The Naked Fire Shot by Naked Nutrition: Product Review
/Naked Nutrition has done it again with their new Naked Fire Shot - click here to get a breakdown of the active ingredients and hear what I think about this product overall.
Read MoreWant to support your body’s immunity? Stock up on Paleovalley’s Essential C Complex to fuel your body with vitamin C and other immunity-boosting nutrients.
Naked Nutrition has done it again with their new Naked Fire Shot - click here to get a breakdown of the active ingredients and hear what I think about this product overall.
Read MoreNaked Nutrition has been having fun with their newest products - including these two delicious new options. Find out all you want to know about the new Naked Sugar Cookie and the Pumpkin Spice Naked Pea Protein here!
Read MoreMany people can get caught in the trap of working out daily. But there are actually some key benefits to taking rest days - and they'll improve your workouts. Click here to learn how.
Read MoreHow do you like to celebrate Christmas Day? Check out this roundup of what the perfect menu for the whole holiday would look like… Paleo-style!
Read MoreMushroom supplements are a new trend, but why are they so great? Find out the top 5 reasons adaptogenic mushrooms help you - backed by science.
Read MoreMany people begin exercising in order to get healthier… but is it possible to truly become healthy with exercise if there are other stressors in your life left unaddressed?
Read MoreThe Keto diet is one of the most popular and misunderstood diets around. This post seeks to break through a lot of the noise and bring you a simple, but in-depth explanation of what Keto is (and is not).
Read MoreWhat does it take to form the discipline to reach your goals? This article delves into what it means to be consistent in what you want - and how to achieve the targets you set for yourself.
Read MoreTired of struggling to fix your damaged hair or skin? Yoga has many benefits for the mind, body, skin, hair and so much more. Here are 7 simple ways to promote healthy hair and hair growth just by doing yoga! Check them out!
Read MoreBy sticking to a few basic principles and routines you can stick to your health and fitness goals. Here are only 6 easy principles to follow - check it out!
Read MoreAre you having trouble sleeping? Sleep is one of the most important factors for a healthy lifestyle. Here are few simple ways on how to improve your sleep quality with exercise - check it out!
Read MoreMost Americans suffer from sore joints, especially as they age. But is there a way to manage joint health naturally? We think so - and have a full breakdown for you. Check it out!
Read MoreDo you find yourself stressed & hitting a plateau in your fitness goals? You might need to find the right balance between self-care and exercise. Find out some ways to get doing that now!
Read MoreMan boobs, low sex drive, little muscle mass... what's going on, dude? Maybe you're estrogen dominant. Click here to read the signs & see if you should get your hormones tested.
Read MoreNutrition science is confusing for most people. Here is the simple breakdown of the basics that you've been looking for - check it out now!
Read MoreThese common workout injuries are a lot easier to avoid when you take a few simple steps! Make sure you're on the right track to prevent injury with these workout hacks.
Read MoreBy: Aron James
For men who want to take care of their skin, it can be somewhat daunting to walk through the beauty aisle at your local grocery store while attempting to find the product that is just right for you. While certain skin creams can help to improve skin blemishes and other skin-related problems, one of the most overlooked (yet utterly important) parts of skin care is what you eat.
Instead of spending hundreds of dollars on high end skin creams, cleansers and exfoliants, you might very well be able to get rid of those excess pimples and oily skin simply by avoiding that mid-afternoon stop at the local fast food joint. Choosing to eat a diet that is rich in natural, wholesome and organic foods is one of the best ways to improve the skin on any man's face. Below I offer three food hacks that will help improve your overall skin health while helping you avoid breaking the bank on expensive skin care treatment products.
Even if you are not a nutritionist, chances are that you have heard of antioxidants. It may seem like every other week you read a newspaper article or post on Facebook about some type of food that is high in antioxidants and thus great for your health. Antioxidants, among other health benefits, help to slow the process of aging.
One recent study titled Diet in Dermatology: Present Perspectives (1), concludes that foods that are high in antioxidants have a high photo-protective potential, which is a fancy way of saying that these foods will help protect your skin from signs of premature aging caused by exposure to the sun and other elements. So, be sure to add an extra cup of blueberries (high in antioxidants) to your cereal in the morning, and don´t worry about eating that dark chocolate bar as it has high levels of flavonoids, a potent antioxidant.
While this should be common sense for anyone, nutritional deficiencies that come up because we have been avoiding fresh fruits and vegetables can lead to several skin health problems. For men who consider skin care an essential part of their grooming regime, you might want to spend more time in the produce section of your local supermarket. Or better yet, visit your local farmers market to find fresh, wholesome, organic produce that will give you the vitamins and minerals your skin needs to stay healthy.
Too much sugar is never a good thing for your teeth, your blood sugar levels, or for your skin. By using honey to sweeten your morning coffee, you will be getting a good dose of antioxidants. The high level of magnesium in honey is also essential for good skin health. Real men should be concerned about protecting their skin. Whether you are spending time in the wilderness to embolden your prepper mentality or simply want to look good for a first date, these three changes to your diet will help keep your skin looking young and refreshed.
Aron James is the founder of StubblePatrol.com. Stubble Patrol is a site on male grooming. He loves to write about his personal experiences.
Sources
1. K H Basavaraj, C Seemanthini, R Rashmi(2010, Jul-Sep). Diet in Dermatology: Present Perspectives. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2965901/
2. n.a. (2017). Men health care - cosmetic surgeries for better skin. Mash Men. Retrieved from: http://www.mashmen.com/2015/11/17/men-health-cosmetic-surgeries/
This post started as a broader "benefits of microgreens" write-up, until I realized how broad a topic and therefore bad idea that would be. There are too many types of microgreens in general to encompass in one post... at least for me at this time. :)
As mentioned in my post about growing your own broccoli sprouts, this whole topic came to me in the first place after listening to episode #901 of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast with Dr. Rhonda Patrick. Prior to this episode, the only experience I'd had with microgreens was at the general level when I purchased a "mixed variety" of them from the farmer's market to try adding to my smoothies. I was rough on the science, didn't really think much of it, and felt bad for buying living baby plants just to rip them from the soil and eat over the next few days. I know, the huntress felt bad for killing plants. Whatever.
This specific episode of the podcast, though, went into a ton of detail on why Dr. Patrick loves including broccoli sprouts specifically in her daily smoothie. That's what I'd like to dive into here, as my geeky nature questions the "why" behind everything and I like to have a solid knowledge base to inform people about why I do what I do.
So! What are some of the benefits of eating broccoli sprouts?
That list looks pretty all-encompassing, but I still stand by my use of the word "some" to preface it because there are other possible benefits that have been discovered, but not extensively researched. At the time of this writing, the above list has a good amount of study put to it already.
If the above list convinced you to start sprouting your own broccoli or becoming a regular customer of the microgreens farms at your local farmer's market, great! If you're like me, you want more details on the subject. Never fear, for I am here and slightly angry with myself for loving to do this research so much!
There is a compound in broccoli sprouts called sulforaphane, as already mentioned, which underlies most of the benefits listed. With that in ming, let's get to it!
In a 2004 study(1), certain doses of sulforaphane can actually be as potent as the standard-of-care drug trichostatin A, which works to inhibit a key enzyme in cancer proliferation. The effects of the drug and sulforaphane when taken together seemed to amplify each others' effects.
Cruciferous vegetables are generally considered cardioprotective, i.e. they guard the health of the heart. This is because of a sulfur compound found within them, hydrogen sulfide (H2S), is actually inversely related with the progression of cardiovascular disease(2). The presence of H2S in garlic is why it is generally considered a superfood, as H2S is a vasodilator. Vasodilation is the process of opening up the pathways for blood flow and is considered beneficial for cardiovascular health, as wider flow pathways means less resistance to blood movement and therefore lower blood pressure. A lack of H2S in the body has also recently been linked to decreased endothelial function in obese patients, meaning that the lining of the blood vessels does not respond to vessel size changes as well as it would in non-obese individuals(3). This makes sense, since we just covered that H2S promotes the widening of the vessels.
This topic can get broad very quickly. As Dr. Jonathan Mendoza, a wonderful mentor of mine says, "all disease starts with inflammation." To keep it as simple as I can, the aforementioned sulforaphane in broccoli sprouts inhibits something called NF-kB translocation. This action at the cellular level basically describes the movement of an inflammatory compound into the nucleus, or "brain," of the cell. When this compound makes this move, inflammation at that cell boosts and when too many cells experience this, signs of autoimmune disease can appear.
That being said, autoimmune disease is basically the worst outcome of chronic inflammation and compounds to develop over a long period of time. The most-studied autoimmune disease with sulforaphane at this time is Rheumatoid Arthritis, which appears to benefit from mechanisms similar to the NF-kB inhibition at the cellular level(5). Basically, advances in RA seem to be stopped by adding sulforaphane to the diet.
A major cause of the appearance of aging in humans comes from the oxidation of protein in the body. This has led some diets, like the Bulletproof Diet, to promote "protein-cycling," in an effort to recycle some leftover proteins for use in the body so they basically don't just sit around and stagnate from oxidation. With broccoli sprouts, and the sulphoraphane they provide, there appears to be a reduction in the buildup of these proteins in the body. This leads to the theory that cells will age slower, promoting longevity (if your cells die, you die) (6).
While the practical significance of this benefit is still being researched, new studies have emerged to show that in the absence of a primary molecule called AMPK, sulforaphane may be able to release glycerol from the cells to produce energy. However, in the presence of AMPK, sulforaphane may actually block the AMPK function and therefore needs to be further studied to understand the exact mechanism(7)(8).
Another note on this section, though: regardless of sulforaphane's role with AMPK, it does appear to help regulate adipocytes(9), also known as fat cells. It seems to reduce their growth and needs to be studied further.
In relation to number 5, the study showing sulforaphane's regulation of fat cells also showed that it acts as an antioxidant in monitoring/regulating insulin sensitivity(9). Do you know what the opposite of insulin sensitivity is? Insulin resistance. Do you know the common name for insulin resistance? Prediabetes or even full-blown Type 2 diabetes. Yeah.
As just mentioned, insulin sensitivity in the body is crucial for avoiding chronic health issues down the line... specifically, type 2 diabetes. In a 2012 study on rats with type 1 diabetes (i.e. the kind you can't really cure as of now), insulin sensitivity was still improved in this hard-to-control disease when the rats were administered concentrations of sulforaphane(10). That is huge implications for future studies on both types of diabetes!
In proper conjunction with a few other signaling pathways within the skeletal muscle, a 2012 study(11) found that sulforaphane could have the potential to create anabolic effects in the body's muscle mass. "Anabolic" events are events of growth. See that? #gainz. Had to throw them in there somewhere. This is Flabs to Fitness, after all. :)
Well... thank you for making it with me this far, if that's what you did! As you can see, the benefits of broccoli sprouts largely stem from its high concentrations of sulforaphane. I didn't even go into the other compounds that help the sulforaphane react! For now, just know that you'll get the most out of these little superfoods if you eat them raw (or drink them raw in a smoothie) or only cook them at low temperatures for a short period of time. Examine.com recommends steaming them for no more than 3 minutes to still get the benefits of the sulforaphane.
(1) Myzak MC, et al A novel mechanism of chemoprotection by sulforaphane: inhibition of histone deacetylase. Cancer Res. (2004)
(2) Benavides GA, et al Hydrogen sulfide mediates the vasoactivity of garlic. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. (2007)
(3) Candela, J., Wang, R., White, C. Microvascular Endothelial Dysfunction in Obesity Is Driven by Macrophage-Dependent Hydrogen Sulfide Depletion. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. (2017)
(4) Heiss E, et al Nuclear factor kappa B is a molecular target for sulforaphane-mediated anti-inflammatory mechanisms . J Biol Chem. (2001)
(5) Fragoulis A, et al Sulforaphane has opposing effects on TNF-alpha stimulated and unstimulated synoviocytes . Arthritis Res Ther. (2012)
(6) Stadtman ER Protein oxidation and aging . Science. (1992)
(7) Lee JH, et al Sulforaphane induced adipolysis via hormone sensitive lipase activation, regulated by AMPK signaling pathway . Biochem Biophys Res Commun. (2012)
(8) Garton AJ, Yeaman SJ Identification and role of the basal phosphorylation site on hormone-sensitive lipase . Eur J Biochem. (1990)
(9) Xu J, et al Enhanced Nrf2 Activity Worsens Insulin Resistance, Impairs Lipid Accumulation in Adipose Tissue, and Increases Hepatic Steatosis in Leptin-Deficient Mice . Diabetes. (2012)
(10) de Souza CG, et al Metabolic effects of sulforaphane oral treatment in streptozotocin-diabetic rats . J Med Food. (2012)
(11) Fan H, et al Sulforaphane causes a major epigenetic repression of myostatin in porcine satellite cells . Epigenetics. (2012)
(12) Weil, A. Better boost from broccoli sprouts? Weil. (2012)
"Some are born great,
Some achieve greatness,
And some have greatness thrust upon them."
- William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
Let's achieve greatness together.
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