Beginning Nutritional Correction

I recently found this fascinating article about Natural Health Practitioners. Rita Louise, ND, of SoulHealer.com, discusses the important role prevention takes in the face of disease, and how eating “empty calories” often leads to nutritional deficiencies that leave the body and mind open to disease later on in life.

Interestingly, Louise says, “Although there IS a point of no return…it is surprising to see how well the body responds to nutritional correction.”

Food for thought...

And some for the body: here's a healthy dinner full of nutrition and taste.

4 oz wild salmon
2 T balsamic vinegar
1 T local honey

Marinate salmon and then broil 5-8 min. Serves 1.

1 small sweet potato

1 head kale
1 head rainbow chard
1 head broccolini
1 hot pepper
4-5 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 T olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Chop garlic and pepper and saute in olive oil; add chopped greens and saute until still slightly crisp, about 5 min. Serve hot. Serves 4.

Organic Milk and Cancer Prevention

This week I read an interesting fact in Women’s Health magazine: organic milk has a 60% health advantage over conventional, apparently due to more conjugated linoleic acid, an essential fatty acid that may prevent tumors.

But this recent article calls into question whether or not organic milk drinkers are actually getting organic milk. It warns, “Federal regulations defining what exactly constitutes organic milk are somewhat vague.” It calls into question the organic requirements put into practice even by such major organic dairy distributors as Horizon.

Some good news, however: apparently the soaring popularity of organic milk has impacted conventional dairy farmers, causing many to raise cows without artificial growth hormones.

Speaking of growth hormones, I discovered a few months back the Eat Stop Eat method of fasting promoted by Brad Pilon. Don’t let the sales letter format of this site fool you. His research not only debunks many current myths about weight loss and metabolism, it provides a diet alternative involving simple fasting practices that will unleash the body’s natural growth hormone, which not only encourages weight loss but stimulates the body’s reparative functions, decreasing the effects of aging and the likelihood of cancer. (Not to mention that on a test run I lost five pounds in 2 weeks and felt fabulous.)

Check it out. In my opinion it’s worth $30.

Green Eggs and Baking Soda

In the vein of how what we put into the Earth affecting what we put into our bodies, I’ve come across two interesting alternatives to some pretty powerful chemicals we use often without thinking about them.

The first is tooth whitener. I’ve been appalled by the increasing popularity of whitening treatments and strips over just the past few years. If you Google “tooth whitening,” you actually get a lot of “tooth bleaching” results. Just think about how that sounds for a second. Would you swish around a mouthful of bleach? Hardly!

But Wikipedia identifies dental tooth-whitening procedures thus: “In order to reduce the risk of chemical burns to the soft tissues, most in-office bleaching procedures use a light-cured protective layer that is carefully painted on the gums and papilla (the tips of the gums between the teeth). The bleaching agent is either carbamide peroxide, which breaks down in the mouth to form hydrogen peroxide, or hydrogen peroxide itself.” (emphasis added)

Side effects include chemical burns, sensitive teeth, and damaged tooth enamel. Dentists tell us not to chew on ice. But enamel wear caused by bleaching is okay? And if you think sensitive teeth isn’t that big a deal, check out this firsthand experience.

If you’re determined to whiten your teeth, I found a site called Make My Teeth Whiter, which offers quite a few natural tooth-whitening alternatives, including brushing with baking soda, that are completely safe and don’t have any as-yet-unknown side effects.

Overall, it seems using a natural, baking soda toothpaste like Tom’s and avoiding coffee, tea, and red wine (yeah, right) is the best recipe for healthier, whiter teeth.

Hmm, that went on a little longer than I expected. If you’re still interested, I have another environmentally sound alternative that has nothing to do with teeth. But it does make use of baking soda, so you can kill two birds with one stone at the grocery store.

Instead of pouring chemicals down your next clogged drain, try this clog cocktail: pour ½ cup of baking soda down the drain in question and chase it with ½ cup of white vinegar. Let this sit in the clog for a few minutes, then follow with a pot of boiling water.

Baking soda is just amazing, isn’t it? Maybe we’ll figure out a way to run our cars on it.

I’ve recently begun subscribing to Women’s Health magazine and being a procrastinator have only just gotten to last month’s issue (which turns out to be September, go figure). With the understanding that women’s health includes everything from blue jeans to Alanis Morissette (???), they have wisely included some environmental awareness, specifically about chemicals in the air we breathe.

Their article Got Gas? identifies some common air toxins from the familiar carbon monoxide to VOCs, which are found in all-purpose cleaners and dry-cleaned clothing, and phthalates, found in detergents and air fresheners (DON’T get me started. WHY do people feel that pumping flavored chemicals into their homes is a good idea?). They offer solutions to identifying and neutralizing these chemicals, including suggestions about green cleaners and dry cleaning.

Planet Green

A friend recently turned me on to Emeril Green hosted by Planet Green. I don't have cable, but the Web site offers Emeril articles, episode guides, and a recipe archive. There's also a lot of information about other green initiatives, including greening your kitchen.

I see green living and preventive eating as going hand in hand. We take in an appalling number of pollutants from our environments regardless of how we eat. Toxins enter our skin through shower water as well as what we drink; I've read recent articles about antidepressant and birth control pill residue passed through human waste that are not removed by current filtration systems and infiltrate the general water supply (Google "antidepressants in drinking water). We breathe in exhaust fumes, secondhand cigarette smoke, and of course pesticides every day.

Eating with awareness and prevention in mind, as well as doing a small part towards environmental repair. Try eating less meat, the farming of which not only uses vast amounts of water but contributes 18 percent towards greenhouse gas emissions--more than transportation! This doesn't mean you have to be a vegetarian, but a diet of less red meat not only can contribute towards lower cholesterol, weight loss, and a reduced chance of heart disease, but it increases your chances of trying a variety of veggie alternatives with a host of benefits, such as intestine-cleansing fiber and free-radical-busting antioxidants.

Here are some of my favorite vegetarian recipes that guarantee you won't be missing meat for long. And try using organic vegetables for these recipes specifically, even if your budget doesn't support an all-organic diet.

Grilled Portobello Steaks--Try these on a George Foreman grill or broiled in unsalted veggie broth with a drizzle of olive oil to cut the fat in this recipe.

Roasted Veggie Lasagna--Don't be afraid of eggplant! Choose a small one or opt for the baby variety, and slice thin for flavor without bitterness or toughness. Or try this Noodle-Free Lasagna recipe from Self.com's database.

Beet Salad--Again from Self.com, a great low-calorie recipe site that stays away from artificial sweeteners, packaged soup fillers, and , this fabulous salad is surprisingly filling and great for those dog days of summer. Beets are easy to prepare--simply rinse, roast in-skin, and then easily peel the cooled veggies. They're also bursting with sweet flavor and antioxidants.

Vegetable Soup--As fall approaches, soup becomes one of the best ways to enjoy vegetables and fill up. This is my mother's tried and true base:
Saute onion, garlic, and a chopped celery stalk in 1 tsp olive oil. When veggies begin to brown, add no-salt-added vegetable broth and a can of no-salt-added diced tomatoes. Bring to a boil and add chopped carrots and potatoes or butternut squash. Once these have simmered about 5 minutes, then you can add these quicker-cooking vegetables that are fresh, frozen, or canned: green beans, broccoli, cabbage, corn, kale or chard, zucchini, yellow squash, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and other canned beans or pasta. Add water, salt and pepper as needed, and top with any fresh herb: parsely, thyme, sage, oregano, chives, or dill. You can also do a rice base instead of potatoes for this soup; I like brown basmati rice, which cooks more quickly than regular brown rice and adds a nuttier, sweeter flavor.