Diabetes, Yoga and Halle Berry
Diabetes, Yoga and Halle Berry
May 29, 2009
By Subodh Gupta
Diabetes mellitus, often referred to as Diabetes, is a long-term health condition, develops due to the disordered metabolism and results into abnormally high blood sugar levels (hyperglycaemia). Diabetes can cause heart disease, stroke, amputations, kidney failure, blindness etc and it can remain undetected for years.
There are two types of diabetes: Type 1 and Type 2. Type 1 diabetes develops due to a diminished production of insulin. Type 2 diabetes develops due to resistance to insulin effects and is mostly associated with obesity. However the good news is that Type 2 diabetes which is associated with obesity and makes up around 90% of all diabetes can be controlled.
When Halle Berry was diagnosed with diabetes she went through dramatic diet change. She started to eat fresh vegetables, fresh fish, pasta and cut out red meat. Halle also tries to lead a stress-free lifestyle and became a regular yoga practitioner. She practices yoga daily which helps her to release stress and brings the feeling of tranquility.
By taking up yoga the quality of life can remarkably improve. Daily practice of yoga can help to reduce the stress hormones, bring feeling of relaxation and at the same time can also help in case of diabetes, especially type 2. Research has shown that regular yoga practice can result in significant changes in most of the parameters of the metabolic syndrome including; waist circumference reduction, lowering in systolic blood pressure, reduction in fasting blood glucose level and HDL ‘good’ cholesterol increased.
The major reasons for the lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, cancer etc in the western world is the unhealthy food such as the non-vegetarian fast food and sedentary life style. Britain’s diabetes population has reached almost 2.5 million. Diabetes UK chief executive Douglas Smallwood said the figures were ‘truly alarming’. Human beings are designed to stay healthy and not to die by lifestyle disease such as cancer, heart attack and diabetes.
Diabetes is certainly one of the biggest health challenges facing the world today. Surprisingly the whole medical system is focussed on curing the diseases rather than in the prevention. Though we need the medicines for cure in case the diseases go out of control but if we focus our attention on prevention at the first place then we can certainly stay healthy during our life time with least dependence on medicine.
Maintaining a healthy body is not a rocket science. Our body is made up of food and if we eat healthy vegetarian food and do exercise regularly to keep our stress level under control, we can certainly stay healthy forever. Halle Berry announced in October 2007 that she was no longer insulin dependent.
Healthy lifestyle which includes vegetarian diet and regular yoga practice can go a long way in preventing and controlling the lifestyle diseases such as diabetes. Issued in public interest by Subodh Gupta a holistic health consultant and also the author of the book “7 food habits for weight loss forever”. Subodh Gupta is a celebrity yoga trainer based in London and conducts Yoga, Nutrition, Stress Management and Weight loss sessions.
For Detail Information Subodh Gupta, Yoga Books, Diabetes, Yoga and Halle Berry
Source: Subodh Gupta
Seun Kuti in Helsinki
This video is posted because I love the Kuti famiily of musicians. I hope you like this.
FoodSpook
Source: hammattan on YouTube
Pork Chop Sandwich and Bread Pudding
May 24, 2009
I often wonder how children’s health today would compare to children back in the 1950′s when mothers used to fix your lunch for school everyday. In the 1950′s obesity and type 2 diabetes was very rare for children in grade school, (K-12). We had two recesses each school day and a 45 minute lunch period. We had plenty of time to PLAY. That was the time before schools had cafeterias. Our moms prepared a lumch for us most times using leftovers from a home cooked dinner served the evening before. I remember the day my lunch prepared by my mother was a pork chop between two pieces of white bread and a slice of bread pudding wrapped in tin foil.
I traded my sandwich with another kid or his peanut butter and jam sandwich. This went on every school day. A long time ago food used to be real! You young people today must pay
attention to your nutrition. The food industry in this country is extremely dangerous. It will kill you. When I was a kid we traded lunches all the time. That food our mothers prepared for us was natural. We were all healthy. In the 1960′s “super markets” began to appear. And that was the beginning of the mass marketing of faux foods. We have two generations of children below the the age of 12 that are becoming type 2 diabetics. In their 30′s and 40′s they will start going blind and start having amputations. Those will be the lucky individuals. Many will die early from strokes and heart disease caused by diabetes.
Waymon Tisdale a world reknown pro-basketball player and saxaphone player died in his 40′s from conditions brought on from diabetes last week. THIS IS NO JOKE! I am not a doctor. I have no medical degree. I am one of thousands of people on the internet trying to help change this health disaster that is happening in this country as I write this article. If you think you don’t feel good, go to a doctor or clinic. Trust your instincts. God gave you the tools to watch out for yourself and your loved ones. The alternative is physical and mental destruction.
Men and women, ALWAYS get your annual physical. You can help to save your own life.
FoodSpook
Resveratrol and Diabetes
Resveratrol and Diabetes, Can Nutritional Supplements Help?
May 23, 2009
By Valerie Rosenbaum
Research concerning resveratrol and diabetes is still ongoing. The single ingredient supplements that are on the market will not be beneficial for diabetics. There are some specialty supplements on the market that have proven benefits for the disease, as well as multi-nutritional supplements that contain a reasonable resveratrol-dosage.
Here’s a look at what may be available in the future and what is available, today. To have a significant effect on lowering blood sugar, very high dosages were needed. Because risks are associated with dosages this high, research is continuing.
In the US, it is illegal to recommend a dietary supplement for the treatment of a disease. If something is used to treat a disease, it is considered a drug. In order to be a legal drug, there must be safety studies, which usually last for a year or more. Then studies concerning effectiveness may be conducted. Once those studies are completed, the paperwork is submitted to the FDA and the FDA may approve the drug. So, it will be several years before the resveratrol and diabetes trials are completed, but eventually, there may be a new drug that works better than the ones that are currently on the market.
Today, you should follow your doctor’s instructions and make every effort to improve your daily nutritional intake. If you like, you may consider a specialty supplement designed to protect the organs and nerves of the body from the damage that high blood sugar levels can cause over the years.
Some of the better supplements include Banaba, bitter melon, black cumin, green tea and gymnema sylvestre. These can lower blood sugar levels. So, it is important to monitor your blood sugar, if you begin taking them.
Low blood sugar levels are dangerous, too. When it comes to resveratrol and diabetes, a multi-nutritional supplement that contains moderate amounts (20-50mg) is fine. Anything over 100mg can have a laxative effect, possible causing diarrhea. Many diabetics are prone to become dehydrated and diarrhea will, of course, increase that risk. A 20-50mg dose may provide many protective health benefits, particularly if it is combined with other effective antioxidants and natural anti-inflammatories, like turmeric, green tea, glutathione and carnosine.
Oxidative stress and chronic long-term inflammation are two of the causes of cellular aging. They both play roles in the development of cancer and heart disease. Originally, the research concerning resveratrol and diabetes was done using laboratory animals and cell cultures. One of the many effects that researchers saw was an extension of lifespan in some short lived species. So, you will often see this ingredient in an anti-aging supplement.
If you believe the Methuselah Foundation, humans should live well over 100 years, without developing a chronic or life threatening disease. We are seeing more and more people achieving that age, with minor, if any health problems. Many of us believe that the key to living a long healthy life is good nutrition. Optimal nutritional intake insures that all of the cells of your body can function, as they should.
Now, that you know a little more about resveratrol and diabetes, you might want to learn more about some of the other botanicals and nutrients mentioned in this article.
Valerie Rosenbaum has spent several years researching every anti aging supplement line of products she could find. As a result of that effort she has found what she believes to be the best natural anti-aging supplements available on the market today. Learn about what she discovered at her website NaturalBalanceSupplements.com
Source: Valerie Rosenbaum
Diabetes and Oral Medications
Diabetes Medicines – Oral Medications For Effective Control
Posted May 20, 2009
By Bertil Hjert
An alarming increase in number of people getting diabetes and more awareness have resulted in that researchers and medical experts come up with more solutions for medications. There is a huge variety of medications and all the medicines work towards providing effective results and quick relief from the symptoms.
Oral diabetic medicines are very common. These are specifically common with people suffering from type 2 diabetes and having high levels of blood sugar for about less than ten years and have normal weight or are obese. People with type 1 diabetes do not take oral medications. Oral medications are known to control blood sugar in an effective way and that too for several years together. It is not uncommon to use oral medications in order to control blood sugar and combat hypoglycemia.
The basic action of these medicines is to produce insulin. Once the production of insulin in the body is regulated, it tends to reduce glucose levels in the body. However, medical experts believe that these should not be considered as a substitute for the insulin. One must focus on a healthy diet and proper exercise regime to facilitate healthy insulin production in the body.
According to a study, it has been proved that people with diabetes can easily benefit from these medications within a short period of time. Studies have also proved that people who have had diabetes for about less than five years respond really well with these medicines. Also people who have never been subjected to insulin before they reached 40 or had it in small dosages would also experience same benefit.
Oral medications for diabetes are also referred to as oral hypoglycemic used to reduce blood glucose in diabetics. These are usually recommended when diet and exercise do not work. These works extremely well when taken in conjunction with prescribed diet and exercises.
Pregnant and nursing women should stay away from these medications due to their effect fetus and new born pregnancy. Insulin is known to provide better relief under these conditions. Things you need to remember when taking oral medication for diabetes is that these are not a substitute for diet and exercise and the medicines would work only if taken in conjunction with proper diet and exercise prescribed by your health care practitioner.
Here are some of the most common types of oral medication available for diabetes: a) Sulfonylureas These drugs are extremely helpful in reducing blood glucose via stimulating pancreas to release a good amount of insulin. Some of the drugs widely used under this category include amaryl, Diabeta, glucotro, glucotro XL, glynase PresTab, and Micronase. b) Biguanides These drugs are highly effective in transferring glucose in to muscle cells. These are also known to prevent the liver via releasing glucose stored inside the body. c) Thiazolidinediones These drugs are used to improve effectiveness of insulin in fat tissues and muscle. These also reduce the amount of gluce released by the liver and facilitate sensitivity of fat cells to insulin effects on the body. d) Combination Certain medications are used in combination in order to produce effective results.
For more Articles, News, Information, Advice, and Resources about DIABETES please visit DIABETES GUIDES and DIABETES TIPS
Source: Bertil Hjert
Background on Michael Pollan
Michael Pollan is the author of In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto , winner of the James Beard Award, and The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (2006), which was named one of the ten best books of the year by both the New York Times and the Washington Post. It also won the California Book Award, the Northern California Book Award, the James Beard Award for best food writing, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.
He is also the author of The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World (2001); A Place of My Own (1997); and Second Nature (1991). Pollan will appear in Food, Inc. a documentary coming to theaters in June, and The Botany of Desire, which will be broadcast on public television this fall.
A contributing writer to the New York Times Magazine, Pollan is the recipient of numerous journalistic awards, including the James Beard Award for best magazine series in 2003 and the Reuters-I.U.C.N. 2000 Global Award for Environmental Journalism.
Pollan served for many years as executive editor of Harper’s Magazine and is now the Knight Professor of Science and Environmental Journalism at UC Berkeley. His articles have been anthologized in Best American Science Writing (2004); Best American Essays (1990 and 2003) and the Norton Book of Nature Writing. He lives in the Bay Area with his wife, the painter Judith Belzer, and their son, Isaac. To contact him, email: inquiries@michaelpollan.com.
Source: michaelpollan.com
Michael Pollan, “In Defense of Food”, Part 1 of 4 – video 9:56 min.
Source: cookingupastory on YouTube
For more Stories, Food News, and Cooking Fresh videos, visit: http://cookingupastory.com
Michael Pollan’s new book, In Defense of Food, provides the backdrop for his talk at the Bagdad Theater in Portland, Oregon, and this prior interview with Deborah Kane of the environmental nonprofit organization, Ecotrust. Remarkably, Mr. Pollan is talking about a defense of food in a literal sense: it’s increasingly difficult to escape from eating foods that are food-like substances (processed foods), but are not whole (real) foods. We have come to look upon “nutritionism” as a valid means of determining (healthy) value in our diet; food has been reduced to its composition of good and bad nutrients, but are we really eating healthier? In part one, we see how simple changes in food labeling requirements can influence consumer behavior, and how food manufacturer’s apply overwhelming pressure to effect laws that ultimately protect their own interests.
Michael Pollan, “In Defense of Food”, Part 2 of 4 – video 10:36 min.
Source: cookingupastory on YouTube
For more Stories, Food News, and Cooking Fresh videos, visit: http://cookingupastory.com
In this segment, Michael Pollan talks about how we (Americans) have come to view food through the lens of nutritionism. Focused upon the good and bad nutrients within foods, this is our measure of what we deem healthy to eat, while also largely ignoring other reasons for eating, like pleasure and enhancing a sense of community.
Michael Pollan, “In Defense Of Food”, Part 3 0f 4 – video 12:07 min.
Source: cookingupastory on YouTube
For more Stories, Food News, and Cooking Fresh videos, visit: http://cookingupastory.com
There’s more to eating than just its effect upon our health. Pleasure, a sense of community, our sense of connection with nature, these are all highly important aspects of eating that may get overlooked. In this segment with Deborah Kane of Ecotrust, Michael Pollan connects the dots, between our over-reliance upon science, in this case, the science of nutrition, and our gross under-appreciation of culture as the trustworthy guide to our approach to eating food.
Michael Pollan, “In Defense of Food”, Part 4 of 4 – video 8:25 min.
Source: cookingupastory on YouTube
For more Stories, Food News, and Cooking Fresh videos, visit: http://cookingupastory.com
“It is the best of times, and the worst of times when it comes to food. But, I focus on the best, and there are alot of very positive things happening.” So says Michael Pollan in this final installment, as he completes the dots between government policy, public health, and the cost and availability of fresh wholesome foods.
Fela Kuti
This post is not related to diabetes nor any other health issues.
This man made incredible music. He was considered a dissident by the Nigerian government and persecuted, tormented and imprisoned before his death. There are forces in this world that channel all of their resources into maintaining the status quo. They gain at the loss of their fellow citizens. Fela Kuti was not only a artist, he was a spokesman for his people. Fela Kuti entertained all over the world. He spoke about the corruption and lack of human rights in his native country of Nigeria. He was a world wide star and he died fairly young from AIDS. I love his music. I have posted this video in tribute to the courage of Fela Kuti who stood by his principles until the end of his life.
His legacy continues through his sons, also world reknown musicians, Femi Kuti and the younger Seun Kuti.
FoodSpook
Source: da66yy on YouTube
Be Careful About Your Brain
How To Feed Your Mind
By Rachael Moeller Gorman
EatingWell Magazine
Posted May, 2009
One lazy Friday night last winter, my husband and I watched TV on the couch while our infant son slept upstairs. During a commercial, an image flashed on the screen—a New York City train station. I smiled, because the place was so familiar. I had been there many times, traveling there for conferences or for fun. I could picture the outer façade, the stars on the ceiling, the brass clock. Ah, that station. That old place where the trains parked. That—
“What the heck is the name of that train station?” I asked my husband.
He gave me a funny look. “Grand Central?”
“Yes!” What was wrong with me? Even though I’m just 32 years old, this kind of thing had been happening more and more often and it was getting annoying. The forgetting of words—especially names and places that I obviously knew but couldn’t conjure up—began a few years ago. I’d had a brief return to my old sharper self during my pregnancy, but soon after my son was born, my brain slowly sank back downhill. Why wasn’t it working like it used to? Would it ever come back? Was there something I could do to drag it back to peak performance? What was it about pregnancy that had made it better?
I’m not the only one trying to figure out how to get smarter. Looking for ways to boost our brain power is big business. In addition to ever-popular alertness boosters like coffee and Red Bull, pills like Focus Factor and Brain Advantage are hot items, with customers shelling out $70 per month or more to stay on top of their mental games. Ginkgo biloba, an herbal supplement billed as a memory enhancer, generates nearly $1 billion in annual sales in the U.S. alone. Some folks go even further: as the prestigious journal Nature recently reported, 20 percent of scientists responding to a survey admitted to taking so-called cognition-enhancing drugs like the stimulants Ritalin (to aid focus) and Provigil (to stay alert without caffeine’s jitteriness), without apology. “It is my duty to use my resources to the greatest benefit of humanity,” said one respondent. One-third said they’d even feel pressure to give their own children these drugs if other kids in their circles were also using them.
Though I wasn’t ready to pump myself with drugs in order to remember a name more quickly, I did want to regain control of my mind, and, if I could, head off cognitive decline. The brief lift of brain fog during my pregnancy—a time of heroically conscientious eating—gave me hope. Could improving my diet help? I began scouring the science to find out. I also wondered whether the American diet I’ve been spoon-fed (and am currently spoon-feeding my son) was to blame for my mental malaise. I wanted to figure out whether a smart menu at each stage of life could fend off dullness and make me—and my family—sharper.
The Baby Brain
My intellectual journey began in the far reaches of northern Quebec, in a smattering of small villages on the frigid coast of Hudson Bay. No roads connect the villages to each other or to southern Canada, so when Joseph Jacobson, Ph.D., of Michigan’s Wayne State University and his intrepid crew of researchers first arrived 12 years ago, they flew in on small propeller planes from Montreal. Jacobson studies the Inuit, and he does so for just about the same reason cardiovascular disease researchers have been interested in other northern communities for years: their diet. “The Inuit eat a lot of fish,” says Jacobson from his Detroit office. “Arctic char, a type of salmon, is very big in their diet. And it’s all very rich in DHA.”
DHA, or docosahexaenoic acid, a long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid in the omega-3 family that’s found in fish and their roe (particularly fattier types like salmon and sardines) is the magic nutrient du jour. I have seen literally hundreds of studies investigating its power to prevent cardiovascular disease. Now the focus has turned to the brain: dozens of studies report that mother animals deprived of DHA have offspring with memory, sensory and visual problems, and that supplementing them with DHA improves their performance on learning, memory and problem-solving tasks. This makes intuitive sense: DHA forms the backbone of much of the brain cells’ membranes.
Jacobson wanted to see whether higher DHA levels, both in the womb and after birth, could have the same positive effect on human infants. So working with midwives in the three largest Hudson Bay villages, his team collected umbilical cord blood from 109 newborns. They analyzed the DHA concentration in their cord blood (a good measure of how much DHA the mother consumed during her last few months of pregnancy), and then tested how well the infants performed on tests throughout their first year. He found that at 6 months and 11 months, infants whose cord blood had the highest concentrations of DHA performed better on a number of different tests—such as recognizing faces—than those with lower levels. “The mother’s intake during the third trimester, when the brain’s neurons and synapses are developing at a very rapid rate, is most important. When we focused on that period, we found the most evidence of beneficial effects,” he says.
My mother certainly didn’t eat salmon while pregnant with me, so that could be my problem, but it’s doubtful: my memory problems only emerged recently. Luckily for my son, my OB/GYN is on top of the literature: when she found out that I couldn’t stomach salmon or other fatty fish, she recommended taking a DHA supplement during my third trimester. (Pregnant mothers are advised to get 300 milligrams per day—the equivalent of about three to four 3-ounce servings of salmon a week.)
Apparently, much of the rest of the country isn’t too fond of fatty fish either. “Most populations, and this is particularly true in the U.S. and southern Canada, are not getting nearly the amount of DHA that humans got prehistorically,” says Jacobson, who like many in his field believes that before the agricultural revolution, fish played a much more prominent role in our diets. “In our original environment, we were getting a lot of DHA,” he comments, “then we switched over to a more grain-based diet.” Compounding the problem, adds Jacobson, is that our diets are rich in another type of fatty acid: arachidonic acid (AA), an omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid found in animal fats and formed in the body when we consume linoleic acid from vegetable oils in foods. There’s nothing inherently bad about AA—it’s important for normal growth. But Jacobson and others believe that our prehistoric ancestors evolved to eat a more balanced ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids. Today, few people eat enough fish to achieve this balance; the ratio is currently about 10:1 in the U.S. Since AA competes with DHA for space in the membrane and affects other functions in the brain, some experts suggest an abundance of AA is less optimal for cognitive development in babies (and may be associated with early cognitive decline in older adults—more on that later).
Unless they stick to the “eat fish at least twice a week” dietary guideline, it’s hard for most Americans to meet DHA recommendations without supplements. This is why many infant formulas are now fortified with DHA (breast milk can be a great source of DHA, if the mom eats fish or takes supplements herself). Jacobson hints that supplementing formula, however, could be a case of too little too late—in his Inuit study he saw no beneficial effect of breast milk that contained high levels of DHA on the cognitive performance in infancy, although there could still be some beneficial effects on cognitive function in childhood. In the majority of studies that have demonstrated beneficial effects from DHA-enhanced infant formula, he notes, “most of the effects have been limited to preterm babies”—e.g., those who missed getting their full in utero complement of the nutrient. Does this mean that the typically DHA-poor American diet places infants at risk? Jacobson is quick to assure me there is no reason to assume that it does. “You don’t want to oversell the problem, but our data suggest that greater quantities of prenatal DHA intake could be beneficial.”
Milk vs. formula?
DHA is not the only critical substance for developing babies’ brains. Researchers have known for some time that iron is also key, but recently they have been discovering just how long the effects of a deficiency can last. Babies are born with a solid store of iron, but by 5 or 6 months they’ve used much of it up and can’t get enough from breast milk to sustain their ever-growing bodies: they need to take it in from the outside world in food or supplements. Studies show that being deficient at points within the 5- to 12-month age block irrevocably slows academic, social and emotional development. Even if children are fortified with iron soon after the deficiency is detected, they never catch up, and can still show signs of cognitive delay even 10 years later.
Iron is not only needed to transport oxygen to the brain in the bloodstream, but it also helps myelinate, or insulate, nerve fibers so signals travel faster—and helps create the neurotransmitters that relay signals between neurons. Until the early 1970s when manufacturers began adding iron to formula, more than 30 percent of infants were iron-deficient; since fortification, that number has plummeted. (At last count, about 7 percent of toddlers were iron-deficient.) But with the rise in breastfeeding, exclusively breast-fed infants are now at risk, especially as they’re transitioning to solid foods. Breast milk is still the best food (bar none) for infants, but physician groups recommend using rice cereal fortified with iron or supplementing with a vitamin drop during and after that critical transition to solid foods around 5 or 6 months. With irreversible brain delay churning through my gray matter (and after consulting the pediatrician), I drove to the drugstore and bought a multivitamin with iron for my son, who at 7 months was still breastfeeding but beginning to discover the delights of runny rice cereal and mushy peas.
Fuel for School
As children reach school age, DHA and iron continue to be key to brain development, but for kids sitting in class for seven hours a day, it’s even more important to keep their energy-hungry brains satiated. Reams of studies show that fueling the brain with breakfast is important for thinking, acting and learning; that’s the impetus behind the federal School Breakfast Program, which aims to ensure that every child begins the school day with something in his or her stomach.
Children who are undernourished perform poorly on cognitive tasks. Eating breakfast improves performance on attention and memory games, especially in the undernourished, but it also helps children who get enough food. This may be a simple case of refueling after an overnight fast: the brain needs glucose (its exclusive fuel source) and eating just about any food, from a candy bar to five-grain muesli, provides it. But new research is saying there’s more to it than that, and not just any breakfast will do. Margaret Anne Defeyter, Ph.D., a senior lecturer in psychology at Britain’s Northumbria University in Newcastle upon Tyne, studies children and the foods they eat. She has a lot to say about how kids prepare their brains each morning. “I was stunned, absolutely stunned to see what children had for breakfast,” she exclaims. “Children tell me they grab a chocolate biscuit [British for cookie] out of the biscuit barrel on their way to school, or stop at the corner shop and buy a can of cola.”
Defeyter wanted to know if a switch to slower-burning carbohydrates might give kids an advantage on tests of attention and memory. To find out, she gave 64 children either low-glycemic-index All-Bran cereal or high-glycemic-index Coco Pops, and then switched them the next day. Guess which one kept kids’ brains a-chugging most of the morning?
“With the high-GI cereal you get this sudden sugar rush, where you perform very well, but it’s quickly followed by a low,” she says. “Whereas with the low-GI cereal, you get a more sustained level of performance. That’s important for children. You want their concentration and attention maintained throughout the school morning for learning.” Other studies swapping in low-GI oatmeal for a higher-GI cereal have shown a similar effect: the lower the GI of the breakfast, the better kids did on cognitive tasks requiring attention and memory. The few studies looking at the effects of breakfast on adult brains showed similar results: low-glycemic-index meals that released glucose slowly into the bloodstream seemed to be associated with better memory. I thought back to my own childhood, sometimes starting the day with a bowl of Cookie Crisp or, occasionally, Froot Loops. Perhaps it slogged down my timed second-grade multiplication quizzes. But that still didn’t explain why my brain was on the fritz now. Was something else missing?
Iron-Deficient Maidens
Back in early 2007, I came across a study that I still think about all the time. Here’s the gist: 113 young women, aged 18 through 35, came into the lab at Pennsylvania State University. They took eight different tests on a computer that assessed attention, memory and learning, and their blood was drawn to compare their level of iron to their results on the computer tests. The findings were dramatic: women who were even mildly iron deficient—not yet anemic—scored much lower on many of the tasks and took longer to complete the tasks, than the women whose iron levels were normal. About 10 percent of young women are anemic (because of their monthly loss of iron-rich blood), as are 25 percent of pregnant women. In fact, I’d been told early in my pregnancy that I was slightly anemic, but it never occurred to me that it was much of a problem.
“What that study was able to do for the first time is show that even if you are mildly iron-deficient—you don’t have to be anemic—you have changes in cognitive function,” says John Beard, Ph.D., the iron expert who conducted the study. “It’s a scary thing that people don’t like to hear,” he admits, since a good number of us fall into that slightly iron-deficient gray area.
What really gave me hope was the other half of the study, where Beard put half the women on a slow-release iron supplement containing 60 mg of elemental iron for four months. Unlike the results seen in studies with iron-deficient infants, the women receiving the supplements regained normal cognitive functioning. How? Beard says that since the adult brain is already formed, iron’s primary role is to help feed the brain and build neurotransmitters; some of the brain regions most sensitive to iron deficiency are the prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus, centers of higher intellectual functioning and memory.
In Beard’s study, those women whose blood iron levels improved significantly experienced a five- to seven-fold improvement in cognitive performance. So it is a good bet that part of my problem was lack of iron; my temporary brain boost while I was pregnant could have resulted from the iron-rich prenatal vitamins I took every day. I vowed to do a better job of eating fortified cereals, edamame, clams, white beans, spinach, lentils—and of course meat, which contains the most easily absorbed form of iron. And I started taking a supplement on the side. Better safe than stupid.
Of course, if you’re not iron-deficient, taking more iron isn’t going to do anything to make your brain sharper—and too much iron creates problems of its own, including hemochromatosis (high blood iron), which can lead to liver damage, heart failure or diabetes. Since our bodies are unable to get rid of excess iron (except by bleeding), it makes sense to have your blood iron levels checked before you head to the drugstore for a “brain-boosting” iron pill—especially if you’re a woman past menopause or a man.
Heading Off Decline
I’m doing my best to build a first-class brain for my son and I work hard to keep all of our minds lubed. But nothing, even the most tenderly nurtured neurons, lasts forever. With my current fuzz, I fear eventually losing myself (or my husband) to dementia, and I wanted to know how to sandbag my family against it. So I called David Smith, professor emeritus of pharmacology and head of Oxford University’s 20-year-old Oxford Project to Investigate Memory and Aging (OPTIMA), which studies nongenetic risk factors (a.k.a. environmental factors) that cause Alzheimer’s disease. His words made me happy: “It’s my personal belief that we will be able to prevent a large proportion of Alzheimer’s disease in the world.”
Smith sees parallels between Alzheimer’s disease and heart disease—an illness whose prevalence has decreased around 60 percent over the past 40 years, largely because of preventive measures taken at a societal, level such as reducing smoking, increasing exercise, eating well and taking drugs to reduce cholesterol and blood pressure. “If we can find what the risk factors are for Alzheimer’s disease, we can have a similar success.”
Unfortunately, no one yet knows what all these risk factors are, but observational studies are beginning to yield clues: it seems the same things that are good for the heart may also be good for the brain. The connection makes intuitive sense: Alzheimer’s disease likely results in part from the accumulation of so-called senile plaques—abnormal brain proteins called A-beta that many scientists think trigger inflammation and oxidation, damaging neurons. If a person has atherosclerosis, their vessels are gunky and inefficient, resulting in fewer nutrients and less oxygen supplying the brain and fewer waste products leaving it, thus exacerbating Alzheimer’s disease.
Smith was particularly interested in fish because observational studies have shown a strong link between high fish intake and a reduced risk of full-blown Alzheimer’s disease. He wanted to know if eating fish regularly could also help people improve their brain power. So he called up colleague Helga Refsum, a professor of nutrition at the University of Oslo who leads the Hordaland Health Study—one part of a huge national project that gathers extremely detailed information about people’s lives and charts cardiovascular disease all over Norway. The county of Hordaland is on the sea, and people there eat lots of fish. Smith found that, of 2,031 healthy Hordalanders aged 70 to 74, those who ate more than a two-ounce serving per week of any type of fish (not just the fatty, DHA-packed variety) scored much higher on cognitive tests than those who ate less.
I asked Smith how it could be that all types of seafood are linked to improved cognitive function, since every study I’ve ever seen points to omega-3s like DHA as the key brain-boosting component. “Of course, the fatty acids are a strong candidate,” he says, “But it may be something else. Fish is very rich in niacin; there have been reports that niacin intake is related to better cognition in the elderly. Fish is also a good source of vitamin B12.” Because the aging body is less able to absorb B vitamins, particularly B12, he explains, the elderly often have low levels, which has been associated with poorer cognitive function. “So there are several candidates in fish and we want to tease them out.”A Golden Opportunity
Point taken: eat fish for your brain and your heart. But what happens if you’re a vegetarian, have a seafood allergy or can’t afford to eat fish regularly? Or, like me, just don’t like fish? I’ve never quite gotten over my pregnancy-induced aversion to the stuff.
Perhaps I could cover the taste with curry powder and benefit from a seasoning that’s been coming into focus as a potential anti-Alzheimer’s agent, at least in animals: turmeric. Greg Cole at UCLA and his colleagues have reported that curcumin, a phytochemical in turmeric (which gives curry powder its yellow color) not only helps prevent the buildup of toxic A-beta protein in the brain, but it also has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. It has been used for thousands of years in traditional Indian Ayurvedic medicine as a treatment for respiratory conditions (asthma, allergy), liver disorders, anorexia and cough, among other things, and throughout Asia it’s used to treat arthritis pain and other inflammatory conditions. Cole is in the middle of a clinical trial on curcumin, but an interesting observational study came out in 2006 from Singapore that found that healthy people aged 60 to 93 who ate curry “occasionally” (once a month) or “often or very often” scored better on cognitive tests than people who rarely ate it. It’s also quite interesting to note that Indian citizens in their seventies (whose diets are rich in curry) are four times less likely to have Alzheimer’s disease than American septuagenarians.
Ancient Wisdom
To really uncover the secret of a clear mind late in life, though, I turned to the people who walk the walk. Some of the longest-lived people in the U.S. are from Cache County in the far northeast corner of Utah, where a majority of folks are Mormon and their beliefs shape a lifestyle that’s relatively free of vices like caffeine, tobacco and alcohol. Many are open to taking nutritional supplements and have the support of a close-knit community—all factors that may pave the way to a long and healthy life. Scientists have been carefully following 90 percent of the elderly population here—around 5,000 people—for 13 years, to see which part of their lifestyle plays the largest role in their longevity. The researchers have documented foods the residents have eaten, the activities they’ve done, the jobs they’ve had. They drew blood and tested cognition, and revisited the subjects about every three years to see why they live such long, healthy lives.
I asked Peter Zandi, Ph.D., an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a researcher on the study, what he’s found out about nutritional influences on mind decline, and he put it in a single word: antioxidants. “People who took high-dose supplements of both vitamin E [from 400 to 1,000 IU daily] and vitamin C [500 to 1,000 mg or more] had on the order of 60 to 65 percent reduction of the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease,” Zandi says. “That’s huge. This led us to the notion that it’s really the synergistic effects of both that may afford protection.” (Currently, the Institute of Medicine’s daily recommendation for vitamin E is 22 IU [15 mg] and 75 to 90 mg for vitamin C.) Zandi thinks this vitamin partnership might work because vitamin E is a potent antioxidant that can slip inside cells and mop up the damaging free radicals, while vitamin C waits patiently outside and replenishes vitamin E when it comes back out so it can continue working. Anytime the body turns glucose into energy, free radicals are produced and oxidation (or damage) to tissue can occur. “The brain uses more energy than any other organ in the body, [thus] the brain is more susceptible to oxidative damage than any other organ in the body,” explains Fernando Gomez-Pinilla, Ph.D., who recently analyzed 160 studies on food’s effect on the brain. A professor of neurosurgery and physiological science at UCLA, Gomez-Pinilla published his meta-analysis this past July in Nature Reviews Neuroscience.
But hold off on buying that mega-antioxidant formula just yet: though some other studies have supported this work, not all are positive, and most experts advise avoiding antioxidant supplements until all the answers are in. Large doses of antioxidants can sometimes have a paradoxical, pro-oxidizing effect and cause cellular damage. However, the research is a strong argument for including more vitamin E-rich foods like walnuts, almonds, sunflower seeds and dark greens in your diet, along with plenty of citrus fruits, tomatoes, cantaloupe and other foods abundant in vitamin C.
Of course, one time-proven, antioxidant-rich way of eating doesn’t involve supplements at all: Mediterranean diets, famously protective against heart disease, may have promise in preventing Alzheimer’s disease as well. Recent studies suggest that people who most closely adhere to the dietary patterns long practiced in the countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea—plenty of fruits, vegetables and whole grains, little meat, occasional fish and liberal olive oil—have significantly lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease later in life. Researchers believe that the antioxidants, omega-3 fatty acids and other micronutrients this way of eating offers may work synergistically to reduce the risk.
Minding our minds
Unfortunately, the typical American diet is far from the brain-boosting ideal. Most Americans don’t eat fish multiple times a week, get nine servings of fruits and vegetables daily or regularly season their food with curry. Babies don’t always get their iron, kids eat candy for breakfast and processed foods fill our grocery-store shopping carts. “Our diet today is really very, very different from primitive man’s diet,” says David Smith. So different that it’s bad for our brain? “I think it might be,” he replies.
In addition to not eating enough of the good things, we tend to eat too much of the bad stuff: a number of recent studies show that eating too much cholesterol, trans fat and saturated fat increases risk of cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease. One just-out report found that when rats were fed a diet high in saturated fat and cholesterol for eight weeks, their performance on a battery of memory tests declined significantly. Another study suggests that eating 80 milligrams more cholesterol per day than you normally do (the amount in a four-ounce piece of steak) seems to make your brain work, temporarily, as if it were three years older. Even worse, disease and lifestyle issues that continue to plague us, such as high blood pressure, lack of physical activity and diabetes are all pushing us toward cognitive decline.With the food environment we live in, it’s hard not to eat poorly unless you pay a premium. Rather than subsidizing antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables, the federal government puts most of its support behind omega-6-rich soybeans as well as corn (thus keeping corn-syrup-laced junk food and sweet cereals cheap). Salmon is typically twice the price of beef. For the school breakfasts that power many kids’ mornings, the federal government’s requirements are broad enough that cheap, sugary cereals or Danish pastries pass muster. (The 2005 Dietary Guidelines declare, “make half your grains whole,” but schools still don’t have to comply. Promisingly, they’re working on the problem, and within two years schools should be more in line with the new guidelines, says Nancy Johner, USDA Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services.)
Back home in the kitchen, I remember the pink marshmallow Sno Balls and Lucky Charms of my childhood. But my new dietary path already surrounds me on the counter: the baby’s small childproof bottle of multivitamin drops with iron; a cylinder of whole oats for my husband and me; my iron tablets; plenty of vitamin C-rich oranges and vitamin E-packed nuts; salmon (for my husband, and me, if I start liking it again) and lean free-range beef wrapped up in the fridge along with plenty of vegetables and fruits. I have my son’s little mind to think about now, and I’m excited to start. With any luck, I can also head off dementia for my husband and me. Will it work? I’ll tell you in 30 years (if I remember).
Contributing editor Rachael Moeller Gorman won the Bert Greene Food Journalism award for her last EatingWell feature, “Miracle Up North” (June/July 2006).
Source: Rachael Moeller Gorman from “EatingWell” Magazine
Holistic Treatments for Your Acne
Clearing up Your Acne Wisely
May 13, 2009
By Bryan Halverson
In order to get rid of acne permanently, it should be understood first what acne is. It is basically a skin disorder which is originated by the blockage of skin pores. This blockage would result into bumps which would appear as blackheads and whiteheads mostly concentrated on the face and neck part.
Acne starts in this fashion and spreads on the body and will lead eventually to scarring. These scars are the worry of mind as they mar our appearance and may even lead into lack of confidence, lower self-esteem and making us lose our sleep.
The reasons for this disorder are numerous and wide-ranging. It is linked mainly to genetics. Most of those suffering from acne are found linked to parents or a relative suffering from serious acne problems. A widely suspected reason for this disorder is the hormones which are found in the blood at the puberty age for males and for females at start of menstruation. But this is not all. Acne can flare at any stage of your life even tough it might have been dormant for quite some time.
These flare ups can very easily be due to the mounting stress levels. Then acne is also reported to arise from lack of skin care. The teenagers would agree that the acne was noticeably more when their skins were oily. Coming towards the widely pursued topic of clearing up your acne, the main complication arises from the fact that what medication or treatment may be fruitful for one person may not most probably has any effect over the other.
The situation does appear disheartening and dismal but following some simple remedies would put you in the position of curbing this skin order without even consulting the cosmetician or a dermatologist.
• Try to keep your skin clean and oil free. Normally washing your face at least twice a day is advised. However if your skin is more oily then you should wash it more often. These wash should be gentle to your skin or else your skin will be coarsened and rougher.
• Try to minimize touching your face. The reason for this is that our hands are dirty and prone to be bacteria carrier due to constant touching of various surfaces. Remember that touching the face would mean inserting more of these bacteria to the pores on your skin.
• However incredulous it may sound but toothpaste is an ever-ready remedy available at home. Toothpaste is an item present already in our homes. By applying a little amount of toothpaste on the affected part of skin at night and washing it off in the morning have resulted into mind-boggling and miraculous results. This treatment has many merits over the others.
Following these simple yet effective steps can result in clearer skin that is free from acne. While there are plenty of over the counter solutions that may help your problem, ironically some of the best can be found lying around your home.
For more information about acne and acne symptoms, visit symptomsleuth.com today. They offer a wealth of information, including symptoms and treatments for hundreds of ailments and conditions.
Source: Bryan Halverson
Holistic Treatment of Type 1 Diabetes – video 5:58 min.
Source: TheHolisticDoctor.com on YouTube
Type 1 Diabetes results when the body doesn’t produce enough insulin. Approximately 5-10% of Americans have type 1 diabetes. Diabetes treatment consist of diabetes medication and dietary changes
Five Major Causes of the Premature Ending of Your Life
Obesity, Diabetes, Heart Disease, High Cholesterol, And High Blood Pressure: Can They Really be Prevented, Managed or Reversed?
May 9, 2009
By George Tohme
They are the biggest killers in America: Diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and heart disease. The most common causes of these deadly conditions are: Physical inactivity, fattening snacks and beverages, obesity, stress, and smoking. The shocking news is that these diseases are so easily preventable.
A frequent cause of blame is the unhealthy food choices people make regularly. It’s okay to splurge once in a while, but it is the habits you follow daily that will determine your overall health. Constantly consuming chips, bacon, cakes, sugary drinks, candy, sausage, and cigarettes will get you nothing but poor health, deadly diseases, and a ticket straight to heaven prematurely.
According to the CDC over 63% (that’s over 180 million) of the US population is overweight or obese and is physically inactive, resulting in tens of millions who have chronic deadly, but preventable, conditions such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, and pre-diabetes. Recently the CDC reported that more than 70% (over 1.7 million) of all causes of death in America are caused by only three preventable factors: obesity, sedentary lifestyles, and smoking.
The very fact that these factors are easily preventable is heartbreaking. One of the major contributors to poor health is the excessive consumption of cholesterol. The body produces over 85% of the cholesterol we need and the sugar stores in our liver and muscles remain saturated due to physical inactivity. Because we are largely a couch-potato society and the food we consume every day is loaded with animal-based fats, the extra fat gets dumped into our arteries, belly areas, and under the skin all over our bodies.
Another major contributor to deadly diseases, poor health, and premature aging and death is physical inactivity. Most of us sit throughout an entire workday then go home and sit in front of the TV for another 5 to 6 hours while consuming large fatty meals, snacks, and sugary or alcoholic beverages that are rich in saturated fats, salt, and sugar, all of which contribute to increased belly fat. Shockingly, belly fat is the most dangerous kind because it causes inflammation in the arteries contributing to plaque build up in the arteries and insulin resistance leading to heart attacks and diabetes.
Yet another common issue is that people are unaware of how unhealthy the foods they consume are. When people don’t read nutrition labels they tend to consume very dense food and sugary beverages that are nutrient deficient. These foods are readily available in fast food restaurants and vending machines and contain loads of sugar, fat, and unwanted calories.
Sugary soft drinks (which alone contribute to over 33% of all US obesity), sugary lemonade, sweetened iced tea, smoothies, lattes, and frappucinos, which contain loads of sugar and fat that further contribute to the accumulation of belly fat, make you more of a magnet to all sorts of deadly, but preventable, diseases.
One of the worst mistakes people make as well is skipping meals which makes the body more efficient at storing and gaining fat weight. Fortunately there are important steps to help you make balanced food and activity choices and help you start a lifestyle makeover process which will be your shield against deadly diseases as you age gracefully:
• If you have any chronic disease(s) take your medications as prescribed.
• Eat 3 main balanced meals, reduce your portion sizes, and raise your fiber intake.
• Consume 2 fruit and nuts snacks between meals.
• Switch all sugary drinks to water or diet soft drinks. Sweeten all other hot or cold beverages with artificial sweeteners or sugar-free flavoring powders. Limit all non-water beverages to a couple a day.
• Increase your daily walking activity to over 10,000 steps a day by making more frequent trips at home, the office, while shopping, and anywhere else.
The good news is that diabetes, heart disease, and other chronic diseases can be prevented, managed, and reversed with your own choices, actions and a lifestyle makeover. Now is the time to start putting these tips to good use and begin feeling better and living healthier right away!
Pharmacist, George F. Tohme, wrote Lifestyle Makeover for Diabetics and Pre-Diabetics. Formerly obese, he became a personal trainer and is a certified expert on healthy living. His e-book series addresses all of the topics in this article. Visit http://www.LifestyleMakeoverEbook.com to take a quiz NOW.
Source: George F. Tohme
Diabetes, Latin Food and Your Health
Eating healthier with Latin faves
By Rachael Moeller Gorman
The Arizona Daily Star
May 9, 2009
On a recent hazy Saturday afternoon in Mexico City, the pungent scent of ripe mango hung thick in the city’s Polanco neighborhood.
Sellers had just sliced their fruit open – orange flesh still dripping with juice and humidity – to lure customers to their stalls. And the customers, typically family members walking hand in hand, haggled and ate. They inspected mounds of papayas, pineapples, guanabana, watermelon, pomegranate and plums at the surrounding tables. Their children chewed peeled oranges on a stick and ran around the tables of red, ripe tomatoes piled on bunches of draped cilantro, huge red beets, an almost infinite variety of peppers, prickly pear pads, avocados and tomatillos.
Not your typical American produce section.
When Mexicans leave their rural homes and move to the cities of the United States, they often leave foods like these behind. They begin eating the American way: a smaller variety of foods; less fresh fruit, rice, and beans; more calories, refined grains, saturated fats, and sugar. Foods they used to eat fresh, they now eat highly processed.
This Americanized diet affects Mexicans the same way it has been affecting the rest of the United States – only worse. According to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, almost three out of four adult Mexican-Americans are overweight. The center also reports that one in four Mexican-Americans over the age of 45 has Type 2 diabetes.
In Mexico City at the end of April, a world-renowned group of scientists, nutritionists and chefs from the United States, Mexico and other Latin American countries came together to figure out how to fix this health crisis.
The issue is a big one in the States. According to the most recent census in 2000, Hispanics now make up 13 percent of the U.S. population.
“The 21st Latin American country is the United States,” said chef and culinary historian Maricel Presilla at the conference. “A new Latin America is being created here.”
The health statistics are scary. According to the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, obesity rates in U.S. Hispanics doubled between 1991 and 2001. Higher weight means a higher risk of diabetes, heart disease, stroke, some cancers and other problems. The CDC has found that the risk of diabetes for Mexican-Americans is twice that of similarly-aged non-Hispanic whites. Diabetes potentially leads to amputation, blindness, kidney failure, heart disease and death.
People still in Mexico are also suffering.
“Twenty to 30 years ago, we had lots of traditional foods that were very healthy,” said Dr. Hector Bourges, director of nutrition at the National Institute of Medical Science and Nutrition in Mexico City. “However, with urbanization we adopted a model we shouldn’t have adopted – the Northern countries’ model.”
Traditional foods were seen as old-fashioned, people began having less time to prepare foods, and fewer people ate at home.
Obesity and its related illnesses are hardly just a problem for the Hispanic community.
“If we continue at this rate, by 2040 everyone in the U.S. will be overweight,” said John Foreyt, professor in the department of medicine at Houston’s Baylor College of Medicine.
But scientists say hope exists: Bringing traditional, healthy and tasty Mexican foods back to the family dinner table – and introducing them in American households – is a huge step in the right direction.
At the conference, Oldways Preservation Trust, a food-issues think tank in Boston and the conference organizer, worked with nutrition experts to revamp its Latin American Diet Pyramid, a food pyramid full of healthy Latin American foods.
The pyramid recommends eating fruits, vegetables and whole grains/tubers/beans/nuts at every meal. In the Mexican diet, this means corn, beans, squash, rice and chiles, among many others.
Poultry, fish, plant oils (like olive, corn, peanut or canola) and dairy foods are recommended daily. Red meat, sweets – typically honey – and eggs are for weekly consumption only.
“Traditionally, sweets were not a thing of everyday,” said Hannia Campos, associate professor of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.
Many foods are connections to the past, originating during the time before Europeans came to Latin America. Foods are also a connection to flavor. Native American, Spanish and African influences all have their finger in Latin American cuisine, and the fusion is delicious.
“Mexico, in particular, has made food brilliant,” said Dr. Adolfo Chavez, chief of the Salvador Zubiran Medical Sciences and Nutrition Institute in Mexico City.
Daily physical activity forms the base of the pyramid, and alcohol should be consumed in moderation. The pyramid is quite similar to the Mediterranean Diet Pyramid, the gold standard of diets, which has been proven in study after study to reduce heart disease, certain cancers and Type 2 diabetes.
But as we all know, changing how we eat is difficult. Keeping the following themes in mind may help:
● Variety is key. Bring multiple colors, textures and flavors to your diet. Add tropical fruits; they are full of fiber, vitamins and antioxidants, and taste. Choose fresh local produce, if possible.
● Use just a little bit of meat for flavor in stews and other dishes. A small amount can go a long way, and too much is unhealthy (red meat and processed meat have been associated with heart disease). Instead, add beans, which studies have shown lower cholesterol and have lots of vitamins like folate for pregnant women. They also contain fiber, which can prevent heart disease and certain cancers, like colon.
● Make dining an event, not something you do in your car or on the run. Set the table, make it appealing and fun, and eat slowly. “Eating in the company of other people is essential for good nutrition and health,” said Bourges.
● Have a big dinner or party once a week; bring family and friends together. The rest of the week eat simple, flavorful dishes that take less time to prepare.
● Choose smaller plates to trick yourself into eating less.
● Food is emotional, passionate, creative – take advantage.
SIDEBAR
Starting small:
Small changes add up to big health benefits. Losing just 5 percent of your body weight – that’s 10 pounds if you’re 200 pounds – can significantly reduce your risk of Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and other weight-related illnesses. Here are a few little changes to try at home:
Replace candy bars with a square of at least 70 percent dark chocolate, one of Latin America’s best gifts to the world. When the cocoa content is this high, your body benefits from the same heart-protecting compounds that red wine contains. These squares do have some fat, but not as much as regular candy bars. Eat only one or two squares of a bar a day. The flavor is so strong that’s probably all you’ll want.
Add other traditional Latin American grains to your diet, such as quinoa and amaranth. Also continue to use more familiar ones like corn and brown rice. These grains are great sources of complex carbohydrates, and they give you long-lasting energy. They are also full of nutrients like magnesium and B vitamins.
Eat cooked beans, instead of refried beans. They have far less saturated fat, yet still provide the nutrients, protein and fiber.
Replace potato chips, cheese puffs and the like with a handful of peanuts or almonds. Nuts are an excellent source of healthy unsaturated fat, they make you feel full, they have no cholesterol, and they are full of protein and fiber. The salt on the nut is less than what is found in chips, but go for low-salt varieties anyway to reduce the risk of high blood pressure. Eat a handful for a snack in the afternoon or between breakfast and lunch.
Choose corn tortillas over flour tortillas. Studies show that whole grains, like corn or whole-wheat flour, help protect against heart disease, diabetes, obesity and cancer. And they make you feel full for longer. At the very least, try whole-wheat tortillas, instead of flour. Refined flour has lost most of its beneficial nutrients and also triggers spikes in blood sugars, which is bad for diabetes.
Source: Rachael Moeller Gorman and the Arizona Daily Star
Dr. Sebi Talks Health- Part 2 of 4
This segment is out of sequence because of technical problems. Please accept my apology.
FoodSpook
Source: WestPhillyGurl on YouTube
Dr. Sebi-The Healer, Part 1 of 4
There is something about the information from Dr. Sebi that I find fascinating. In this four video series Dr. Sebi makes some compelling statements about his views on our health. You be the judge.
FoodSpook
Source: WestPhillyGurl on YouTube
Dr. Sebi-The Healer Part 3 of 4
Source: WestPhillyGurl on Youtube
Dr. Sebi-The Healer Part 4 of 4
Source: WesPhillyGurl on YouTube
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