Dr. Eric Li 的blog
In YBM, we have introduced to our members in YBM Diet a few wonder seeds, flaxseed, wheatgerm, chia, quinoe, black sesame, as replacement to common starchy carbohydrates such as rice and wheat flours and their cooked products (steam rice, bread, etc.). In our online Coach, we also showed videos and recipes of how to eat these wonder seeds.
In our continuing research for wonder seeds, we are glad that hempseed passed our high criteria as a wonder seed. So now we recommend to add hempseed into our shopping list for the first time. Here is a good article about the nutritional value of hempseed.
I had the honor to present during the China Anti-aging conference to a broad spectrum of scientists and practitioners - introducing our state of the art anti-aging program, YBM Life! The reception was very warm and welcoming.
I'd like to make the presentation available to www.youngbodymind.com members. You may read the presentation by clicking this link.
Reading the article on Yahoo Healthy Living, "7 anti-aging super foods", I kept thinking about how people could be confused by the expert's advice.
For example, Chocolate is singled out as a super food. However, it can hardly believe that the food in the picture on the left can be really healthy! The rationale in the article is that "The Kuna people of the San Blas islands, off the coast of Panama, have a rate of heart disease that is nine times less than that of mainland Panamanians. The reason? The Kuna drink plenty of a beverage made with generous proportions of cocoa, which is unusually rich in flavanols that help preserve the healthy function of blood vessels" It is a pretty good conclusion.
However, most chocolate products contain too much sugar, and less flavanols. Therefore, there's more harm than help.
At least the article should let people know that they should at least take 70-80% cocoa chocolate, and with minimum sugar content.
Take another example, red wine is also touted as a super food. Red wine is a particularly rich source of resveratrol and the flavonoids which are healthy to the heart. However, it also contains a good dose of alcohol. Studies showed that alcohol drinking may increase triglycerides (another Bad blood lipids) and result in weight gain due to its high empty calories. Other studies also suggested that alcohol consumption is associated with cancer risk. Alcohol is also an oxidant.
Therefore, if you really want to take resveratrol and the flavonoids, why not eat some black grapes, blackberries, ..., taking the good without the bad?
The mainstream media and belief is that alternative medicine such as Traditional Chinese Medicine, most of them thousands of years old, are not based on sciences, rather they are based on trial and error without rigorous scientific experiments to verify the validity.
I submit here that time proven medicines are indeed sciences if they can survive for thousands of years.
In applied mathematics and statistics, as I studied in Harvard, there're two types of statistical averages, the ensemble average and the time average. Both can be statistically significant.
Ensemble average is to observe an phenomena (e.g., an experiment) over many times (or objects) - the very base of scientific research. For example, if you want to proven the effecacy of a drug, you design an experiment, and apply the drug to a number of rats or human (e.g., 300) for a few months, calculate the average results and draw conclusion.
On the other hand, time average is to apply this drug only on a single person at a time. When this person is not availabe, apply to another (again only one person). If you do this over many many years, you will get identical results as the ensemble average, if both experiments are designed correctly.
In mathematical terms, if a1, a2, ..., an are the measurements for the n rats or people during a fixed period, then the ensemble average EA = (a1 + a2 + ...+an)/n. If b(t1), b(t2), b(t3), ..., b(tn) are the measurements oberserved sequentially during a long period time, t1<t2<t3<...<tn, then, time average TA = [b(t1)+b(t2)+...+b(tn)]/tn. As n goes to infinity, EA = TA.
This means
Metabolism of estrogens occurs mainly in liver and gastrointestinal tissues. Most of the 
metabolism and conjugation of estrogens takes place in the liver. A major pathway of estrogen metabolism is from estradiol to estrone. In turn, estrone can be metabolized further to2-hydroxyestrone or 16alfa-hydroxyestrone. Then finally 2-hydroxyestrone or 16alfa-hydroxyestrone convert into estriol, which are then conjugated primarily as glucuronides, sulfates and thioether to readily excrete via bile, feces and urine.
Progesterone is another vitally important female hormone, which plays a critical role in a woman's body such as pregnancy, bone regeneration.
Female hormones change in magnitude and ratio during the day, the month, age, and during pregnancy.
In a previous article, I discussed various types of fats such as trans-fat, monounsaturated fat, etc. But you may be wonder what kind of oil or foods contain more of the better fats. For example, if you have to use oil in cooking, what are the best oils to use and why? You probably hear about recommendations for olive oil, canola oil, etc. This page shows very good information about the percentage of monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, and saturated fats in many different types of oils. The worst oils are: butter, cocoa butter, coconut oil, lard, margarine (hard), palm oil, palm kernel oil. The best are: mustard, conola, almond, macadamia nut, olive, and soybean, flaxseed oil. An added benefit of conola, soybean, and flaxseed oils is that they are high in omega-3.
As man ages, one of the first sign is an increase of estrogen and an increase of sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG). This, even without reduced total testosterone level, will change the key ratio/balance of testosterone/estrogen. It's a known scientific fact that this is the start of andropause - a steady process of male hormone decline and out of balance, a major cause of aging. (Read more YBM Hormone) When this happens, instead of immediately jumping into bio-identical hormone replacement therapy, a herbal approach should be first tried. This includes reducing estrogen conversion, blocking estrogen receptors, reducing DHT conversion, and stimulating testosterone production. An effective tool for reducing the estrogen effect is a high concentration extraction from cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts) of key ingradients, such as indole-3-carbinol (I3C), DIM (diindolymethane), ascorbigin, sulphoraphine, indoles, isothiocynates and glucosinolates. Animal studies have shown that the cruciferous vegetable extract modulates estrogen hormones by favorably changing the ratio of protective 2-hydroxyestrone versus the damaging 16-hydroxyestrone. Indole-3-carbinol also induces phase I and II detoxifying enzymes that can help neutralize estrogen metabolites and xenobiotic estrogen-like environmental chemicals. Human studies support the beneficial role of I3C in positively altering estrogen metabolism. Di-indoyl-methane (DIM), a phytonutrient found in cruciferous vegetables, has been shown in animal studies to help maintain normal levels of a potentially damaging estrogen called 4-hydroxyestrone.
I've been trying to write about different fats for our website. However, I saw this CNN article on fats, "Fast facts on fats". It turns out to be a really well written one. It gives a simple concise description about trans fat, saturated fat, polyunsaturated fat, and monounsaturated fat.
I was listening to radio - an interview with Professor Ronald Mallett on time machines. He was talking about the amazing possibility to travel back in time. When Einstein discovered his special relativity theory, it proves that we can travel to the future, but not to the past because no speed is higher than that of light. But his theory was challenged: Suppose the sun one day were destroyed. Sunlight travels to the earth in about 12 minutes. So for 12 minutes we won't be able to know the sun has disappeared. However, the sun's gravity suddenly disappeared, so the earth would go down somewhere pretty fast. Therefore, gravity is faster than the speed of light?
In this article, we'll talk about male hormone replacement therapy (HRT). In the following articles, we'll cover female HRT. YBM Hormone protocol emphasize critical importance of keeping a young hormone level and balance: "The decline of sex hormones causes many degenerative diseases, among which are decreased muscle and increased fat, skin thinning, osteoporosis, depression, memory loss, decreased energy and endurance, heart diseases, prostate enlargement/cancer (male), breast cancer (female), decreased libido, impotence (male). Fundamentally, DECLINING OF SEX HORMONES MAKES ONE OLD!" There are ways to boost our hormones as the ultimate decline arrives. Except for sex chi-gong, herbal or HRT require very careful administration. This can be easily explained by the following graph, showing how hormones in male is generated (i.e., the hormone pathway). 
(curtersy to David J Handelsman MB BS, FRACP, PhD) As you can see, any products which increase testosterone (as they claim), may actually increase estradiol (a potent form of female hormone), and/or DHT (a potent form of male hormone which has been credited for prostate cancer and male pattern baldness, because testosterone can convert into these other hormones with the help of respective enzymes in the pathway. When this happens, the HRT not only does not reach the correct effect, but actually makes the hormone balance worse! Another issue is exactly at what level of testosterone, estradiol, DHT, SHBG and their relative balance does your body operate at optimal health?
This is one of the most significant research about the effect of lifestyle on genes. Although we have no double lifestyle will change gene behavior, we are still somewhat surprised about how huge and widespread a lifestyle change can influence gene expression. So let's take control of our own destiny - lifestyle by practising YBM Life!, so that we can stay young and vibrant for a long long time!
Here's a quote from the article:
More than 500 genes changed the way they worked. Genes with beneficial effects, including some tumor-suppression genes, became more active. Genes with deleterious effects, including some cancer-promoting genes, were switched off.
"It is absolutely intriguing this lifestyle change can have as much effect as the most powerful drugs available to us now," Haqq said in a news conference. "We medical oncologists are always looking for drugs that can do this. It is delightful to find that diet and lifestyle can have profound effects and work as well as drug therapies with fewer side effects."
Everyday I've been introduced to, by friends, or media, or Ads, wonder diet, magic exercises, super supplements, advanced anti-aging protocols, promoted and invented by famous doctors and scientists. Usually the first thing I do is to check to see if they themselves are indeed in great shape. For if they are not, how can they save other people? Indeed, for 9 out of 10 times, or even more frequently, I see the "experts" being over weight, having a unhealthy complexion and filled with degenerative diseases. Furthermore, we see some big names died at relatively younger or at most normal age. Frequently, the "experts" tell a story about how they are genetically in such a bad healthy, and now how they have reversed the genetic codes and become relatively "average". It's a real convenient excuse indeed, since we know for a fact that genetic deficiencies only manifest themselves when "activated" by predominantly unhealthy lifestyles. So don't blindly follow big names, fashionable trend, and the crowd. Put your own judgement in place, especially see if the big names walk the talk! In YBM, we walk our talk by practising YBM Life!, a tested true anti-aging program. You can indeed see the YBMers age at a half the rate of age peers!
There's a lot of expert advice on food you should eat, such as this article/book which advocates eating five types of foods every day, whole grains, dark green leafy vegetables, nuts, low fat yogurt or milk, tea. Do we listen to the advice? As YBMers, we dig deeper. For example, some whole grains, such as rice, wheat, and many types of beans should be avoided. These grains contain higher percentage of starchy components, and have to be cooked well. Once cooked, they contain a great deal of simple sugar. On the other hand, grains, such as chia, quinoa, flexseeds, wheatgerms have much higher nutritional value, less stach, and can be eating raw (e.g., soaked in milk for a few minutes, or milled). As for leafy vegetables, if they are cooked well done, a lot of phyto nutrients will be lost, plant enzymes will be killed. The best way is to raw salad, raw blended juice (with the whole plant), or hot water lightly bathed. Nuts should not be eaten in excess because of the high fat content. Some each day is fine. Oil, salty nuts as for most in the market are bad. Yogurt/milk is not so good if they are not eaten raw because of the lost nutrition and enzymes. There are many kind of teas. We advice to drink green tea, because it has many research papers backing its health benefit. So as YBMers, be perfectionist because we want to act and look like in our 60's when we are 120's! Follow YBM Life!
“这是世界最好的有关结合现代医学和古老的东方医学智慧养生之道。 ”