Can You Use Theanine As An Autism Supplement?

Autism is a developmental condition that can be difficult to deal with and is surprisingly common as well. It is a neurological developmental disorder, characterized by problems with social development and communication, and children with autism often perform repetitive or compulsive tasks.

Widely believed to be genetic in nature, cues or stresses from the environment can trigger or worsen these sorts of conditions. You've may have heard some of the controversial arguments about the possible link of certain vaccines and autism- we're not going to get into that in this article. Rather, I'd like to discuss a supplement called theanine and it's potential for helping those with autism.

Theanine is an amino acid commonly found in tea and also available as a supplement. One of the interesting properties of theanine is that it can cross the blood-brain barrier.
Your brain does not use blood for nourishment like the rest of your body. Rather, the central nervous system is supplied by a filtrate of blood called cerebro-spinal fluid (CSF). This is the fluid drawn off and tested in a "spinal tap".

Most substances including medications cannot pass this barrier and get filtered out. Some thing can make it through, and therefore can have an effect on the brain, like theanine.
Studies suggest theanine can affect levels of neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin. More importantly, theanine has been shown to increase alpha wave activity in the brain.

Alpha waves are brain patterns which are typically referred to as "wakeful relaxation". Think of being awake and alert but with your eyes closed and being very calm. That's an alpha wave state.

Some believe that by encouraging the alpha wave state in the brain, some of the symptoms of autism could be alleviated. While there are no studies specifically on this, it does seem to make some sense physiologically. It's certainly not a cure, but it is possible that it may help.
If you're wondering if theanine really promotes alpha waves and calm, our very own Rita swears by it to calm herself down for the dentist!

There isn't any reason not to try it. Theanine is extremely safe and has been shown to be safe even at high doses.

Source article: Theaninie Autism Supplement?

Red Meat Not Bad For You After All

Good news for steak lovers. New research shows that the long-standing theory that red meat is a big part of heart disease, diabetes, and other chronic ailments isn't correct after all.

Instead, the main issue appears to be with PROCESSED meats. It appears that in previous research, the researchers simply lumped all forms of red meat together, whether or not it was processed. So, people eating grass-fed steak (a healthy variety of red meat) got lumped in the same category as somebody eating a ketchup-covered hamburger with a side of french fries.

Since most of the red meat in this country is processed, this creates the appearance that ALL red meat is bad for you. However, once you seperate out the actual true physiological cause of chronic heart disease and other complaints, it becomes evident that the real problem is in the processing of the meat, and also, what is consumed along with it.

People rarely eat hamburgers without a soda and fries, right? And so if I'm a researcher and I see that everybody eating hamburgers is fat and has heart disease, I might assume it's become of the red meat, not the fact that the people involved are also eating tons of fried, salty potatoes and sugar-rich soda.

There's actually nothing wrong with red meat. In fact, grass-fed cattle produce a very healthy meat balanced in Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids (I've posted articles before on this in relation to fish oils). So don't run away from a nice, grass-fed steak... just don't smother it in sugary barbeque sauce and eat a pile of french fries with it!

Source file: Red Meat Bad for You?

How Sugar Makes You Fat

Have you heard of terms like “glycemic index”? How about just “low carb diets”? There’s a ton of buzz out there about sugar and sugary foods and how they make you fat, but not a lot of people know just how that whole thing works.

It’s not magic. It’s actually a pretty straightforward mechanism.

It’s all about insulin, a hormone that your body uses to remove sugar from the bloodstream. When sugar is released into the blood by digestion, the body releases insulin to clear it out.

When sugar levels rise slowly, there’s no problem. The problem arises when blood sugar levels spike from consuming high-glycemic (sugary carbs) food.

When that happens, your body also will spike your insulin levels to meet with the sugar demand. This is where we start running into problems.

High levels of insulin tell the body to store and keep fat. In fact, with high insulin levels, you’ll keep fat even if you’ve cut your calories down and feel like you’re starving.

In addition, insulin blocks the action of glucagon, the hormone that your body uses to use up fat as a fuel source, so it turns into a double-barrel problem.

Make that triple! Insulin also blocks the action of growth hormone, which also burns up fat and also is involved with the creation of new muscle growth. So, high levels of insulin have a multi-pronged effect on your body. Think of it as the Triple Threat of Fatness.

As your blood sugar levels start to drop due to the action of insulin,that signals your body to start feeling hungry. So, not only does insulin keep you fat, it makes you want to eat more! And especially, it makes you want to eat more carbs!

So, it shouldn’t seem too surprising that high-carb, high-sugar diets make us fat. With insulin levels jumping all over the place, making us fat and hungry at the same time, it’s a recipe for disaster!
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