How use of Curcumin differs between injury and cancer 

I had a great conversation with one of the Distributors in our team last night about the role of curcumin and how it's being used. Now pain begins when specialized receptors (nociceptors) are activated following damage to joint tissues.  And when immune cells first detect any signs of tissue injury or stress, they activate a cellular protein, called nuclear factor kappa-B (or NF-kappaB or Nuclear Factor.) This protein is the main ‘switch’ that turns on the inflammation in the tissues in your body. Activated NF-kB signals the cell (via many pathways, including through the activation of inflammasomes) to begin to produce numerous proteins involved in inflammation and tissue repair. And I believe that can be painful. And I also believe that how you are using Curcumin is going to be different based on what you are trying to heal with it.

Studies about how use of Curcumin is helping people

What the studies say are the following:

"Curcumin can inhibits this special inflammatory chemical (NF-kappaB). Skeletal muscle is often the site of tissue injury due to trauma, disease, developmental defects or surgery.  If you ask around you can see that  so far there is no effective treatment out there to stimulate the repair of skeletal muscle. Yet studies show that muscle regeneration after trauma is greatly enhanced following systemic administration of curcumin, an inhibitor of the NF-kappaB."

This is my belief {please consult your doctor specific own medical advice as I am not a doctor} is for a lot of us with serious painful trauma that is many years old, a little may Empower be better than a lot because a) with an older injury healing could initially be just as painful as the injury is, and b) you may find that you aren't absorbing it.

So what to do with a long painful injury? A paper from Korea published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry (a very highly regarded journal) indicated that curcumin has been reported to be capable of preventing the death of neurons in animal models of neurodegenerative disease.

They studied the effect of curcumin on cultured neural progenitor cells (like stem cells) and found that curcumin exhibits a biphasic effect: at low concentration (0.1 to 0.5 microMolar) it stimulates cell growth and proliferation while at high concentration (>10 microMolar) it is cytotoxic (kills cells).

At the LOW concentrations, curcumin enhanced neurogenesis (nerve cell growth) in mouse hippocampus and increased neural plasticity (like adaptability) and repair. So maybe with nerve type damages you need to recommend a slow start to Empower.

So what if you aren't absorbing enough curcumin?

If you aren't absorbing enough curcumin that probably means you need to adjust a few things. If it's for a pain injury I recommend you up your omega's to about 2,000 mg a day for a few weeks. (when I say omega's I'm ALWAYS talking about Omega-3's) Earlier this month, review papers of the curcumin studies stated: “Extensive clinical trials over the past quarter century have addressed the efficacy of curcumin and promising effects have been observed in patients with various pro-inflammatory diseases including cancer, cardiovascular disease and arthritis.”

A little off topic of injury these studies are being performed at Indiana University and Purdue university.

SO the findings are that when omega-3 DHA and curcumin are combined, they have the ability to slow down the growth of breast cancer cells. These compounds worked best when combined, than when tested separately.

The DHA+curcumin slowed down the growth of all five breast cancer lines. The genes that promote breast cancer development were deactivated, and the genes that suppress cancer cell development were activated. The reason these compounds worked so well together is because the DHA helped the breast cancer cells absorb the effects of curcumin. That's why off topic... the DHA was what HELPED the turmeric/curcumin be absorbed, which I'm seeing again and again.

To aid with the absorption of turmeric/curcumin take it with the supplement, or with the following foods:
1. Fatty wild fish like Wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon, tuna, sardines, sablefish, anchovies, herring and mackerel, or a good Omega Supplement
2. Organic dairy products if you use dairy (think undenatured whey for your healthy dairy)
3. Oils with low omega-6 fat content such as coconut oil, organic olive oil and organic macadamia oil.

I recommend the Organic Fijian Turmeric product because it's all very easy to figure out as far as ingredients, and it says exactly what is in there. Just over $30 is an amazing deal for such a potent organic turmeric that you just can't pass up. I would say taking 1 - 4 turmeric/curcumin capsules with a green smoothie with your Paleo protein in the morning, and/or 1 - 4 capsules of turmeric/curcumin with a good salmon or large leafy green salad with flaxseeds and olive oil dressing in the evening for someone with an old injury may be the place to start to feel health empowering. They are saying 200 - 400 mg of turmeric/curcumin is a good place to start, and that's (1) capsule of the turmeric/curcumin, and that's if you are absorbing it, and if you do not have a very acidic stomach. {For those people you may want to also add some good enzymes and/or probiotics to your daily routine}

And with some of these other illnesses, more seems to work better. They are using upwards of 8,000 mg of turmeric/curcumin (with cancer) but not only with added omega's, but with added black pepper. (The recommended dose of curcumin of four a day is about 1400 mg a day) So you could use with this a good black pepper essential oil in a capsule with turmeric tea, Pepper when used when cooking your salmon up to help increase the properties of curcumin. Piperine is a pungent compound found in the fruit of the plants in the Piperaceae family, the most famous member of which is Piper nigrum, black pepper.

So remember, as with all of these products, it's not necessarily one size fits all, so think about what you nee, how the ingredients are working for you, and with any major questions please don't hesitate to ask.

30 Day Paleo Challenge

If you are doing a Paleo Challenge with your gym, and following a vegeo approach this is what should be on your menu:

• fish = wild caught 
• all fruit is ok\
• all vegetables aside from starchy root vegetables are ok
• local, raw honey is the only sweetener used (aside from fruit)
• nuts and seeds are ok (soaked preferably)
• pastured eggs are ok 
• no dairy
• no soy
• no grains or grain-like seeds (that means no quinoa, millet, amaranth, & buckwheat during the challenge phase) 
• no legumes
• no alcohol

This can be hard to go through, but it's something that is going to really help you in the end. I end up turning to things like hemp protein smoothies, and sacha inchi seeds to keep me going because I don't want to eat too much fish and I don't eat eggs during the induction phase. This is because eggs are a top allergen, and you want to allow your body to heal up as much as possible during that 30 day Paleo challenge.

So what can I eat during the 30 Day Paleo Challenge?

I like to eat a lot of greens. You'll find me with salads, braised greens, and green smoothies almost every day. And then of course I miss me some yummy starchy potatoes... I really do. So one comfort food for me is mashed carrots and rutabagas, yum!

Mashed Carrots and Rutabaga (from Eat, Live, Grow, Paleo with my change ups)

Ingredients :
- carrots
- rutabaga
- coconut milk
- Earth balance soy-free vegan butter or coconut oil
- Himilayan salt and pepper
- Garlic (crushed) - to your taste
- Handful of basil leaves, shredded and diced

 Directions :
1. Peel and cut carrots and rutabaga into small pieces.
2. Steam until very tender (about 10 to 15 minutes)
3. In your Vitamix or food processor (or with an immersion blender) puree the vegetables together adding coconut oil and seasonings to taste. Add just a small amount of coconut milk so it adds to the creamy taste but doesn't turn your vegetable into a sauce. Add in the garlic and basil and let it mix in.

Add this with some sauteed greens and you will have found my heaven. There are tricks to making it through a 30 Day Paleo Challenge, and this for me is one of the best, challenge yourself to find subs for the items you crave. Everyone has a nutritional truth... find yours.