by Ward W. Bond, PhD.

Millions of Americans never think twice about the foods they ingest and go along with life never reaching the full potential of what a healthy body can do for them.

Millions enter the doctor’s office with news of heart disease, diabetes, fatigue, obesity, and yes cancer. Every disease is preventable and it all has to do with what we put in our mouth. Think about eating a simple red apple. That apple contains a power that we take for granted. The apple provides vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, enzymes and fiber that will play a part in providing health to every area of the body.

The pectin, the fiber in the apple works like a broom inside your arteries keeping them clean. We want our blood to flow don’t we? Apples do that! Apples are high in Vitamin A, which maintains healthy eyes and skin as well as giving power to our immune system. This fruit contains excellent levels of Vitamin K, which helps our blood to clot in case we cut ourselves or to prevent nosebleeds. Ever have that problem? Eat an apple! Also, they contain high levels of folate that is needed for prevention of neural tube defects in unborn babies and prevents anemia in kids and adults. Did you know the vitamin Choline is found in the apple? Choline is used for brain health, nervous system health, liver function and along with the pectin found in the apple to keep your arteries clean, the Choline is used to keep bad cholesterol from getting too high. Daily intake of apples have proven to increase muscle strength, increase energy, stamina and endurance. Who knew the apple was a true superfood!

Now, think about this for a moment. That’s the power of the apple. Just one natural food! Now, think if you ate a variety of natural foods every day? Apples, dark leafy greens, yellow, orange, purple, blue fruits and vegetables. Add nuts and seeds, legumes, drink water not sodas and keep going! This is LIFE! People want better health, but it can’t be found in the aisles of the supermarket! It’s only found in the ‘produce’ department, a garden, an organic co-op. Live food is not a fad, it’s the very food God created to feed and nourish His creation!

We have millions of people eating drive thru food, eating out every day for lunch and dinner going through life like living zombies and end up in shock when the doctor tells them they are overweight, have high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease and yes, cancer. Why are these people shocked? The simple answer believe it or not is they were never taught or told. Well, you’ve been tipped off to a better way of life.
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Eat Life. Get Life Back. Simple Truth. 

by Ward W. Bond, PhD
​
Quercetin is truly a hidden jewel in foods that promote improvements in cardiovascular health, cancer prevention and in our immune system. That’s just a small part that this amazing nutrient can do.

Quercetin occurs naturally in a variety of brightly colored plant-based foods. This flavonoid compound has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and may help lower the risk of cancer and heart disease while decreasing blood pressure.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, capers contain one of the highest natural concentrations of quercetin. Canned capers, which are the salt-brined flower buds of the Capparis spinosa plant, contain 173 milligrams of quercetin in every 3.5 ounces, or 14.8 milligrams in a typical 1-tablespoon serving. Use capers in salads, dips, pasta dishes and as a flavor-enhancing addition to sauces for seafood or poultry. Capers are high in sodium. To decrease their sodium content and control the saltiness they add to foods, rinse them thoroughly before using.1

All types of onions are high in quercetin. Raw red onions contain 33.4 milligrams of the compound in every 3.5 ounces, while raw white onions supply 21.4 milligrams, scallions have 18.3 milligrams and fresh sweet onions contain 14.8 milligrams. Cooked onions have 24.4 milligrams of the compound in each 3.5-ounce serving. To get the most quercetin out of your onions, use them promptly after purchase. Onions can lose more than 25 percent of their quercetin content if they're stored over a week.2

Fruits with a dark red or blue hue have the highest quercetin content. These include cranberries, which contain 15 milligrams in every 3.5 ounces; raw black plums, with 12.5 milligrams per serving; and blueberries, which have 5 milligrams. Chokeberries, black currants, apples and cherries are also good sources of quercetin. A 2002 article published in "Nutrition" reported that foods prepared by boiling lost a significant amount of quercetin due to contact with heat and water. Whenever possible, eat quercetin-rich fruits raw or only lightly cooked.3

First, let’s talk about its absorption. Like Turmeric, it must be combined to a carrier nutrient, in this case, Quercetin is best combined with the pineapple enzyme bromelain for maximum effectiveness.

Here are few facts as to why we need Quercetin everyday:

• Quercetin is a one of the pigment molecules responsible for the bright colors in fruits and vegetables.
• Studies suggest that quercetin’s anti-inflammatory and antihistamine properties could reduce asthma attacks triggered by allergies just like it helps relive nasal allergies.
• Quercetin may reduce histamine release in people with seasonal allergies by 96% according to one study.
• Quercetin’s antihistamine properties may help you avoid a scar.
  • Studies show that it blocks insulin-like growth factor (IGF), a protein known to promote the excess collagen produced in keloids.
• Quercetin is excellent for allergies due to its natural antihistamine action.
• Quercetin is excellent to reduce prostate gland pain caused by infections and maybe used for prostate enlargement discomfort.

 
Cancer Benefits
Quercetin is a flavonol type of flavonoid, one of the most prevalent polyphenols in the vegetables and fruits we eat, including the beverages derived from them (like wine and juices). In addition to the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and immune-boosting benefits studies have shown quercetin offers, research suggests it may act to prevent the development of new cancer and therapeutically arrest and even regress existing cancer growth.

•  Quercetin triggers apoptosis. Apoptosis is a controlled self-destruction where the cell breaks itself down into easily absorbed debris. We must remember healthy cells have a life cycle. They are born and at a given time they will die and be replaced by a new cell. Cancer cells generally do not have a life cycle of sorts. They are born, but they don’t die on their own leaving them to grow uncontrollably until the host dies or an agent is brought to destroy them before they destroy the actual host (the body in this case).4
• Quercetin can act as a natural chemopreventive agent. Studies suggest that quercetin can inhibit the occurrence of new, primary cancers, and halt the progress of existing tumor growth. One of the ways it does this is by blocking angiogenesis, the action in which a cancer cell creates  new blood vessels that tumors need to feed new growth.
  • Did you know radiation therapy can actually cause angiogenesis? This action can be blocked when radiotherapy is administered with polyphenols that inhibit the growth of new blood vessels. Polyphenols represent non-toxic alternatives to synthetic anti-angiogenesis drugs, and may be more effective because they act on multiple (rather than specific) proteins—blocking the tumor cells from producing more proteins in an effort to survive and use other pathways to grow. This multiple-protein effect by polyphenols helps to avoid the risk of drug resistance that often develops in cancer cells.
• Quercetin has also shown anti-metastasis action. By blocking cancer cells from degrading and penetrating the membrane barrier that separates living cells from the nonliving, structural extracellular matrix in the body, quercetin has been shown to prevent certain cancers from infiltrating the blood stream and spreading into the surrounding and distant tissue.5

 
References
1-3. Foods With the Highest Content of Quercetin. Michelle Kerns
4. Goodsell, David S. Molecule of the Month: Caspases. RCSB: Protein Data Bank (PDB); Rutgers University & University of California, San Diego. [Online] August 2004. http://www.rcsb.org/pdb/static.do?p=education_discussion/molecule_of_the_month/pdb56_1.html.
5. Sagar, S.M., Yance, M.H. and Wong, R.K. Current Oncology: Natural health products that inhibit angiogenesis: a potential source for investigational new agents to treat cancer—Part 1. PubMed: U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health. [Online] February 2006. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1891166/.
 
Disclaimer: This website is not intended to replace professional consultation, diagnosis, or treatment by a licensed physician. If you require any medical related advice, contact your physician promptly. Information at DrWardBond.com is exclusively of a general reference nature. Do not disregard medical advice or delay treatment as a result of accessing information at this site.
 

1. Banana Facial Masks
Who needs Botox when you have bananas? That's right: You can use a banana as an all-natural, homemade facial mask that moisturizes your skin and leaves it looking and feeling softer. Mash up a medium-sized ripe banana into a smooth paste, then gently apply it to your face and neck. Let it set for 10 to 20 minutes, then rinse it off with cold water. Another popular mask recipe calls for 1/4 cup plain yogurt, 2 tablespoons honey, and 1 medium banana.

2. Vinegar Facial Masks
Using vinegar as a skin toner dates back to the time of Helen of Troy, and it’s just as effective today. After you wash your face, mix 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar with 2 cups water as a finishing rinse to cleanse and tighten your skin. You can also create a homemade facial mask by mixing 1/4 cup cider vinegar with 1/4 cup water. Gently apply the solution to your face and let it dry.

3. Oatmeal Facial Masks
If you're looking for a quick pick-me-up that will leave you feeling and looking better, give yourself an oatmeal facial. Combine 1/2 cup hot—not boiling—water and 1/3 cup oatmeal. After the water and oatmeal have settled for two or three minutes, mix in 2 tablespoons plain yogurt, 2 tablespoons honey, and 1 small egg white. Apply a thin layer of the mask to your face, and let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes. Then rinse with warm water. (Be sure to place a metal or plastic strainer in your sink to avoid clogging the drain with the granules.)

4. Yogurt Facial Masks
You don't have to go to a spa to give your face a quick assist. To cleanse your skin and tighten the pores, slather some plain yogurt on your face and let it sit for about 20 minutes. For a revitalizing facial mask, mix 1 teaspoon plain yogurt with the juice from 1/4 slice of orange, some of the orange pulp, and 1 teaspoon aloe. Leave the mixture on your face for at least five minutes before rinsing it off.

​5. Lemon Facial Masks
Create a facial that both exfoliates and moisturizes by mixing the juice from 1 lemon with 1/4 cup olive oil or sweet almond oil.

We all want energy. We all want to feel good and energetic to what we need to get done as well as want to get done. How many of you drag your feet to the floor once you wake up and wish you could just hit a button and be ready to get going out the door? How many desire to exercise, but you just don’t have that extra push you need to get going?

Well, I’ve found an answer to those dilemmas. I recently tried a new energy supplement called Peak Energy. What caught my eye was the slogan ‘Feel the D-Ribose Difference’. For those of you who do not know what D-Ribose is, it’s a 5 carbon sugar that we are born with and produced within the mitochondria of our cells and part of the ATP energy cycle. Without ribose, you essentially have rigor mortis while alive. How many of you feel you have rigor mortis now (you don’t, only happens when you die) and need to be raised from the dead?

Ribose is the molecule of life. We need it for a healthy heart and muscular function. Millions of people have deficient levels of ribose to do normal daily tasks. Stress, poor diet, sedentary lifestyles, lack of rest, illness and disease can lead to unsatisfactory levels of ribose in your body leading to chronic fatigue.  

Ribose is the nutrient used by many professional and Olympic athletes. Numerous cardiovascular and musculoskeletal studies praise the action of ribose in the human body. I’ve taken ribose for years and truly understand and feel its benefits.

So what is Peak Energy? It’s a fast acting energy tablet that contains D-Ribose, Vitamins B6, B12, B5 (Pantothenic Acid, B3 (Niacinamide) and a bit of caffeine.

I have been trying Peak Energy for a few weeks now and I love it. With late nights after a lecture or writing or filming, it gets me going in the morning without grabbing a cup or two of coffee. I instantly feel in the difference within 15 minutes. The packets contain 2 tablets and I find myself only using one in the morning and save the other one if I want to avoid any afternoon energy let down. I’m on the go all the time and having healthy energy is very important to me. I lecture every week, and I’ve been taking one tablet an hour before speaking and still have energy after I’m done. On those long film days, I still have energy afterwards to enjoy the day or night.

The one thing people desire to have and retain is their energy levels. People drink millions of gallons of coffee per day and eating a poor diet. I’m not saying Peak Energy is the magical quick fix, but if you need that instant push to get going and get things done, your job, your workout or just want to have energy to be with friends and family, then Peak Energy is your winning ticket to a more energetic productive life.

Check out Peak Energy at GetPeakEnergy.com and start conquering your day like never before! Now it’s your turn to get peak energy in your life so you can live life like life is to be lived…at its peak! 

This article was written under the influence of Peak Energy. 

​Ward W. Bond, PhD