There Is A “ME” In Melatonin!

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What’s This Melatonin Stuff??

Great question, I am glad you asked! Melatonin is a…you guessed it…hormone! It is produced naturally in us humans in the Pineal gland (I found out that the Pineal gland is a small gland in our brain). Melatonin is a hormone that helps regulate the sleep/wake cycle in us. It does this by causing drowsiness and actually lowering our body temperature which in turns helps us into our natural sleep pattern.

We Have A Sleep Pattern?

Adrenal

The answer is yes we do, and there are some very interesting things about this or these patterns! It seems our bodies have an internal clock that regulates many things for us and one of them is when the Pineal gland produces and distributes Melatonin to our body.

 

Circadian Rhythm

This determination is based on our Circadian rhythm and influenced by of all things light levels! (I have to tell you that since I decided to not just take the doctors word for things I have learned so much!) As I understand it, the Circadian rhythm is an approximately 24 hour cycle of biological functions for our body. These include such things as hormone production and other important actions such as cell regeneration.

The thing about this cycle is the main governance of it is tied to the light/dark periods of the day. Now that is a very simplistic explanation, but it is the easiest way for me to relate it to you. That said, we typically are awake in the light and sleep in the dark, except for those special times we don’t like to admit we had now that we are older and no better!

So during the dark period in the Circadian rhythm the system tells the Pineal gland to produce Melatonin to urge us to the sleep condition. The production typically starts at dark and increases during the night till about the 2:00am mark then starts to slow until it stops when light appears.

 

Things I’m glad I found out!

I have the fortune of being the dad of two really special girls. While I love them dearly, I like many parents, had my challenges with them as they grew up. I am sure that my parents never had these challenges with me, and I am not about to ask them if they did. But one of the challenges was the idea of sleeping when they were little and I have to tell you that it seemed to go until they left home!

 

Babies Don’t Achieve A Regular Melatonin Cycle Until The Third Month

Which explains why I got no sleep when they were born! Oh there were so many walks around the block at midnight, pushing that stroller and singing lullabies. I am sure that they do not remember any of that!

Sleep was an issue until after they left home, which is another discovery concerning Melatonin production.

 

Melatonin Production Is Delayed In Teenagers

As if there are not enough things to affect raising a teenager, during the teenage years, Melatonin production is delayed! It causes their sleep cycles to be delayed accordingly. The cycle starts later so they stay up longer. If that wasn’t bad enough, the cycle produces Melatonin longer which means they sleep later!

Who thought that gem up? Well now you  know, they just can’t help it, the deck is stacked against them. The good news is that we did not and/or are not doing anything wrong when our kids stay of late or sleep in.

 

Winter Months Affect Circadian Rythem

Have you ever wondered why you’re so tired in the winter months? Seems like your having a great day getting lots of stuff done and just about dinner time you feel less enthused than just an hour before. Then by the time the dishes are done and sit down to finally put your feet up you just don’t know if you can stay awake any longer?

Well the answer is in the Circadian rhythm. Remember that the rhythm is affected by light. Winter days are the shortest days of the year. The earlier the darkness, the earlier the Melatonin production is our bodies! So again, you really can’t help it, so let yourself off the hook if it happens.

 

Why am I worried about Melatonin?

There are so many great questions today! The answer to the one above is maybe you don’t need to. If you are a well-adjusted adult in the prime of your life, chances are you don’t need to worry. I you are in any other category of adult, then Melatonin is a really powerful and beneficial hormone. The reason I started looking at Melatonin had to do with my sleep. I just wasn’t doing it, sleeping that is. I knew I needed more sleep so I asked Dr Goldstein what I should do about!

I asked if I should get a sleep study or try sleeping pills or something experimental? I was truthfully tired of the exhaustion and felt it was affecting more than just my typical jovial mood. At that point he told me I could do any of those things, but the likely answer was Melatonin or in my case the lack of it! That’s when I found out that the older a person gets the less Melatonin the body produces and in some cases stops producing. So my body was just following orders and I needed to help my body by adding Melatonin as a daily supplement.

 

How much?

Well, I am not the right person to say how much to take, but I can say that if you take it as suggested in the directions, then you should have nothing to worry about. If you are unsure, then a call to your doctor or pharmacist might ease your mind. Me I take between two and three tabs a night depending on the circumstances, which puts me at 6mg to 9mg each evening. It helps me a great deal and I am thankful for the education Dr Goldstein gave me on Melatonin.

 

Anything Else About Melatonin?

Yes, several things! First let’s review Melatonin’s potential side effects:

  • Drowsiness
  • Lower body temperature
  • Vivid dreams (my personal favorite)
  • Chance of morning grogginess
  • Small changes to blood pressure

To me it sounds like a good nights sleep, but the lawyers must be worried so every label says the same thing about this dietary supplement.

 

Women With Good Levels Of Melatonin Are Less Likely To Develop Type II Diabetes

On the positive side, Melatonin is a powerful free radical scavenger, an anti-inflammatory, anti-aging and there are suggestions and studies that indicate the women with good levels of Melatonin are less likely to develop Type II Diabetes. There are many more suggestions and speculations as to the benefits of Melatonin, but I am confidant that with the things mentioned already there is a better than sufficient case for including Melatonin in your daily supplement routine!

Besides, who doesn’t want to dream of this…

Orvis

Walmart’s Ice Cream Sandwiches Don’t Melt!?

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What Is In Walmart’s Ice Cream Sandwiches?!?

Christie Watson discovered that her son’s Walmart Ice cream Sandwich didn’t melt after being out in the sun for hours.

 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This Is How WalMart Responded:

Ice cream melts based on the ingredients including cream. Ice cream with more cream will generally melt at a slower rate, which is the case with our Great Value ice cream sandwiches. In the frozen aisles, Great Value ice cream sandwiches are one of the top sellers, and we are glad to be able to offer a great treat that families love.

 

28 Ingredients That Make Up Walmart’s Ice Cream Sandwiches:

  1. Milk
  2. Cream
  3. Buttermilk
  4. Sugar
  5. Whey – The remaining liquid after milk has been curdled and strained. It is a by product of cheese (or casein).
  6. Corn Syrup – Used in foods to soften texture, add volume, prevent crystallization of sugar, and enhance flavor.
  7. Mono-And Diglycerides – Synthetic food additive used as an emulsifier (for consistency)
  8. Vanilla Extract
  9. Guar Gum – Gum from the guar bean. Often used as a binding agent in food. WebMD also cites guar gum as a laxative.
  10. Calcium Sulfate – Chemical used as coagulant in food like tofu.
  11. Carob Bean Gum – Thickening agent
  12. Cellulose Gum – One of the most common thickening agents in the world. However, your body can not digest it. Instead, this will pass through you.
  13. Carrageenan – extracted from red edible seaweed. Forms gel at room temperature.
  14. Artificial Flavor
  15. Annatto For Color

 

Wafer Ingredients:

  1. Wheat Flour
  2. Soybean Oil
  3. Palm Oil
  4. Cocoa
  5. Dextrose
  6. Caramel Color
  7. Corn Syrup
  8. High Fructose Corn Syrup
  9. Corn Flour
  10. Food Starch-Modified
  11. Salt Soy Lecithin
  12. Baking Soda
  13. Artificial Flavor

There are SIX thickening agents (stabilizers/fillers) in Walmart’s Ice Cream Sandwiches….SIX compared to zero in other leading ice cream brands.

Walmart's Ice Cream Sandwhiches that don't melt have the listed nutrition information / ingredients.

 

FDA Standards For Frozen Desserts:

Here’s The Food And Drug Administration Specific Standards For Frozen Desserts:

 

Subpart B–Requirements for Specific Standardized Frozen Desserts
Sec. 135.110 Ice cream and frozen custard.
(a)Description. (1) Ice cream is a food produced by freezing, while stirring, a pasteurized mix consisting of one or more of the optional dairy ingredients specified in paragraph (b) of this section, and may contain one or more of the optional caseinates specified in paragraph (c) of this section subject to the conditions hereinafter set forth, one or more of the optional hydrolyzed milk proteins as provided for in paragraph (d) of this section subject to the conditions hereinafter set forth, and other safe and suitable nonmilk-derived ingredients; and excluding other food fats, except such as are natural components of flavoring ingredients used or are added in incidental amounts to accomplish specific functions. Ice cream is sweetened with safe and suitable sweeteners and may be characterized by the addition of flavoring ingredients.(2) Ice cream contains not less than 1.6 pounds of total solids to the gallon, and weighs not less than 4.5 pounds to the gallon. Ice cream contains not less than 10 percent milkfat, nor less than 10 percent nonfat milk solids, except that when it contains milkfat at 1 percent increments above the 10 percent minimum, it may contain the following milkfat-to-nonfat milk solids levels:

Percent milkfat Minimum percent nonfat milk solids
10 10
11 9
12 8
13 7
14 6

Except that when one or more bulky flavors are used, the weights of milkfat and total milk solids are not less than 10 percent and 20 percent, respectively, of the remainder obtained by subtracting the weight of the bulky flavors from the weight of the finished food; but in no case is the weight of milkfat or total milk solids less than 8 percent and 16 percent, respectively, of the weight of the finished food. Except in the case of frozen custard, ice cream contains less than 1.4 percent egg yolk solids by weight of the food, exclusive of the weight of any bulky flavoring ingredients used. Frozen custard shall contain 1.4 percent egg yolk solids by weight of the finished food:Provided, however, That when bulky flavors are added the egg yolk solids content of frozen custard may be reduced in proportion to the amount by weight of the bulky flavors added, but in no case is the content of egg yolk solids in the finished food less than 1.12 percent. A product containing egg yolk solids in excess of 1.4 percent, the maximum set forth in this paragraph for ice cream, may be marketed if labeled as specified by paragraph (e)(1) of this section.

 

 

We are not scientists but it would be interesting to configure whether or not these Ice Cream Sandwiches meet the [“non-milk” containing ingredients need to fall below 10% of the total ice cream filling.] requirement?

 

It’s safe to say that Walmart’s ice cream has high amounts of ingredient “Stabilizers” which affects the ice cream’s molecular structure. The frozen “ice cream” may indeed melt but hold it’s shape due to these stabilizers.

 

We decided to run our own experiment and found some surprising results. Walmart’s Fat Free, No Sugar Added Ice Cream Sandwich melted the fastest (closest one in the photo below). Followed 10 mins later by, ‘Fat Boy Ice Cream Sandwich’ and ‘Blue Bell Ice Cream Sandwich’. The two other flavors of Great Value Walmart Ice Cream Sandwich never broke their form. 

Tested All of Walmart's Featured ice cream sandwhiches

 

Will you still eat these ice cream sandwiches?

Would you feed them to your kids?

Tell us in the comments below!

Estrogen Facts

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Some Things You May Not Know About Estrogen

[slideshare id=28930261&doc=vitali-t-estrogen-131205102728-phpapp02]

 

Estrogen occurs naturally in both women and men.

The word Estrogen is derived from the Greek word oistros (meaning “gadfly” but figuratively conveying sexual desire).

Estrogen is a steroid hormone.

Your sex drive is dependent on your androgen levels (which only exist in the presence of estrogen).

All vertebrae, as well as some insects, synthesize estrogen.

Estrogen enhances skin, blood circulation and blood vessel repair.

Estrogen is produced by the ovaries in females.

Peak estrogen levels occur just before ovulation.

The liver, breasts and adrenal glands also produce small amounts of estrogen.

These secondary sources of estrogen are essential in postmenopausal women.

Estrogen increases bone strength.

Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) conducted a study that proved synthetic estrogen supplements were associated with an increased risk of blood clotting.

*If taking a form of estrogen, always make sure it’s a bioidentical version of your naturally produced estrogen hormone.

Estrogen plays a significant role in woman’s mental health.

Estrogen has recently been used to treat bulimia nervosa patients after discovering that the disease may be linked to a hormone imbalance in the brain.

Fat produces estrogen. this means that overweight people have higher-than-average estrogen levels, which causes imbalanced hormone symptoms.

80% of breast cancers need estrogen to grow. These cancers are known as hormone-sensitive or hormone-receptor-positive. A treatment for these types of cancers is the suppression of estrogen development.

Recent studies have shown that common table mushrooms have anti-aromatase properties (a possible anti-estrogen effect). Scientists have begun to research whether or not table mushrooms can prevent breast cancer.

Estrogen is occasionally used as treatment for men with prostate cancers.

Estrogen promotes the development of female sexual characteristics (breasts, endometiral wall thickening, menstrual cycle, etc.).

Estrogen is essential in men for the maturation of sperm and may be necessary for a healthy sex drive.

Estrogen helps to accelerate metabolism.

Estrogen has been used to help treat traumatic liver injuries.

In the past, estrogen was used to prevent further growth in tall females.

The 4 natural estrogens produced in women are: estrone (E1), estradiol (E2), estriol (E3) and estetrol (E4).

Estradiol is the predominant estrogen in the body throughout a woman’s reproductive years.

Estrone is the predominant estrogen during menopause.

Estriol is the predominant estrogen during pregnancy, trumping the potency of its sister estrogen, estetrol. Estetrol is only produced during pregnancy.

Despite estriol being the most bountiful of the three estrogens, it’s the weakest. Estradiol is the strongest estrogen (80x more potent than estriol).