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RUNNING ON
EMPTY
Solving Your
Personal Energy Crisis
by Lynn Hinderliter, CN, LDN
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It
is a rare and fortunate person who has never reached the end of the day -
or paused half way through it - or got out of bed in the morning - and
thought: I just can't do any more - I'm EXHAUSTED'. In
fact, fatigue is one of the most common complaints I hear.
Remember, though, that persistent debilitating exhaustion should be
checked out by your Doctor - it may be a sign of something seriously awry.
Lack of
Energy is not a simple problem , and determining the possible cause
of fatigue is more than half the battle.
Sometimes,
the stage of life one is at can point to the most likely reason:
However, any of the following conditions can cause fatigue
at any age - more information on each as you continue to read.
Adrenal
Exhaustion
The age we live in now differs from all
that has gone before because rather than occasionally being subjected to
one BIG shock, we experience a series of small shocks all day every day.
For most people in the past - times of war, famine or other unique
circumstances excepted - life was pretty humdrum: you lived where
you lived, did what you did, and day succeeded day. Not so for us moderns!
We deal with environmental toxins, fear of
petty crime and urban dangers, drugs (to include medical, alcohol, over
the counter, recreational, caffeine), unhealthy foods eaten in a rush, or
missed meals, mental and emotional stress from our families and at work,
financial worries, insomnia, traffic, time constraints, allergies - the
list is endless. The demands on our body's reserves are pitiless and
incessant.
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All
of these stressors adversely affect the adrenals.
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While
they may not be stimulated to the level of fight or flight reaction
stage which causes the production of epinephrine and norepinephrine,
they are continuously stimulated to increase their production of Cortisol. This
low-level stimulation over a period of time will exhaust them: both
high (long term, continual stimulation) or low (eventual failure to
respond) levels of Cortisol are devastating to many body systems.
Chronic Stress response,
therefore, can lead to problems with energy production, regulatory
problems with bone, the kidneys and fat storage, and altered immune
function.
Eventually the Adrenal glands,
the Major-Generals of Stress Reaction, will no longer respond to the cry
for action: they are depleted beyond the point of function. The
situation is made worse by a lack of the nutrients essential to
proper adrenal function, and also by a shift in the acid/alkaline
state of the body. Both your body and mind can experience this
overwhelming feeling of exhaustion.
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What
are some possible clues that you may have Adrenal Problems?
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weakness
dizziness
fatigue
irritability
low blood sugar
depression
a feeling of weakness in the muscles
Inflammatory conditions
apathy
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anorexia
reduced libido
allergies
chronic pain
sleep
problems/insomnia
increased cholesterol
thyroid problems
digestive disorders
reduced immune defenses
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A simple home test for adrenal
failure is to take your blood pressure while you are lying down, then take
it again after rising to your feet. If it is lower when you are standing
up than when you are lying down - this may suggest a problem.
Suspect this if you get dizzy when standing up suddenly.
An
effective saliva test is
available reasonably.
I
also offer an even more sophisticated
system, which measures Adrenal response at 4 times during the day,
together with the marker that can tell whether your immune system is
being affected by infections, allergies and/or environmental toxins.
(these test are not longer available)
(This is an excerpt
from my article on Stress and the Adrenals: more about the Adrenals,
Stress, and how to address it here)
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Allergies
Persistent allergies and intolerances,
whether from food or from environmental factors, can contribute to lack of
energy.
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Allergies
can cause sleep problems through nasal congestion and disturbed sleep
patterns which undermine our rest.
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Allergies
are health stressors which drag down our systems and cause fatigue.
The
Coca
pulse test can help you identify food allergens/intolerances,
and avoiding those foods will bring about an improvement. Adding
digestive enzymes, and histamine lowering substances such as
vitamin C, bromelain and quercetin can also help correct this
underlying and subtle attack on your defenses.
(Read a more
extensive article on
Allergies
here.)
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Thyroid
Problems.
The Adrenals affect the thyroid directly
through an excess of Cortisol which stimulates rT3, an
inhibitor of T3, or through a deficiency, causing high levels of
DHEA to interfere with the conversion of T4 to T3.
There are also indirect connections,
through immune response for example.
The Thyroid gland is the
regulator of our metabolism, and therefore hugely important to how we
feel, look and think, most particularly affecting our energy levels.
It is fascinating to look at the complex
relationship between the adrenals, certain sex hormones, and thyroid
function, but somewhat beyond my scope here. For more details , look
for the link in
RESOURCES.
The
Immune system can be intimately involved in thyroid
imbalances. In fact, uncomplicated low thyroid measurements could
almost be considered a mild immune disorder, and a more serious
manifestation is called Hashimoto's disease: a number of factors
might be combining to "cause our immune
systems to make antibodies against our own thyroid glands. If you have a
family history of low thyroid, diabetes, or other rheumatic/autoimmune
illness, then almost any serious physical or mental stress might trigger
the primed immune system into mischievous action against the thyroid, one
of its favorite body targets." Full text at http://www.thyroid-info.com/articles/shamesautoimm.htm.
Imbalances in estrogen and
progesterone can block receptor sites for thyroid uptake. It is therefore
critical for women to determine whether their sex hormones are in balance
before turning to the thyroid as the only problem, since addressing one
without the other will often be ineffective.
Exposure to radiation is
something we need to be aware of too, as our atmosphere thins.
Smoking is a prime cause of thyroid problems of all types (see
NEJM article at http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/333/15/1001), and there is some evidence that suggests
that eating too much soy may also be problematic. The fluoride
connection cannot be ignored (more
at http://thyroid.about.com/library/weekly/aa042801a.htm).
The important point is that before addressing
the thyroid with medication, it can be worthwhile (if your health
professional agrees)
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first,
to look at adrenal function and if necessary correct it
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and
second, to see whether supporting the thyroid with the nutrients it
needs to function properly can make the difference.
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Remember,
once you are on synthetic thyroid, you are on it for life:
the gland itself ceases to function altogether.
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Nor
is long-term use of thyroxine without its risks since it has been
connected to osteoporosis. This seems to be a dose dependent
reaction, since Thyroxine replacement that normalizes thyroid-stimulating
hormone but does not completely suppress it appears to be associated with
normal bone density. This is a very difficult balance to achieve,
entailing continuous monitoring, and not a risk I personally would like to
take until I had tried other avenues! There are warnings about its
use where heart problems are present, and it needs careful monitoring in
diabetics (more at http://journal.diabetes.org/clinicaldiabetes/v18n12000/Pg38.htm). Last but not least, treating with thyroid hormone
therapy before testing the Adrenals can make the latter condition worse.
All of which is an argument for trying a more
holistic approach first. It doesn't seem sensible to take a synthetic
hormone, when your body may simply be lacking what it needs to control its
own production. The guidelines below for nourishing your thyroid might
also serve as an illustration of how to correct a faulty diet.
If you have recently started taking Synthroid, you might
consider asking your Doctor to switch you to Armour (http://www.armourthyroid.com/),
which is a more natural form of the hormone. Doctors used to be reluctant
to prescribe this because of perceived problems in consistency, but this
is no longer a problem.
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Addressing a Faulty
Diet.
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Eat
foods high in carotenes, ones with rich color such as yellow
vegetables, eggs, carrots, and dark green vegetables. Blueberries and
other berries, mangoes, melons are also good choices.
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Stay
away from refined foods, saturated fats, sugars, and white flour
products.
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Don't
buy products, buy ingredients!
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Choose
50 % of your foods fresh, (preferably organically grown to
avoid more chemicals) since live foods contain their own enzymes and
help the body to balance metabolism. These would include
sprouts, salads, raw vegetables.
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Generally,
if you have low thyroid function, avoid brussel sprouts,
rutabaga, turnips, cauliflower, African cassava, millet,
cabbage, kale, mustard greens, peaches and pears
as they are considered goitrogenic, or thyroid lowering. (Cooking them
may possibly deactivate the enzyme responsible for that effect.)
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Choose
these foods that nourish the thyroid: fish, sea vegetables
(kelp, kombu, dulse, hijike, wakame, nori and others).
Choose foods rich in zinc and copper, such as: beef, oatmeal,
chicken, eggs, mushrooms, seafood, dried beans, spinach, all kinds of
seeds and nuts, brewer's yeast and raisins.
If you are hyper-thyroid, reverse those
instructions.
Supplementation is important: I
recommend either
THYMATE
as a multivitamin, because of its immune balancing properties, or the
powdered Life Essence because of its Superfood content and easy
absorption.
Add Kelp tablets, and consider
L-Tyrosine
and a raw Thyroid glandular.
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Faulty
Cellular Chemistry
Energy for all our body systems is produced
at the cellular level, in tiny organelles called Mitochondria.
Put simply, if they cannot or do not get what they need - no energy is
output. Our body's complex machinations are pretty much devoted to
this one end, because without these little factories consistently
maintaining production, everything about us is inefficient:
inefficient heartbeat, thought, movement, digestion, elimination all
leading to system and organ breakdown .. and eventually death.
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Failure in energy production at the
cellular level is felt soonest in the body systems with the
highest energy requirements: the heart, brain, and muscles
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Like a spider in the center of its web, our hearts are the
centers of our systems. An energy failure here puts our very lives
immediately at risk. Inefficient heart function may be the cause of
low energy levels, and MUST be addressed if that is the case. Heart
disease needs to be under a Doctor's care, but there are nutrients which
can help the cells of the heart perform their functions. If energy
levels in the heart fall, cardiovascular dysfunction follows.
Ribose and cellular energy in the heart
Carnitine
and Heart energy - http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/carnitine-l-000291.htm
I experienced a recent episode of PVCs - premature
ventricular contractions - which coincided with a fall in my energy
levels: fortunately a respected researcher friend of mine had just
introduced a combination to the market place, which cleared up both
problems for me within a short while. You
can see them here,
and I cannot recommend this combination of Ribose, Carnitine
and the very latest highly absorbable form of CoQ10 too highly!
More
about Co-enzyme Q10
It
is interesting to note that failing to recoup ones energy levels
in a reasonable amount of time after exertion, is now considered
to imply risk for cardiovascular disease. http://www.psychosomaticmedicine.org/cgi/content/full/68/3/402?ck=nck
One of
the most important requirement for successful cellular respiration is a balanced
pH. Nutrients cannot enter the cell in the presence of
highly acidic or alkaline body fluids, nor can the cell rid itself of
wastes. In
fact, if pH deviates either too far to the acid side or too far to the
alkaline side, cells can become poisoned by their own toxic waste and die.
(See
my article on pH for the full story).
Note the connection with stress.
Sharon Hesterlee, Director of Research for the
Muscular Dystrophy Association, explains it like this:
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"When
key components of the respiratory chain in the mitochondria are
missing or defective, the result is kind of like the aftermath
of a train derailment. First, because a component of the
assembly line isn't working, electrons aren't delivered. ATP
isn't made efficiently and the cells lack the energy to perform
their normal functions.
Second,
all of the steps behind the point where the problem starts
become backed up -- often leading to abnormal chemistry that
produces toxic charged molecules. These byproducts include free
radicals and excess metabolites, such as lactic acid, that can
be harmful in large quantities.
These
observations lead to three prime suspects as causes of the
symptoms of mitochondrial disease: energy deficit, free radical
generation and the buildup of toxic metabolites." (Lynn: my
emphasis)
(full article at http://www.mdausa.org/publications/Quest/q65mito.html)
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Necessary
nutrients
Lactic acid build-up is a true a villain for energy
production generally, and for its repercussions on brain function
specifically. Fortunately there is a nutrient so effective at addressing
it that it has also been developed as a "drug". That
nutrient is Acetyl-L-Carnitine (ALC), which can be produced in the
liver from 2 amino acids (Lysine and Cysteine) but is often not available
in sufficient quantities because its synthesis requires not only those
amino acids , which are frequently in short supply, but several vitamins
which our diets are often inadequate to provide: B6, Folic acid,
Pantothenic acid, Biotin and C.
The Acetyl form of Carnitine is more expensive than plain
L-Carnitine, but also more effective for energy related problems because
it is better assimilated, and has been shown to pass the blood/brain
barrier more efficiently. (This, of course, accounts for the
studies that have found an influence on Alzheimer's, where lactic acid
build-up in the brain is being studied as a causative factor - more
at http://www.nutritionreporter.com/carnitine.html).
ALC has been shown to boost the activity of an enzyme,
carnitine acetyltransferase, which increases the burning of fatty
acids for fuel in the mitochondria. It is therefore helpful at 2
levels, one as a remover of waste, and two as a provider of fuel - both
positively affecting energy levels.
Supplement with a full complement of
the
B
vitamins, Macro- and trace
minerals,
all elements of the Krebs
Cycle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citric_acid_cycle), essential for cellular
respiration.
Add
Creatine,
which is converted in the body to a source of energy called
phosphocreatine. There are some studies which suggest it may be
helpful in muscle wasting, which is essentially a result of loss of energy
in the cells.
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Essential
Fatty Acid Deficiency/Imbalance
Fat is the major form of energy storage. However, one
can't just say "fat", because it is the KIND of fat chosen that
is crucial to health. Mono-unsaturated fatty acids convert to energy
much more efficiently than saturated fats (the subject of a study
sponsored by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney
Diseases (NIDDK) - see RESOURCES).
Fat
molecules are made up of three fatty acid chains connected by a glycerol
backbone. Fatty acids are basically long chains of carbon and hydrogen,
which are broken down by progressively cleaving two carbon bits with
oxygen and converting these to acetyl coenzyme A. For every two carbons in
a fatty acid, oxidation yields 5 ATPs
, but saturated fats have been converted to chains of hydrogen only, which
oxygen cannot break to produce energy. http://muscle.ucsd.edu/musintro/energy.shtml
Below
are sources of fatty acids:
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Name
of acids
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Rich
sources
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Saturated
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Palmitic
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All
fats and oils
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Stearic
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Lards,
tallow , coconut
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Butyric
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Butter
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Unsaturated
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Oleic
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All
fats and oils - olive, macadamia, etc
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Linoleic
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Mostly
in vegetable oils like sunflower, safflower, soy, corn, canola
and walnut
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Linolenic
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Flaxeed
oil
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Arachidonic
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Fish
oils and animal fats
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Source
of table, with thanks. http://www.bawarchi.com/health/fats.html
It therefore follows that eliminating
saturated, trans and hydrogenated fats from our diets and
replacing
them with better choices can make a vast difference to our energy
levels.
More
about Essential Fatty Acids.
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Toxicity/Elimination
Problems
Our bodies are designed to eliminate
"toxic waste" at regular intervals, and this for good reason:
hanging on to it can be the root cause of serious health problems.
Slow transit through the intestine leads to
the re-absorption of substances that the body needs to rid itself of,
which then clog the cells and lower your immune system. This means
that constipation predisposes to poor energy levels .
Think of it as the exhaust system of your body: remember the
banana in the tail pipe? http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_278.html
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Consider
a Detoxification program, either with or without a short fast. I
personally aim for a short fast and
cleanse
every 3 months or so, and those whom I have encouraged to do the
same tell me that even when on the fast, they have experienced
an increase of energy. This must differ from person to
person - perhaps depending on blood sugar control, because that
is not my experience: my reward comes later!
Read
about detoxification and Fasting here.
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Digestion
and Absorption
This is where health is determined - where it all begins: if
you cannot adequately absorb, break down and transport the nutrients in
your food to the cells that need them, or if the diet you select does not
rpovide themyou may as well forget about energy altogether. Food is the
fuel that drives your engine, and it requires a fully functional digestive
system complete with all the enzymes, juices and acids to cleave the food
into the molecules the body can use.
The denatured foods and stressful lives common to all of
us makes this very problematic: digestion is the function most commonly
harmfully affected by stress, with devastating consequences not only for
energy levels, but for our health generally. I have put a link in RESOURCES
to a fascinating book that shows how our digestive system has
a complete nervous system of its own, with all that means in terms of the
importance of gut health to our over-all well-being.
I would recommend adding
a
basic digestive enzyme even if you have no obvious symptoms of
digestive distress, and reading
my
article on Digestion if you do already have
problems to determine what would be the best course of action.
What
a healthy diet looks like
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Insomnia
The cost of insomnia does not stop at lack of energy and
mental fog, we are debited at many levels because of the elevation in the
stress hormone, cortisol, which follows sleep deprivation. Stress affects
blood sugar metabolism and the immune system, as well as setting up a
circular distress pattern: high cortisol makes sleep difficult, and
lack of sleep causes high cortisol.
More
about Insomnia
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Viral
Overload, Infections and Inflammation
This brings us full circle: the effect of viruses and
infections on our system is to cause inflammation, and inflammation is an
important hidden source of stress, which drags down our energy levels.
The mucosal barrier is our most important defense against
ill health. When intact and functioning, it is the method by which
nutrients are transported. It protects against invasion by toxins,
microbes and other pathogens. It is called a "barrier" precisely
because it is the only thing standing between what is outside our body,
and what is inside. The mucous membranes line our eyes, our mouth,
nose, throat and lungs, our alimentary, urinary and genital tracts.
The lining of the intestines is crucial in this defense:
when there is war in the intestines, we are wholly affected. Poor
dietary choices, food intolerances and stress contribute to the breakdown
of the structure of the bowel wall, this in turn makes us
susceptible to viral invasion, parasites (more
common than we would like to think), bacterial imbalance, and
chronic inflammation of the intestine.
In other words, stress leads to impaired immune function,
which leads to impaired mucosal barrier defense, which leads to
inflammation, which leads to stress. I need hardly tell you that
loss of energy is right in there as a major symptom of this progression,
but it is only a symptom. If we ignore it at this stage, we are on
our way to the next stage of ill health, where lack of energy at the
cellular level will eventually lead to tissue changes and disease states.
More
about Inflammation
Hypoglycemia
I can remember when this problem, which I
have suffered from all my life, was considered "imaginary".
Anyone who has experienced the dizziness, nausea weakness, fatigue and
disorientation that come with the condition knows it is far from
imaginary!
Hypoglycemia is very tightly bound to
diet: but it can also result from thyroid, pituitary and adrenal
imbalances, and is experienced by sufferers from pancreatitis and liver
disease. It is a consequence of poor carbohydrate metabolism, and can be
to a great extent controlled by adequate protein intake, particularly
first thing in the morning. Protein brings the blood sugar up gradually,
and keeps it at a nice controlled level for an extended period of time:
carbs cause the peaks and valleys associated with hypoglycemic
"crash".
Unfortunately, hypoglycemics often crave
the carbohydrates which are so bad for them, and enter a B-vitamin
cycle where the high carbohydrate intake creates a bodily need for Bs
(necessary for metabolizing carbohydrates), depleting them, and the
subsequent low level of B vitamins creates a craving for the
carbohydrates.
One of the first things you need to think
of, then, if this is your problem, is extra B vitamins. Chromium can
help control the craving also - take a look at
Nature's
Plus Sugar Craver's Formula.
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What
is the Answer?
How does one reverse this
state of affairs? First, determine the cause of the energy drain.
Then, follow the path I lay out for that condition, and
lead your body back to the desired state of balance. Doctors are sometimes
urged to consider horses before zebras - meaning that they should look to
common causes of disease, before considering the rarer possibilities.
These are the horses: most of the
time, energy levels will be restored if you repair, rebuild and regenerate
the gastrointestinal tract, support and maintain adrenal function,
identify and avoid stressors, maintain a healthy diet, supplement as
necessary, and start an exercise routine.
Then, there are the zebras:
This is not a problem with a short, easy answer. No, it
involves us as individuals making the right choices, serving as our
own de facto building contractor: checking the blue prints, using the best
materials, avoiding shortcuts and pitfalls. But the reward is living
your life with inexhaustible energy available on demand.
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