Osteoporosis is a disease where bones become fragile and more likely to break. It is important to understand that bones are not lifeless structures, …

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The debate is ongoing although studies over the last several years have shown clearly that paying the extra buck is justified.

A recent study of Tarozzi et al, published in European Journal of Nutrition in April 2006, compared organically and commercially grown red oranges in terms of their phyto-chemical contents (phenolics, anthocyanins and ascorbic acid) and their total antioxidant activity in laboratory research. The study showed that all of the above were significantly higher in the organic oranges.
(Summary by Kasia kines, MS, CN, CNS, LDN. Kasia is a licensed nutritionist at Your Prescription for Health)

Dr. Ray Hinish’s Comments:
Chock one more up for the good guys!

Could adding more potassium really prolong your life?

This study goes one step further than most studies on potassium salt and focuses on its effect on risk of death due to cardiovascular events. The study included 1981 veteran participants and five veteran retirement home kitchens and lasted about 31 months. Participants were given either regular table salt or potassium-enriched salt. The participants who received potassium-enriched salt lived 0.3-0.9 years longer. Even more exciting is the fact that the veterans that received the potassium salt had better quality of life as represented by significantly less money spent in patient care related to heart health problem. The study effect was most likely due to the increase of potassium and a moderate decrease in sodium intakes. (Summary by: Kasia Kines, MS, CN, CNS, LDN a nutritionist at Your Prescription for Health)

Dr. Ray Hinish’s Comments:
This is a very interesting study because it is one of the first salt intervention studies to look at risk of death due to cardiovascular events after replacement of sodium salt with potassium salt. Here is the interesting point, compared to the sodium we get from prepared, caned and refined foods, table salt makes up the significant minority of sodium intake. This is what leads me to believe that the benefits of these results come from adding extra potassium rather than decrease daily intake of sodium. The Standard American Diet (SAD) contains much more sodium and far less potassium than nature intended. There is no doubt that we have too much sodium in our diet, however, we can not ignore the fact that our diet is also potassium deplete. In addition to using potassium salt, you should also get plenty of fruits and vegetables to help balance out the sodium/potassium levels in our diet. Low sodium tomato juice is a great source of potassium. You can even get a powdered tomato concentrate that mixes with water or juice to make up the difference.

Dietician | 1-888-794-4325

Anders earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Foods & Nutrition from the California Polytechnic State University. Her didactic experience was obtained at North Carolina Central University. Upon completion of her internship program, she sat for and passed the Registered Dietitian exam. She has been a nutritionist for over 14 years and a Registered Dietitian for 5 years.

To further her educational pursuits, she went on to obtain her Masters of Science degree from McDaniel College in Counseling Education.

Ander’s philosophy of care is based on the system that she developed called the Tri-Part-U® Wellness Solution. Her approach to overall wellness encourages the development of the TOTAL you – spirit, soul and body – through yoga/ meditation/ prayer, a well-balanced meal plan (rich in the antioxidants and fiber), and exercise. This approach to health and wellness was developed over her 14+ years experience in weight loss and weight maintenance. She encourages her clients to look at their current lifestyle practices and allow themselves to be introduced to new strategies.

What You Will Learn In This Section:

1. What is the first key to staying healthy?
2. The power of enzymes
3. 7 steps to flawless digestion

The key to maintaining health is a properly functioning digestive system. Simply put, your body must be able to take something from the outside world, break it down into its smallest parts, and absorb those parts to be able to build and repair. It is at the very moment that your body stops doing this that disease or illness begins. Secondary to that, if there is a backup in the sewage system of your body then digestion cannot work properly.

Your stomach actually has two parts. The upper part, also known as the “Cardiac Stomach” is basically a warm, moist chamber where food sits for about 20 minutes after being eaten. While sitting there food enzymes begin to break the food in your stomach down. All foods coming directly from nature are equipped with the proper enzymes to break themselves down. Leave a piece of raw meat out on the counter and it will start to degrade…part of that process is caused by the enzymes going to work. This is the very reason “aged” beef is tender, it is already breaking itself down. Once the food has sat in the upper stomach for a period of time, it drops to the lower part where the body then does the rest of the digestion work, mostly from the work of the liver and the pancreas.

Ideally, this process is a fifty-fifty proposition. Half of digestion is done by your body and half is done by the enzymes that are in the food. But what happens with most of us? Zero percent gets done by the enzymes and we expect our bodies to do all of the digestion work. This happens because the food that we eat no longer contains the enzymes. There are four things that we do to food that kill the enzymes; 1) cooking food over 118 degrees, 2) processing food, 3) microwaving food, and 4) drinking carbonated beverages.

When you ask your body to do all of the digestion work there are 2 important things that may result. First, the food you eat does not get digested completely. Second, and maybe more important, your liver and pancreas become overworked, stressed, and they start to ignore all of their other functions. The liver is responsible for clearing toxins from the body and processing cholesterol. The pancreas is responsible for the body using sugar appropriately and efficiently. Adult Onset Diabetes was rarely seen in this country until we started eating a processed food diet. Now, doctors feel it is only a matter of time before everyone ends up with sugar problems.

Enzymes are compounds within your body and within the food that catalyze or speed a chemical reaction. Some chemical reactions in the body would occur so slowly that they would not be able to sustain life without these vital enzymes. As enzymes deplete, the body’s chemical metabolic reactions slow and tissue repair and building is interrupted. There are two main types of enzymes in the body; digestive enzymes and metabolic enzymes. We already touched on the digestive enzymes, now let’s discuss metabolic enzymes. The metabolic enzymes are responsible for repair and maintenance of the body. The problem is, both the digestive and metabolic enzymes draw from the same enzyme building blocks. If your body is forced to produce more of the bulky digestive enzymes there will not be enough building blocks then the metabolic enzymes suffer. This is why eating raw food is so important and why it is equally important to use digestive enzyme supplements with cooked food.

There are a number of other things that can also improve digestion. So here are my tips for proper digestion:

1. Sit down while you eat (and this coming from a pharmacist!).
2. Take 10 long, deep breathes before eating. This will reset the nervous system so that blood flow is diverted from the extremities to the digestive tract where you need it most.
3. Chew your food completely before you swallow.
4. Do not “preload” your fork with your next bite of food until you are done with the current mouthful.
5. Do not drink even moderate amounts of fluids while you are eating (this only dilutes your digestive juices).
6. Concentrate on your food with appreciation while you are eating instead of the television or newspaper.
7. Consider taking a digestive enzyme with each meal. The plant based digestive enzyme that we use with great success is calledTyler Similase.

Digestion, the Key to Health

Simply put, your body must be able to take something from the outside world, break it down into its smallest parts, and absorb those parts to be able to build and repair. If digestion can’t get those building blocks to areas in need of repair, then those tissues can become diseased.

Why is Our Digestion So Dysfunctional?

1. Lack of raw fruits and vegetables. In his book, The Enzyme Factor, world renowned physician and inventor of the colonoscopy writes about his experience in exploring the colons of thousands of patients (healthy and sick). During his “explorations”, he discovered that the health of the colon was almost always a good indicator for the health of the body in general. He discovered that fruit and vegetable intake was a strong indicator of colon and overall health. He started placing his sick patients on a diet high in raw fruits and vegetables. Soon his sick patients began to feel better and better. When he re-explored the colons of his previously sick patients, he noticed that their digestive tracts were far healthier as well! He hypothesized that fruits and vegetables contain an enzyme building block, he deemed the Enzyme Factor which improves digestion and catalyzes the regeneration of the body’s 100 trillion cells.
2. Overcooking our food. Processing and heat damage or destroy the fragile enzymes that are naturally found in raw foods. This will ultimately lead to a deficiency of enzymes, vitamins and proteins.
3. Too much fluid intake at meals. By drinking large quantities of fluid with meals, we dilute the digestive juices. This results in a stomach environment that does not permit optimal digestion.
4. Eating on the run or in a stressed state. Stress of any kind can virtually paralyze the digestive tract. When we eat in a stressed state, the body diverts blood flow to the extremities and brain and away from the digestive tract.
5. Excess weight. Being overweight can cause numerous digestive problems from heartburn to gall bladder dysfunction.
6. Lack of exercise. Exercise and activity is a well-known stimulant to the digestive tract. Sedentary people commonly suffer with constipation, gall bladder problems and reflux. Activity is the catalyst of growth and repair in the body, it makes sense that the body will kick up digestion in response to exercise in order to get and deliver building blocks to the cells of the body.
7. Antibiotic use. When we take antibiotics to kill off an infection, the trillions of healthy bacteria in the gut, that are a critical component of digestion and elimination, are also impacted.
8. Chronic use of antacids. Antacid medications are used judiciously in our society. These medications were designed for short-term use while the patient recovered from a digestive event, such as an ulcer or digestive injury. Today, these medications are prescribed as a lifetime treatment for heartburn. In our opinion, this is having a catastrophic effect on the health and vitality of our population due to the fact that it prevents proper digestion and assimilation of the nutrients that we consume.

7 Steps to Good Digestion

There are a number of steps that one can take to improve digestion. So here are my tips for proper digestion:

1. Sit down while you eat.
2. Take 10 long, deep breathes before eating. This will reset the nervous system so that blood flow is diverted from the extremities to the digestive tract where you need it most.
3. Do not “preload” your fork with your next bite of food until you are done with the current mouthful.
4. Limit fluid intake at meal time. Drink fluids in between meals.
5. Concentrate on your food with appreciation while you are eating instead of the television or newspaper.
6. Consider taking a digestive enzyme with each meal. The plant based digestive enzyme that we use with great success is called Tyler Similase. This enzyme works throughout the entire digestive tract to help the body break down and assimilate the nutrients within your food.
7. Eat raw fruits and vegetables with each meal.

What You Will Learn:

1. When Good Fruits Go Bad
2. When Refined Carbohydrates Are Ok to Eat
3. Where Dr. Atkins Went Wrong
4. How Many Meals to Eat per Day

Diet is perhaps one of the most confusing areas of health because there are so many people claiming so many different diets are the “best”. There are more different diets on the market today than ever before. Which has the best formula? Well, this question does not have a cut and dry answer because there is a lot of metabolic variance in our population. Let me give you an example. Fruit is considered very good for you as long as you eat it in the package that nature provides. Generally speaking people do not develop diabetes or get fat from eating fruits. However, if you are diabetic or heavily insulin resistant then it would be in your best interest to limit your fruit intake until your insulin resistance is improved. Not to confuse you further but many diabetics can eat fruit freely without any negative consequences to their blood sugar. The simple point is the diet that works best for you is the diet that works best for you! We can make general statements about what is most likely to be healthy but in the end you must put it to the test for yourself. So let’s start with a review of the tried-and-true principles that appear to apply to most people, we will then speak to the possible exceptions. Remember, as we move into intermediate and advanced principles, we are moving away from cookie cutter suggestions into more fluid and customizable principles:

1. Eat your food in the package nature provides. Simply put, oranges are good, orange juice is not so good. Eat fresh veggies over canned veggies. High fiber grain products generally are healthier than low fiber grain products. Simple enough…le’s move on.

2. Refined carbohydrates are generally bad…most of the time. For most people refined carbohydrates are not useful unless food is scarce. In a world of culinary abundance refined carbs are the most common cause of obesity, diabetes and heart disease. However, there is a place for refined carbohydrates amidst people who workout heavily or take part in competitive sports. When you workout heavily you can quickly deplete your carbohydrate stores in your muscles. During heavy activity, muscle is damaged and requires repair. This repair can not take place until the sugar stores have been replaced and can then fuel the repair process. By taking your refined carbohydrates directly after weight training, when your muscles are most sensitive to insulin, you can enhance recovery from activity, speed muscle repair and decrease soreness. Here is the golden nugget for people who are not competitive athletes, when you intend to have a pasta meal or some other high carb meal, try timing the meal soon after your workout. This will help with recovery and keep your blood sugar from spiking. This is especially helpful if you are lifting weights. So, this means that if you simply refuse to give up your pasta then the second best option is to make a pact with yourself that you will exercise vigorously before having your meal.

3. Eat lean protein. One area where me and the late Dr. Atkins part ways in our protein philosophies is in the quality of the protein in question and the quantity. I do not ascribe to the philosophy that you can eat bacon, butter, high fat beef, etc for every meal and still be healthy. Great sources of protein include lean beef, chicken, eggs and fish. I believe that people should lean towards a raw, vegetable and fruit rich diet. If you eat meat, you must make sure that you make an effort to enhance your intake of living plant foods to help balance your body. I also suggest eating free range meat and eggs whenever possible. So how much meat should you eat? The answer is…it depends. When you look at our closest mammal relatives you see that the apes are primarily vegetarian, although, if a lizard happens to scurry by they may pick it up and toss it in their mouth. They are what is called opportunistic carnivores. I declare myself the same. I try to eat most of my food as raw vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds, however, if a filet mignon falls on my plate I will eat that too. I suggest limiting meat intake to one serving or less per day and making sure that we eat lots of fruits, vegetables and healthy nuts. If you are a bodybuilder or on a heavy weight lifting program then you may want to increase this intake. Athletes and fitness buffs should get extra protein from egg whites and whey protein shakes and smoothies to account for their extra needs.

4. Meal Frequency, how often should we eat? This is a common questions, so let’s answer it. From my research I have come to the following conclusion. Generally, most people will be healthiest with small, frequent meals. This is especially the case with people who are working out on a regular basis. If you eat meals with refined carbohydrates then make sure that you limit the portion size and only three of the five or six meals contain refined carbs. You should allow a 4-5 hour period between those refined carb containing meals. This will allow time for the body to process the carbohydrates, metabolize out the insulin and will allow the body time to burn some of those carbs away between main meals.

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