100% of Children Tested Showed They Tested High in Carcinogens – Worst Foods to Feed Your Kids If you are not already very concerned about our exposure to environmental toxins…you should be. We all are exposed to a daily bombardment of toxins from the environment, however children are at particular risk. When nearly 500 children were tested, 100% of them had over the safe levels set for known carcinogenic and toxic substances. One hundred percent (and their parents tested high as well) of the children had overly high levels of Arsenic, dieldrin (an insecticide), DDE (a break down product of the DDT pesticide), and the highly carcinogenic dioxins. While we are exposed through air and water pollution to these deadly substances, our greatest exposure is in the foods we eat. The number one source of arsenic for children..chicken…think of all those chicken nuggets! The second worse food was diary. Dairy products were the main source for the dioxins, lead and other pesticides found in the children. Once these toxins are absorbed in our bodies they are stored in our fat tissue and it is very difficult to get them out. The best option is to minimize our exposure. Minimize your dairy or avoid it all together and eat poultry no more than once or twice a month. Skip the yogurts unless they are organic and try sorbets instead of ice cream. Eat a predominately plant-based...
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Catch The BEET
THEY JUST CAN’T BE BEET!!!!!!!!!!!! Forget the old canned beets of your Grandparents day… slowly roasted beets make culinary aficionados drool. These delicious root vegetables belong to a family of superfoods that include chard, spinach and quinoa. Like their cousins, beets pack a powerful punch for your health. Naturally high in disease-fighting phytonutrients, antioxidants, vitamins, and trace minerals. Beets are an excellent source of phytonutrients called betalains which function as beneficial antioxidants and anti-inflammatory molecules. Studies have shown that betalains help to protect the body from developing cancers such as lung, stomach, colon, and breast cancer, in addition to heart disease and many other illnesses too. The light or dark red, purple, crimson, or orange colors of beets is an excellent indicator of their high antioxidant content, similarly to how berries and other deeply colored fruits and vegetables provide the same disease-fighting molecules. Due to their antioxidants, beets are also very helpful in protecting eye health. Beets are a source of lutein and zeaxanthin, which are two carotenoid phytonutrients -also found in other similarly colored vegetables like carrots and squash- that play a role in protecting eyes from developing conditions such as macular degeneration and cataracts. The highest supply of these antioxidants are actually found in the greens of the beets. Beet greens contain more leutein and zeaxanthin than the purple beet roots themselves, but even the roots provide a good source, especially golden (orange or yellow colored) beets. The Betaine and choline in beets help regulate inflammation in the cardiovascular system, bring cholesterol levels to a healthy balance, and reduce high blood pressure. Beets are known to be natural “blood cleansers”. They cleanse the blood of toxins, heavy metals, and waste due to their compounds called glutathiones, which are essential for detoxification within the liver and other digestive organs. Additionally, the fiber in beets helps to “sweep” the digestive tract of waste and toxins while restoring healthy and regular bowel movements. Catch the Beet and Have a Healthful Day!!!!...
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Magnesium…It Matters
Magnesium is the 4th most abundant mineral in your body and it is vital for over three hundred different metabolic functions that your body needs to perform every day. Magnesium is an electrolyte that helps with blood glucose and blood pressure control, regulates protein synthesis and Vitamin D metabolism in addition to many other functions including sleep, digestion, bone health and heart function. It is estimated that 75% of the U.S. population does not meet the recommended daily intake of 310 to 420 mg. Low levels of magnesium in your diet can create a wide variety of symptoms throughout your body, making diagnosis and treatment elusive. Depression Chronic fatigue syndrome ADHD Epilepsy Parkinson’s disease Sleep problems Migraine Cluster headaches Osteoporosis Premenstrual syndrome Chest pain (angina) Cardiac arrhythmias Coronary artery disease and atherosclerosis Hypertension Type II diabetes Asthma Here are the top magnesium rich foods, try to eat 2 or 3 of them everyday. Spinach — 1 cup: 157 milligrams (40% DV) Chard — 1 cup: 154 milligrams (38% DV) Pumpkin seeds — 1/8 cup: 92 milligrams (23% DV) Yogurt or Kefir — 1 cup: 50 milligrams (13% DV) Almonds — 1 ounce: 80 milligrams (20% DV) Black Beans — ½ cup: 60 milligrams (15% DV) Avocado — 1 medium: 58 milligrams (15% DV) Figs — ½ cup: 50 milligrams (13% DV) Dark Chocolate — 1 square: 95 milligrams (24% DV) Banana — 1 medium: 32 milligrams (8%...
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Turn Off the Faucet Eat More Plants
Imagine if you left the water running in your house for years. Even if it started as just a trickle, over time it would create a lot of damage and the repair bills would be devastating! An unhealthy lifestyle is a lot like leaving the water running in your body, flooding it with a diet high in processed and refined foods, bombarding it with everyday pollutants, pesticides, and toxins, and taxing it with too little sleep and chronic stress. These unhealthy lifestyle factors cause inflammation in your tissues and, over years, can spread throughout your body causing all kinds of damage. Unchecked inflammation can lead to health conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and auto-immune diseases. Treating these conditions with medication is like trying to clean up your flooding household with a small bucket. Medications help control the damage, but they won’t stop the flood. Cholesterol medications slow the progression of heart disease, but they don’t help people recover. Diabetes medications help scoop away some of the damage of high blood sugars, but no one recovers from diabetes by taking diabetes medication. Real health and recovery requires changing your lifestyle to stop the flood of inflammation. The best way to turn off the faucet is by eating a diet rich in plant foods. Plant foods — fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, lentils, nuts, and seeds are treasure-chests full of healing properties. It is true that these foods are your major source of essential vitamins and minerals, and they give you so much more. Plants are full of colorful pigments called phyto (plant)-nutrients that give fruits and vegetables their vibrant colors; the bright ruby red found in pomegranates, sapphire blue in berries, amethyst purple in eggplant, and emerald green in dark leafy salads, to name a few. read more…Turn-Off-the-Faucet-Eat-More-Plants...
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Talk to One of Our Integrative Medicine Physicians Live on Facebook
Talk with Our INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE PHYSICIANS LIVE on FACEBOOK™ January 17th at 1 to 2:00 pm This is a great opportunity to ask questions of our Integrative team, Dr. Meyer and Dr. Lane. Learn how an integrative approach to healing can help you. Simply friend us on FACEBOOK™ or if you aren’t on Facebook connect using the link on our webpage, here.....
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An Introduction to a Whole-Foods, Plant Based Diet…Why Should You Try It?
By Dr. Raymond A. Berdugo – Family Medicine, Certified in Plant-Based Nutrition If we think about it, we already know that what we put into our bodies will determine our health. We also know that it can also determine our disease. It is expressed in this popular saying “You are what you eat.” It turns out that this knowledge is not new. In fact, the father of modern medicine, Hippocrates, more than 2000 years ago (around 300 B.C.E.), is quoted as saying (in translation) “Let food be thy medicine & medicine be thy food”. Indeed, many ancient cultures realized the medicinal powers of our daily nourishment and looking at our food choices was a huge part of our overall health and wellness. It seems we have lost sight of this with today’s Standard American Diet and we, as a nation, are getting sicker every year. It turns out that 7 out of the top 10 leading causes of death in the United States of America arise from our dietary habits. These include the top two killers in the USA, which are Heart Disease and Cancer. Another large one is one of our current epidemics; Diabetes Mellitus Type 2. The good news? Since we know the cause, we already have the cure! First, let’s talk about how we are, as a nation, “overfed” and yet “malnourished.” The Standard American Diet causes us to consume excess calories without receiving adequate nutrition. How does this happen? Let’s take two extremes: Oil and Spinach. Oil: A simple 1 single tablespoon of oil contains about 100 calories with some slight variation depending on the source of the oil. Olive oil, largely touted to be “healthy” for us has 119 calories all coming from fat. This breaks down to 13.5 grams of fat and only trace amount of iron (0.5% of daily value) and potassium (0.1% of daily value). All oils will follow this same trend of having perhaps some trace amounts of vitamins or some ‘good fat’, but largely oil amounts to calories without any nutritional value (also known as “empty calories”). Spinach: On the other hand, we can take 4 whole cups of baby spinach leaves (about the size traditionally considered for a...
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