Taking Control of Your Health

If you carefully follow some basic health principles -- simple things like exercising, eating whole foods, sleeping enough, getting sun exposure, and reducing stress in your life -- you will drastically reduce your need for conventional medical care in the first place.

But if you do end up having a health problem, it's essential to realize that you do not suddenly lose your power as an independent individual! You have the RIGHT to ask questions, to ask for second and third opinions, and you still have the right to refuse drugs or any other treatment you believe is not in your best interest.

However, discussing these things with your health care professional may be uncomfortable. Accept that this is part of it...

Part of taking control of your health includes staying involved in your treatment, from start to finish, and not blindly handing over your decision-making capabilities to someone in a white coat -- who may or may not have the same beliefs about what constitutes 'health' as you do.

A Lesson from Mom: Don’t Be a ‘Good’ Patient

Posted By Dr. Mercola | October 22 2010

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Cococut Oil, the Friend to Athletes and Dieters

...If you live in the United States, you have an almost 70 percent chance of being overweight. And, by now, I'm sure you're well aware that obesity affects your quality of life and is linked to many health concerns.

One of the best benefits of coconut oil lies in its ability to help stimulate your metabolism.
Back in the 1940s, farmers found out about this effect by accident when they tried using inexpensive coconut oil to fatten their livestock.
It didn't work!

Instead, coconut oil made the animals lean, active and hungry.
However, many animal and human research studies have demonstrated that replacing LCFAs with MCFAs results in both decreased body weight and reduced fat deposition.
In fact, the ability of MCFAs to be easily digested, to help stimulate the metabolism and be turned into energy has entered the sports arena. Several studies have now shown that MCFAs can enhance physical or athletic performance.^[12]

Additionally, research has demonstrated that, due to its metabolic effect, coconut oil increases the activity of the thyroid. And you've probably heard that a sluggish thyroid is one reason why some people are unable to lose weight, no matter what they do.

Besides weight loss, there are other advantages to boosting your metabolic rate. Your healing process accelerates. Cell regeneration increases to replace old cells, and your immune system functions better overall...

This Cooking Oil is a Powerful Virus-Destroyer and Antibiotic…

Posted By Dr. Mercola | October 22 201

 

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Eat for your liver

Let food be your medicine By Dr. Sandra Cabot

 

Many diseases can be overcome by eating healing foods that contain powerful medicinal properties. Optimal health and the prevention of disease is only possible by including these healing foods regularly in the diet. The healing substances found in certain foods or therapeutically active chemicals are known as phyto-chemicals. The culinary habits of different cultures have been recognised for decades as being influential in the incidence of diseases. Mediterranean countries have a lower prevalence of cardiovascular diseases because of the protective effect of traditional Mediterranean foods, such as olive oil, tomatoes and legumes. Broccoli and other vegetables in the cruciferous family are known to reduce the risk of bowel cancer, but it is only recently that scientists have isolated the phyto-chemicals which confer this protection. Broccoli has been found to contain a phyto-chemical called sulphoraphane, which enhances the phase two-detoxification pathway in the liver. Sulphoraphane has also been found to block mammary tumor formation in rats.

Tomatoes contain a powerful antioxidant called lycopene, which according to a paper published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (1997:66:116-22), is the most powerful of all the dietary carotenoids. The researchers found that the dietary intake of lycopene was linked to a lower risk of prostate problems. They also found that higher levels of lycopene in the blood lowered the risk of cell proliferation, which would theoretically exert a powerful anti-cancer effect. Cooking or chopping tomatoes increases the absorption of lycopene into the body. Eating tomatoes with oil increases the availability of the lycopene to the body, which is another reason that Mediterranean cuisine confers health benefits.

Beetroot is a beautiful deep purple colour because it contains the antioxidant anthocyanidin. Constituents of beetroot have been shown to exert anti-viral and anti-tumour effects in animal studies. Other foods, which also exert these properties, although to a lesser degree, are red and green peppers, red onion, paprika and cranberry. These foods contain healing phytonutrients such as carotenoids, capsanthin and anthocyanins.
Certain foods have high concentrations of plant hormones, which are known as phyto-estrogens. Examples of these are the isoflavones genistein and daidzein (found in soya beans and red clover), and lignans (found in flaxseed). Asian communities consume a high intake of soy, and have a significantly lower incidence of hormone dependent cancers of the prostate, uterus and breast. All legumes such as beans, peas and lentils contain beneficial phyto-estrogens.

A study published in the British Medical Journal in 1990, looked at a group of postmenopausal women who were given 1.5 oz of soy flour for 2 weeks, followed by half that of flaxseed meal for 2 weeks, and then half again of red clover sprouts. This produced improvements in various blood hormone levels and menopausal symptoms.

Asian and Mediterranean cuisines are now integrating themselves into the old fashioned Western diet consisting of meat, bread and 4 vegetables. This culinary multiculturalism has enormous and proven benefits for our health and also for our enjoyment. We all know that variety is the spice of life, and Asian and Mediterranean foods can add spice to our often bland ways of eating. A wide range of Asian foods is now available from supermarkets and greengrocers as well as Chinese grocery stores. Typical Asian foods and vegetables such as ginger, chilli, garlic, Chinese water spinach, bok choy, lemongrass, coconut, tumeric, curry, Chinese mushrooms and many others can be experimented with, and gradually introduced into the diet if you want to expand the horizons of your taste buds.



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Keep feces out of your bloodstream (and Lose 10 Pounds in 14 Days)

 "Let me be crystal clear about this: Anything that damages the gut lining (including bacterial, viral, and parasitic infections, as well as alcohol, grains, legumes, and dairy) can predispose one to autoimmunity, multiple chemical sensitivities, and allergies to otherwise benign foods".  Tim Ferriss

 

Here is a recap of how grains cause malabsorption issues and how that affects our health and well-being:
1. Damage to the gut lining. If the gut is damaged, you do not absorb nutrients. We need healthy villi and microvilli to absorb our nutrients, be they protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, or minerals.
2. Damage to the gall bladder and bile production. If you do not absorb fats and fat soluble nutrients such as vitamins A, D, K, and other nutrients, you will have problems utilizing any minerals you do absorb, to say nothing of the nutrient deficiencies from inadequate essential fats.
3. Phytates tightly bind to metal ions and make them unavailable for absorption. Analytical chemists actually use purified phytates in experiments where it is necessary to quantify the amounts of metal ions like calcium, zinc, or iron in a sample because the phytates bind to these metals tighter than just about any other molecule. The same thing happens when you eat phytates, and this is not a good thing for bone health or iron status.
4. Open door for autoimmunity and cancer. Once the gut lining is damaged, we are at exceptionally high risk of autoimmune disease, such as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, and several types of cancer, including non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The pancreas is assailed by grain-induced inflammation due to CCK problems and elevated insulin levels. This inflammation is a potential cause of pancreatic cancer and pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas).
Why does all this happen? Because grains are pissed that you want to eat them and they are willing, and able, to fight back.
Here is a short list of the problems associated with leaky gut and the autoimmune response:
• Infertility
• Type 1 diabetes
• Multiple sclerosis
• Rheumatoid Arthritis
• Lupus
• Vitiligo
• Narcolepsy
• Schizophrenia
• Autism
• Depression
• Huntington’s
• Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
• Hypothyroidism
• Porphyria

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Green Salad

Posted By Dr. Ben Kim on Oct 05, 2010

• Healthy Eating Resources

One dietary goal that I've long had for myself is to eat a head of dark green lettuce every day. I find that regular intake of lettuce (being sure to chew it thoroughly before swallowing) helps keep my teeth feeling strong, and of course, I like knowing that my body is getting steady inflow of chlorophyll and plenty of minerals that it can use to keep all of my organ systems healthy.
For me, the key to staying regular with lettuce intake is having a wide variety of salad ingredients in the kitchen. If there are other vegetables, avocados, nuts, raisins, and fruits readily available, I actually enjoy the "work" of putting together a beautiful, healthy, and filling salad.

Here's a look at one that I threw together for yesterday's lunch:

Lying at the bottom are about six large leaves of romaine lettuce, torn into bite-size pieces.
To the bed of lettuce, I added shredded carrots, celery, and creamy avocado chunks.
To boost healthy protein content, I threw in some unsalted pecans and cashews.
For natural sweetness, I sprinkled in a small handful of organic raisins.
And as a special treat, I topped everything off with a few spicy peanuts. :)

If you have a Trader Joe's nearby, try their Lime and Chili Peanuts or Cashews.

A salad with this many players is good enough to devour without a dressing, but on this particular day, I was feeling honey-mustard-y, so I whisked together a quick dressing with raw honey, dijon mustard, lemon juice, extra-virgin olive oil, and touches of garlic and sea salt.
Again, the key to making lettuce-rich salads a regular part of your life is to have a bunch of appealing vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds readily available to toss together.
Be creative and include any other healthy sides that you have on hand. Legumes like chickpeas or green peas, corn, sardines, leftover chicken, soft boiled egg - all of these widely available foods make for excellent additions to healthy salads.
One added bonus to making filling, lettuce-based salads is that you can enjoy them with little or no bread. A little bread now and then is fine for most, but there's no question that over the long haul, all of us can benefit from reducing intake of breads made with refined flours.
If you have any favorite healthy salad ingredient ideas to share, please consider using the comments section below.
In my next post, I'll show you how I make a honey mustard salad dressing that always earns me a few points with the family.
Happy salad making and eating. :)


Healthy Eating Resources 

Korean Rice Logs

Ingredients:
Sticky white rice or brown rice
Pack of roasted seaweed (nori) sheets
Sesame oil
Sea salt

Directions:
For white rice, cook 1 cup of rice with 1 and 1/2 cups of water. For brown rice, cook 1 cup of rice with 2 cups of water. Bring water to a boil and then turn heat to low setting and cook with lid on until rice is done.
Once the rice is ready, add sesame oil and sea salt, to taste. Be sure to add just a half teaspoon of sesame oil at a time, since authentic sesame oil is very flavourful and you won't need much. Taste frequently as you add sesame oil and salt and mix
If your seaweed sheets are larger than about 4 inches by 2 inches, cut them to this size with scissors. Use a spoon to place a small amount of rice/sesame oil mixture onto each small sheet of seaweed, roll each one up with your fingers, and gobble them up.
If you'd like, you can add some carrots and/or spinach to the top of the rice before rolling up the seaweed. Typically, Koreans will shred carrots and lightly sautee them before adding. Spinach is usually boiled until bright green (only about a minute) and then mixed with a small amount of sesame oil and sea salt before adding.
This recipe has quite a different taste compared to sushi rolls that have become really popular over the past several years. The main difference is that sushi rolls use rice that has been mixed with a combination of brown rice vinegar and sugar.

More Healthy Recipes!

Breakfast Protein Shake

The 3 kinds of essential oils gives it staying power, 

the 4 kinds of proteins and greens fuel the body and brain. 

Blender drinks are a liquid meal. They combine foods from a few sources to make a nutrient dense meal.  The focus is protein and oil sources of food, as well as fiber and being as enzyme rich as possible.

There are 4 parts:  liquid, oil, protein/vitamin/mineral and adjuncts*

•  8 oz liquid (rice milk, oat milk, almond milk, veggie juice)

•  2 – 3 oz water

•  1 tablespoon coconut oil

•  1 – 3 tablespoon other oils (hemp, flax, cod liver)

•  1 – 3 teaspoons nutrient mix 
(whey protein, hemp protein, a raw egg, chlorella powder).  
Use only undenatured protein whey powder

•  1 tablespoon of a sprouted nutrient or mix 
(Sproutein, PerfectFood)

•  1 – 3 teaspoons of some fiber and/or 
1 big tablespoon of soaked flax seeds

•  a small amount of acid fruit can be added, such as a few strawberries or a small amt of blueberries

*Adjuncts

green powders, grass juices or powders

maca root powder

lecithin

Dr Schultz Super Food

acidophilus

aloe

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