Seafood: Don’t Listen to the FDA!

Is the FDA going to start recommending that pregnant women drink a beer and smoke a cigarette every night too? Recommending mercury laced seafood to pregnant women in my opinion is just as seemingly ridiculous and irresponsible.

Trust me, I am all about moderation, but when I read articles like this one, “FDA Urges Pregnant Women to Consume More Mercury Laced Seafood,” I feel like just packing up and quitting!

How can the FDA feel good about potentially favoring the failing seafood industry at the risk of exposing unborn fetuses to toxic mercury that is known to cause birth defects and neurological damage? No amount of known mercury consumption during pregnancy should be labeled as “safe” or “healthy.” There is no guarantee that a woman’s cytochrome p450 detoxification pathways will be working while pregnant, and worse yet a common problem in pregnancy is constipation which just perpetuates heavy metal poisoning as the main elimination pathway slows down.

Honestly this crazy rough draft recommendation from the FDA doesn’t surprise me though. I could ramble on for hours about many other instances as to why we should no longer listen to the American FDA, and this is merely one of them. The FDA simply has big business in America at heart, and with the seafood industry nearing extinction in the next few decades as our oceans become increasingly polluted this dietary recommendation is simply a warning sign that the FDA is scrambling to protect the inevitable demise of the seafood industry.

The FDA makes blanket recommendations that promote businesses while potentially jeopardizing the health of individuals. The rough draft report awaiting approval by the white house argues, “that nutrients in fish, including omega-3 fatty acids, selenium and other minerals could boost a child’s IQ by three points.”

Yes! Children will need those extra three IQ points if they were exposed to mercury as a fetus, a heavy metal known to cause neurological disorders.

Keep in mind when you hear health recommendations from the FDA that they are made basically to cover government regulated food programs such as provided for prisoners. Imagine the cost to our government if the FDA actually insisted on high quality organic food for all prisoners?

Such a costly recommendation would certainly burden these government food programs, but it may solve the health care dilemna. We are the second most unhealthy country only to Finland, yet we spend the most on health care, and the least on high quality food. We should try modeling after our European and Asian counterparts that place a cultural priority on quality food consumption. Americans will eat any old cheap refined food garbage they can purchase several month’s supply of at a cost saving warehouse. Europeans shop several times a week from a local produce stand.

Cutting corners with our food is is not the answer. Trust me, my heart goes out to the seafood industry, but we have to make ethical decisions when it comes to health. The pollution of our oceans is an unavoidable reality.

Larger carnivorous fish are naturally more polluted than smaller ones. Older fish are also more polluted than younger fish. The best fish to consume are Alaskan Wild Salmon and similar deep water fish. Do NOT eat farm raised fish unless they are crustaceans grown in controlled tanks. Farm raised salmon is toxic with PCB’s to say the least. PCB’s are known carcinogens that cause cancer, and farmed fish is thus banned in Europe for that reason. Why isn’t it banned in America? Money of course.

It is simply irresponsible on the FDA’s behalf to consider recommending that pregnant women and children eat more fish that we KNOW are toxic with mercury. This just doesn’t make sense, and I hope that pregnant women are not going to fall victim to this ridiculous advice that clearly has the interest of big business in America at heart and not the health of developing human beings.

Reference: www.EWG.org

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Best Organic Cabernet 2008

The Bonterra Cabernet Sauvignon Mendocino County 2006 is simply a delightful, delicious organic red wine.

Most oenophiles will agree that the organic wine industry is pretty limited, young, and newly developing. I would actually rate some of the organic red wines I’ve tasted as worse than the worst boxed wine. The exorbitant price just further leaves a bad taste.

It is important to buy organic wine because grapes are on the “Dirty Dozen” of most pesticide ridden foods. Grapes are the 9th most toxic produce item.

From a biochemical standpoint we are concentrating and extracting lipid soluble toxins with the wine making process.

From a health standpoint, we want to lesson the total chemical burden on the liver by eliminating avoidable pesticides and added sulfites. Wine naturally contains sulfites, but organic wine does not have additional sulfites which translates in to less of a “red wine hangover.”

This is why you can go to Europe and taste many different red wines without the headache, as Italy and France do not allow for additional sulfites in wine making unless they are due for export to America.

Organic red wine is a great way to “cheat the system” for those of you that are always asking me for healthy short cuts. If you aren’t going to give up your red wine for the new year, then just go organic with it!

The best way to maximize the anti-aging benefits from the resveratrol in red wine is to reduce the total toxic burden of the beverage. Organic red wine provides all the power of resveratrol without all the sulfites, pesticides, and other needless garbage that pollutes our system.

Makes plenty of sense, but still it is tough to find an organic wine that is both tasty and affordable.

I was happy to learn from the Safeway wine guy that this Bonterra organic cab scored a whopping 88 points which is pretty significant for an organic red!

Wine writer David Lawrason reviewed Bonterra’s 2006 organic cab as, “a lovely evenness, with bright berry fruit, a touch of Cabernet, green bean and tobacco, and moderate toast and clove. Mid-weight and nicely balanced, with fine tannin. Very good length. Enjoy over the next four years.”

Wine spectator James Laube describes this organic red as, “Supple, elegant and polished, with ripe, fleshy plum, black cherry, mineral, spice and light cedary oak flavors that are well-proportioned, gaining length. Drink now through 2011.”

Be sure you are picking up Bonterra’s 2006 organic cab, as our kitchen table tasters did not particularly care for Bonerra’s merlot.

Since I am not a fan of Cabernet I invited my team of product tasters over to help me with an unbiased review, and they were pleased to highly recommend this organic red.

“Jammy and delicious!”

“Very smooth…”

“I could drink a glass of this every day, and for fifteen bucks a bottle I think I will.”

“Yummy! This is a great cab.”

And of course my favorite comment, “This is guilt free wine at it’s finest!”

I am happy to report that although I typically don’t care for cab’s I agreed with my fellow tasters and found it to be smooth, jammy, sweet, light, and delicious. Most cab’s are too tart for my pallet, but this one was just right.

I was also pleased about the price, for just $12 on sale, this 88 point organic red is definitely a great wine to load up on when sales hit, and you can always just grab a case through your local wine dealer to get a further price break. A perfect bottle of organic wine makes for the perfect holiday party gift. If you have a friend that is a oenophile the rare find of a delicious organic red will absolutely make the perfect gift…and their livers will of course thank you too!

Bonterra is typically available at Safeway, PCC, Whole Foods, and other natural markets that feature organic products.

~Dr. Nicole

If you have an organic product you would like tested at the kitchen table simply contact us.

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Zing Bars: Awarded Best Nutrition Bar 2008

Have you been searching for the best sports bar? Are you tired of all the refined junk, preservatives and other garbage you have to eat while exercising to make your body healthier?

Well as an avid mountain biker and endurance cyclist I have tried nearly every bar in the business, and have finally settled on what I think is the best. Zing Bars!

Congratulations to Zing Bars for winning the Kitchen Table Medicine award for the best in nutrition bars for 2008!

Here is why they are the best:

• NO artificial ingredients! The founders of Zing Bars apparently were just as sick of all the unhealthy “health bars” on the market and have taken out all the other garbage that pollutes most sports bars and created a delicious whole food alternative for busy people.
• No corn syrup! Zing bars are sweetened with agave syrup and real fruit juice. “Slow and steady wins the race,” and sweeteners with a lower glycemic index will continuously provide you with a steady energy source.
• NO cottonseed oil. Anytime you read “cottonseed oil” or “partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil” just run the other way. Zing bars provide healthy fat from almonds.
• These are whole food, hypoallergenic bars that are not only healthful but delicious! No wonder they were smartly formulated by four nutritionists.
• They have fiber! Five grams of fiber per bar. This is great news for dieters and those with blood sugar issues as we want to balance everything we eat with fiber to increase the “satiety index” or that feeling of being satisfied. If you are doing the Iron Man or any other long distance endurance event I do advise to limit fiber consumption during the race, so don’t go eating ten of these on race day! But Zing bars are the perfect training treat.
• These are great for children because they aren’t fortified with a bunch of synthetic vitamin isolates that can overload a young child’s system. Most athletes actually risk “hypervitaminosis” from all the vitamins they consume in their protein drinks, bars, multivitamins, energy drinks, and sports drinks. Nutrition bars don’t need added vitamins if they are made from healthy whole food ingredients.



• Two of the bars are gluten free, and all three are wheat free. Wheat is a top food allergen responsible for many bad gut aches in athletes, and gluten is a total gut bomb that should not be included in any bars used for athletic performance.
• Zing bars are free of soy! Soy gives many athletes a major gut ache just like wheat which is why I recommend whey and rice protein as the most gentle protein sources for delicate stomachs. Zing bars are made with whey protein. Whey is the best protein source for athletes.

HealtheGoods has Zing bars on sale at 15% off for a limited time. You can also stop by ZingBars.com for more information about my new favorite thing!

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The Twenty Best Holiday Charities of 2008

The holidays should be all about giving.

Although I know things are tight this year in America, they still are a million times better than in certain other parts of the world where volunteers are hard at work just trying to provide clean water, food, and shelter for our fellow human beings.

If you have a roof over your head, food in your fridge, and a few dollars in the bank then you may want to consider the fact that despite current less fortunate economic circumstances, the majority of us reading this top twenty charity list are truly amongst the richest people in the world. They say that if you own your own computer you are officially in the top 1% of the world’s wealthiest population!

The holidays are the perfect time to share that wealth.

For many of these well established charities even a simple $1 or $10 donation can make a significant difference in the life of another. I asked my friend Shirley Petretic, the author of Proof Positivity, a website that focuses on positive news and charity promotion, to put together a list for us that are looking for some great charities to support this holiday season.

Charities in America:

1. Toys for Tots Help provide toys for children who don’t have much.

2. Coats For Kids Provides a coat, gloves, and scarves for children in need.

3. Cradles to Crayons In Boston and Philadelphia Help provide car seats, clothing, strollers, even personal hygiene products for teens.

4. Make A Wish Make an ill child’s wish come true. You can donate or volunteer your time. If you volunteer your time you may have to pay to be background checked. This is important for the safety of the children this organization serves.

5. Habitat for Humanity Their goal is to eliminate substandard housing. They need funding and volunteers.

6. City Year City Year is a diverse group of 17- 24 year olds who go out and do community service.

They get a living stipend and at the end of a certain amount of hours a scholarship through Americorps to go to college.

7. Salvation Army The Salvation Army helps in disaster relief, sends kids to camp, and much more.

8. Make it Right: Pink Project Is Brad Pitt’s initiative for Katrina victims. A pink tent is placed in an area to make it visible with Google earth. Each tent represents where a home will be one day.

9. Goodwill You can help send someone to work by donating to Goodwill. It could be your things that you were going to throw out or your expertise. It all goes toward educating and employing people.

10. Holiday Mail For Heroes - Send a Christmas card to a soldier.

Charities in Other Countries:

11. Ethiopia Reads Help build a library in Ethiopia

12. Mercy Corps purchase a Mercy Kit and provide a goat for a family. An opportunity to provide a business for another and more.

13. Kiva-provide a business loan for someone.

14. Yéle Haiti - “The objective of Yéle Haiti is to restore pride and a reason to hope, and for the whole country to regain the deep spirit and strength that is part of our heritage.” ~Wyclef Jean

15. Red Cross provide services during disasters.

16. Kilimanjaro Education Foundation - The mission is to provide African children the same education opportunities as children in developed countries.

KEF strives to improve education and to build school facilities for underprivileged children in Tanzania and other countries bordering Kilimanjaro.

17. Hoops of Hope - Created by a little boy who tried out for the basketball team and didn’t make the draft.You can shoot some b-ball for AIDS education in Africa.

18. Charity: Water A non-profit bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations.

19. Hannah’s Lunchbox Hannah and her brother are working together to end poverty. Their solution was to sell their home. Half of the proceeds from the sale of the home goes to The Hunger Project and Habitat for Humanity

20. Petition to end slavery- Sign a petition to help end slavery in sweatshops and work fields.

Always confirm the charity you are donating to is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit volunteer organization before sending any money.

Remember that this 2008 holiday season is one of the best years to think about how rich you truly are, and focus on those with less. You can make little cards for your friends saying that in gratitude of your

friendship you have donated to one of the above charities in their honor. For most of us that already have more than we need, it will be a much appreciated gift idea.

Author: Shirley Petretic

Source: http://KitchenTableMedicine.com

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Press Release: Free Pre-Registration on 30 Day’s Sugar Free

Natural Medicine Press Release: 30 Day’s Sugar Free Challenge starts Jan 1st

Status: Available for immediate re-distribution, creative commons copyright.

Who: Dr. Scott Olson ND, the author of a new book, Sugarettes, claims that sugar is both addictive and harmful, much like cigarettes.

What: Dr. Scott is issuing a challenge to spend 30 Sugar Free Days to draw attention to the burgeoning health crisis created by sugar over-consumption.

When: January is typically a time to focus on weight loss, but the 30 Sugar Free Days Challenge is a call to take the next step and create a weight loss program that is also a health program. The challenge starts on Jan 1st 2009 and pre-registration is free.

Why: Sugar consumption has dramatically increased in the last decades. It is estimated that people in the developed world are now eating somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 of a pound of sugar every day - for a total of over 150 pounds of sugar a year.

While most people deny eating that much sugar, 1/4 pound of sugar a day is actually fairly easy to achieve. Calculating daily sugar consumption requires knowing how much sugar is in a pound: 1 pound of sugar is equal to 120 teaspoons, and 1/4 pound of sugar is equal to 30 teaspoons.

Finding 30 teaspoons of sugar in a typical diet is easy.

For example, each 12-ounce soda contains 8 teaspoons of sugar; it takes only four (small) sodas (or one Super 42-ounce drink) a day to equal 1/4 pound. Not everyone drinks four sodas a day, but one or two are very common. When other sugars found in the diet are added to the soda, such as those found in donuts (8-10 teaspoons), jams (3 teaspoons per tablespoon), cookies (2-4 teaspoons per cookie), candy or other snacks, and the so-called “hidden sugars” found in salad dressing, bread, peanut butter and other foods are added, it is easy to see that large amounts of sugar are being consumed daily.

This sugar consumption is not without its consequences as sugar is at least partly responsible for our epidemic of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and premature aging.

How: Sign up at www.OlsonND.com for free professional coaching! Pre-registration before Jan 1st is FREE! Don’t forget to grab your copy of Sugarettes for more motivation on kicking the sugar habit once and for all.

Source: KitchenTableMedicine.com

Our press releases and “Kitchen Table Cliffnotes” are ALL “creative commons copyrighted” meaning unlike the rest of our KitchenTableMedicine.com content, you are free to copy and paste this press release directly to your blog or website to share with your own readers. We of course do simply request that you keep all links intact and give us credit by linking back to http://KitchenTableMedicine.com as the original news source. Thanks!

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Huge Whole Food Multi Year End Sale!

Hi Whole Food Friends!

Thought I would pop in and share with you that my favorite multi is on sale for about 70% off right now!

Stop by and check out this awesome sale at Whole Food Nation:

Pops Bare Bones Special!

Just thought I would update everyone on the huge sale going on for just the next five days. This is a great opportunity to try this multivitamin/antioxidant/weight loss/natural healing system and see if it works for you.

A few quick answers to questions I have received about this whole food multi system:

• Yes, I recommend taking BOTH the purple and green. Start with 1 purple with breakfast and 1 green with lunch or dinner, and work up to two purples with breakfast and 2 greens with lunch or dinner.

• Yes, I recommend stocking up with this BIG year end 70% off sale. Not every supplement is the best thing for every person, but I usually recommend trying something new for about three months before deciding if it useful. At $15 bucks a pop you can easily grab three months worth and save a ton of money on this fantastic healing whole food antioxidant formula.

• Yes, The purple pills have natural metabolic enhancers that are beneficial for those wanting to lose weight, but no, you don’t have to worry that you are going to waste away on these if you are trying to put on weight, because you want to put on lean muscle mass not fat. This is a great system for athletes to protect their joints from the destructive free radicals created by intense exercise. The weight loss mechanism that seems to help me with the purple pops is that they give me a ton of awesome healthy caffeine free energy that motivates me to run around more and work out that much harder. To get the best benefit I take two purples in the morning with my pre-work out snack or smoothie.

• Yes, the green pills help to “calm” us down and that is why you are now sleeping better at night. Greens are rich in minerals especially calcium and magnesium, and most Americans do not get enough greens in their diet which is why I recommend taking a daily whole food multi for those of us that don’t eat perfectly and need a bit of damage control (I mean we do need to enjoy life every now and then right?)

• No, the whole food pops are not designed for children under the age of 14, although I plan to test them on my 11 year old golden retriever after I get the approval from his vet (have to be careful because some herbs safe for humans can kill animals so I always check with my naturopathic vet first.) This rich antioxidant formula translates in to anti-aging, and I want my senior dog to be healthy and active for as long as possible.

• Yes, the antioxidant rich formula is likely what has already improved your chronic joint pain, fatigue, and fibromyalgia. Don’t forget to take some glucosamine sulfate and omega 3 oils for your joint pain as well. The joints are “avascular” meaning that they don’t have a direct blood supply and get their nutrients via simple diffusion down a gradient. We thus need to feed the joints with a constant supply of nutrients for both prevention and treatment of joint pain, rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. It is important to decrease free radicals by increasing antioxidants in the diet so that the joints do not degrade any faster than they already do. To increase antioxidants you can try juicing, eating more raw foods, and/or take a whole food multi.

• Yes, I recommend replacing your traditional multi with a whole foods multi as you will gain all the nutrients found in nature that scientists have yet to discover. However, keep in mind that you are taking a daily dose of nourishing nutrition (which most Americans are deficient in) and not a standardized dose of specific nutrient isolates. Nutrients you specifically take to address or prevent a health condition should be taken additionally such as vitamin D for seasonal depression, calcium for osteoporosis prevention or treatment (most multi’s don’t contain enough calcium so you should already be doing this anyways), folic acid for women of child bearing age (if you are trying to get pregnant you should be on a prenatal vitamin though and this formula is not recommended for those pregnant or breastfeeding), omega 3 oils (most multis don’t contain these) and so forth. Always check with your naturopathic doctor before discontinuing a supplement you have been prescribed. With that being said, I was able to swap out the whole food pops for five other products I was taking, and have never felt better. I am all about efficiency! Yeah.

• Yes! This fantastic whole food multi system is a great way to stay energized through the winter blahs, and gear up for weight loss and your next New Year’s resolution for the new year. Now is the time to get excited and geared up for your future fitness goals.

To take advantage of this special sale visit Whole Foods Nation.

If you don’t have a New Year’s Resolution established yet how about going on a sugar free and strictly whole foods diet for 2009?

Dr. Scott Olson author of “Sugarettes” will be personally coaching us off sugar with his “30 Day Sugar Free Challenge” and I will be blogging over here about going whole foods and sugar free as well, pre-registration is FREE if you sign up before Jan 1st at www.OlsonND.com.

Related Reading:
Best Whole Food Multi 2008
Antioxidants
Weight Loss
Best Omega 3 Oil
Best Glucosamine
Best Chewable Fiber for Weight Loss

©KitchenTableMedicine.com, LLC ™

Best Weight Loss Diet 2008!

Welcome to my favorite diet!

Personally I hate the word “diet” because it sounds so restrictive and the restrictive nature of most “diets” is exactly what sets us up for failure in the form of diet rebellion.

Instead I would like to introduce my favorite eating system for weight loss and disease prevention, and for today’s educational purposes I will refer to it as a “diet”.

The best diet is the diet that is right for the individual and their metabolic type. As a physician, I am not a fan of high carb diets, or low carb diets, or no carb diets unless they are used to treat a specific health condition.

Low carb diets are hard on the environment as they force humans to eat high on the food chain. Can you imagine the even more disastrous state our environment would be in if everyone in the world was eating steak and eggs for breakfast each morning?

The best diet is low in refined grains, but rich in the “slow carbs” or “complex carbohydrates” that keep us feeling full and satisfied with a nice steady stable blood sugar.

My favorite diet coincidentally prevents and treats diabetes. This is also the diet I recommend for weight loss as it increases the “satiety index” of your meal (so you stay feeling fuller for longer) and is the basic principle behind my anti-aging program.

With the dramatically rising rates of diabetes in America, I am going to have to make this article, along with Dr. Scott Olson’s brand new book Sugarettes, a guide to sugar addiction, mandatory reading for all Americans.

If you need some motivation to kick the sugar habit and jump on the whole food wagon you can visit his website and sign up for the 30 Day Sugar Free Challenge, I will be participating along with everyone else and blogging about being sugar free at the kitchen table.

Early registration is FREE and includes expert coaching and support if you go sign up today at www.OlsonND.com.

Dr. Olson’s groundbreaking book, “Sugarettes” addresses the signs and symptoms of sugar addiction in America and how sugar is systematically aging us. I personally think that sugar is the bane and burden to the failing American health care system. Sugar appears to play a role in nearly every chronic disease due to the inflammation caused by glycosylated proteins.

The “Low Glycemic Index Diet” is the best diet of 2008 and probably 2009, and 2010. It teaches us how to pair protein and fiber with other whole foods to keep a steady blood sugar state which is beneficial for diabetics, hypoglycemics, and those trying to curb hunger throughout the day to lose weight.

Eating your meals with a “Low Glycemic Load” means that you are going to stay fuller longer and thus less likely to go out and binge on a bunch of junk.

Staying full is as simple as eating foods with a high protein, fiber, and water content.

Keeping yourself feeling satisfied is the most important aspect for success with any weight loss program. Regardless of it you have diabetes or not, you are in the right place when it comes to learning the basics on how to eat correctly to stabilize your blood sugar.

Stabilizing your blood sugar translates long term in to weight loss, ridding yourself of that jittery, irritable, faint feeling associated with hypoglycemia, improving energy and mood, as well as providing the foundation for an anti-aging program!

Wow all that from just one diet!

How exciting.

I bet right now you really want to buy whatever I am selling. Well I am not selling anything, except healthy diet and lifestyle.

I am simply here to teach you how to change your eating habits permanently over the long term, and field any questions or concerns that come up as you start this new adventure to a healthier you.

The most exciting thing about this diet, is that I can sum up how to do this diet in one simple sentence:

Every meal you eat should include protein and fiber.

Yes, it is that simple.

Memorize that.

Make that your new mantra.

We simply never ever ever eat carbs by themselves!

Fiber is your new best friend forever!!!

Lean proteins are your new favorite friends.

The next step is to memorize what high fiber foods are and what foods are healthy sources of protein and to stock your cupboards with all these foods. Vegetarian sources of protein make for great snacks as they contain both fiber and protein.

Trust me we will get fussy about the numbers later. But you need to get the basics down before you will be ready for anything like that.

Most foods high in fiber are either fruits, vegetables, or whole grains. Begin to make best friends with vegetables now as for diabetics and those trying to lose weight they are essentially “free foods”, meaning the calorie count is relatively insignificant, with of course some occasional exceptions as I discuss in my article “What is in Your Zero Zone?”

Here is a quick list of healthy lean protein choices: Chicken, fish, white cheese, plain nonfat yogurt, beans, and whole grains.

Now let’s keep in mind that certain proteins high in saturated fat like beef, bacon, and cheddar cheeses are just not conducive to a healthy lifestyle. Especially for those of you with diabetes we want to be on the look-out for heart disease and kidney problems. If you are having a hard time giving these up then simply treat them like the garnish for your plate. Instead of a pile of bacon you get just have one little piece.

Over time you will begin to feel so much better on this diet that it will be WORTH it for you to get rid of the offending foods. Remember “nothing tastes as good as being healthy and looking good feels”.

Be sure to drink plenty of water in between your meals. A high fiber diet will naturally require more water. Water will also help keep you feeling full. Sometimes we feel hungry when really we are thirsty.

Now most diabetics with Type II diabetes (non-insulin dependent) have it because they already have a very unhealthy relationship with food, if not engage in compulsive eating patterns, and use food as a drug. For my patients having a hard time making these necessary dietary changes, I recommend counseling. Counseling may help treat the underlying problems of anxiety or depression.

While they are trying to make the necessary changes to change their emotional relationship with food, I recommend that they keep chewable fiber tablets on hand so that if all else fails they can at least lower the Glycemic Load of the binge. Make sure they aren’t loaded with crap! I personally use the brand by Enzymatic Therapy that can be found over at eVitamins.

Now you have to be careful not to get the chewable fiber tablets high in sugar! But sometimes a glass of Metamucil or your favorite fiber supplement can help offset the huge quantity of sugar consumed on a binge while you address the underlying causes of the disordered eating. Yes this is a quick fix tip, and no it is not addressing the root cause of the problem, it is simply offering a solution to a common problem and trying to approach it realistically while we work towards a permanent solution.

Now that you are eating lean proteins and high fiber foods, the next question is…

“Can I have carbohydrates on this diet?”

Most doctors agree that in most cases a “Slow” carbohydrate diet is better than a “Low” or “No” carbohydrate diet. Personally I am not a fan of the No/Low carbohydrate diet unless it is for specific therapeutic purposes.

“So how do I know if my Carbs are “slow” or not?”

Well that is where the magic of the low glycemic index diet and the numbers assigned to certain foods come in to play. This usually is a bit too complicated for me to just start patients out with right off the bat. I prefer to have my patients on a whole foods diet of lean proteins and fruits and vegetables before playing around with various carbohydrates.

Glycemic Index numbers are determined in a laboratory by measuring how quickly a test panel of humans blood sugars rise after consuming the food. The higher the blood sugar rises, the higher the glycemic index number is as a result. For instance a piece of white bread has a high index number as it will raise your blood sugar rapidly.

Interestingly enough after analyzing the numbers on the Glycemic Index chart one can conclude that not all carbohydrates are created equally. Some will release more rapidly in to the system than others. This might explain why you have a half cup serving of pasta at dinner and your numbers are different than when you have a half cup serving of corn.

The take home message with all of this, is that if you have diabetes…especially type II, it is sincerely in your best interest to get off all the “white” refined foods and stick with the healthier choices of carbohydrates found in fruits and vegetables and whole grains as they are high in fiber as well as packed full of vitamins and minerals which will not only protect your system from long term damages associated with diabetes, but will also keep you younger and feeling more fabulous as part of an anti-aging program.

The take home message one more time is: High Fiber + High Quality Protein= Healthy Diet

That is the basic long term recipe for diet success!

~Dr. Nicole

Related Reading:

Diabetes
Dr. Scott Olson on Sugar Addiction
Weight Loss Articles
The Best Natural Solutions for Permanent Weight Loss

©KitchenTableMedicine.com, LLC ™

Best Chewable Fiber 2008

The best fiber sources obviously come from whole food dietary sources.

However, occasionally we need a little something something to “cheat the system” and this is my favorite weight loss trick, as I have mentioned the importance of utilizing fiber for satiety and stable blood sugar in my “Favorite Weight Loss Diet of 2008″.

You should never take fiber with your vitamins or minerals as it will absorb them and defeat the purpose, however, two of these chewable fiber pills pack 4 grams of the needed 25 grams (if not more!) of recommended daily fiber. Don’t forget to take these chewable fiber pills with an eight ounce glass of water, as we never take fiber without water.

Fiber is therapeutic for those with diabetes, high cholesterol, hypoglycemia, in need of losing weight, and detoxing or in need of liver support. Fiber binds with cholesterol and toxins in the bowel and prevents the cholesterol and toxins from recirculating into our blood stream as I explained in my natural cholesterol lowering plan. Instead we eliminate the toxins and cholesterol out.

No, these chewable fibers aren’t as delicious as candy but they do satisfy the sweet tooth and come in both vanilla and chocolate Even better, they are not a psyllium based fiber, as many people do not tolerate psyllium (found in Metamucil) very well, and it can make them extremely gassy or constipated.

Most Americans only get about 9 grams of fiber each day, according to the latest studies. If you want to increase the “satiety index” (the amount of time you feel satisfied before you get hungry again) of your meal or snack and decrease the “glycemic load” as I recommend for weight loss, diabetes, and anti-aging simply have a few of these fiber pills with your meal!

I also have a few fiber pills when I am stuck in that inevitable bad eating situation, and fiber at the very least helps to mop up excess saturated fat that we consume, or when I am out running errands and want to make it home to eat instead of eating out.

I buy a bunch of these bottles and stash them everywhere: in my car, in my purse, by the fridge, etc. An ounce of weight loss prevention is worth a pound of cure and fiber is a fantastic way to manage hunger.

Between meals these fiber pills can be used as a little sweet snack. Remember they are not free of calories, and two tablets have 25 calories, but they are free of a lot of the other typical refined garbage that goes in to supplements.

Of course my purest friend Dr. Ben would recommend chewing on chia seeds as the best chewable fiber, but sometimes I just need a little something sweet to get me through the rough patches and prevent me from grabbing some McInflammation in a mad hungry hypoglycemic rage.

The Enzymatic Therapy line was established by naturopathic physician Dr. Michael Murray and is a great widely available trusted supplement brand.

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Recipe: Organic Sports Drinks

Most sports drinks are just pollutionfests chock full of Kitchen Table Villains such as High Fructose Corn Syrup, food colorings, additives, preservatives, and artificial flavorings and colorings. With just a few simple kitchen ingredients, you can make your own homemade sports drinks.

The two widely available sports drinks I commonly recommend for athletes and those that are at risk of dehydration are Emergen-C and Recharge.

If you do not have these readily on hand, you can also easily make your own sports drinks at home.

Making your own sports drinks is fun, cost effective, and MUCH healthier than most alternatives.

Ingredients for Homemade Organic Sports Drinks:

• Pure Organic Fruit Juice (No High Fructose Corn Syrup!)
• Water or Green Tea
• Organic Sea Salt

Directions: Fill your sports bottle with half juice and half water. Add a pinch of organic sea salt, shake, and enjoy!

Sports Drink Variations and Information:

• You can use table salt, but organic sea salt is best to use as an electrolyte source as the minerals of the sea are very similar to our own electrolyte composition in our blood. Sea salt contains 84 minerals. Aside from sodium, you are receiving potassium, iodine, magnesium, calcium, zinc, manganese, and more!
• A small pinch of sea salt is sufficient for most, a larger pinch should be used for endurance athletes, and convalescent care to stave off hyponatremia, the dangerous condition of low sodium levels that can cause muscle weakness, confusion, slurred speech, and more.
• The RDA for sodium depending on your age, ranges between 1200-1500mg daily.
• Most athletes lose around 1000mg of sodium per hour, depending on how much they sweat, you do not have to replete all of this at once though, doing so may result in gastrointestinal distress such as nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea.
• Most sports drinks contain around 20-60mg of sodium per 100 mL.
• One teaspoon of salt contains 2400mg of sodium. For hard core endurance athletes such as Ironman triathletes, that are in need of strict sodium regulation, I would aim for about 1/8 of a teaspoon of salt an hour for starters. If you get cramps or weakness in your muscles then you probably need more sodium and magnesium. If you get an upset stomach, chances are you need less sugar and electrolytes. These are just basic guidelines, the best formula is the one that works for you!
• Soups like chicken and vegetable broth can also be enjoyed as electrolyte sources.
• Green tea can be used for athletes wanting a little bit of a fat burning or energetic edge.
• Honey and sea salt can be added to green tea or your favorite herbal tea if fruit juice is unavailable. Enjoy hot or chilled.
• Try adding an Emergen-C packet to your room temperature green tea for an energizing, fat burning sports drink! Let the tea cool a bit because vitamin C is heat sensitive.
• Herbal teas can also be used in this formula as a simple way to deliver herbal medicine to sick children.
• Hydrating foods such as watermelon, cucumbers, honeydew, cantaloupe, and other such water packed fruits and vegetables are also excellent sources of water, sugar, and electrolytes. They are “Nature’s Sports Drinks”! Keep them in your refrigerator and serve them up cold to kids that have been actively playing in the warm summer sun.

Reference: Exercise Associated Hyponatremia, Cape Town, South Africa 2005. Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine. 15(4):208-213, July 2005.

Enjoy, and thanks for stopping by my kitchen table!

~Dr. Nicole

Naturopathic Physician

www.KitchenTableMedicine.com

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How Much Can I Exercise when I am Sick with a Cold?

Now most of us know better than to go on a twenty mile run in the freezing rain and wind when we are suffering from a bad cold, but still many of my athletic clients will call me up and ask exactly how much exercise they can get away with while they are sick.

I follow the basic rule of thumb that if you have a cold above the chest that a light work-out is ok. Exercise raises our body temperature which then allows oxygen to be more bio-available for our immune system to utilize and kill whatever pathogen is ailing us.

Light exercise stimulates the immune system, yet extreme exercise is shown to suppress immune function. Exercise can be used therapeutically to stimulate the immune system at the first sign of a cold or upper respiratory infection. Remember that most colds spend on average Read more

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3 Reasons to Care About Excess Sugar Consumption

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving Feast and did their best. If you are still struggling to get back on the Whole Foods Wagon I have invited Dr. Scott Olson, author of Sugarettes to chat with us about why we need to care about excess sugar consumption.

Hi Dr. Scott, why is the title of your latest book “Sugarettes”?

The name of my book came about as I was talking with a group of people about how destructive I felt sugar could be.

While I was talking, I was searching for an analogy to explain how drawn to sugar we are and how it destroys our health, when it occurred to me that cigarettes and sugar shared many common traits. I first said that sugar was like a “sugar-cigarette” and then the word “Sugarettes” stumbled out of my mouth.

That stumble began the year-long journey of research to uncover the truth about sugar addiction. What I did not realize at the time I first spoke the word “Sugarettes” was just how similar sugar and cigarettes really are: Sugar is every bit as addictive and harmful as cigarettes. As smoke fills a smoker’s lungs it slowly destroys lung tissue – so slowly that it is barely noticeable. Likewise, when sugar enters our blood stream it leads to weight gain, alters our blood sugar control mechanisms, and destroys our blood vessels – all so slowly that no one notices.

Why should we care about how much sugar we are consuming?

On the surface, it looks as if nothing is wrong with the sugar we consume: we hand it out to children, it is in most of the foods we eat, and we give it as gifts or reward ourselves for a job well done… it seems perfectly harmless. Think of the images you have in your mind when you think of sugar: sweet little girls, all sorts or woodsy creatures dancing about, sunshine, rainbows… the list is endless. All those sweet images, though, hide the underlying destruction that is going on in our bodies every time we eat sugar.

Sugar causes three main health problems:

#1 The first is that sugar contributes to obesity. High blood sugar, which is the result of eating large amounts of sugar, leads to the need for the body to store that extra sugar and that storage occurs as fat. The scientific support for link between sugar consumption and obesity is growing every day. Obesity leads to an increased risk for heart disease, diabetes, stroke and some cancers.

#2 The second problem has to do with the blood sugar regulation mechanisms in our bodies. Many people know that high blood sugar is controlled by insulin. Eating high-sugar meals leads to ever-increasing amounts of insulin in the body.

This perpetually high amount of insulin can lead to a condition known as insulin insensitivity.We know the diseases cause by insulin insensitivity as metabolic syndrome and diabetes. These two diseases, in turn, lead to a whole host of other diseases such as hypertension, kidney disease, peripheral vascular disease, cataracts, neuropathy, and in extreme cases: blindness and loss of limbs (amputation).

#3 The third major problem with sugar is that it is directly toxic to the body. While the science behind this destruction is a bit complicated, essentially what the sugar is doing is forming complexes with proteins in the body called glycated proteins.

The major proteins in the body that sugar forms complexes with are the protein in our blood vessels.Sugar is effectively destroying the blood vessel system throughout the body similar to the way smoke destroys the lungs of a smoker. Glycated proteins lead to all the problems we see in diabetics and people who consume sugar on a regular basis.

The blood vessels become destroyed by these glycated proteins and stop supplying essential parts of the body with oxygen and nutrients. In the kidneys this destruction eventually leads to kidney failure, in the eyes it leads to blindness, in the legs it leads to gangrene, in the heart it leads to heart attacks, in the brain it leads to strokes and so on…

Should we care about how much sugar we are consuming?

The answer is yes.

Thanks for being a guest at my kitchen table Dr. Olson!

Sign up for the 30 Sugar Free Days challenge that starts over at www.OlsonND.com on Jan 1st.

Grab your required reading assignment Sugarettes over at Amazon.com for inspiration and yes, I am making this required reading for all Americans.

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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?”

Everyone that doesn’t eat perfect, or is under stress, or has a chronic disease should be on some form of a multivitamin. First of all, our soil is not as nutrient dense as it once was, second of all I don’t know anyone that eats perfectly every single day, and at every single occasion, and is never under any form of stress.

Drinking alcohol, stress, and eating white refined foods actually depletes our bodies of vital nutrients.

Most importantly though a high quality whole foods multi is a great “insurance policy” that all of our necessary vitamin and mineral cofactors are always topped off for optimal biochemical functioning.

For most patients I recommend a standard wellness program that includes a whole foods multi, Omega 3 oils, enzymes, probiotics, and glucosamine for older and more active folks.

The nice thing about “Pops” whole food multi is that it comes complete with enzymes and probiotics, so my wellness program just got that much simpler. I don’t know about you, but I hate taking pills so prefer efficiency when at all possible.

Without vitamins and minerals our bodies can’t do the work they need to do each day. Most people aren’t actually deficient in one or two nutrients, most people are deficient in a myriad of nutrients because what they are REALLY deficient in is nutrition, and that deficiency of whole food nutrition is compounded by the fact that most Americans are not properly digesting their nutrients.

What features should a great whole food multivitamin contain?

• Organic and pesticide free or eco-harvested whenever possible.
• No tablets! Capsules are the best and help us avoid chemical binders and fillers.
• No food coloring! If your multivitamin has food coloring in it, it is hype, or it is garbage. Phase it out and find a food coloring free alternative.
• Minimal excipients and stabilizers. Check the labels and see if there other artificial ingredients such as food coloring. These are typically the last ingredients listed.
• A full spectrum of all the colors found in nature. We need to “eat by the rainbow” to get the full spectrum of nutrients found in nature. The most important colors being green, purple, and the yellow/oranges found in the carotenoid family.
• No synthetics or synthetic isolates. I am obviously not a fan of synthetic vitamins, as the biochemist in me knows to only trust nature and never man, but I am also against the consumption of isolated nutrients taken in high quantities. Nature intended for us to get our vitamin C from foods like oranges and broccoli, not chewable candies. Whole foods come complete with bioflavonoids that further help vitamin C work to heal and repair damaged tissues. While a synthetic vitamin can promise you 1333% of the USRDA, it can’t promise you a dose of healthy nutrition that your diet is likely lacking. We don’t just need vitamins, we need nutrition. Obviously children and pregnant women need standardized doses of specific vitamins and minerals, but the majority of us looking to prevent disease, just need a comprehensive spectrum of daily nutrition to cover up for those inevitable times that we fall off the whole food wagon.
• No plastic bottles. In an effort to reduce the amount of plastics that are added to our environment annually, I will avoid recommending products that are packaged in plastic bottles when there are better alternatives such as glass bottles, and blister packs that minimize plastic waste put in landfills.

Why are Whole Food Nation “Pops” a great choice?

• Potent antioxidants. The formulators of this product have smartly taken all of nature’s finest superfoods and placed them in to two blends. An AM energizing/weight loss/antioxidant herbal blend or “Purple Pops” and an evening calming herbal food blend found in the “Green Pops.” Antioxidants are the foundation to every healing and anti-aging program.

• What they DON’T have: No food coloring. no sugar, no synthetic product stabilizers, no binders (easily avoided by purchasing only capsules.) Regardless of what multivitamin you choose to use, you should never be taking a daily dose of these artificial chemicals.

• Natural vitamins. These are not synthetic vitamins, or even vitamins isolated from foods. These are whole food nutrient concentrates, brought to us by nature’s finest superfoods, and in the form that nature intends that we take them. With that being said be sure to take this supplement with food so that the vitamins and minerals can be properly digested and utilized.

• More than just vitamins. Do you get confused about the latest new hot nutrient that scientists have “just discovered?” Well these nutrients have existed in nature for centuries, and just because a scientist discovers them in a lab, doesn’t mean that we need to suddenly start taking them in a high dose supplement. We should be taking these healing plant pigments, cofactors and coenzymes in our food on a daily basis, and if we don’t eat perfectly we should supplement with a whole food multi, not one that contains only the vitamins that scientists are currently capable of recognizing. Twenty years ago we only recognized about twenty vitamins and minerals as “essential,” but think forward to the next twenty years. The best way to ensure you have everything in your system that is “essential” is to take a whole food multivitamin, or start juicing. Or if you really want to feel awesome-BOTH!

• Enzymes aid digestion. You aren’t just getting whole food nutrients, you are getting plant enzymes that will help you digest, break down, and absorb your food better.

• Probiotics. Acidophilus helps us digest our food, metabolize hormones and vitamins, and is killed off by antibiotic use. Most cooked and processed foods we eat are deficient in probiotics and is vital to our health that we supplement them daily or consume in yogurt, kim chee, sauerkraut, kefir and other fermented foods.

• You Need Greens! Have you had 2-3 servings of leafy green vegetables today? Greens are important because they are rich in magnesium. The chloryphyll molecule is shaped just like the hemoglobin in our red blood cells, the only difference is that an iron molecule sits in the middle of the hemoglobin ring, and magnesium sits in the center of a chlorophyll ring. This is why all green foods are particularly healing to those on the Standard American Diet (SAD), as the SAD diet is deficient in minerals such as magnesium found in green foods.

• You Need Purples! If you peruse all of my treatment plans you will see that a cup of frozen blueberries a day is recommended pretty consistently throughout, as blueberries are a featured food on the anti-inflammatory diet. In addition to fighting inflammation, purple plant pigments known as proanthocyanins are especially healing to the skin, blood vessels, and cardiovascular system. Be sure to eat a cup of purple/red/blue foods everyday!

• No Plastic Bottles! Plastics are destroying our ecosystem, and we need to use glass and paper alternatives when available.

• Capsules NOT Tablets: To form tablets natural ingredients have to be attached to binders and mechanically pressed in to a tablet which may alter their molecular stability and thus efficacy. Avoid tablets and take capsules. You will have to take a couple more capsules to equate what is super-compressed in to tablets, but it is well worth it.

• Great Environmental Shipping. My product arrived within two days, was packed in recycled boxes and recycled paper. I can’t tell you how many times I have stopped purchasing a great product because my values did not align with their shipping methods. Kitchen table only promotes companies with firm environmental efforts.

• Great Company Business Model. You know something is good when you ask to try it for free and the company is happy to send you free samples. A company confident in their product knows you will become a customer, and they were right. This is the multivitamin that I have chosen to take myself every day. I also signed up for their mailings, and couldn’t agree more with the great advice from the Harvard grads that put the whole food “Pops” together. I typically find companies that oversell annoying, but the weekly newsletters are clearly designed to educate. Really a good product sells itself, and the formulators of this whole food multivitamin are smart enough to know that.

To read more about Whole Foods Nation you can visit sign up for their free report:

“Are Your Vitamins Safe?”

or visit www.WholeFoodsNation.com

©KitchenTableMedicine.com, LLC ™

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.

Here are the top eight superfoods found in our traditional American Thanksgiving spread.

1. Turkey

Renowned for its high tryptophan content, turkey has the potential to lift our mood and/or make us sleepy. It really depends on how we choose to pair up the amino acids in turkey. When turkey is consumed in conjunction with refined carbohydrates found in mashed potatoes or dinner rolls, the tryptophan converts to serotonin, and in low light conditions the excess serotonin converts in to melatonin, the nighttime hormone that makes us feel sleepy. Serotonin gives you that good “Turkey Buzz” and Melatonin is what sends you straight to the couch for a nice nap. If you are depressed you should work turkey, cottage cheese, and salmon in to your weekly rotation so you can benefit from my other favorite high tryptophan foods, or you can also just try some 5-HTP.

When we eat turkey in the absence of carbohydrates the amino acids that increase energizing catecholamines are able to cross the blood brain barrier and the result is an energized good mood. If you aren’t a breakfast person try a bit of salmon, cottage cheese, or turkey to start your day, support your adrenal glands, and keep you energized until lunch.

Turkey Makeover: Hold the butter, skip the stuffing and go straight for olive oil and lemon as your poultry flavorings of choice. If you bake your turkey at 320F you will be well below the smoking point of olive oil.

Stuffing the cavity of the turkey with whole lemon halves will also give the turkey a “salty flavor” so you can use the least amount of organic sea salt necessary. Stuff some garlic cloves and thyme under the skin of the turkey, and in the cavity along with the lemons.

Medical geeks like me can get crafty and inject herbal seasonings mixed with your basting solution of olive oil and lemon straight in to the meat with syringes (yes you can buy meat syringes at the store too.) Then just baste and bake as usual. Salt and pepper your turkey mainly on your dinner plate, not in the oven. Salt always loses flavor as it cooks and the best flavor comes from that final sprinkling. Salting your meat while cooking also dries it out, so really it is not just healthy but smart.

To benefit from the tryptophan in turkey don’t over do it with your carbs….that is unless you are heading straight to bed! To boost your mood opt to pair your turkey with the “slow carbs” found in fruits and veggies. Skip the dinner roll and the mound of mashed potatoes.

If you are adventurous, you can also go outside for a little walk after you eat your turkey to stay energized. The full spectrum light will prevent the melatonin formation that makes us all so sleepy.

The moral of the turkey story is that tryptophan converts to serotonin which makes us happy, and in the presence of excess dietary sugar and darkness serotonin converts to melatonin, and melatonin makes us drowsy. That is why all of us in Seattle are so darn tired all the time and left with no choice but to hang out at Starbucks or stare at a light box.

Got that? Fabulous. Moving on.

2. Thyme

Did you ever wonder where that traditional flavor of Thanksgiving came from? You may not know if you haven’t ever prepared the meal. That certain flavor comes from the herb thyme that we traditionally use to flavor our stuffing. Thyme is a fantastic healing herb as it is antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal just like most of it’s relatives in the “laminacea” or mint family.

Thyme is used in making “Listerine” mouthwash, or at least it traditionally was. The aromatic oils in thyme are also fantastic for indigestion, no wonder this is the key point herbal medicine of our great American overeating day!

Stuffing Makeover: Just lose the stuffing! Stuffing although delicious is one of the biggest calorie mongers on the menu. If this is your favorite thing you will need to cut back somewhere else on your plate. The trend of white bread went out with eating McInflammation. The new America is a whole foods America.

Whatever you do, please don’t bake your stuffing inside the turkey, this makes it that much more fattening, and sets people up for food poisoning if not adequately cooked through. You HAVE to check the temperature of your stuffing AND your turkey.

Instead try a stuffing in your crockpot of brown rice or quinoa, thyme, raw nuts and seeds, dried fruit, garlic, and your favorite stuffing spices instead of the traditional white food fest. At least experiment with healthy stuffing alternatives for your non-holiday feasts. I will allow everyone to eat stuffing one day a year on my whole foods diet. If you can “just say no to stuffing” then you get bonus points and will immediately benefit by feeling good about yourself and not overstuffed from stuffing.

3. Cranberries

Delicious and healthy antioxidant rich fruit that fight aging, inflammation, and bladder infections.

Why are berries all the latest rage? In my Mangosteen Scam tirade I discussed that all deeply pigmented fruit skins are high in antioxidants. From a botanical standpoint the plant smartly creates these antioxidant polyphenols known as “proanthocyanins” to protect the skin of the fruit from the sun. The fruit cannot use sunlight to produce energy in the manner that the leaves of the plant do, so the antioxidants are “nature’s sunscreen”. Without their protective antioxidants, berries would shrivel and burn under the sun’s harsh rays.

The ingenious antioxidant protection devised by the plant also kindly protects us from the free radical damage that results from the reactive oxygen species we are constantly exposed to in our polluted stressful environment. The skin, eyes, and blood vessels are especially protected by the proanthocyanins in berries.

Most people know that cranberry juice is good for bladder infections. E. coli, the bacteria that causes most bladder infections is unable to adhere to the lining of the bladder thanks to cranberry.

What most people don’t know though is that there is not a therapeutic cranberry juice out there that really tastes that good! If you are drinking a “delicious” glass of cranberry juice every day then you are probably not doing much to prevent a bladder infection. You should read the label because you are probably drinking a delicious glass of high fructose corn syrup(HFCS) and food coloring.

When shopping for cranberry juice, be sure to read the label and purchase only 100% pure cranberry juice. The HFCS juice trend faded out in the nineties. And a cranberry juice loaded with grape juice, apple juice or heaven forbid high fructose corn syrup is simply not going to be effective for preventing disease or bladder infections. To make cranberry juice more palatable, mix with 50% pure blueberry juice. Blueberries are also fantastic antioxidants that prevent bladder infections and aging.

Cranberry Sauce Makeover: Try experimenting with healthier natural sweeteners like agave, brown rice syrup, and stevia for homemade cranberry sauce. Adding a bunch of refined sugars and other refined pollutants to cranberries defeats their protective healing purpose.

4. Yams

Because of the beautiful orange and yellow pigments, yams, sweet potatoes, and even that delicious pumpkin pie are all a rich source of beta carotene and other important carotenoids that prevent cancer and support a healthy immune system.

Yellow and orange foods are particularly protective to the lungs, reproductive system, and eyes.

No, carrots probably don’t improve your vision, but the carotenoids in them have been shown to be protective and preventative for both cataracts and macular degeneration. So they may not perfect your vision, but they will prevent its degeneration. Certain antioxidants have affiliations for certain tissues in our systems. Be sure to eat something yellow and orange every day, and I’m not talking about circus peanuts! Eating by the rainbow is the diet for the new millennium. If you are struggling with this new trend you may need to grab my favorite Whole Foods Multi that just happens to be “Buy One Get One Free” right now.

Yam Makeover: Lose the marshmallows! Marshmallows are completely out of style. Less is more now. “More is more” went out five years ago, and for some of us a few months ago when the stock market crashed. Try your traditional whipped yam recipe without the marshmallows. Garnish with pecans instead, or just let them stand alone as the amazing super food they are. Try healthier sweeteners in your candied yam recipe like brown rice syrup, agave, or stevia and flavor with cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, or pumpkin pie spice.

Baked yams as pictured are delicious and simple! Try roasting yams in the oven at 350F 30-40 minutes until fork tender. You can also steam yams till tender, drizzle with olive oil and give a sprinkle of sea salt for a regular dinner side dish. The peel of vegetables is where all the nutrients and fiber lies. Buy yams organic if you are going to eat the peel since they are a root vegetable. All root vegetables are naturally riddled with pesticides as they absorb and concentrate them from the soil. But, since yams and sweet potatoes are dirt cheap, they are worth the extra splurge. Everyone that is “cool now” is eating yams and sweet potatoes, so hopefully that includes you.

For a healthy wheat free “sweet potato pie” scoop out freshly baked sweet potato just like what is pictured here, sprinkle with pumpkin pie spice, drizzle with honey, and top with shredded coconut! Without the pie crust you have earned the calories to add a small dollop of your favorite organic vanilla ice cream. It sounds weird, but it is truly delicious. Who has the time to bake an entire pie anyways when you can just toss a couple sweet potatoes in the oven? Isn’t healthy easy? That is why it is so stylish.

5. Green Beans

Green beans are loaded with fiber, beta carotene, B-vitamins, calcium, and potassium. Eating any beans are a fantastic diabetic trick for lowering the glycemic load of a meal. Beans truly are the “magical fruit” for a reason. Now eating too many beans may not make you too popular, but at least they will make you more attractive and youthful and trim your waist line.

Green Bean Makeover: Lightly steam your green beans, they are done when they turn bright green, don’t boil them in to a nutrient devoid lifeless brown mess. We just don’t boil vegetables anymore. If you boil them you should drink the water too as that is where all the vitamins go. It is just wrong on so many levels, and the kind of thing that only belongs in the “worse dressed” section of the tabloids. Canned green beans went out with acid washed jeans. Always opt for fresh or frozen before grabbing for cans.

I don’t mean to sound bossy, but you have to lose the white canned cream of mushroom soup garbage, and dress your beans with olive oil or your favorite olive oil based salad dressing. If you have to defy me and use a cream based soup then grab an organic one, as most cheap soups are the worst of the worst processed food fests.

Now add carmelized REAL onions, not those fake canned crunchies that were SO 1981. It is important that you keep up with the latest trends. Almond slivers should be RAW to maximally benefit from the cancer fighting phenolic acids and healthy fats, and of course that also is the stylish thing that everyone else is doing. Especially celebrities. This is how celebrities eat on their “designer diets” so if you want to send me a thank you check you are welcome to make a donation.

6. Mashed Potatoes

If you keep the peel on the potatoes before you mash them, then I will give you permission to eat them.

Potatoes get a bad wrap because we don’t eat the peel. Buy organic potatoes and mash them WHOLE. The peel of the potato contains fiber, vitamin C, thiamin, and potassium.

Some people with arthritis don’t tolerate potatoes well, if you have arthritis, potatoes and foods in the solonacea family like eggplant, peppers, onions, and so forth just may not be the right choice for you.

Mashed Potato Makeover: There are a few great makeover tricks you can implement to freshen up a rather dead ugly lifeless food like mashed potatoes. Definitely stand by ready and loaded with your garlic press and press about a clove per large potato. Garlic supports the immune and cardiovascular systems. Garlic also prevents and kills parasites.

I always add cottage cheese to my mashed potatoes to give them that creamy consistency, this protein bump also decreases the glycemic load for dieters, and diabetics. Cottage is also rich in mood boosting tryptophan. Remember we have to eat protein, and fiber with EVERY meal to prevent diabetes, blood sugar crashes from hypoglycemia, and obesity. Plus all the cool kids are doing it.

Try olive oil instead of butter, try adding some steamed arugula or spinach in at the end to create a gourmet effect, and if you HAVE to have that buttery flavor from organic butter (please don’t EVER use margarine if you learn anything from my nags. Please just go throw out your tub of margarine in the garbage where it belongs, and never buy it again, or any other hydrogenated oil product that serves no other biochemical purpose in life but to rapidly age you, clog your arteries, and make you unnecessarily fat. We want to be the least amount of fat right? Your body can’t use margarine so it converts it to fat storage…) just add some low fat buttermilk in lieu of regular milk if you must do dairy and NEED that butter flavor. Sprinkle with sea salt and organic pepper. Enjoy!

7. Minced Meat Pie

Are you terrified of minced meat pie? Well most of us are, until we discover that modern “minced meat” is just a fruit sauce made of dates and other dried fruits and not some leftover cafeteria meat concoction.

Well the beauty of this is that dates, figs, prunes, apples, and most dried fruits score high on the ORAC, meaning they have extremely high free radical fighting potential. Antioxidants=Anti-aging. Memorize that. Aging isn’t just about vanity and outer appearance. Your organs and blood vessels are aging on the inside as we sit here. If it doesn’t look good on the outside it doesn’t look good on the inside either. True beauty is an inside out job. Eat more antioxidants to prevent disease and you will be rewarded with a continuously youthful glow.

Let me be the first to announce that Minced Meat Pies are now the HOTTEST trend for fall. Don’t worry they only show up on the whole foods runway once every 50 years.

Minced Meat Makeover: Opt for a whole grain crust and use organic butter rather than margarine (heaven forbid.) If you really want to impress those avoiding gluten with your gourmet skills, you can add a dollop of your favorite organic minced meat filling to half a sliced date and top with a splash of real whipped cream. Dates are also delicious stuffed with various nut butters, and chocolates as I just recently learned from RN, Rod Newbound.

8. Red Wine

“Yes! Dr. Nicole says I can have a glass of red wine!” Just remember that is only ONE to two glasses of red wine-max. That is one drink per day not per hour-and no you can’t save them all up for the end of the week. It just doesn’t work that way. The benefits of the cancer fighting, anti-aging polyphenols in red wine known as resveratol go down as you burden your liver with alcohol. As with everything, moderation is key. Even too much water will kill cause hyponatremia and kill you.

Red Wine Makeover: Remember that one glass is better for you than the entire bottle. Opt for an organic alternative like our Kitchen Table 2008 Favorite, Badger Mountain. Remember to never drive while you are drinking. The most stylish people always have a driver…er…cab driver. Even one glass of alcohol impairs your judgment enough to put an end to your happy holiday-or worse yet-someone else’s.

Please always be considerate to the safety of others when imbibing during the holiday season.

Hope you all have a Happy AND Healthy Thanksgiving! Have fun wowing all your friends and family with this questionably boring kitchen table talk of the Thanksgiving superfoods and how to give them makeovers. Let me know if you manage to pull it off and keep them interested! Feel free to share any of your healthy Thanksgiving recipe tips in the comments section.

Thanks much for sharing my whole foods tips with your friends and family.

~Dr. Nicole Sundene
Naturopathic Physician

References: Medical Nutrition from Marz by Dr. Russell Marz, Medical Herbalism by Hoffman

Related Reading:
The Healing Power of Cauliflower
The Healing Power of Music
The Healing Power of Positivity
The Healing Power of Mexican Food
The Healing Power of Stinging Nettles

©KitchenTableMedicine.com, LLC ™

10 Self Coaching Fundamentals

By Tim Brownson

Author of Don’t Ask Stupid Questions - There Are No Stupid Questions

I was talking to somebody the other day about fluff. I’m not referring to the stuff that finds its way into your belly button, but book fluff or filler. I could easily distill several of the seminal self-development books into a few paragraphs if I was so inclined.

The thing is though, nobody spends $20 on one piece of mass produced paper no matter what words of wisdom are printed on it. So writers have to bulk their books out to deliver perceived value and get people to hand over their hard earned cash.

I’ve decided to unbulk the coaching process and invent a new word into the bargain. Here are ten tips that if you follow will guarantee an improvement in the quality of your life, or I’ll give you your money back.

#1 Align With Your Values

Unless you know what your core values are you will struggle with blocks in your life. All your decisions are based around your values and what you consider imperative to your life.

For example, if you have a number one value of integrity and work for a business that rips off its customers (even if you are not involved in the actual process) then you will feel uncomfortable either consciously or unconsciously.

There are also away from values, things that you move away from at all costs and again you should know what these are as they can frequently be the reason why you just can’t follow through with somethings no matter how hard you try.

#2 Happiness is Internal

Yeh, yeh, yeh, I know, it’s a cliché. I don’t care though because it’s true. Chase money, possessions, titles as much as you want, but realize that they wont bring you happiness. You already have that if you can be bothered to dig around and look for it. Being in complete alignment with your values will help you find happiness.

#3 Beliefs Aren’t Real

Your belief system is something that you’ve built up over your life. It comes from your parents, your friends, your colleagues and many other sources. It is evolving and changing all the time.

You probably believe in the tooth fairy, but somebody told me only last week, she really doesn’t exist. Disappointing though that is, especially as I have been stock piling my new puppies teeth for a big payday, we just have to accept reality and change the belief.

What false beliefs about your abilities are you holding onto that are holding you back? When you know they are, undermine them, look for counter examples and replace them with more empowering beliefs. After all, if you think you can, you probably can.

#4 The Map Is Not The Territory

This is a presupposition of NLP and critical to understanding and making changes. Just because you view something one way doesn’t make it so. Everybody has his or her own map and theirs is just as accurate as yours. Adopting that one belief will remove conflict from your life.

#5 Use Perceptual Positions

If in moments of introspection you can take a step back and view your life or any given situation from a watchers point of view you will often see things that you can’t see from your angle. It can also be useful to take the 2nd person position, which involves seeing you through the eyes of the person you are talking to or involved with. Most people resist this especially when coming under attack, be different.

#6 Write it Down

Whether it is goals or simply ideas you have on trying to improve your life put them on paper. The sheer act of writing something down sends a message to the unconscious mind that you are serious about what you are doing that it need to get to work on bridging the gap between where you are now and where you want to go.

#7 Every Action has a Positive Intention

This is another NLP presupposition. Even when you do what sometimes seem like ridiculous things there is always a positive intent behind it. It may take some digging to get to it but it is there.

Taking smoking as an example. It can seem self-destructive and often smokers that want to quit will refuse to see the benefits, but they are there. By accepting that your actions are not there to harm you (even self-harm fits into this category) you are infinitely more likely to be able to make changes

#8 Model

If you are unsure how to do something copy somebody that is proficient. This is how children learn to speak and it is how we get good at something quickly. Too many people are frightened of asking for help because they think it makes them look weak. In my not so humble opinion, not asking for help makes you look stupid.

#9 Make Mistakes

Mistakes are feedback, they are nature’s way of telling us we need to adjust to take stock and reconsider. They do not mean we are failure as a person just that we failed at a task. Relish mistakes, hug them, caress them and thank them for dropping by because they are helping you to learn.

#10 Be Kind To Yourself

This is so important to get a handle on. There really is no need EVER to beat yourself up, be kind to yourself like you would a loved one. We all make mistakes, even the super successful make mistakes, try and learn from them and move on. Too many people seem to be great at beating themselves up and terrible at praising themselves. Give yourself some credit from time to time, you deserve it!

Tim Brownson is a UK qualified Life Coach, NLP Master Practitioner and certified Hypnotherapist and author of Don’t Ask Stupid Questions - There Are No Stupid Questions.

He coaches both face-to-face in Orlando and over the telephone with clients all over the United States, Canada and ‘back home’ in the UK.

Subscribe to Tim’s free life coaching blog, and stop by his bookstore for more life coaching motivation.

Related Reading:

What is a Life Coach?
How to Quit Smoking
How to Transform Fear

©KitchenTableMedicine.com, LLC ™

Why We Should Like Bugs and Worms

Do you like bugs and worms?

Well if you do, you can feel vindicated by today’s topic, and if you don’t you may change your mind after reading today’s guest post. This is also a great teaching topic to share with your children. Won’t you sound so smart next time you are outside with your kids looking at bugs in the garden? Teach them about the microscopic bugs at work in our soil, and the important agricultural role they play.

Remember, even the Hobo Spider deserves his place in the environment, and we just need to respectfully avoid encounters without going on spider killing rampages.

Please enjoy part II in the series of “Organic vs. Commercially Farmed Food” by Stephen Cox.

Within any healthy soil are billions upon billions of microorganisms. Some microorganisms live in a symbiotic relationship with plants. For example a certain type of microorganism actually puts out a protective net around the plants roots in the soil and the net is covered with a type of glue.

When, along comes a microscopic parasitic worm, it gets caught in the net. Other microorganisms, which also live symbiotically with the plant punch a hole in the invader’s body, liquefy its organs, which are the most nutrient dense part, and feed that to the plant.

With commercially farmed produce the fields in which the foods you eat are grown, have been repeatedly sprayed with chemical toxins that kill the microorganisms in the soil. It’s not dissimilar to chemical warfare because pesticides, fungicides, herbicides and other chemicals resemble neurotoxins. And the food you’re eating is growing in an environment where tons of this toxic waste is being dumped. It would be naive to believe that it is not somehow finding its way into our food, our water and our general environment.

With little to no microorganism in the soil to support plant life commercial farmers turn to chemical fertilizers. Have you ever wondered why it is we hear on the news that someone used fertilizer to blow something up? That is because the chemical fertilizer the food we’re eating and using very closely resembles gunpowder.

After World War II ended the governments of the day were left with all these munitions factories. So they spent millions of dollars (at the time it was a colossal amount of money) to convince farmers that if they weren’t using this stuff they were stupid. This was not a decision made with the best interests of health and wellbeing in mind. We’re talking straight economics.

Organic Solution

I grow some of my own veggies – carrot, spinach, broad bean, broccoli (incidentally a cup of broccoli contains 205% of the necessary daily intake of vitamin C and just 43 calories), rocket, onions, lettuce and herbs. All in a very small patch of land just 1 meter wide by 2 meters long. No pesticides. No chemical fertilizer.

Growing your own vegetables is a great way to boost your health and wellbeing. You’ll be giving the environment a helping hand at the same time. The vegetables you grow for yourself will not need to be harvested by large machinery and then shipped thousands of miles to a location where they may be kept in cold storage for weeks, even months. All those activities produce greenhouse gasses and contribute to global warming.

Growing your own food has other benefits.

It really grounds us and connects us as human animals with nature and our world.

Sometime we get disconnected and forget that we are part of something bigger. Disconnection can be a powerful source for unhappiness and depression.

The process of energy exchange as you plant, tend, water and harvest your own plants is something that really needs to be experienced.

It is a process of caring and love as opposed to rampant destruction for meaningless profit. You’ll gain joy just from watching the plants burst with life and growth in the sunshine after each rain.

Plants can take our stress much like they take our carbon dioxide. I find they help me to let go each afternoon when I spend a few moments giving them attention. It is in every sense a very holistic activity. If you have children I couldn’t imagine a better project you could enjoy with your children. Children are constantly learning and they can learn a lot from tending a garden.

Organic Conclusion

Life feeds on life. There is a constant cycling of energy transference. First the microorganisms support plant life. Plants are consumed by herbivores and omnivores. Carnivores and omnivores in turn consume the herbivores. All produce waste (even plants drop leaves), which is food for the microorganisms, and all die which also feeds the microorganisms. And so, on it goes.

The disruption of the energy transference cycle at its very root, by killing microorganisms through commercial farming practice, means the life that feeds on the life before it cannot possible be naturally healthy. Human and animals that eat sick plans will not themselves be well. Nor humans that eat sick animals.

Do you still want to kill all those bugs and worms in your garden?

Read Part I of this series “Organic vs Commercially Farmed Food”

For more great articles by Stephen Cox you can visit BalancedExistence.com. Stephen is a graduate student in Australia. Read more articles by our featured writer, Stephen Cox.

Related Reading:

On organic farming and global warming

Organic farms produce same yields as conventional farms

Can organic farming feed the world?

The Top Eleven Easiest Foods to Grow

How to Get Your Kids to Eat More Vegetables

How to Make a Green Bean Teepee

Berries that Should Run Wild

©KitchenTableMedicine.com, LLC ™

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

According to recent studies, the flavonoids in dark chocolate naturally enhanced natural nitric oxide levels. The drug Viagra works mechanistically as a phosphodiesterase inhibtor to enhance nitric oxide. Our bodies also synthesize nitric oxide, and nitric oxide works on our blood vessels to dilate them and increase blood flow. With psychogenic etiologies ruled out, erectile dysfunction is typically an issue of blood flow. Increasing blood flow is how Viagra manufacturers have made a fortune.

In September of 2008, Journal of Nutrition published an Italian university study investigating the therapeutic potential of chocolate and found that, “Flavanols from chocolate appear to increase nitric oxide bioavailability, protect vascular endothelium, and decrease cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors….our findings suggest flavanol-rich, low-energy cocoa food products may have a positive impact on [cardiovascular disease] risk factors.”

Now as a women’s health physician, I typically avoid topics such as erectile dysfunction like the plague, so I am going to drop my men’s health commentary today and then run for dear life… Working as a family practice medical assistant for eight years throughout medical school taught me an important early lesson about men’s health. Most men simply DON’T care about cholesterol, blood pressure, atherosclerosis, diabetes, blood sugar, antioxidants or inflammation.

The second you start to nag about this stuff their eyes just glaze over. You can nag and nag and nag about cholesterol and blood sugar lab values, and still no changes will be implemented.

Eventually I realized the secret to men’s health while working as a urology assistant, the only way to get men to care about their health is to hit them below the belt with the facts that matter. Women are typically all about vanity and men are all about virility. These are the motivators I rely on to market and sell my preventive medicine concepts.

Doctors know that all of the aforementioned health issues contribute to erectile dysfunction. But, what most men don’t know is that without a properly functioning cardiovascular system, things below the belt aren’t going to function either.

It’s all about blood flow and elasticity. We would never leave our garden hoses to freeze out in the cold of winter, we instead take the time to properly care for them to insure they don’t harden and become permanently dysfunctional. Although garden hoses cannot auto-repair, our arteries do by making scar tissue, and the similar type of destruction from high blood pressure, cholesterol, inflammation, and diabetes is repaired by the body by throwing down scar tissue and inflammation.

The more scar tissue and inflammation in your arteries the less elastic they are, and thus the narrower their diameter. Blood pressure just continues to escalate and the damage to your arteries continues in a vicious cycle. Viagra and similar medications such as Levitra and Cialis all work to enhance blood flow.

They are designed to promote the elasticity of those frozen old er…stiff garden hoses. Viagra is a phosphodiasterase inhibitor which increases levels of nitric oxide. Nitric oxide causes our blood vessels to EXPAND. Eventually arteries become damaged and hardened to the point where they will no longer respond to nitric oxide. Keep in mind though that a “garden hose” left out in extreme harsh “winter conditions” will inevitably lose it’s elasticity, and the hose will have to be replaced. How many “winters” have you left your body out in the cold, not caring about diabetes, blood pressure, cholesterol, and inflammation? This is why many men with erectile dysfunction don’t find benefit from Viagra. Blood vessel expansion is the premise of which Viagra has made millions.

I am going to instead give away my natural medicine tips for free, and if the Toll House Chocolate Chip Company wants to send me a billion dollar thank you check, they are more than welcome. What is more important to me is that TODAY you feel inspired and motivated to prevent problems that will inevitably occur down the road TOMORROW.

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”—right?

If you don’t have erectile dysfunction now wouldn’t you like to prevent it from happening? Medicine’s used to treat ED are expensive, have multiple side effects and drug interactions, and are not as well tolerated as the commercials on television make them out to be.

When I worked as a Urology assistant the main complaint was always headaches and that “it just didn’t work”. Well after a while when disease has advanced too far, no medication will be able to work. Think back to the garden hose example. You want your arteries to be elastic and healthy, not hardened from the “harsh winter conditions” of sub-optimally controlled high blood pressure, diabetes, and cholesterol.

So why chocolate chips?

Well chocolate chips are fantastic prevention because they are DARK chocolate and the darker the chocolate the more nitric oxide enhancing flavonoids.

A study was done on Italian men and found that Italian men that ate an ounce of dark chocolate had healthier lab markers.

Keep in mind that 50 chocolate chips or roughly an ounce of dark chocolate is the minimum amount needed to prevent disease according to that study.

I weighed them out and found that 48 chocoalte chips= 1oz. But you have my permission to throw in two extra chips for preventive measure!

Another study cited previously, showed therapeutic benefit with 100 grams of dark chocolate which is about 200 chocolate chips! Is this not the best news ever for chocolate lovers?

Remember though that chocolate as a medicine is not free of calories, cocoa butter, or refined sugar. Pure cocoa products are a great alternative as an ounce of chocolate chips have 140 calories. While 200 chocolate chips pack a whopping 500 calories!

But, for those of you that are already eating too much sugar and saturated fat, chocolate chips are a fantastic way to transition to a healthier dessert diet. I know most of you are probably eating fattening desserts anyways (I mean we do have to enjoy life a little bit right?) so dark chocolate chips are a healthier alternative and I like that they conveniently come in little bits that can be savored throughout the day.

But, chocolate chips are not the only foods that contain disease fighting flavonoids. So here is the bait and switch. Most fruits and vegetables are also rich in flavonoids.

Berries are chock full of proanthocyanins, citrus is a fantastic source of hesperidin and rutin, and onions are an excellent source of quercetin. Fruits and vegetables are likely going to prevent the need of Viagra too!

Yes-really this is just a giant strategically planned nag on my part to inspire the consumption of more whole foods, especially those rich in flavonoids. And yes it really was too easy to grab your attention with chocolate chips and Viagra and then turn this in to a fruit and veggie nag. But, my point with this “gotcha” is that preventing disease is where it is at when it comes to ED. Winter is coming, and it is time to think about your preventative plan for your “garden hose.”

A healthy dose of fresh fruits, raw or lightly steamed veggies, raw nuts and seeds, and chocolate will work synergistically to prevent the cardiovascular damage that causes disease.

I think any man suffering with ED reading this article would absolutely agree that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

For diabetics that want to gain the flavanol benefits of chocolate chips, simply enjoy them with a small handful of raw almonds to decrease the glycemic load and increase phenolic compounds (anti-oxidant/anti-inflammatory/anti-cancer). Almonds are also high in fiber, and fiber consumption also is protective to the cardiovascular system. So add about ten raw almonds to your 50 chocolate chips or make a healthy trail mix with your other favorite raw nuts and seeds.

I don’t want to leave women out of this nag, so chocolate chips are good news for women too as Dr. Christiane Northrup in her latest book “The Secret Pleasures of Menopause” also emphasizes the importance of naturally enhancing nitric oxide levels through diet and lifestyle to improve sexual function. Grab the book through Amazon, if you care to learn more about ways to naturally enhance nitric oxide.

Those in need of losing weight should also benefit from this simple chocolate chip tip as eating a few chocolate bits throughout the day should help you feel satisfied for sweets and prevent those binges brought on by extreme deprivation and yo-yo dieting that sets the stage for binge eating.

Stick with me, subscribe to my feed, and I will teach you how to be healthy & enjoy life.

Dr. Nicole Sundene

Want more tips for preventing and treating erectile dysfunction through diet and lifestyle?

Try: Exercise, The Low Glycemic Index Diet, The Anti-Inflammatory Diet, Kegels for Men, Cholesterol Lowering Diet, Hypertension, Low Sodium Diet, Antioxidants, Anti-Inflammatory Diet and subscribe to my feed as we discuss the therapeutic potential of other healing foods and natural supplements for cardiovascular health and erectile dysfunction.

References

1. Grassi D, Desideri G, Necozione S, et al. “Chocolate and Blood Pressure” J Nutr. 2008 Sep;138(9):1671-6.

2. Romina di Giuseppe, Augusto Di Castelnuovo, et al. “Italian Men that eat Dark Chocolate are Healthier” J. Nutr. 138:1939-1945, October 2008

©KitchenTableMedicine.com, LLC ™

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.

You can only imagine my terror when I first saw that some website “Crotchety Old Man Yells at Cars” was linking to Kitchen Table Medicine. I thought for sure we were under some sort of blog terrorism attack, until I realized that he just was reading my blog, and had added it to his list of favorite sites. Phew! Disaster everted. For professional reasons today I will of course refer to Crotchety as “Joe” throughout the rest of the interview. *wink*

I invited Joe to lead the discussion of what it is like to live with diabetes because he always tells it exactly how it is, and I don’t want diabetes to be sugar coated-no pun intended. I appreciate his incessant honesty and that is why he is so darn funny over there. If you need a daily dose of Rated G or-er? PGish humor to keep you laughing each morning you can subscribe to his blog.

He also has a site called “Diabetes Destroys” and has posted some very graphic pictures (don’t look at those if you are eating right now) of his latest skin infection from diabetes. You may just want to bookmark the page and take a look before you decide to have another ice cream sundae today, especially if diabetes runs in your family. These days Type II diabetes is epidemic though, and runs in nearly everyone’s family. Please welcome to the kitchen table my dear friend Joe!

Hi Joe, How did you feel when you were diagnosed with type II diabetes?

Joe: I’ve been diagnosed for over 20 years, probably closer to 30. Kind of silly that I don’t remember, but thinking about it, that probably points to what I felt about the disease.
I had failed badly in taking responsibility for my health. I was told that it was unlikely that I would ever make it to 30, and rather than scaring me, it made me not care at all.

So, diabetes was just one more thing I would be taking pills for. Big deal.

What was your diet and lifestyle like before diabetes?

Joe: More or less, I treated my body like an amusement park. I did what I wanted, partied pretty heavily at times (lots of beer and alcohol…ok, lots was an understatement.)

I drank more in less time than any one of my friends. Most days, more than any 2 of them. I often went out with 2 of my friends, and the first round was 2 beers, and 6 screwdrivers. They each had one beer, I had all 6 screwdrivers.

We never had less than 2 such rounds, usually 3 if we stayed a second hour. I ate lots of fast food, nearly every day. Never exercised, just drank heavily and ate a lot of junk. Weight became a major issue, but I didn’t care because I was going to die by 30. I was pretty pissed when I didn’t.

What is your diet and lifestyle like now?

Joe: I still don’t exercise enough because I’m pretty lazy. But I do eat a fairly healthy diet. I’m far from perfect. My metabolism is unbelievably slow, as I eat very little most days, yet can’t seem to lose weight. I don’t eat a lot of substitutes as I firmly believe they are junk.

Most are either empty calories or poison.

For instance, I don’t rely on diet sodas or drinks with sugar substitutes. I drink mostly water or green tea sweetened with either a few ounces of juice or plain. I may have one regular soda per week, maximum. And not a big Gulp or anything like that. Either one Snapple Peach Tea or one 12 oz. Jones Cream Soda. I’d love to be perfect, but that isn’t going to happen.

Most of my food choices are whole grain, and I do limit amounts. Back in the day, the Mrs. and I would get, at most, two meals from a pound of spaghetti. And, to be honest, the second meal was a bit skimpy. Today, one pound lasts us 3 or 4 meals, sometimes more.

Most meals are heavy on vegetables, and very light on carbs like potatoes and breads.
I also don’t have a lot of animal protein. Maybe 3 times a week, and nearly dairy free.
I should exercise more, but at least I feel guilty about that, so that’s a good sign, I guess.

What were/are your biggest challenges with a diabetic diet and lifestyle?

Joe: The biggest challenge is thinking about what I’m eating.

I’d love to start out my day with a breakfast of bagels and cream cheese and a quart of chocolate milk. And then gulp down a large Coke with a couple double cheeseburgers and fries, and maybe an apple pie. And then have a pizza for dinner with extra pepperoni.

But if I were to eat that way, it would make me feel sick for days. I always consider what I’m eating and what comes next. If I don’t make a good choice for breakfast, I have to be careful to not follow it up with a bad lunch and dinner or else my sugar will skyrocket and take days to get back to normal. And I’ll feel terrible the whole time. I try to make good choices all the time, but life happens. I don’t know if that makes sense, but it’s working for me. I don’t give myself free reign, but by the same token, I realize that I don’t live in a vacuum.

As far as lifestyle, well, it has pretty much put a serious crimp in mine. At least 4 times I have been hospitalized for a couple months at a time. It’s tough to have a job remain open when I take off for 4 months to sit in a hospital and rehab. That and I have some serious ambulation problems now. It stinks when they start to cut off parts.

What has living with diabetes taught you?

Joe: It’s taught me that there is no magic pill. I have to take responsibility for myself. While some medicines do help control sugar, and some people need insulin, the majority of help comes from within.

If you had a friend that just learned they were diagnosed with diabetes today what would you tell them?

Diabetes is an insidious disease. It moves slowly and destroys you in ways that aren’t visible. No pill, no food, no exercise will ever take over for learning to care properly for yourself. Every illness that I have had over the last 20+ years can be traced, in some degree, to diabetes. It can not be cured, but it can be managed.

I often ask someone which glass will break first, one with a crack or one that is perfect? They always say the perfect one. But I contend the cracked one will last longer because one takes better care of it.

What are five simple things every person reading this article can do to prevent type II diabetes?

Joe: It is pretty simple.

1. Get proper rest
2. Get proper nutrition and maintain a healthy weight (diabetics are always hungry, it seems, and empty calories just make it worse)
3. Get sufficient exercise
4. Laugh (You do know I write a humor blog, right?)
5. Take responsibility for your life

Thanks for a great interview Joe, I am sure everyone has really appreciated your honesty around this tough disease. Stop by “Crotchety Old Man Yells at Cars” or subscribe for a daily dose of candid humor, and “Diabetes” Destroys” for more support and information around living with diabetes. If you have any questions for Joe or would like to share your own story with diabetes please do so in the comments section of this article.

Read more: Diabetes Category

FREE Diabetes Diet: Low Glycemic Index

©KitchenTableMedicine.com, LLC ™

How to Filter the Water for Your Entire Home

“The Importance of Home Water Filters”

By Dr. Nicole Sundene

Have you ever wished you could filter more than just the water you drink?

I mean there are shower water filters out there too but that still doesn’t decrease the amount of pollutants and chlorine your children, pets, and clothing are exposed to. Chlorine free is especially important for anyone with asthma, skin problems, multiple chemical sensitivity or “perfume allergy,” and those with newborn babies and young children.

We are bathing in chlorine, cooking with chlorine, washing our already dry hands in chlorine, and constantly inhaling the chlorine fumes in our homes that derive from our shower water, kitchen, and laundry rooms. The things we do to get clean are ironically making us “dirty” on the inside. Chlorine not only gives the liver an extra workout, but it also ages our cells making for a shorter over-all lifespan and youthful appearance.

A while ago an environmental medicine professor at my school highly recommended just filtering the water straight from the main source. I mean it sounds a bit expensive and extreme, but when you think about all the other stuff we spend our money on in the name of health and beauty, we should seriously consider purifying the water we drink and the steamy fumes from our showers, laundry rooms, and kitchens. Actually what could be simpler?

Even if your municipal water is free of every other possible contaminant, it is still full of chlorine, and chlorine ages us. Reducing chlorine is an important part of my anti-aging program.

I was checking our new kitchen table partner AquaSauna the other day and was excited to see that they carry entire home water filters!

Of course you can just filter your kitchen sink tap water (which I always recommend filling up your own recycled glass bottles instead of drinking bottled water). And of course you can filter your shower water which you should do because one shower equals the total chlorine of drinking eight glasses of municipal tap water. But the best thing most home owners, parents, and pet lovers can do is just filter it straight at the source. Is that not a dream come true? Clean chlorine free water throughout your entire house? How liberating! Especially since one system is supposed to last for 3 years or 300, 000 gallons-I think it also saves the headache of having to keep up with all the replacing all the various water filters in your home.

I had heard initially that these ingenious systems run around $3000 dollars to have this set up but according to Aquasauna’s page it really is only $799 plus the price of installation (okay I know many plumbers charge more than heart surgeons especially on a holiday, but I doubt this is anywhere near a full day project for a plumber.)

These home water filters are also on sale right now, so you will receive a 20% discount as noted on the Whole House Water Filter page.

Our list of trusted list of resources on the kitchen table home page has been updated with Aquasauna’s links for your shopping convenience.

Of course our partnership with Aquasauna donates a small percentage of sales to kitchen table, so it may seem rather shameless to talk about the stuff over there that I really like, but if you have been looking for a great home water filter for a while, I would recommend checking out Aquasana.

I find their prices to be really reasonable, and the quality and customer service to be exceptional. As a naturopathic physician, people are always asking me for product recommendations. so I will start with this as my first official recommendation -after about a year of writing at the kitchen table and trying to avoid making specific recommendations.

We research and choose our partnerships here at the kitchen table for quality, safety, efficacy, and environmentalism. We always hold that which we recommend to the highest of standards, and our goal is to make healthy living affordable for everyone.

With a 90 day no hassle return policy you really don’t have to worry if you will like what you purchase over at Aquasauna.

If you ever have a problem with a product I recommend here at the kitchen table I would like to know right away. I strive to research the best and most affordable options for whole food and chemical free living, and we like to thank our sponsors by occasionally recommending our favorite stuff they keep in stock and reward our readers with useful sales, education and resources.

Of course you are welcome to shop anywhere you like, but if you do choose to purchase something through one of our well researched recommendations we simply thank you for helping keep kitchen table a constantly updated free natural medicine publication.

Dr. Nicole Sundene

Editor-in-chief of Kitchen Table Medicine

Read more: Anti-Aging Tips, Anti-Aging Program

©KitchenTableMedicine.com, LLC ™

The Healing Power of Cauliflower

Cauliflower is an especially healing autumn food because it is low in calories, high in fiber, and rich in a very special cancer fighting compound called indole-3-carbinol.

This magical component of cauliflower prevents cancer by detoxing the system of the harmful forms of estrogen that result in reproductive cancers and complaints in women.

Researchers are now thinking men can likely use indole-3-carbinol to prevent forms of reproductive cancer, hair loss, and erectile dysfunction that result from these elevated levels of toxic estrogen. The high antioxidant spices added to your favorite cauliflower recipe combined with the olive oil further prevent cancer and reduce inflammation. This side dish will pair well with your favorite chicken, safe seafood, or grassfed beef recipe.

©KitchenTableMedicine.com, LLC ™

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.

A funny thing about sugar zombies is that they can sometimes eat sugar even when they are not hungry and have just eaten. Do you remember going to a restaurant and having a full meal, and yet you still ordered desert? True sign of sugar zombieness.

Most people, when asked, will admit to some kind of sugar addiction and zombie-like behavior, but they often don’t realize just how strong that addiction can be, nor do they realize how much sugar can do to destroy their health.

What Science is Discovering about Zombies

Science is beginning to take sugar addiction serious. They have investigated how animals (mostly rats) act when they become addicted to sugar. Let’s take a peek inside the laboratory and see what they found out:

• Rats who were allowed to eat as much sugar as they like, eat a ton of it. If fact, they will often eat more sugar than any other type of food. Sometimes, they become so addicted to sugar that they become rat sugar zombies and sugar is all they will eat.(1)

• What happens when you addict rats to sugar and then take it away? Typically, they shake, tremble, become anxious and their teeth can even chatter.(2) They can also become much more aggressive. If this sounds like the symptoms of a junkie (or a zombie), you are exactly right. These typical withdrawal symptoms, show up in all sorts of other addictions, including smokers, drinkers, and drug addicts.

• Scientists took the next step, they addicted rats to sugar, took it away and then they brought it back. Guess what happened? The rats binged on the sugar and ate much more than they previously did. If this sounds a bit like the last time you went on a diet and gained more weight than you lost, then you are a true sugar zombie. Binging when the addiction is removed and then brought back is a clear sign of addiction.(3)

• When rats are under stress, they eat more sugar.(4) Once again, I’m guessing that this sounds a bit familiar to you? Do you eat more sugar when you are stressed?

• Scientists have discovered that the brains of rats change when they become addicted to sugar and the changes in their brains are very similar to those of other addicts, including smokers, alcoholics and drug addicts.(5)

• To test if a substance is really addictive, scientists will give animals the addicting substance (alcohol, drugs, nicotine…) and then give them a drug called an opioid antagonist. What the opioid antagonist does is block the brain from sensing the pleasurable aspects of the addicting substance. When opioid antagonists are given to sugar addicted zombie rats, they experience withdrawal exactly like rats addicted to morphine, alcohol or cigarettes.(6)

But are Zombies Hurt By Sugar?

Here is the real question you want to get to: You are a confirmed sugar zombie, but what is wrong with that? Well, it turns out, a lot! Sugar harms your body in three ways: it increases your weight, it leads to problems with insulin and blood sugar control, and it has a toxic effect on our blood vessels.

Let’s take a look:

• Weight Gain: According to the scientific and medical communities sugar is really not associated with weight gain. These health professionals will tell you that sugar contributes to weight gain because it contains calories. This is true. But sugar also contributes to weight gain just because it is sugar. It works this way: Your body has certain basic energy needs and sugar (mostly glucose) is the fuel that runs your body. Once you have enough sugar-fuel for all your energy needs, your body tends to store all the extra sugar as fat (and sugar zombies eat meals that often create a large amount of extra sugar in the blood that will get turned into fat).(7)

• Insulin Resistance: Sugar contributes to insulin resistance whenever blood sugar levels in the blood spike too high too often. When blood sugar levels in the body rise, insulin in the body also rises. Consistently high amounts of insulin in the body will eventually lead to cells down-regulating (or removing) insulin receptors; this eventually leads to a condition called insulin resistance (were the cells of the body are resistant to insulin) and diabetes. Insulin resistance does not develop when blood sugar levels are kept low.(8)

• Toxic Effects: Surprisingly, sugar is actually toxic blood vessels in the exact same way cigarette smoke is toxic to the lungs. Sugar causes harm to the protein structure of the blood vessel walls, eventually leading to destruction. This destruction can be seen dramatically in diabetics who have kidney disease, eye disease, heart disease, tingling in hands and feet, and even blindness and loss of limbs – all due to the destruction of blood vessels. (9) This same destruction happens in sugar zombies who don’t have diabetes, only at a slower pace.

How to Break the Zombie Spell

Getting over sugar cravings is not easy, especially when you are a sugar zombie, but then getting over any addiction can be hard. Know that the efforts you make are well worth it as the destruction that sugar creates is enormous.

Try these tips to stop your zombie sugar cravings:

• Eat more often: while this seems backwards, eating more often is much better for your blood sugar, your metabolism, and your sugar cravings.

• Eat fruit: It is easy to overdo this, but focus on fruits that are low on the glycemic index and try to eat them after a meal where they affect blood sugar less.

• Brush your teeth: This is a trick many people use to stop cravings and it will help your zombie smile.

• Exercise: A simple walk is often enough to stop cravings as it gets you up and moving and away from your temptations.

Take these tips and walk away from your zombie life. Simply being aware that you are a sugar zombie will make a huge change in your life. Take your sugar craving seriously – as you would any other addiction: know that the road will be tough at times, but that you can do it. Your reward, on the other side of your addiction, is better sleep, more energy, less sugar zombie-like behavior and a healthier life.

Recommended Reading: Sugarettes

Dr. Scott Olson is a Naturopathic doctor, expert in alternative medicine, author, and medical researcher. Spurred on by his patients’ struggles with sugar addiction, he was determined to discover how addictive and harmful sugar can be and ways to overcome that addiction.

The result of that study is his book Sugarettes, which details the addictive qualities of sugar and the harm that sugar does to our bodies.

Dr. Scott also maintains a blog which highlights the latest in health and healthy living. Subscribe or stop by to check out his latest research on sugar addiction.

References:

1.Spangler R, Wittkowski KM, Goddard NL, et al: Opiate-like effects of sugar on gene expression in reward areas of the rat brain. Brain Res Mol Brain Res. 2004 May 19;124(2):134-42.
2.Colantuoni C, Rada P, McCarthy J, et al: Evidence that intermittent, excessive sugar intake causes endogenous opioid dependence. Obes Res. 2002 Jun;10(6):478-88.
3.Pelchat ML. Of human bondage: food craving, obsession, compulsion, and addiction. Physiol Behav. 2002 Jul;76(3):347-52.
4.Gosnell BA. Sucrose intake predicts rate of acquisition of cocaine self-administration. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2000 Apr;149(3):286-92.
5.Avena NM, Rada P, Hoebel BG: Evidence for sugar addiction: behavioral and neurochemical effects of intermittent, excessive sugar intake. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2008;32(1):20-39. Epub 2007 May 18.
6.Avena NM, Long KA, Hoebel BG: Sugar-dependent rats show enhanced responding for sugar after abstinence: evidence of a sugar deprivation effect. Physiol Behav. 2005 Mar 16;84(3):359-62.
7.Livesey G: Low-glycaemic diets and health: implications for obesity. Proc Nutr Soc. 2005 Feb;64(1):105-13.
8.Henriksen HB, Kolset SO: Sugar intake and public health. Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen. 2007 Sep 6;127(17):2259-62.
9.Friedman EA: Advanced glycosylated end products and hyperglycemia in the pathogenesis of diabetic complications. Diabetes Care. 1999 Mar;22 Suppl 2:B65-71.

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