Best Multivitamin 2008

The Best Multivitamin for 2008 Kitchen Table Award is granted to Whole Food Nation!

Congratulations for formulating a fantastic whole food multivitamin at a reasonable price we can afford!

Today I will be discussing why I chose the whole foods “Purple and Green Pops” as the best, so that everyone can understand what key features to address while shopping for a multivitamin.

“Do I need a multivitamin?”

The Healing Power of Thanksgiving

Contrary to popular belief Thanksgiving Dinner is actually quite healthy.

When we remove all the notorious “white foods,” such as white refined flours, sugars, and other carbohydrates devoid of nutrients we are actually left with a very colorful whole food fare.

Of course you should never try a new recipe while entertaining, but I have given each popular dish a “whole foods makeover” so that you can try a healthier option next time. There should be a next time–in just a few weeks. We should try to eat a turkey dinner more than once a year! Baking a whole turkey is a fantastic healthy and frugal way to optimize your grocery budget, and turkey is the hottest trend this winter. Plus it just makes the house smell good. I freeze carcasses until I have enough to make into a great turkey wild rice soup.

Chocolate Chips Better than Viagra?

Are chocolate chips better than Viagra? According to Journal of Nutrition’s latest September and October issues, chocolate has some pretty exciting therapeutic potential.

If you want to avoid being on “the little blue pill” you should consider taking a daily dose of the little brown pill.

That’s right—50-200 chocolate chips a day may prevent the cardiovascular damage that is a leading cause of erectile dysfunction. ¹

Living With Diabetes: An Interview with Joe

I hope all my readers today have a chance to read this interview.

If you have diabetes you could use the empathy, and if you are currently free of chronic disease you may want to read and feel motivated to take better care of your body NOW to prevent disease.

Do you ever wonder what it is like to live with diabetes? Ever wonder how your friends or family members are secretly doing day to day with this difficult disease?

Today I will be interviewing Joe, otherwise known as “Crotchety” to all the readers of his widely read, popular and hilarious humor blog, “Crotchety Old Man Yells at Cars” about living with diabetes.

Are You a Sugar Zombie?

By Dr. Scott Olson

Author of Sugarettes.

If you were a normal zombie, you would rise up out of your grave and stumble off in search of your craving: flesh. Sugar zombies, however, typically rise from their couch and go off in search of their craving: sugar. Sugar zombies yearning for sugar can sometimes only be satisfied with a pure sugary treat, but remember, certain foods act like sugar in the body (such are grains, chips, crackers, French fries and others…) and these “foods that act like sugar” are sometimes what the sugar zombie are searching for.

How are you Voting for your Health?

Call me old fashioned but I refuse to vote by absentee ballot. I just love Election Day, and to me there is something really special about driving to the same elementary school year after year and filling out my ballot alongside everyone else in my community. There is that certain spirit in the air. That friendly neighborhood free cookie and coffee hour that can’t quite be replicated anywhere else. “Does my vote really make a difference?” I always wonder to myself as I look around the crowded room.

It certainly does to me.

Flu Shots: Pros and Cons of Employee Vaccination Programs

By Dr. Nicole Sundene

“Do I need a flu shot?” This question always comes up repeatedly this time of year, and I will attempt to present an unbiased review of the pro and con opinons of being vaccinated against influenza.

In the second part of this article we will examine the ethics behind employee mandated flu vaccination programs, and the questionable ulterior motives of flu vaccine manufacturers promoting these mandatory programs.

First of all, I would NOT like my honest critical eye on the cons of the flu vaccine to stop anyone from getting a flu shot. If you feel you need a flu shot—then by all means please go get one right now.

Squash: Autumn’s Cheapest Super Food

By Dr. Nicole Sundene

Right now squash is the HIT super food of the season.

Squash is not only a CHEAP food, it is also a highly nutritious lower glycemic complex source of carbohydrates that can be enjoyed by dieters and diabetics when paired with a lean protein source.

Whether you are growing pumpkins, butternut squash, or acorn squash in your garden you can easily turn any squash in to a nutritious soup to boost your immune system during the cold and flu months.

Because of the beautiful orange and yellow pigments, squash is a rich source of beta carotene and other important carotenoids that prevent cancer.

21 Free Preventative Medicine Habits!

#1 Laugh- When we laugh we release endorphins that make us feel good. These endorphins reduce pain and stress. Stress is a common cause of chronic disease.

Maybe you just lost a ton of money in the stock market and don’t feel like laughing a whole lot about it, but can’t you just muster up a deep dark cynical laugh about it? Good. Now that is a start!

Remember, things can always be worse, and we may not have a whole lot of control over them. But, we can always control our attitudes.

Olive Oil: New Research Shows it Prevents DNA Damage

Wow! Olive oil prevents DNA damage, how exciting.

Why should we care about this?

Because DNA damage caused by inflammation is essentially the biochemical mother of all disease.

In an article recently published in the August 2008 “Journal of American Nutrition”, researchers concluded that olive oil likely prevents cancer and aging by protecting DNA from damage.

The “phenolic compounds” in olive oil were studied and determined to inhibit the initial stages of cancer formation caused by “oxidative stress” (unstable molecules in our bodies that destroy healthy tissues resulting in inflammation and disease).

I Have a Dream: 45 Years to American Health Care

It was 45 years ago today that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his stirring “I Have a Dream” speech.

You can watch the full video here.

What I ultimately find so inspiring about this historic speech, is how one single speech continues to resonate with so many of us.

“Let Freedom Ring” continues to ring and ripple changes through America still 45 years later.

Dr. King changed how Americans think and act.

He not only changed how human beings treat each other, but more importantly, in my opinion, he changed how human beings allow themselves to be treated by others.

Getting “The Big Diagnosis”

The only thing worse than giving “The Big Diagnosis”, is getting “The Big Diagnosis”.

Let’s just stop for a moment and think about what it might feel like to be diagnosed with terminal cancer. How would you feel if you were told that “You have cancer and only six months left to live”?

How would that make you feel?

I hate to be so grim, but in order for us to really practice preventative medicine in our diet and lifestyles, we need to think about what we are indeed actually striving to prevent. We need to stay motivated.