Topics of Interest

Luck of the Irish

St. Patty’s Day may evoke thoughts of corned beef, potatoes and beer, but the Irish foods to really look at for health include cabbage, kale, tomatoes, onions and carrots.  Maybe the traditional luck of the Irish came from more than just leprechauns, maybe it came from all the hearty vegetables in their diet.

Cabbage

• Contains glucosinolates, which research shows to have anti-cancer properties, especially colon, prostate and bladder cancer.
• Cabbage juice linked to healing stomach ulcers and regulation of digestive tract bacteria H. Pylori.
• Excellent source of vitamin C and vitamin K as well as folate and fiber.
• Eat a combination of steamed and raw cabbage in order to have different nutrient profiles available to your body.

Carrots

• Linked to protection against cardiovascular disease in 10 year research study.
• Lab studies show carrot extracts inhibit colon cancer cell growth.
• Carrot consumption associated with lower risk of glaucoma and cataracts.
• Excellent source of vitamin A as well as vitamin K, fiber and vitamin C.
• Best to steam or eat raw.
• Standard Process Supplements include Cataplex A, Cataplex A-C, Cataplex A-C-P, A-F Betafood, and Whole Food Fiber.

Kale

• Excellent source of vitamin K, vitamin C, vitamin A and manganese as well as fiber, calcium and potassium.
• Steamed kale has cholesterol lowering properties.
• Studies have linked Kale to lowering the risk of having cancers of the breast, colon, ovaries, prostate and bladder.
• Kale’s glucosinolates are linked to cellular detoxification as well as anti-inflammatory properties.
• Standard Process Supplements include Cruciferous Complete and SP Green Food.

Tomatoes

• Linked to lower risk of heart disease, certain cancers, bone health as well as Alzheimer’s prevention.
• Excellent source for vitamins A, C and K as well as B6, potassium, folate and fiber.
• Best to eat with the skin as there is a higher lycopene content.
• Support cardiovascular health by lowering overall cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, triglycerides and reduces blood platelet aggregation.

Onions

• High flavonoid and poly-phenol content.
• Diet rich in onions reduces risk of colo-rectal, laryngeal, ovarian, oral and esophageal cancers.
• Very good source of vitamin C, B6, fiber and molybdenum.

Potatoes

• Good source of potassium, vitamin B6, vitamin C, fiber, and manganese.
• Currently being studied for kukoamines which are known to have blood-pressure lowering effects.
• Although the high starch content worries some, potatoes also contain 60+ phytochemicals and vitamins and have comparable phenolic content to  broccoli, spinach, and brussel sprouts.
• Best to eat with the skin, as this is a concentrated source of fiber and nutrients.
• Prepare by baking or steaming; avoid deep frying which can produce the carcinogenic by products acrylamides.
• Purchase organic options because potatoes commonly have higher pesticide residue.

Nutritional Chart of Traditional Irish Fruits and Vegetables

Spring Cleaning

Although the official season of Winter is still upon us, the current warm weather means early spring cleaning is already underway in some households.  Why risk your family’s health and pay extra money for chemical household cleaners when you can use safe and cheap alternatives?

Here are a few reasons to choose simple alternative cleaning products

Your Health The list of potential health hazards goes on and on for household cleaners including central nervous system and brain damage, kidney and liver damage, reproductive damage, endocrine disruption, respiratory irritation, skin and eye irritation including potential blindness, cancer, and in some cases exposure to the chemicals can be acutely fatal (i.e. if you mix ammonia and bleach you create toxic chloramine gas).

Kids Health and Poisons  If you have children in your home, their health will be more susceptible to chemical influences including development of respiratory illnesses such as asthma.  If you have ever read the bottles of some common cleaners you may already know they can be poisonous if consumed; did you know that almost 90% of poison exposures occur in the home, and over 50% of those are from children under the age of 6.  The National Capital Poison Center states “Most poisonings involve everyday household items such as cleaning supplies, medicines, cosmetics and personal care items”.

The Environment  All the cleaners you put into the sink, toilet, bathtub or shower go into the sewage system, which  means that vegetation, soil, and wildlife (including fish you may eat) can all be chemically polluted.  Sewage can also end up in rivers and oceans that people swim in and drinking water must be treated to remove chemicals.

Bacterial Resistance  Researchers from the University of Ireland found that when they added increasing amounts of disinfectant to the bacteria culture of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the bugs survived not just the disinfectant, but a commonly prescribed antibiotic (ciprofloxacin) as well, even without being exposed to it.  This means that excessive use of chemical disinfectants may develop stronger harmful bacteria.

Money Locally you can buy a 1 gallon container of vinegar for around $4.00, a 1 lb box of baking soda for $2-3, and a 32 oz bottle of hydrogen peroxide for $2.  You can make a bottle of your own window cleaner for about 50 cents versus $3 or $4 for the blue stuff.

Alternative Cleaning Products

• Water
• Distilled white vinegar
• Baking soda
• Hydrogen peroxide
• Borax
• Castile soap
• Cornstarch
• Tea tree oil
• Elbow grease

Instead of bleach for disinfecting just about anything from countertops to fruits and veggies use vinegar, then hydrogen peroxide.  Get 2 separate spray bottles and fill one with vinegar and the other with hydrogen peroxide (do not mix the two).  Spray the surface with vinegar first and wipe, then with hydrogen peroxide.  In tests run at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, pairing the two mists killed virtually all Salmonella, Shigella, or E. coli bacteria on heavily contaminated food and surfaces when used in this fashion, making this spray combination more effective at killing these potentially lethal bacteria than chlorine bleach or any commercially available kitchen cleaner.

If you want some extra motivation to switch, go read all the caution labels for the products you are currently using (this includes “green” products, many of which can still be harmful).  Why not take the extra few minutes to change for your health and pocket book?  And most importantly, don’t forget the magic of plain old water and elbow grease.

Love and Health

Happy Valentine’s Day!  To celebrate, we thought it would be appropriate to share some healthful ideas related to love.  The concept of “love” may seem immeasurable, however numerous clinical studies have been conducted that measure and reveal the affects that love has on the human brain and general well being.

To reap the health benefits of love, contact does not need to come from a romantic relationship – healthy friendships, family relationships, parenting, general social contact, and self-love can all provide healthful advantages.

For expecting or new mothers, here’s an interesting case study to consider regarding loving physical contact with children.

Psychoanalytic psychiatrist Rene Spitz conducted a study which involved two groups of babies.  One group of babies was cared for with good hygiene and excellent physical care but received little if any individual love or attention. This group became physically and emotionally stunted. Most could not walk or talk even at the age of four. “Within two years 37 percent … had died from infection.”  In contrast, a second group of babies was cared for in a prison nursery that was “far dirtier” but received loving affection from their mothers each day. “Not a single one of the second group of children succumbed to infection during the five-year period of Spitz’s study.”

On the more romantic side of  things, a US News and World Report revealed, “Those who engage in frequent sex have a better sense of smell, lower rate of heart disease, improved physical fitness (probably because they’re motivated to work out), and healthier body weight.”  Don’t go jumping into bed with everyone you meet, but recognize the value that a healthy relationship can provide.

On a molecular level, the hormone Oxytocin (aka “the love hormone”) is responsible for regulating dopamine release into the brain.  Dopamine is a chemical that can make you “feel good” by giving you extra energy and motivation and decreasing pain – when falling in love or having loving interactions with others these hormones and chemicals boost your feelings of well being and mood.  Relaxing and having lowered stress is linked to health benefits such as a stronger immune system.

Love can be developed in many ways, here are a few tips to start today!

• Focus on a proper intake of nutrients such as selenium, iron, zinc, b vitamins and vitamin D.  Deficiencies can cause changes in mood or depression, which can make it difficult to want to interact with other people.
• Make a goal to give/receive 3 hugs per day, start with 1 if you have to.
• If you have a partner, go for a walk and hold hands, this will get you a dose of dopamine from the exercise and the warm contact.
• Meditate or pray for yourself and others, which allows you to mentally focus on positive loving feelings.

• If you don’t feel you have many family or friends to rely on, volunteer in an environment where you can be around other people.  Not only will you be giving care to others, you will introduce yourself to new potential social relationships.

Let’s Move!

Obesity is a national epidemic. It is estimated the one out of every three children is obese. With the long list of health problems associated with obesity it is simply a gaurantee that if these children remain obese they will face huge health problems in their lives. In an effort to raise awareness about the obesity epidemic and offer some solutions, First Lady Michelle Obama launched her “Let’s Move” campaign in February. The American Academy of Pediatrics also has a simple formula for helping prevent childhood obesity.

It’s 5-2-1-0, and it breaks down like this:

5: Eat five vegetables and fruits a day (the majority of this should be vegetables).

2: Limit screen time — TV in particular — to 2 hours or less a day. The AAP says to avoid any screen time for children under the age of 2.

1: Do one hour of physical activity a day.

0: Have zero sugar-sweetened drinks.

Dr. Mercola recently wrote an excellent article about the obesity epidemic and gave specific suggestions for how parents can deal with it. You can find it at the following link.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/03/06/how-to-win-the-food-battle-with-your-child.aspx

Not All Body Fat Is Bad

Did you know your body has Two Types of Fat  ?

Subcutaneous fat is found just under your skin and is noticeable. It’s the type of fat that jiggles, dimples, and causes cellulite.

Visceral fat is fat on the inside of your body, under your abdominal muscle. It is more dangerous than subcutaneous fat because it can surround vital organs like your liver and heart.

Visceral fat is linked to heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, strokes and other chronic diseases.

Belly fat is also dangerous because it produces inflammatory molecules that enter your bloodstream. High inflammation levels in your body can trigger a wide range of systemic diseases linked with metabolic syndrome.

While it’s often referred to as “belly fat” because it can cause a “beer belly” or an apple-shaped body, you can have visceral fat even if you’re thin.

Not All Body Fat is Bad

You may think all body fat is the enemy. The fact is, fat cells are an active and intelligent part of your body, producing hormones that impact your brain, liver, immune system and your fertility.

Research indicates that the subcutaneous fat found just under your skin is different from visceral fat in a number of ways.

It has been discovered subcutaneous fat can actually improve glucose metabolism and communicate with your organs to elicit beneficial effects.

The Leptin Connection

Most people are not aware that leptin plays an enormous role in the development of obesity. Leptin is a hormone your body produces which is just as important as insulin in determining your risk for Type 2 diabetes and other serious diseases. The hormones your fat cells produce impact how much you eat and how much fat you burn.

Leptin resistance causes an increase in the visceral fat your body produces.

Simply put, here’s how you become leptin resistant:

You eat a diet which includes too many sugars and grains (grains turn to sugar once you consume them)

The sugar metabolizes to (turns into) fat and is stored in your fat cells

This activity in turn causes a surge in leptin

Your body becomes resistant to leptin just as it can become insulin-resistant

When you’re leptin-resistant, your body no longer hears its own signals to stop eating, burn fat, or pass up sugary foods.

The result? You stay hungry, you crave sweets, and your body stores ever more fat.

When your body routinely stores this much excess visceral fat, you increase your risk for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, vascular disease, atherosclerosis (hardening of your arteries) and an increased thickness in the walls of your heart.

Measuring Your Diabetes Risk in an Instant

You probably have the most powerful tool available to determine your risk of diabetes right at your fingertips – a simple tape measure.

Your total body fat and overall level of fitness are not the best indicators of insulin sensitivity, your waist size is.

Studies clearly show that measuring your waist size is one of the most powerful ways to predict your risk for diabetes.

Determining your waist size is easy. With a tape measure, figure the distance around the smallest area of your abdomen below your rib cage and above your belly button.

If you’re male, these guidelines apply:

Ideal waist measurement: between 31 and 36 inches

Overweight: between 36 and 40 inches

Obese: over 40 inches

For women:

Ideal waist measurement: between 28 and 33 inches

Overweight: between 33 and 37 inches

Obese: over 37 inches

The Two Keys to Getting Rid of Belly Fat

1. Eliminate sugars and grains from your diet.

Did you know refined sugar is far more addictive than cocaine? In fact, it’s one of the most addictive substances you can consume.

And refined sugar is not the only thing you must avoid when you’re craving sweets.

Starch, in the form of grains and potatoes, metabolizes into sugar in your body and should also be eliminated from your diet if you suffer from excess weight, diabetes or high cholesterol.

Following my nutrition plan is a simple way to automatically reduce your intake of both grains and sugars.

2. Exercise regularly.

Studies show regular, ongoing exercise is extremely important in getting rid of visceral fat and staying rid of it. Exercise also reduces the inflammatory properties of visceral fat that are linked to metabolic syndrome.

One of the keys to using exercise to normalize your insulin and leptin levels and eliminate visceral fat is to do enough of it.

There are three important variables with exercise:

Length of time

Frequency

Intensity

If you’re healthy enough to exercise, you should gradually increase the length and frequency of your workouts to one hour per day.

This is where you should stay until your weight and insulin levels are normalized. When you reach that goal, you can reduce your exercise frequency to three to four times per week.

Pass The Butter . . . Please

Do you know the difference between butter and margarine?

Both  have the same amount of calories. 

Butter  is slightly higher in saturated fats at 8  grams; compared   to 5 grams for margarine. 

Eating margarine can increase  heart disease in women by  53%  over  eating the same amount of butter, according to a recent  Harvard  Medical Study. 

Eating butter increases the absorption of many other nutrients in  other foods. 

Butter  has many nutritional benefits where margarine has a few and only  because they are added! 

Butter  tastes much better than margarine and it can enhance the flavors of  other foods. 

Butter  has been around for centuries where margarine has been around for less than 100 years.

Margarine is very high in trans fatty acids. 

Triples the risk of coronary heart disease.

Increases  total cholesterol and LDL (this is the bad cholesterol) and lowers HDL cholesterol (the good cholesterol).

Increases  the risk of cancers up to five times.

Lowers  quality of breast milk. 

Decreases immune response. 

Decreases  insulin response. 

Margarine  is but one molecule away  from being plastic and and shares 27 ingredients with paint.

Pass the REAL BUTTER PLEASE!

Vitamin D

Scientific research is consistently demonstrating the importance of Vitamin D. This essential vitamin not only supports bone and teeth health, it also plays a vital role in immune support. Sun exposure is one of the best ways to get Vitamin D, but during the cloudy and rainy winter months, getting enough sun exposure can be a challenge. Standard Process produces an excellent, whole food supplement for vitamin D called Cataplex D.

“The vitamin D complex found in Cataplex D supplies essential nutrients for maintaining healthy bones, muscle, teeth and epithelial tissue. Vitamin D plays an important role in cell replication and tissue formation and helps maintain a healthy immune system. The vitamin D in Cataplex D increases the availability and absorption of calcium by all tissues. It also helps control blood levels of calcium and phosphate, which together, work at the cellular level to supply energy and the materials for growth and repair. Calcium also plays a significant role in the growth process, influencing reproductive health and keeping bones and teeth at the appropriate density for proper growth and maintenance. Vitamin A is essential to the normal growth process and is also supportive of reproductive health.” – Standard Process Cataplex D Product Detail Sheet

For more information about Cataplex D please call our office or visit Standard Process online at www.standardprocess.com