Odyssey Mail July/August 2017

Odyssey

Jul/ Aug 2017

HEALTH CLUBS & SPA

Steve's 20th Great North Run Scott's 24hr Tennis Marathon for Charity Berberine - Supplement Focus Vitamin D Deficiency New Classes and Beginner Tennis Groups

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Scott's Coaching for 24hrs for Garden House Hospice!

O

dyssey Head Tennis Pro, Scott 'Paco' Paxton has launched an ambitious plan to coach for 24hrs with all the proceeds going to Garden House Hospice.

Scott came up with the energy sapping idea during a marathon tennis match. As Scott says "I hit this wonderful forehand and thought to myself, I could play like this all day so thought I'd try to!"

To make this epic effort a success we will need your support. Scott is making 23, 1 hour coaching slots available to book from 8am on Saturday 12th August to 8am on Sunday 13th August. Bookings will be taken at main reception and each slot will be ÂŁ30. You can share the session with a friend, or if you are feeling really nice, even help Scott on his side of the net as well!

8am Saturday 12th Aug to 8am Sunday 13th Aug! ÂŁ30 per hour

Welcome of you in forthcoming editions!

Phil Richards Blood Profiling Since Phil Richards presented at Odyssey a couple of months ago, some of the team here at Odyssey have chosen to go through the Blood Profiling Test offered by Phil.

The results have been very surprising and have thrown up potential health issues, outside of simple weight loss.

Having said that, in the last month the weight and body fat changes have been between 9-20lbs and 3-9% body fat!

We will have a full article in next months edition but already this cutting edge testing is uncovering health and weight results that will make dramatic differences. philrichardsperformance.co.uk

Welcome to Odyssey!

We have a few new team members to introduce you to this edition;

Spa

Welcome to the team; Elrene, Glacey, Taylor & Alison! The feedback from members has already been really positive. We hope you're settling in well and look forward to focussing on each

Fitness

Dean Calbeck Dean recently joined Odyssey as a Fitness Coach after six and a half years experience in the fitness industry with Nuffield Health, and have also recently achieved First Class Honours in Sport & Exercise Science.

See Lisa Ellis On Stage

If you enjoy amatuer dramatics, why not pop along to see Odyssey's Lisa Ellis performing in Blood Brothers by Willy Russel.

As Lisa states "KatsAct is proud to present Willy Russell's Blood Brothers, the play version, which tells the story of fraternal twins who are separated at birth. It would be great to see some Odyssey members in the crowd!"

My particular interests sit in the area of Strength, Conditioning and Rehabilitation, with experience in this area gained through roles as a Physical Performance Coach and voluntary internships including Derby County Football Club.

I look forward to seeing you in the gym soon!

Saying Goodbye

We wish Ian from the CafĂŠ Bar every success as he ventures to University in America and continue his football career and education.

New Addition

Congratulations to Tajah in The Spa who has had a baby girl. Hayley is due in the next few weeks so we will keep you posted with any developments.

Next Edition

We'll be looking at Ketogenic Diets, more information on Blood Profiling, focus on Arthritis and much more!

A greatClub turn out it looks Jean has won the bingoStevenage, round as well! SG2 8DU Odyssey Health & and Spa, Oldlike Knebworth Lane,

Vitamin D Deficiency There has been a lot of information in the news recently about Vitamin D, as it is such an important vitamin and living in the UK means that we are probably all deficient in it during the winter months.

Here are just a few reasons why we all should be getting enough of it.

Vitamin D comes in a number of forms, but the two most important are, D2 from plants and D3 from animal sources and this is also made in the skin from ultraviolet light (this only occurs in the UK in the spring and summer months). It is a fat-soluble vitamin, which means it is better absorbed with fat, so take it with milk, avocado, yogurt or oily fish. It acts more like a hormone and is known as a prohormone. This takes place once the vitamin enters the circulation it is converted into an active hormone within the kidney cells, called Calcitriol. It is this hormone that has a number of important actions.

Calcitriol regulates the reabsorption of calcium in the kidneys so less is lost in the urine; this being essential for bone health, important for female health and helping to prevent osteoporosis. It plays a role in cardiovascular and brain health, and will support collagen and elastin in the bones and cartilage (stimulating the production of new cartilage within the joints). There have been a number of independent trials that show evidence that it will strengthen the immune system and help depression.

Deficiencies include: thinning of the bones (four out of five people with hip fractures have evidence of vitamin D deficiency – source Dr S Brewer), constipation/diarrhoea, muscle weakness, reoccurring infections, insomnia and irritability.

Foods rich in Vitamin D3: egg yolk, oily fish such as mackerel or salmon, butter, animal liver, yogurt, mushrooms, sprouted seeds and fortified foods almond milk, orange juice and ricotta cheese.

Lisa Knowles lisa@nutriality.com 07956578608

Steve's 20th Great North Run to Raise Money for Breast Cancer Care Steve Grimsley is an intergral part of the Odyssey team, but many of you may never have seen him before. Steve delivers all of our Odyssey Mail's and clocks up a staggering 15 miles every day on his routes!

An ardent Man City fan - but we still like him, Steve is celebrating his 20th Great North Run for Chairty.

As Steve says "To celebrate my 40th birthday in 1994, I entered my first Great North Run in aid of the Francis House Children's Hospice.

I was immediately addicted and so began my love affair with run.

In subsequent years I ran for the hospice and then when my father was diagnosed with Alzheimers, this was my chosen Charity.

Breast Cancer then reared its ugly head in my home and now as I prepare for my 20th Great North Run, Breast Cancer

Care is my chosen Charity. I shall grow and dye my beard pink to match my all pink running attire, which always gets me noticed!

The Great North Run is a superb event and has raised millions for good causes, all I do is run and ask for as much support as possible.

To help my training I have had the pleasure over the past nine years to visit 8,000 homes a month with the Odyssey Mail and the kindness and support received from Odyssey and it's members has been immense".

If you you would like to help Steve on this 20th run, please visit his Just Giving page www.justgiving.com/fundraising/ Steve-Grimsley20gnr Thank you for any help you can give.

Steve.

Beginner

Tennis Groups Tuesdays 18:00 - 19:00 Wednesdays 19:30 - 20:30 If you have wanted to start playing tennis and enjoy a bit more of the outdoor social acitivities in the club, then our new Beginner Tennis Groups are the perfect introduction to the technique basics in a non-competitive environment.

Scott Paxton will guide you through each session as you develop your basic strokes, court fitness and understanding of the game - book now at main reception!

Fitness | Racquets | Spa

Berberine S U P P L E M E N T

F O C U S

B

erberine has been used for thousands of years in traditional Chinese and Ayurvedic medicines. Berberine is a natural alkaloid found in a wide variety of traditional herbs, including goldenseal, barberry, goldthread, tree turmeric and phellodendron.

Berberine extracts are safe and well-known for their broad antibacterial activities — and can help naturally treat conditions without always resorting to antibiotics, as currently we have a very serious and growing problem of antibiotic resistance in this country. Berberine has been proven to have many other pharmacological effects including being antimicrobial, anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory and blood glucose–lowering.

Nutritional Background of Berberine There is a robust amount of research on berberine that has been conducted to date with repeated double-blind clinical trials. Findings of these studies have shown definitive or likely benefits for a very wide range of serious health ailments, including:

Anti-aging Diabetes Gastrointestinal infections Heart disease High cholesterol Hypertension (high blood pressure) Immune challenges Joint problems Low bone density Weight control

Benefits of Berberine Diabetes As the rate of diabetes is rising steadily around the world, studies are showing that berberine deserves a place amongst other natural remedies for diabetes.

During one study, berberine was found to lower blood glucose, helping to prevent and treat type II diabetes and its complications, including diabetic cardiovascular disease and diabetic neuropathies.

One of the most impressive studies on berberine compared taking 500 milligrams of the compound two to three times daily for three months with taking the common diabetes drug metformin. Berberine was able to control blood sugar and lipid metabolism as effectively as metformin, with researchers describing berberine as a “potent oral hypoglycemic agent.”

Additional studies have also indicated that berberine improves glucose and lipid metabolism disorders.

More particularly, a study published in EvidenceBased Complementary and Alternative Medicine that berberine can improve insulin sensitivity by adjusting adipokine secretion.

Obesity Due to serious adverse effects and the limited effectiveness of currently available pharmaceutical therapies for obesity, many research efforts have been focusing on the creation of natural treatments for obesity — including anti-obesity drugs from natural products.

Along those lines, berberine is one of the few compounds known to activate adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase or AMPK. AMPK is an enzyme inside the human body’s cells,

which is often called a “metabolic master switch” since it plays a crucial role in regulating metabolism.

AMPK activation boosts fat burning in the mitochondria.

Studies have demonstrated that berberine prevented fat accumulation in the human body.

treatment of SIBO is limited to oral antibiotics with inconsistent success. More and more, people who suffering from SIBO are interested in using complementary and alternative therapies for their gastrointestinal health.

In one pilot study published in Phytomedicine, obese human subjects (caucasian) were given 500 milligrams of berberine orally three times per day for a total of 12 weeks. Overall, this study demonstrated that berberine is a potent lipid-lowering compound with a moderate weight loss effect.

The objective of one study published by Global Advances in Health and Medicine was to determine the remission rate of SIBO using an antibiotic versus an herbal remedy. It found that the herbal treatment, which included berberine, worked just as well as antibiotic treatment and was equally safe.

Alzheimer’s disease Studies have evaluated the therapeutic potential of berberine against neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and traumainduced neurodegeneration.

Heart Health Part of berberine’s positive effect on heart health likely stems from the compound’s ability to help keep blood sugar levels and obesity in check, both of which can raise the risk of coronary heart disease. Berberine also stimulates the release of nitric oxide (NO), a The promising results seen so far provide a convincing signaling molecule that relaxes the arteries, increases and substantial basis to support further scientific blood flow, lowers blood pressure and protects exploration and development of the therapeutic against arteriosclerosis. potential of berberine against neurodegenerative diseases.

Lung Health Berberine’s potent anti-inflammatory properties are Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth or SIBO also excellent for lung health. Berberine has been Patients who suffer from small intestine bacterial shown to reduce the effect of cigarette smokeovergrowth (SIBO) symptoms have excessive induced acute lung inflammation. bacteria in their small intestines. Present conventional

Ladies Racquet Day Saturday 29th July 12:00 - 16:00

Scott Paxton is hosting a fantastic activities day including: Tennis, Table Tennis, Badminton & Squash.

Booking is essential.

Refreshments and treats will be provided!

IV Vit C & Cancer

low in their plasma C levels. Interestingly enough, the cancer patients he was seeing had VERY LOW vitamin C reserves. This matched scientific literature documenting low vitamin C levels in cancer patients.

Cancer cells were actively taking up vitamin C in a way that depleted tissue reserves of C.

Irwin Stone was an early thinker and writer about vitamin C (its scientific name is ascorbic acid). He knew it would be an uphill battle to change the way the medical profession viewed vitamin C. While most doctors accept that scurvy is a vitamin C deficiency illness, few have made the rather humongous jump to seeing high dose intravenous vitamin C as a major player in the management of cancer.

PET scans are commonly ordered by oncologists to evaluate their cancer patients for metastases (cancer spread to other organs). What is actually injected into the patient at the start of the scan is radioactive glucose. Cancer cells are anaerobic obligates, which means they depend upon glucose as their primary source of metabolic fuel. Cancer cells employ transport mechanisms called glucose transporters to actively pull in glucose.

There is actually a wide spectrum of medical uses for vitamin C. Evidence exists documenting it as the best antiviral agent now available ... IF used at the proper dose. Vitamin C can neutralize and eliminate a wide range of toxins. Vitamin C will enhance host resistance, greatly augmenting the immune system’s ability to neutralize bacterial and fungal infections. Now the National Institutes of Health has published evidence demonstrating vitamin C’s anti-cancer properties. With so many medical benefits, why do so few doctors know of them?

In the vast majority of animals, vitamin C is synthesized from glucose in only four metabolic steps. Hence, the molecular shape of vitamin C is remarkably similar to glucose. (Figure 1) Cancer cells will actively transport vitamin C into themselves, possibly because they mistake it for glucose. Another plausible explanation is that they are using the vitamin C as an antioxidant. Regardless, the vitamin C accumulates in cancer cells.

If large amounts of vitamin C are presented to cancer cells, large amounts will be absorbed. In these unusually large concentrations, the antioxidant One explanation stems from ascorbic acid’s vitamin C will start behaving as a pro-oxidant as designation as a “vitamin.” Consider Dorland’s it interacts with intracellular copper and iron. This Illustrated Medical Dictionary’s definition of chemical interaction produces small amounts of vitamin: A general term for a number of unrelated hydrogen peroxide. organic substances that occur in many foods in small amounts that are necessary in trace amounts Because cancer cells are relatively low in an for the normal metabolic functioning of the body. intracellular anti-oxidant enzyme called catalase, As a vitamin, only a minuscule 60 mg of ascorbic the high dose vitamin C induction of peroxide will acid is needed to prevent the emergence of scurvy continue to build up until it eventually destroys symptoms. As a medical treatment for cancer and the cancer cell from the inside out! This effectively life-threatening infections and toxic exposures, tens makes high dose IVC a non-toxic chemotherapeutic of thousands of milligrams of ascorbic acid must be agent that can be given in conjunction with administered, often by the intravenous (IV) as well conventional cancer treatments. Based on the as the oral route. work of several vitamin C pioneers before him, Dr. Riordan was able to prove that vitamin C was The Center’s founder, Dr. Hugh Riordan, was a true selectively toxic to cancer cells if given intravenously. scientist who believed in the power of scientific This research was recently reproduced and measurement over dogma. With the establishment published by Dr. Mark Levine at the National of The Center in 1975, he routinely checked Institutes of Health. plasma vitamin C levels in chronically ill patients.

He found these sick patients to be consistently As feared by many oncologists, small doses may

actually help the cancer cells because small amounts of vitamin C may help the cancer cells arm themselves against the free-radical induced damage caused by chemotherapy and radiation.

Only markedly higher doses of vitamin C will selectively build up as peroxide in the cancer cells to the point of acting in a manner similar to chemotherapy. These tumor-toxic dosages can only be obtained by intravenous administration.

overall. These things promote a better response to their cancer therapy.

IVC has been used for three decades here at The Center. There have been no serious complications, but there are a couple of potential complications that need to be screened for. Because vitamin C enhances iron absorption, iron overload must be ruled out. The high sodium load of IVC can create a fluid overload in a patient with congestive heart Over a span of 15 years of vitamin C research, Dr. failure, renal insufficiency or failure. We also check Riordan’s RECNAC (cancer spelled backwards) our patients for G6PD deficiency (an enzyme research team generated 20 published papers used to maintain stability of the red blood cell on vitamin C and cancer. RECNAC even inspired membranes). Although many physicians worry that its second cancer research institute, known as large doses of vitamin C may cause kidney stones, RECNAC II, at the University of Puerto Rico. we have rarely seen the phenomenon, and several This group recently published an excellent huge clinical trials in the medical literature refute paper in Integrative Cancer Therapies, titled this misconception.

“Orthomolecular Oncology Review: Ascorbic Acid and Cancer 25 Years Later.” RECNAC data To summarize, most organisms make their own has shown that vitamin C is toxic to tumor vitamin C. When they are under stress, either by cells without sacrificing the performance of illness or injury, Mother Nature has provided them chemotherapy. with a means to facilitate healing: they synthesize more ascorbic acid. As a result, they are in less pain, Intravenous vitamin C also does more than just they remain active, they can sleep, and they have a kill cancer cells. It boosts immunity. It can stimulate better appetite: all functions which promote healing. collagen formation to help the body wall off the tumor. It inhibits hyaluronidase, an enzyme that Dr. Riordan once said that here at The Center, we tumors use to metastasize and invade other don’t treat cancer... we treat people who happen organs throughout the body. It induces apoptosis to have cancer. IVC is a tool that allows our Center to help program cancer cells into dying early. It physicians to harness a healing mechanism that corrects the almost universal scurvy in cancer our human ancestors lost long ago: the ability to patients. Cancer patients are tired, listless, bruise dramatically increase tissue levels of vitamin C. easily, and have a poor appetite. They don’t sleep Research shows that the astonishingly high levels well and have a low threshold for pain. This achievable only by IVC not only help fight the risk adds up to a very classic picture of scurvy that of infection and the pain of metastases, they actually generally goes unrecognized by their conventional aid in the defeat of the cancer cells themselves, physicians. through a very elegant mechanism that does no harm to healthy cells. It’s a discovery that the When Center cancer patients receive IVC, medical world is only beginning to discover. they report that their pain level goes down, and that they are better able to tolerate their Ron Hunninghake, M.D., chemotherapy. They bounce back quicker since Chief Medical Officer, Olive W. Garvey Center for the IVC reduces the toxicity of the chemotherapy Healing Arts and radiation without compromising their cancer cell killing effects. IVC is complementary to oncologic care. IVC is not “either/or” - it’s a good “both/and” proposition. IVC can help cancer patients withstand the effects of their traditional therapies, heal faster, be more resilient to infection, develop a better appetite, and remain more active