bloodstream as indicative that the beta-amyloidplaque formations in their brains were dissolving and the blood-stream was carrying them away for waste disposal.

In addition, BCM-95® has been selected for study in a ground-breaking, exciting, year-long Australian clinical study searching forways to prevent or delay the expected declines of Alzheimer’s dis-ease, being conducted by renowned Australian researcher RalphMartins, Ph.D., who directed the study on beta-amyloid plaquementioned previously on page 30.

As head of the Sir James McCusker Unit for Alzheimer’s Dis-ease Research for over 20 years, Director of the Centre of Excel-lence for Alzheimer’s Disease Research and Care, Director andInaugural Chair for Ageing and Alzheimer’s Disease at EdithCowan University in Perth, Australia, Dr. Martins is working todevelop an early diagnostic blood test in order to effectively preventand/or treat this devastating degenerative brain disease.

In addition, Dr. Martins and his team are working to substan-tiate their theory that the presence of curcumin in the retina of theeye, when it is bound to the beta-amyloid plaque, may help doctorsdiagnose Alzheimer’s in its earliest stages and perhaps reverse thedisease process with more curcumin. I am very excited about Dr.Martins’ work and look forward to results that will change the faceof Alzheimer’s disease, prevention, diagnosis and treatment in thenot-too-distant future.

Curcumin studies in animal models of Alzheimer’s disease havedemonstrated that it can play a significant role in the destructionof beta-amyloid plaque. It is also a powerful antioxidant, with anORAC value of 1.5 million per 100 grams, as determined by theUnited States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Other studies

CURCUMIN AND MEMORY: ALZHEIMER’S AND DEMENTIA r 33

have shown that curcumin plays a role in neuronal regeneration.All these properties contribute to its potential utility in addressingthis brain disease.

“I chose BCM-95® Curcumin for my human studies because ithas published human bioavailability data,” says Dr. Martins.“Therefore, I can use a reasonable amount and expect that theserum levels will achieve a therapeutic range for a significant peri-od of time.”

Improve memory in people with Alzheimer’s: This exciting Indianstudy explores multiple ways in which curcumin not only preventsAlzheimer’s and slows the progression of the disease, but actuallyimproves memory in people already diagnosed with the disease.

Chelating heavy metals: The same Indian study says that curcuminhelps eliminate heavy metals from brain cells and shields the cellsfrom heavy metal contamination. These heavy metals have longbeen implicated in Alzheimer’s and dementia.

CONCLUSION

I’m reluctant to use superlatives in a book like this, but I am great-ly excited about the power of curcumin to protect the brain and toprevent, treat and even reverse dementia and Alzheimer’s througha broad network of chemical pathways. Although I would cautionyou that most of these studies are done at the cellular level or onanimals, and human studies are just getting underway, there areample reasons for encouragement.

Although doctors are highly unlikely to recommend curcuminfor the treatment of these brain-related diseases, if I had a loved onesuffering from one of them, I’d be very eager to give highlyabsorbable BCM-95® Curcumin a try.

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C H A P T E R 7

Curcumin, Depression andOther Brain Disorders

Curcumin’s value in treating dementia and Alzheimer’s diseaseopens the door to its considerable value in treating and pre-

venting a variety of other malfunctions of the brain and the neuro-transmitter system.

DEPRESSION

Over a lifetime, 16.5% of the U.S. adult population (18.8 millionpeople) suffers from a major depressive disorder and 30% of thosecases are so severe that they impair the ability to work or even tofunction in the world in normal terms.

We know that women are 70% more likely to develop depres-sion, that Caucasians have a 40% higher risk for depression thanAfrican-Americans and that people between the ages of 18 and 29are at much greater risk of major depressive disorders than peopleover 60.

Depression affects children as well. Government statistics show4.7% of 13- to 18-year-olds suffer from severe mood disorders andgirls are nearly twice as vulnerable as boys. The rate of teen depres-sion is increasing by an alarming 23% per year.

We’re not talking about the occasional day or even days of feeling blue. We’re not talking about the normal ups and downsof life, the loss of a relationship, the loss of a job or even the lossof a loved one.

35

Depressive disorder is a crushing inability to cope with life andthe world. Yet only about half of its sufferers get treatment and80% of the treatment that conventional medicine offers is com-pletely ineffective.

Standard medical treatment for depression is usually a series ofantidepressant pharmaceuticals with a high risk of serious sideeffects and little or no effect. Research shows that antidepressantswork for only 35 to 45% of the population, and some figures sug-gest the effectiveness rate is as low as 30%. Worse yet, antidepres-sants like Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft have been linked to suicide,violence, psychosis, abnormal bleeding and brain tumors.

What causes depression? Certainly short-term depression canbe the result of life events. Long-term trauma, such as sexual abuseand a family history of depression can also be factors.

Dr. Hyla Cass, a cutting-edge integrative physician with a spe-cialty in psychiatry, believes that the cause of depression is oftenbiochemical, an imbalance in brain chemistry.

The answer, says Dr. Cass in her book Natural Highs: FeelGood All the Time, is in “a variety of nutrients that both makeup and fuel the brain, nervous system and neurotransmitters. So alow mood may have less to do with past trauma or a faulty beliefsystem than with deficient nutrients.”

“Mood-lifting serotonin, motivating noradrenaline and sleep-enhancing tryptophan are the neurotransmitters most often defi-cient in people with depression,” says Dr. Cass.

You guessed it: Here comes the Golden Knight on his chargeragain, offering solutions to brain imbalances that are at the foun-dation of major depression. Not only does curcumin enhance nora-drenaline and tryptophan levels, but it also increases the productionof dopamine, another neurotransmitter that controls emotionalresponse and the ability to experience pleasure and pain.

Numerous studies underscore curcumin’s ability to improve lev-els of neurotransmitters and thereby improve mood.

Many people stumble on curcumin’s antidepressant actionwhen they take it for another condition, most typically to address

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joint pain. The action is so subtle that some users have writtenthat they didn’t realize their depression had disappeared until theystopped taking curcumin and the depression returned.

Here are highlights of the research on curcumin and depression:

Increases serotonin and dopamine levels: Several studies supportcurcumin’s ability to boost mood by increasing levels of mood-enhancing neurotransmitters. At least one study adds that curcum-in combined with some antidepressant prescription drugs improvestheir effectiveness.

Acts like pharmaceutical drugs without the risks: Exciting newresearch shows that BCM-95® Curcumin is as effective as the popular antidepressant pharmaceuticals Prozac (fluoxetine) andTofranil (imipramine), without the side effects associated with thepharmaceutical drugs that include weight gain and loss, increaseddepression and increased suicidal tendencies. Another interestingfinding published in 2011 showed that BCM-95® Curcumin didnothing to increase the effectiveness of the two pharmaceuticalantidepressants, but did just as well as each of them on its own.The bottom line: If you suffer from depression, it is worth a try togo with BCM-95® Curcumin, with the permission of your healthcare professional. Please don’t stop taking your antidepressantscold turkey because it can cause some serious side effects like dra-matic moods swings, a worsening of the underlying depression orother condition, extremely vivid dreams, aggression and suicidaltendencies.

Generates new brain cells: Curcumin can actually help in the for-mation of new nerve cells, called neurogenesis, helping create ahealthy balance of the numerous neurotransmitters needed for ahealthy brain, better memory and a positive mood.

Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory mood improvement: Indianresearchers are clearly enthusiastic about curcumin. Several studiesfurther the body of evidence in favor of curcumin’s positive effectson mood.

CURCUMIN, DEPRESSION AND OTHER BRAIN DISORDERS r 37

OTHER BRAIN-PROTECTIVE FUNCTIONSOF CURCUMIN

Curcumin’s ability to relieve depression and dementia are consid-erable, but there’s more in the realm of scientific research on cur-cumin’s brain-protective effects:

Blocks brain tumor formation: Researchers in New York discov-ered that injected curcumin blocks the formation of cancerous braintumors in mice.

Anti-convulsant: An animal study from India found that curcuminsupplements stop epileptic seizures.

Protects brain cells from stroke damage: Oxygen deprivation is themain cause of post-stroke brain damage and disability. A Universi-ty of Missouri animal study showed that injected curcumin givenfor two months after a stroke greatly diminished the death of braincells. Another study showed that after a stroke, curcumin helpedprevent damage to the all-important blood-brain barrier, minimiz-ing the risk of infection and other types of brain damage.

Counters effects of traumatic brain injury: UCLA animal research -ers found that a diet high in curcumin greatly reduced brain dam-age and cognitive impairment after a traumatic brain injury.

Treatment for Parkinson’s disease: Parkinson’s disease is a degen-erative disease of the central nervous system that includes move-ment-related impairment, including shaking, slowness of movementand rigidity of limbs. In its advanced state, Parkinson’s can includedementia and behavioral problems.

Modern medicine treats the symptoms of Parkinson’s, sincethere is no known cure.

Inflammation is certainly a part of Parkinson’s, and we alreadyknow that curcumin is a powerful anti-inflammatory and anti -oxidant. In addition, 2012 research from the Northeast Ohio Med-ical University suggests that curcumin has neuroprotective elementsas well, particularly in containing the protein accumulations like

38 r CURCUMIN—THE 21ST CENTURY CURE

the plaques and tangles found in Alzheimer’s. Researchers in thatstudy said, “Curcumin possesses therapeutic potential in the ame-lioration of a host of neurodegenerative ailments as evidenced byits antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-protein aggregationeffects.”

Who knows what the future holds, but this research may even-tually show curcumin’s value in treating other neurodegenerativediseases like multiple sclerosis and ALS.

In another study, Indian researchers concluded that curcuminholds therapeutic potential for people with Parkinson’s diseasebecause of its antioxidant properties, especially those that helprebuild glutathione levels in cells, enhancing nutrient metabolismand immune response.

CONCLUSION

If you or a loved one suffer from depression, or other brain disor-ders mentioned in this chapter, run—don’t walk—to your nearesthealth food store and get yourself some BCM-95® Curcumin. Youhave nothing to risk and everything to gain.

Next step: If you are taking prescription antidepressants, sched-ule an appointment with your doctor. Show him or her this bookand ask how to wean yourself from the drugs so you can determineif side-effect free curcumin will work better for you.

CURCUMIN, DEPRESSION AND OTHER BRAIN DISORDERS r 39

C H A P T E R 8

Curcumin andDigestive Disorders

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Time after time, curcumin has proven its value in treating awide variety of digestive disorders, largely because of its anti-

inflammatory effects.Digestive disorders range from mild indigestion to life-control-

ling irritable bowel syndrome to life-threatening diseases like ulcer-ative colitis and colorectal cancer.

Each year, 62 million Americans are diagnosed with some formof digestive disorder.

Irritable bowel syndrome, a complex and unpredictable basketof painful problems ranging from diarrhea to constipation andcramping, bloating and pain, goes largely undiagnosed with an esti-mated 75% of sufferers not getting medical treatment at all.

Colorectal cancer kills about 150,000 people every year, andulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease make life a living hell for140,000 Americans.

Liver disease is included in this category because of the liver’skey role in the digestive process.

HERE COMES THE GOLDEN KNIGHT AGAIN

Because inflammation is a major factor in all digestive disorders,curcumin is predictably very effective in helping prevent, treat andheal many digestive problems.

Herbalists consider curcumin to be a digestive and a bitter,which means it helps ease digestion and aids liver function.

It also stimulates bile production in the liver and gallbladderand improves the ability to digest fats.

Here’s a listing of various digestive disorders and how curcum-in can help:

Ulcerative colitis: A Japanesestudy, which involved humansubjects, a rarity in curcum-in research to this point, sug-gests curcumin supplementsare a safe way of preventingrecurrences of the diseaseand reducing the side effects,which include severe bleed-ing, ruptured colon, dehy-dration and liver disease inthe small intestine.

Crohn’s disease: Researchersat the MD Anderson CancerCenter in Houston recom-mend we “get back to ourroots” and take advantage ofthe anti-inflammatory effectsof curcumin for many dis-eases, including Crohn’s, an inflammatory disease usually affectingthe large and small intestines. Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis aresometimes called inflammatory bowel disease.

Colon cancer: We’ve already examined curcumin’s anticancer prop-erties in Chapter 3, but it’s worth mentioning it again here. A land-mark study from the American Health Foundation shows thatcurcumin interferes with the process by which malignant colontumors develop, stopping them before they become dangerous.

CURCUMIN AND DIGESTIVE DISORDERS r 41

The human liver (top) and digestive system.

Irritable bowel syndrome: Irritable bowel syndrome is an unpleas-ant cluster of problems that fluctuate between diarrhea and consti-pation with abdominal cramps, bloating and gas in the mix. Astudy from the Medical College of Wisconsin helps us understandbetter the anti-inflammatory capabilities of curcumin, which stopthe growth of additional blood vessels to feed the inflamed area inthe digestive tract. This process, called angiogenesis, is also part ofthe process by which cancerous tumors get their blood supply,enabling them to grow.

Familial adenomatous polyposis: In a study, published in the Jour-nal of Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, five patients withan inherited form of precancerous polyps in the lower bowelknown as familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) were treated withregular doses of curcumin and quercetin (another powerful anti -oxidant found in onions and garlic) during an average of sixmonths. The average number of polyps dropped 60.4 percent, andthe average size dropped by 50.9 percent.

Liver damage: An interesting Finnish animal study involved feed-ing rats a diet that simulated high alcohol consumption. Animalsgiven curcumin at the same time had none of the signs of liver dam-age normally associated with alcoholism. Researchers theorize thatcurcumin blocks a molecule called NFkB, which is responsible forinflammation and tissue death. Another study showed that animalswith 70% of their livers removed regenerated new liver tissue in aslittle as 24 hours with the help of curcumin.

CONCLUSION

Once again, curcumin proves its considerable value in fightinginflammation with remarkable results in treating, preventing andstopping the progress of a variety of digestive disorders. The resultsin treating and preventing liver disease, a potentially fatal affliction,are even more remarkable.

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C H A P T E R 9

Curcumin and OtherDiseases

Looking back at the previous chapters, it seems like there is noth-ing that curcumin can’t prevent or treat. While that’s not exact-

ly true, there are several other diseases for which curcumin is highlyeffective, yet they don’t fall neatly into the categories of the otherchapters. Nevertheless, they are well worth mentioning.

So here’s the “grab bag” of other ways curcumin can be enor-mously helpful in protecting:

Lungs: Existing drugs have not been shown to be effective in thetreatment of lung conditions resulting from occupational and environmental exposures to mineral dusts, airborne pollutants, cigarette smoke, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and other causes ofacute and chronic inflammatory lung disease. Several animal stud-ies show that curcumin minimizes lung injury and fibrosis causedby radiation, chemotherapeutic drugs and toxic substances. Theresearchers also note that studies support the conclusion that curcumin plays a protective role in chronic obstructive pulmonarydisease, acute lung injury, acute respiratory distress syndromeand allergic asthma. A recent animal study from the United ArabEmirates confirms the usefulness of curcumin in protecting againstthe toxic effects of air pollution.

Kidneys: When Indian researchers artificially induced kidney dis-ease in animals, they found that curcumin protected them from

43

the toxic buildup that occurs when kidneys can no longer filter theblood. The study also showed that the antioxidants in curcuminprotected kidneys against injury.

Eyes: Another Indian study showed that the growth of cataracts inanimals with diabetes was significantly slowed when the animalswere given curcumin supplements. Researchers theorize that thissame protection can be extended to human cataracts that occurwhen the lens of the eye becomes cloudy. It is common in olderpeople.

Want more? Here is a handful of other diseases that curcuminmay help treat or prevent:

Obesity: Obesity is such a huge problem that it probably deservesits own chapter or even its own book. Two-thirds of Americans areoverweight, of which one-third are obese. Anything that can helpwith weight control is welcome. Through its anti-inflammatory

44 r CURCUMIN—THE 21ST CENTURY CURE

Immune system: white blood cells attack viral invaders.

action, several studies show that curcumin can result in betterblood sugar control and, therefore, a small but significant decreasein body weight and fat. Perhaps more important, it also increaseslevels of a protein called adiponectin that are usually low in obesepeople. By raising adiponectin levels, normal weight can return.Curcumin also helps cut off blood supply to excess fat cells, reduc-ing their size and number.

Recent research published in the British Journal of Nutrition inlate 2011 showed that BCM-95® Curcumin reduced liver inflam-mation, neutralizing the risk for a fatty liver associated with obesi-ty. So, not only does curcumin help keep weight and blood sugarunder control, it can reduce the inflammatory marker for poten-tially fatal liver disease and lessens the risk for a wide variety of dis-eases, including diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

Multiple sclerosis: This progressive neurological disease eventuallyleads to complete disability. Researchers theorize that the sameproperties in curcumin that protect brain cells may also be helpfulin protecting the muscle fibers that are affected by multiple sclero-sis (MS). In a Vanderbilt animal study, animals with an MS-like illness showed no signs of the disease after being treated with cur-cumin while those that did not get curcumin became paralyzed.

Immune system: In particular, studies on HIV show that curcuminslows the ability of the virus to duplicate itself and spread, reduc-ing the viral load on people whose immune systems are alreadyseverely compromised. This human study reduced the viral load in57.8% of the participants. In addition, a Kenyan epidemiologicalstudy of people of Indian descent (who eat curry) and those ofAfrican descent (who don’t eat curry) showed that those of Africandescent were far more likely to contract HIV.

CONCLUSION

This chapter demonstrates the scope of the potential for curcuminto create profound biological changes and enormous benefits to

CURCUMIN AND OTHER DISEASES r 45

human health. As mentioned in earlier chapters, there are few human studies. Most of the studies are lab studies on cells or ani-mals, and it is not certain that they can translate to human bene-fits. Yet the promise is so great that it is well worth adding curcumin, the right kind of curcumin, to your daily supplement regimen.

46 r CURCUMIN—THE 21ST CENTURY CURE

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Antony B, Kizhakedath et al. Clinical evaluation of a herbal product (Rhulief™) in themanagement of knee osteoarthritis. Abstract 316. Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2011; 19(S1):S145-S146

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Chapter 5Fujiwara H, Hosokawa M et al. Curcumin inhibits glucose production in isolated micehepatcytes. Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2008 May;80(2):185–91. Epub 2008 Jan 24.

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Chapter 6Depression

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About the Author

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Dr. Jan McBarron received her M.D. from Hahnemann Universityin Philadelphia and was the fourth woman in the country tobecome board certified in bariatric medicine. She is a member ofthe American Medical Association and the American Society ofBariatric Physicians. She volunteered with the 1996 Olympics, hasbeen honored by the Girl Scouts as a “Woman of Achievement”and the Natural Products Association awarded her the “Clinicianof the Year” for 2010.

While practicing bariatric and preventive medicine, Dr. McBar-ron became disenchanted with the mainstream allopathic medicalsystem and its side effects. She subsequently earned a doctorate innaturopathic medicine and is one of the elite few to hold both med-ical and naturopathic degrees. She believes this enables her to seethe complete picture and offer the best in complementary medicine.

Dr. McBarron taught at Columbus State University, writesfor several newspapers and has appeared on numerous radio andtelevision interviews. She is the author of several books includingthe best-selling Flavor Without Fat, Being a Woman Naturally,Hormonal Harmony and The Peachtree Diet.

In addition to her private medical practice, Georgia Bariatricsin Columbus, GA, Dr. McBarron co-hosts the #1 nationally syndi-cated health talk radio show “Duke and The Doctor,” with herhusband, Duke Liberatore. Talkers Magazine has ranked them inthe top 100 most important radio hosts in America. They arebroadcast in over 125 markets nationwide. For a list of their radiostation affiliates visit www.dukeandthedoctor.com.

OPTIMAL BODY DEFENSE

David Lyons with Arnold Schwarzenegger

Fight Back Against Excess Inflammation