Choose Whole Grains to Boost Your Health

by: continuum wellness - March 18th, 2010   Filed under: adolescents, breakfast, children, diabetes, diet, family, food, health benefits of food, healthy eating, nutrition, self-care Add Comment

What’s for breakfast? The selection is huge. The menu can include such items as waffles, pancakes, omelets, bagels, fruit bars, power bars, protein shakes, a piece of fruit, sausages, or cold cereal. With all this to choose from, which items will best fuel the brain of your growing child or an aging adult? You guessed it. Whole grains.

Whole Grains
Whole grains are the nutritious foods that have sustained humanity since ancient times. Whole grains offer variety to the diet and provide healthy bulk (fiber) allowing you to feel full and satisfied. Whole grains do not include refined cereals. Nope. They may be tasty but the nutritional value of two simply do not compare. Whole grains help the body to stay in balance warding off diabetes and heart problems.

Whole grains:
brown rice
buckwheat
bulgur (cracked wheat)
oatmeal
popcorn

Ready-to-eat breakfast cereals:
whole wheat cereal flakes
muesli

whole grain barley
whole grain cornmeal
whole rye
whole wheat bread
whole wheat crackers
whole wheat pasta
whole wheat sandwich buns and rolls
whole wheat tortillas
wild rice

Less common whole grains:
amaranth
millet
quinoa
sorghum
triticale

Refined grains:
cornbread*
corn tortillas*
couscous*
crackers*
flour tortillas*
grits
noodles*

Pasta*
spaghetti
macaroni

pitas*
pretzels

Ready-to-eat breakfast cereals
corn flakes

white bread
white sandwich buns and rolls
white rice.
*Most of these products are made from refined grains. Some are made from whole grains. Check the ingredient list for the words “whole grain” or “whole wheat” to decide if they are made from a whole grain. Some foods are made from a mixture of whole and refined grains.

Some grain products contain significant amounts of bran. Bran provides fiber, which is important for health. However, products with added bran or bran alone (e.g., oat bran) are not necessarily whole grain products.

Add the Power of Whole Grains to Your Diet
According to a recent study teens and young adults were at risk for developing health problems because of the low daily amount of whole grain consumption.

One of the easiest ways to put whole grains in your diet, is to shop for them so you can cook up whole grains to eat for breakfast and/or dinner. It will save you money, time and your health.

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Pesticides in your food, the dirty dozen

by: continuum wellness - April 7th, 2009   Filed under: baby boomers, cooking, culture, diet, environment, family, food, Health, health benefits of food, healthy eating, nutrition, pesticides, Western diet, women's health Add Comment

Chances are you’ve seen or heard of this pesticide list, which ranks common foods by the amount of pesticide residue. The folks over at the Environmental Working Group (as far as I know), produce this guide. It is updated yearly. Print a copy and take it with you when grocery shopping.

The need to keep our food supply safe is of paramount importance.  It is absolutely necessary to eat nutritious food.  Take a peek at the list, below.

Finding Nutritious Produce

  • Buy local produce
  • there are organizations that will deliver organic produce to your home
  • join a co-op
  • grow your own vegetables when possible
  • take a trip to a local farm to purchase fresh from the farm.
  • By visiting a local farm you can ask questions and determine the quality of the produce and support the farmer, that’s win-win.

The Dirty Dozen

  1. Peach
  2. Apple
  3. Bell Pepper
  4. Celery
  5. Nectarine
  6. Strawberries
  7. Cherries
  8. Kale
  9. Lettuce
  10. Grapes (imported)
  11. Carrot
  12. Pear

Lower in Pesticides (15)

  1. Onion
  2. Avocado
  3. Sweet Corn
  4. Pineapple
  5. Mango
  6. Asparagus
  7. Sweet Peas
  8. Kiwi
  9. Cabbage
  10. Eggplant
  11. Papaya
  12. Watermelon
  13. Broccoli
  14. Tomato
  15. Sweet Potato

Young vegetarians may be at risk of binge eating

by: continuum wellness - April 1st, 2009   Filed under: adolescents, diet, family, Health, health benefits of food, healthy body, nutrition, tips Add Comment

One of the keys to being a healthy vegetarian/vegan or raw-fooder is correct information.  According to this story reported (here) many young vegetarians may have problems from binge eating. Here is a definition of binge eating (more here):
* Frequent episodes of eating what others would consider an abnormally large amount of food.

* Frequent feelings of being unable to control what or how much is being eaten.

* Several of these behaviors or feelings:

1. Eating much more rapidly than usual.
2. Eating until uncomfortably full.
3. Eating large amounts of food, even when not physically hungry.
4. Eating alone out of embarrassment at the quantity of food being eaten.
5. Feelings of disgust, depression, or guilt after overeating.
Does this mean the young vegetarian will wake up in the middle of the night and raid the refrigerator for carrots, tofu and broccoli? I doubt it. Perhaps it means that anyone can be challenged to eat mindfully.

Solutions
Eating with awareness is something many people are challenged to do. Help your young vegetarian with well written cookbooks, cooking meals together as a family and eating as a family. Encouraging good eating habits for all family members will reduce binge eating for all.

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Enter the “Polypill” to reduce heart problems, hbp and stroke

by: continuum wellness - March 30th, 2009   Filed under: adverse events, alternative medicine, baby boomers, behavior, cholesterol, complementary medicine, healing, healing philosophy, Health, health beliefs, health benefits of food, health care, healthy body, healthy eating, healthy mind, heart, heart attack, holistic, holistic medicine, integrative medicine, kindness, medications, medicine, men, prescription drugs, self-care, self-healing, thoughts, tips, wellness, Western diet, women, women's health Add Comment

The “miracle” of modern medicine has led to bizarre side effects such as a treatment for restless legs, that has caused compulsive gambling. A medicine for Parkinson’s has a similar problem for some. Sleep drugs that cause people to stumble out of their home and drive. Fertility drugs that lead to multiple births. Hallucinations are a “rare” side effect of some ADHD medications. These are the considered a-typical, but the typical side effects are no fun either.

Help for High Blood Pressure

Enter the Polypill.  Researchers want to create a pill a 3 in one that can reduce the risk of heart attack, stroke and high blood pressure in one.  article here
Truth is it has been created or should I say they have been. When we eat whole foods, contained therein is a synergistic blend of vitamins, proteins, amino acids, flavonoids, solar and lunar energy and maybe even (hopefully) love from the gardener. We cannot get this from a pill.

Run This Way

Instead of running from nature, run to nature. Nurture yourself with learning how to live in balance. It’s free. It’s the healthiest choice for yourself and the planet. Give it a try. Polypill? Try basking in the sun, or hugging a dear friend, cook yourself a meal with a big dose of love in it…you’ll be glad you did, for benefits no Polypill could ever provide.

At Continuum Wellness we offer homeopathic care and wellness coaching to promote wholeness, health and well-being.

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Fructose versus High Fructose Corn Syrup

by: continuum wellness - March 11th, 2009   Filed under: diabetes, diet, food, Health, health benefits of food, health care, healthy body, nutrition, self-care, wellness, Western diet, women, women's health Add Comment

The article below is by the American Journal of Nutrition, odd that a nutritional organization would endorse high fructose corn syrup (HFCS).  Does HFCS cause obesity?  Overeating leads to obesity.  The real question is the nutritive content of what we are ingesting, or lack thereof.

What we eat is what makes up our hair, skin, every cell of the body and influences our very thoughts.  The article is written by a trade group and goes as far to consider HFCS.  It goes as far to say it is a “natural” product.  A total corruption of the concept and meaning of the word natural.  HFCS is a highly refined product.  It is not a naturally occuring substance and it use is implicated as causative in a number of degenerative, chronic health conditions such as diabetes and kidney disease.

This kind of article seriously reduced the credibility of the Nutrition Journal, imho.

Pure fructose frequently confused with high fructose corn syrup

New studies, ongoing misunderstanding can lead to consumer confusion

WASHINGTON, DC – As researchers continue to examine the role of sweeteners in the diet, it’s important that people understand the differences among various ingredients used in scientific studies, according to the Corn Refiners Association (CRA). Interchanging two distinctly different ingredients, such as pure fructose and high fructose corn syrup, creates factually incorrect conclusions and misleads consumers.

Recent studies using pure fructose that purport to show that the body processes high fructose corn syrup differently than other sugars due to fructose content are a classic example of this problem because pure fructose cannot be extrapolated to high fructose corn syrup. The abnormally high levels of pure fructose used in these studies are not found in the human diet.

Fructose consumption at normal human dietary levels and as part of a balanced diet has not been shown to yield such results. Moreover, human fructose intake is nearly always accompanied by the simultaneous and equivalent intake of glucose – a critical and distinguishing factor from pure fructose used in these studies.

Following are some facts about high fructose corn syrup and fructose:

* High fructose corn syrup contains approximately equal ratios of fructose and glucose. Table sugar also contains equal ratios of fructose and glucose. High fructose corn syrup and sugar are equally sweet and both contain four calories per gram.

* Fructose is a natural, simple sugar commonly found in fruits and honey. The absence of glucose makes pure fructose fundamentally different from high fructose corn syrup.

* Common dietary sources of fructose and glucose include fruits, vegetables, nuts and sweeteners (sugar, honey, high fructose corn syrup, fruit juice concentrates and agave nectar).

* There is no meaningful difference in how the body metabolizes table sugar and high fructose corn syrup. Once the combination of glucose and fructose found in high fructose corn syrup and sucrose are absorbed into the blood stream, the two types of sweetener appear to be metabolized similarly using well-characterized metabolic pathways.

* High fructose corn syrup meets the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s requirements for use of the term “natural.” It is made from corn, a natural grain product and contains no artificial or synthetic ingredients or color additives.

The American Medical Association in June 2008 helped put to rest a common misunderstanding about high fructose corn syrup and obesity, stating that “high fructose syrup does not appear to contribute to obesity more than other caloric sweeteners.” Even former critics of high fructose corn syrup dispelled long-held myths and distanced themselves from earlier speculation about the sweetener’s link to obesity in a comprehensive scientific review published in a recent supplement of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2008 Vol. 88).

###

Learn more about the latest research and facts about sweeteners, including high fructose corn syrup, by visiting www.SweetSurprise.com.

Editor’s Note: Interviews available with health and industry experts available.

CRA is the national trade association representing the corn refining (wet milling) industry of the United States. CRA and its predecessors have served this important segment of American agribusiness since 1913. Corn refiners manufacture sweeteners, ethanol, starch, bioproducts, corn oil, and feed products from corn components such as starch, oil, protein, and fiber.

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Reversing Diabetes – Raw for 30 Days

by: continuum wellness - March 11th, 2009   Filed under: African American, alternative medicine, diabetes, diet, food, healing philosophy, Health, health beliefs, health benefits of food, health care, healthy body, healthy eating, integrative medicine, men, self-healing, Western diet, women, women's health Add Comment

Diabetes is considered irreversible by conventional medical authorities, yet if you review the literature of various holistic therapies such as homeopathic and various diet therapies it has been done. The first key is the desire to want to heal the diabetic condition and its causes. If you only want to “manage” it, over time its disastrous consequences will most likely manifest.

Reversing diabetes requires professional guidance and a compassionate doctor who will work you. Here is a clip of some folks who found help by using a raw food approach.

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A Look at Foods and their Healing Power

by: continuum wellness - November 16th, 2008   Filed under: diet, fruit, healing, Health, health benefits of food, nuts, women, women's health 1 Comment

This info was sent to me and I decided to share it on the blog. I don’t know who put this information together. The following information highlights some correspondences between various foods and its inherent healing properties. Enjoy!

A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye. The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye… and YES, science now shows carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes.

It’s been said that God(DESS) first separated the salt water from the fresh, made dry land, planted a garden, made animals and fish… all before making a human. He made and provided what we’d need before we were born. These are best & more powerful when eaten raw. We’re such slow learners…

God left us a great clue as to what foods help what part of our body!

A Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart has four chambers and is red. All of the research shows tomatoes are loaded with lycopine and are indeed pure heart and blood food.

Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all of the research today shows grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food.

A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles or folds on the nut are just like the neo-cortex. We now know walnuts help develop more than three (3) dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.

Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys.

Celery, Book Choy, Rhubarb and many more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don’t have enough sodium in your diet, the body pulls it from the bones, thus making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.

Avocados, Eggplant and Pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female – they look just like these organs. Today’s research shows that when a woman eats one avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight, and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound is this? It takes exactly nine (9) months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 histolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and named about 141 of them).

Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the mobility of male sperm and increase the numbers of Sperm as well to overcome male sterility.

Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the glycemic index of diabetics.
Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries.

Oranges, Grapefruits, and other Citrus fruits look just like the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts.

Onions look like the body’s cells. Today’s research shows onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells. They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes. A working companion, Garlic, also helps eliminate waste materials and dangerous free radicals from the body.

SUBJECT: Psalm 46:19
‘Be Still and Know that I AM GOD’

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Preventing Colon Cancer, a look at B-6

by: continuum wellness - October 25th, 2008   Filed under: cancer, colon cancer, food, Health, health benefits of food, health care, nutrition, nuts, wellness, Western diet, women's health Add Comment

Many of us are not getting nearly enough B6 from our diets. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (May, 2008) published a study of nearly 8,000 people showing that B6 inadequacy is common throughout the United States. “Across the study population,” the authors said, “we noticed participants with inadequate vitamin B6 status even though they reported consuming more than the Recommended Daily Allowance of vitamin B6, which is less than 2 milligrams per day.” Three out of four women using oral contraceptives are vitamin B6 deficient, unless they also take vitamin B6 supplements. Smokers and the elderly are also especially likely to be at risk. Remarkably, even among people who take B6 supplements, one in ten is still B6 deficient. (4)

This indicates that we might better take more B6. But many won’t. This is because the public has been warned off of supplementing with this vitamin. So irrational is this fear that, at one point, a so-called “Safe Upper Limit” for daily B6 intake was set at only 10 mg. (6) That was only about six times the US RDA/DRI. Who set such a “limit”? Not the voters, that’s for sure. An unelected committee did it, one created by the National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine’s Food and Nutrition Board. (5) They have, in a manner of speaking, recently admitted that they were wrong. The “Safe Upper Limit” is now 100 mg.

That is more like it, but still too low. Alan Gaby, M.D., in reviewing B6 toxicity, wrote that adverse effects from B6 (pyridoxine) were occurring in people taking “2,000 mg/day or more of pyridoxine, although some were taking only 500 mg/day. There is a single case report of a neuropathy occurring in a person taking 200 mg/day of pyridoxine, but the reliability of that case report is unclear. The individual in question was never examined, but was merely interviewed by telephone after responding to a local television report that publicized pyridoxine-induced neuropathy.” Dr Gaby adds that there have been no reports of B6 side effects at under 200 mg/day. (6)

Modern processed, low-nutrient diets are not providing anything close to 200 milligrams. In fact, they typically provide less that 1% of that amount. You can get some B-6 from food, if you really like to eat whole grains, seeds and organ meats. A goodly slice of beef liver contains a whopping 1.2 mg of B-6. Chicken liver is only 0.6 mg per serving, and most other foods contain less. Avocados (0.5 mg each) and bananas (0.7 mg each) lead the pyridoxine league for fruits. Potatoes (0.7 mg each) and nuts (especially filberts, peanuts and walnuts) are fairly good vegetable sources.

But people are not eating nuts, seeds, vegetables, and liver. What they are eating is way too many nutrient-poor junk foods. Our diets are low in B6, yet B6 reduces risk of colon cancer. Clearly supplementation is the way to go.

Orthomolecular Medicine News
Orthomolecular.org

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The Problem with too much corn in your food

by: continuum wellness - September 30th, 2008   Filed under: diabetes, diet, family, food, healing, Health, health beliefs, health benefits of food, health care, healthy body, healthy eating, meat Add Comment

The documentary is called King Corn. It is a well-done documentary that explains why corn is everywhere in the American food supply.

Every eye-opening movie, documentary or book we can get regarding our food supply and how it comes to the table is worth viewing. Even if you are a vegan, or vegetarian it will help to broaden your view of policy choices made over the last 20 to 30 years that have a profound effect on us all. So for a little more eye-opening info, this documentary is worth watching.

The health care crisis is not really that everyone needs health insurance, but one of people having high quality nutritious food and living in a way that builds their life force rather than deplete it.
If what you eat is the standard American diet (SAD), this documentary will help open your eyes.

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Build your health with Quercetin

by: continuum wellness - September 23rd, 2008   Filed under: Health, health benefits of food, healthy body, healthy eating, nutrition, stress, tips Add Comment


What is Quercetin?
Quercetin is a flavonol and antioxidant which is found in plant foods, such as onions, broccoli, apples, red wine, tea and coffee. Yea, plants. Onions and garlic are rich sources of the potent anti-cancer bioflavonoid quercetin. Cooking onions does not destroy the effectiveness of quercetin.

Health Benefits of Quercetin
Benefits of quercetin: reduces inflammation, reduces symptoms of prostatitis (enlarged prostate) and fights viruses. Toss some fresh chopped onions in your salad or finely chopped garlic. Tastes good and good for you.

Quercetin Research
A study done with mice shows protective benefits of quercitin to reduce stress. Read below…

Quercetin protects against acute immobilization stress-induced behaviors and biochemical alterations in mice

Oxidative stress is a major contributor to the alterations of various pathological conditions, including neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric problems. Antioxidative flavonoids, ubiquitously included in vegetables, fruits, and teas, are expected to prevent degenerative diseases. Recently, flavonoids have been characterized as neuroprotectants in the treatment of various neurological disorders. The present study was designed to investigate protective effects of quercetin, a bioflavonoid, against acute immobilization-induced behavioral and biochemical alterations in mice. Mice were immobilized for a period of 6 hours. Quercetin (20 and 40 mg/kg, i.p.) was administered 30 minutes before subjecting the animals to acute stress. Behavioral tests (mirror chamber, actophotometer, and tail flick test) and biochemical analysis (malondialdehyde, reduced glutathione, catalase, nitrite, and protein levels) were subsequently performed. Acute immobilization stress for a period of 6 hours caused severe anxiety, analgesia, and impaired motor activity in mice. Biochemical analyses revealed an increase in malondialdehyde and nitrite levels as well as partial depletion of reduced glutathione and catalase activity in immobilization-stressed brain. Behavioral and biochemical parameters were significantly altered as compared to naive mice. Pretreatment with quercetin (20 and 40 mg/kg, i.p.) significantly reversed immobilized stress-induced anxiety and analgesia and reduced locomotor activity. Biochemically, quercetin treatment attenuated malondialdehyde accumulation and nitrite activity and restored the depleted reduced glutathione and catalase activity. Neuroprotective effects of quercetin were significantly improved as compared to control (immobilized stressed) animals.

Results suggest that neuroprotective properties of quercetin can be used in the treatment and management of stress and related disorders.

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