Spring Allergies

Seems like much of the country is experiencing a warm end of March. We’re at least a month ahead where I live. This warmth means earlier blooming, and allergies may be starting sooner….sigh. Here’s some helpful advice:

10 Foods That Fight Spring Allergies

Is it a Virus or Allergies? Should You Bother With Neti Pots?

Itchy eyes and runny noses—already? It’s true! Spring allergy season started historically early this year—during winter—rearing its ugly head in early February. Allergists and climate scientists have long warned that allergy seasons are going to be longer and more intense, so now is the perfect time to stock up on the top symptom-relieving foods, including citrus-rich foods and potent allergy-annihilating herbs. Stock up on stinging nettle and these other 9 allergy-fighting powerhouse foods. 

The Top 5 Allergy Fighters You’re Not Considering

30th Anniversary, etc.

This Sunday is Iris Herbal’s 30th anniversary. Back in 1982 I first visited New Mexico on a road trip…and part of that journey was “testing” a few salves and massage oils on the folks we visited. Good thing I got positive feedback!

In our ongoing discourse on epigenetics, I’ve been focusing on the importance of eating good, real food to positively affect gene expression. The flip side of this equation is getting rid of toxins, as well as lessening the intake of toxins, as they adversely affect gene expression. It really is that simple…and devilishly difficult to implement…mostly because of the ubiquity of GMO food in supermarkets, including ones we probably frequent. Anytime the label says “natural,” it may be anything but.

This whole GMO enterprise has only been the unwelcome guest since 1996; but in that short amount of time corn, soy, sugar beets, canola and a few other foods are now GMO if they aren’t certified organic. There is a huge movement to label GMO foods, so that consumers may make an informed choice. Here are a couple of great actions in which to participate:

Tell the EPA to ban glyphosphate

The California Right To Know GMO Food Act (and how to donate to help make this historic ballot measure win)

and here’s a great graphic from (and more info if you click on either link)  JUST LABEL IT and CITIZEN”S FOR HEALTH

Happy Spring!

 

Healthy Vegetarian Protein

As someone who has been trying to counter the anti-meat bias of many natural food connected nutritionists, let me say now: I was a vegetarian for 27 years. My problem was that I mostly ate too much soy, especially all those “fast-food” type products like tofu hot dogs. Hey, I was young, busy, didn’t like to cook, and worked long hours at physical labor. Whatever was the easiest. And if I had really known what I know now, I might still have been a vegetarian, but I would have done it differently.

 Too much soy can cause problems, one of which is a compromised thyroid. So although the link I’m featuring today is great info, I personally disagree with their caveat to keep soy consumption to one serving a day: if it’s tempeh or miso, fine. But tofu and soy milk are processed foods, and actually can be very hard to digest. So my nutrition advice is to keep tofu consumption to once a week, and skip the soy milk altogether. And absolutely: only organic. Otherwise you get more than you bargained for, in the form of GMO’s.

From Rodale.com is a great article on the healthiest vegetarian sources of protein. Go HERE to check them out.

Even as a meat eater, I do not sit down to a steak! I use small amounts of healthy meat, and eat all of the vegetarian sources of protein in the article cited except soy. There is actually some interesting research that says that eating both vegetarian and animal proteins together is healthier than just one or the other.

Raw Milk: Unsafe? Or Politically Unsafe?

I have been drinking raw milk and raw milk products (from both goats and cows) for over a dozen years. This is especially interesting since one of my first childhood memories is my pouring a glass of milk down the laundry room drain…and getting caught. My mom’s response was to give me Bosco ( a chocolate syrup) so I’d drink my milk…

The following is taken from an article by The Alliance for Natural Health:

To hear the media tell it, our lives are in jeopardy if we drink unpasteurized milk. But the facts tell the opposite story.

A new study from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) declares that raw milk “cannot be considered safe under any circumstances,” and essentially advocates for stricter laws and enforcement against raw milk on the state level. The study claims that the rate of outbreaks caused by unpasteurized milk and products made from it was 150 times greater than outbreaks linked to pasteurized milk.

However, according to the Weston A. Price Foundation, the CDC has manipulated and cherry-picked this data to make raw milk look dangerous—and it has dismissed the same dangers associated with pasteurized milk. If we really examine the raw data, we find that pasteurized milk products cause nearly twice as many illnesses as raw milk products, but illnesses from dairy products still constitute only 1.3% of the total, with raw dairy products coming in at less than half of a single percentage point. All of this is minor compared to the health risks of taking prescription drugs or even entering a hospital.

Even more importantly:  there has been not a single death from consuming raw milk in the 38 years the data has been collected—compared to over 80 deaths from pasteurized milk products during that same time period.

The time frame examined by the researchers dramatically skewed the results as well. The authors analyzed data from 1993 to 2006. Perhaps they chose that range because one year later, in 2007, 135 people became ill from pasteurized cheese contaminated with e. coli and three people died.

Another factor that is completely neglected is the source of the milk. Most food contamination products originate in large factory farms or CAFOs. Many people would consider unpasteurized milk from a family farm safer than pasteurized milk from a CAFO, but of course the government does not want to alienate Big Farma by getting into such qualitative distinctions.

To read the entire article, you can access it HERE.

Meanwhile, here is a great visual from Natural News:

 The isolated image shown below can also be accessed at: http://www.naturalnews.com/infographics/Raw-vs-Pasteurized-Milk-v2.jp…

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/035130_raw_milk_infographic_pasteurized.html#ixzz1oflVHly3

Routine Mammograms Carry Their Own Dangers

This crossed my desk today (gosh, is that a dated saying!) and I felt compelled to share: finally an official allopathic body of doctors is releasing the info that routine diagnostic mammograms are not quite as safe as they have been leading us to believe:

The Institute of Medicine is finally acknowledging the toxic effects of mammogram radiation as a significant factor in the development of breast cancer; just one mammogram can expose you to the radiation equivalent of 1,000 chest x-rays

• Mammograms also carry an unacceptably high rate of false positives—up to six percent—which can lead to repeat screenings that expose you to even more radiation, as well as unnecessary medical procedures, including biopsies, surgery, and chemotherapy
• A new study in the British Medical Journal highlights losses in quality of life related to the high rates of false positives and unnecessary treatment associated with breast cancer screening
• Mammograms have been scientifically proven not to save women’s lives, and do not improve breast cancer survival rates over annual physical examination alone
• Your immune system is your greatest weapon against breast cancer; research now shows that 30 percent of breast tumors go away on their own, because a healthy immune system is so adept at eradicating cancer

You can read this entire article HERE.

This is not to say that a mammogram has never helped a woman in her dealing with cancer; just a caveat that yearly routine mammograms with no physical evidence (like a felt lump) may not be so much “early detection” but a problem in itself of “unintended consequences.”

Bone Broths: Ancient Food Still Nutritious and Delicious

The first signs of spring are evident here in northern New Mexico: wind, mud, swelling buds, and the first bluebirds. But it is still cold, and folks are still battling illness. Bone broths are a very old remedy for colds and flu as well as recuperation from any illness, general debility, and digestive problems. There are many ways to make your own bone broths: here is my favorite, which can be done with any animal bones. The best are from free-range/organically raised animals that were humanely butchered.

First you need a big stainless steel soup pot.

Into that pot you put as many bones as will comfortably fit. If chicken, you can use just the backs or whole carcasses from which the meat has been imperfectly removed. If beef, a variety of soup bones is great, especially ones with lots of marrow.

Fill the pot with cold water; add a half cup of apple cider vinegar; and let sit for half an hour.

Simmer (that means about 175 to 185 degrees: you want tiny bubbles around the perimeter, but NOT a full boil) for at least 6 hours and if possible 12 hours (or anything in between). After the first hour or so, skim off any particles that float to the surface that look dubious. I often skip this step, as it is all going to be strained at the end.

About 2 hours before I’m finished I add a couple of bay leaves, an onion or 2 cut up into eighths, several carrots and sticks of celery cut into smallish pieces, and if you are feeling wild go ahead and add some cut up parsnips, rutabaga and/or your favorite greens (stems and all).

About half an hour before I’m finished I add a lot of garlic and maybe some thyme. The last 15 minutes dump in coarsely chopped parsley. All these amounts are to your taste, so please experiment. Each batch of broth will be a bit different and ALL will be scrumptious.

After the broth is done, let it cool for a bit; then fish the big stuff out with tongs. Last you will strain the liquid into canning jars (or whatever) and if you plan to freeze some, be sure to leave an inch of head room. Cool first in the  fridge before you freeze, and use wide-mouth jars. I, of course, speak from experience…

When the broth is fully chilled, you may find (and probably will) that the broth has “congealed.” This is not the fat (which some folks skim off from the top) but rather the gelatin from the bones, and is a very easily digested source of protein, colloids, polysaccharides, and other nutritional goodies.

The broth may be heated and eaten alone (and that is when I add salt and pepper) or better yet, add freshly cut vegetables, meat and rice or potatoes, and you have a home-made soup that makes your whole house smell good and tastes great. That soup can also be frozen and turned into healthy “fast food.”

Bon Appetite!

Variety and Commonality in Traditional Diets

When Dr. Weston Price ( a dentist from Cleveland who was renowned for his dental research in his lifetime) traveled the globe in the 1920′s and 30′s, he was researching what makes for a healthy diet. Sixteen very different traditional diets (from a wide variety of environments) met his criteria (and those included dental health; ie, well-formed teeth without cavities). What is so interesting from our current day perspective, where so many “named” diets claim to be “the right one” is this very diversity and variety:

Some traditional diets had no plant foods.

Some contained few animal foods.

Some were mostly cooked foods.

Some had large amounts of raw foods.

Some contained milk products and others lacked them.

Some ate grains while others did not.

Some had fruits and some didn’t.

The underlying characteristics that these healthy traditional diets shared:

No refined or denatured foods

Every diet had some animal products

All diets were high in enzymes (and most contained fermented foods)

Seeds, grains, legumes, and nuts were soaked, sprouted, fermented or naturally leavened

Total fat content varied from 30% to 80% of calories, but only 4% of calories came from polyunsaturated oils

High amounts of Omega-3 Fatty Acids

All diets contained some salt

All traditional cultures made use of bones, usually as broth

When we examine the advent of canned, frozen, pasteurized, boxed, and increased “shelf-life,” what we see is a huge transition from “home-made” to “machine and factory-made,” as well as an emphasis on convenience and speed. The seasonal, local, hand-made and complex have been largely supplanted by supermarket brands that have homogenized our diets. Yes we gained ease and variety, but at a huge “unintended consequence” of a multitude of health problems.

Meat Or Vegetarian Protein?

Is there a more contentious question in nutrition?

If you had asked me back when I was a vegetarian (or vegan) I would have answered very differently that I do now. I was so sure I knew the answer. Now I am only sure that some folks are very healthy as vegetarians or vegans, and others are not. Especially at our high altitude and the intense cold during winter, many women I know who were once vegetarians are now eating some meat, and feeling better. Also, many of us ate WAY too much soy (especially if, like me, you ate it as “burgers and dogs,” i.e., processed and tricked out to look and feel and sorta taste like meat). Our low thyroid function is partly a legacy from all the soy consumption.

Dealing with this question could easily be a book! Next week I’ll talk about Weston Price and his research into traditional diets, which I think is a less biased way to deal with this question. As we look at what healthy groups of a variety of people in a diversity of environments actually ate (and usually over a very long period of time), we can base our conclusions on historical facts and observations of a scientifically trained dentist. We will find commonalities that are intriguing.

 There was and is no one way for a group of people to eat healthily. And there is quite a bit of evidence that some proteins are not very healthy at all (canned meats, deep-fried fish and other meat, animals fed in feedlots with food that is not their natural diet, and anything GMO).

One caveat for those who are strict vegetarians or vegans: B12 is very hard to get in those diets. A recent Mercola article puts it well:

Vitamin B12 is found almost exclusively in animal tissues, which vegans and vegetarians do not typically eat. The few plant foods that are sources of B12 are actually B12 analogs, which blocks the uptake of true B12 and actually increases your need for it.

• B12 is stored in your liver, kidneys and other body tissues. As a result, a deficiency may not be apparent for about seven years.
• Initial symptoms of deficiency include: lack of motivation, apathy, mental fogginess, muscle weakness and fatigue. Chronic long-term B12 deficiency can lead to serious conditions such as depression, dementia, and fertility problems.

If you’d like to read the entire article, please go HERE.

Some Thoughts About Protein

One of the most interesting “perhaps facts” about protein is the belief among some researchers that the human brain evolved into its present larger and intricately developed size due to the tendency of “proto-humans” to eat protein-rich foods, especially fish. Presently, my research in diverse fields including weight management, thyroid health, and adrenal fatigue are also pointing to the importance of adequate healthy (meaning uncontaminated, not over-cooked, and from sources that are as organic as possible) protein in our diets, especially for breakfast. This has a large bearing upon gene expression as well, since what we eat is one of the 3 major ways (the other 2 are toxin avoidance/release and stress reduction) we can either adversely or beneficially affect how the  DNA cards we were dealt at birth play out.

The more I do research, the more I realize that in ANY field, including alternative health/herbs/nutrition, the “experts” (whether defined by letters after their names and/or experience in the field) DO NOT AGREE with each other on a regular basis. Unfortunately there is much internecine fighting around just about any topic you can name in this vast area of human understanding….and that goes double for how much and what kind of protein. And many of the so-called gold standard studies are not as comprehensive, well designed, or factual as we’ve been led to believe….sigh.

Given all the disagreement and conflicting theories, how does one navigate this nutritional minefield? I am finding that where several “authorities” from a diverse cross-section agree, there might be some valuable info. Add to this the actual clinical experience of folks with degrees, and we start to see some patterns, like the one I mentioned above about adequate protein for breakfast. The trick here is to define “adequate.” Women probably need from 46 to 90 grams a day, and men need from 56 to over a 100 grams per day. The amount varies due to age, size, type of work done, energy expenditure, metabolic type, constitution, and probably a few more arcane indicators, not to mention the belief system of the person or group advocating a number along this spectrum! What I find really telling in this is the tendency of folks to “err” at the extremes: either they eat fast food burgers with enough protein for an entire day in one meal, or they barely eat enough to prevent deficiency disease. There have been some studies done that show that as we age, we often neglect our protein intake. When this is due to poverty, that is a tragedy. When not eating enough protein is due to the influence of  experts who were wrong, or because we, over time, got comfortable with the overconsumption of carbohydrates….well, that too is a tragedy.

 

 

 

Epigenetics: Why You Want to Know About It

The January issue of National Geographic features an article on twins, and how studies about twins, especially those separated at birth, are shedding light on a relatively new field of science called epigenetics, or how our genes are “expressed.” Let me quote here from the article:

SAME GENES, DIFFERENT PEOPLE: Identical twins are born with the same DNA but can become surprisingly different as they grow older. A booming field called epigenetics is revealing how factors like stress and nutrition can cause this divergence by changing  how individual genes behave. “Things written in pen you can’t change: That’s DNA,” says geneticist Danielle Reed. “Things written in pencil you can change. That’s epigenetics.”

So it turns out that alternative health care advocates are correct when they say that how we eat and manage stress really matters. In the next few blogs I’ll explore this a bit, as well as start referring to some of the best nutritional research that is coming across my desk, so to speak.