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Do Your Insides Spell Trouble for Your Outsides? (Part 2)

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January 20, 2010
	Jo Wehage : Head Operations Ego

Since we now have a bigger appreciation for cell membranes and quality bouncers everywhere from part 1 of our story, let’s step just inside the doors of the exclusive A-list night club called The Cell. Here we meet the next two sets of players in our tale; the brains of the place and the dancing queens. And oh…do you hear the rumbling? There might be trouble brewing outside.

Player #2: The Brains of the Place (nucleus)
As we make our way past the bouncer (cell membrane) we can see a lot of activity going on in this club, but it’s apparent right away who’s at the controls. It’s the club’s mixer and disk jockey (or in cellular terms, the nucleus).

The nucleus serves as the cell’s brain, containing the genetic material that not only dictates all the activity in the cell, but also determines exactly what kind of cell we’re in.

The disk jockey (nucleus) in muscle cells might be playing high energy pop music, while the cells in your liver are switching over to some meditation CD’s to help detox your last late night activities. The disk jockey is clearly in charge in here and everyone in the place marches to her beat.

Further earning the title of ‘Cellular Brainiac’ our little disk jockeys also communicate with the rest of the body so they know just what kind of activity and when it needs to be instigated in the cell for maximum benefit for the body as a whole.

Stop the Music?
The only people that can influence which song our nucleus disk jockey plays are carcinogens and toxins that alter or tweak the nucleus play list.  They often threaten our disc jockey with bodily harm, but fortunately the presence of Officer D. McGillicutty, local law enforcement (vitamin D) can help set things right. If he appears at the right time he can fix the scratch on the mangled CD’s so that the song remains the same.

Player #3 to 30,003: Dancing Queens (mitochondria)
Like all the best A-list clubs, there’s nothing like a good dance floor full of dancing queens to get the energy flowing. In your cell, those dancing queens are called mitochondria and they are the key manufacturers of energy.

Blink, breath, sway your hips to the music, you owe it all to your active mitochondria. The performance of the mitochondria in your cells is directly related to how your body uses energy. The more active your mitochondria, the more calories your body will use for energy.

The dance floor in this club can hold thousands of dancing mitochondria. The number and activity level of each is directly related to a healthy lifestyle.

It is the mitochondria that convert the food you eat into energy, so you want to keep these dancers in top form. The better you feed them, the more active they become. How do you do that?

A Dancer’s Diet Plan
Much like the smart and flexible bouncers at the door (cell membrane), the dancing mitochondria need the right types of fat to keep themselves in their finest form.

As we mentioned in part one, those fats included; Raw nuts and seeds, avocados, extra-virgin coconut oil, chia seeds, flax seeds, cold-water fish, fish oils and extra-virgin olive oil. 

Other key factors to ensure the healthiest mitochondria in Boogie Cell Town include drinking more water and eating more fruits and vegetables which contain the anti-oxidants that protect the mitochondria from party crashers.

Continue on page 2 for:
Trouble in Cellular Paradise
Blame it on the Crowd
Thankgoodness for Neighborhood Revitalization
Action Steps