Diet, Exercise Better Than Vitamins in Promoting Health

Harvard men's health watch is telling everyone how dangerous vitamin supplements are. Unfortunately they are not kidding!

Please know that although we have our references to try to refute these statements, your patient's families will be hearing this stuff.

While it was once hoped that supplements of folic acid could help reduce colon cancer, new research has shown that taking more than the minimum daily requirement would be harmful. Simon says other studies underscore the downside to dietary supplements, which are unregulated in the United States. "The most striking example is beta carotene, which we used to be very hopeful about, but actually increases the risk of lung cancer in smokers. Vitamin E increases the risk of second head-neck cancers in people who have been successfully treated for a first malignancy."

The truth is that the folic acid most get in supplements is not the natural form that is called 5'MTHFR (Metafolin by Merck of Germany) and since it is over $12,000 a Kilogram it is not in most supplements. Read more...

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Diet, Cognitive Ability May Play Role in Heart Disease

(HealthDay News) -- Seniors who eat plenty of fruits and vegetables and who have good cognitive function are much less likely to die from heart disease than those who have poorer cognitive function and eat fewer fruits and vegetables, a new study has found.
Cognitive function refers to the ability to think, remember, plan and organize information.
Researchers at the Drexel University School of Public Health in Philadelphia analyzed diet and cognitive data on 4,879 people (3,101 women and 1,778 men), age 70 and older, who took part in the U.S. Longitudinal Study of Aging. The participants were followed for an average of seven years. Read more...

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Urine Test May ID Unhealthy Diets

(HealthDay News) -- Someday, a doctor's office assessment of the overall quality of your diet may come from a simple $8 urine test, researchers report.

Levels of urinary potassium correlate closely with nutrition in general, said study author Dr. Alexander Logan, a professor of medicine at the University of Toronto.

"We can identify people who are eating a poor quality diet by a simple urine test and can recommend an intervention," said Logan, who is also senior scientist at the university's Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute.

Simply questioning people about their diet isn't as foolproof, he added. "One can get a general idea of [intake of] fruits, vegetables and dairy by asking," he said. But self-reports are notoriously inaccurate. So, Logan's team evaluated 24-hour urine samples from 220 people, aged 18 to 50, all diagnosed with kidney stones.

The participants answered food questionnaires about their food intake and had their weight, height and blood pressure measured.

Logan's team then looked to see if urinary potassium and sodium levels could correlate to diet quality.

They found that the higher the potassium level in urine, the higher the intake of recommended healthy foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains and low-fat dairy products.

The lower the potassium, the more likely the food reports were to include more red meat, fast food and sugary, high-calorie drinks.

Those with the highest levels of urinary potassium also tended to have a lower body mass index (BMI), lower diastolic blood pressure and a lower heart rate than did those with lower levels. For instance, people with the highest potassium levels averaged a BMI of 26.5 (under 25 is desirable), while those with the lowest potassium levels had an average BMI of 28.7 (a BMI of 30 is the accepted threshold for obesity).

Sodium levels were not associated with any of those variables, the team found.

The study is published in the April 2009 issue of The Journal of Nutrition.

The Logan research is "an excellent study," said Judith Stern, a distinguished professor of nutrition at the University of California at Davis, who was not involved in the study but reviewed it. Consumers might ask their physician for the test to see if their diet is as healthy as they might think, she said.

"This study supports the [medical] literature that the amount of potassium in urine may objectively measure diet quality," added Jeannie Gazzaniga-Moloo, a dietitian in Roseville, Calif., and a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. "However, the study looked at 24-hour urine collections, which are cumbersome, time-consuming and impractical for some patients," she said.

Moloo called for more research to further validate the findings.

Logan said his team can probably simplify the test to make it a one-time measurement. In the meantime, he advises consumers to pay attention to their fruit and vegetable intake and to follow other healthy dietary guidelines, such as eating three servings of dairy products a day, choosing either low- or no-fat varieties if weight control is a concern.

Logan said his team also plans to study the value of the test in people besides those with kidney disease, including those with Irritable bowel syndrome, many of whom eat a poor diet.

More information
To learn more about the dietary guidelines, visit the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The Fruit That Fights Wrinkles

You really can fight wrinkles from the inside out. And there's a fruit that can lead the charge . . . Read more

Will the Bad Economy Force Unhealthy Changes to Our Diets?

By Sean Kelley

When food prices began rising this summer, my family’s weekly grocery bills jumped from $150 to $200. (This amount does not include what we were spending eating out, but does include expenses for diapers, paper goods, and other sundries.)

The sudden increase was alarming, especially considering that my wife and I were also forced to spend more than $600 a month to commute from our small farm to our jobs. At first, the amount we were spending on groceries seemed absurd for a family of four. We buy our groceries at one of two discount supermarkets. Plus, we were subsidizing our diet with vegetables from our garden and meat from two pigs we slaughtered last winter. Read More

Health Tip: Feeling Hungry?

(HealthDay News) -- Feeling particularly hungry is a common symptom -- with many possible causes.

The U.S. National Library of Medicine offers this list:

• Stress or anxiety.
• Premenstrual syndrome.
• A side effect of taking certain medications, including some corticosteroids or antidepressants.
• Bulimia.
• Graves' disease.
• Hyperthyroidism.
• Diabetes.
• Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar).

Family-friendly foods

Tracy Seaman and Tanya Wenman Steel, authors of the cookbook “Real Food for Happy Kids,” show TODAY hosts how to get your kids to eat healthier meals.

Does Your VItamin Company Follow These Safe Practices?

Make sure your supplement comes from a company with the highest quality standards!

How Do You Get Your Kids to Eat Their Veggies?

By Sean Kelley

Despite our son’s rather challenging food allergies, my wife and I have had it easy as parents. In the four-plus years since our daughter’s birth, we’ve been to the emergency room just once. There have been no scary choking moments, no broken bones, no serious bouts with the flu.

Both our kids sleep through the night and take naps (they’ve even been known to request them). And they eat their veggies—or at least they did until recently. Four-year-old Elise, who would eat peas, corn, green beans, and carrots as a toddler, began putting up resistance around age 3. She now eats only green beans and refuses to try anything new. Read More

Most Astonishing Health Disaster of the 20th Century

For over 100 years conventional medicine has seized control of the US health care system and as a result we have over 800,000 people who are killed by interacting with this system. It is likely that over 50 million Americans have died prematurely from this abuse.

Watch: Blind Faith in Medicine...
So get always at least a second opinion and asking questions...

When We’re All Fat, What Does the Ranking Matter?

By Sean Kelley

Whenever a list comes out that ranks my state close to the bottom for something good (or close to the top for something bad), we Alabamans like to look west and say, “Thank God for Mississippi.” The Magnolia state tends to be one or two slots below us on everything from education rankings to per capita earnings. And last week they surpassed us in obesity.

The Centers for Disease Control reported July 17 that three southern states had rates of obesity greater than 30%. By merely a point or two, Mississippi was chunkier than Alabama and Tennessee. Thank God for Mississippi. It’s held the top spot in the CDC’s ranking (based on telephone surveys of 350,000 Americans) since 2004. Read More

Food-Allergy Challenge: Putting Comfort Food Back on the Menu

By Sean Kelley

There is nothing like sharing comfort food with family, especially children. In our house, the two staples of comfort—peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and mac ‘n’ cheese—have taken a beating since our son Graeme’s food allergies were diagnosed.

PB&J seems completely beyond our reach (since Graeme is violently allergic to peanuts), but we’ve been working on the latter. A reader of this blog suggested we try Amy’s Rice Mac & Cheese (which doesn’t contain any ingredients that Graeme is allergic to), but I was skeptical. First, we had already tried using rice pasta, but it was not popular with Graeme (some is still stuck to the ceiling near his eating area, where he launched it in protest), and it was not popular with me, either (I resisted throwing it, but I thought about it!). Read More

Don't Take a Vacation From Healthy Eating

(HealthDay News) -- Even though it's summertime, children shouldn't be allowed to take a vacation from healthy eating habits, advises Dr. Sarah Armstrong, a pediatrician at Duke University Medical Center.

"Routines go haywire, and with nothing to do after a few days in the pool, kids head straight for the refrigerator or snack bar, because they think they're hungry, when they're actually just bored," Armstrong said in a university news release.

Add in things like regular servings of ice cream to beat the heat, hot dogs at the ball park, and funnel cake at the fair, and you have a summer-long binge of bad eating that can lead to weight gain.

Armstrong offered parents a number of ways to prevent their children from packing on excess pounds this summer.

Make sure kids get enough sleep. Research shows that late nights and sleeping in are known risk factors for weight gain. "When kids stay up late, they are more likely to watch TV and snack on dense, low-nutrient foods," Armstrong said.

In addition, a shorter night's sleep limits the body's production of leptin, a hormone that promotes satiety. Lower levels of leptin mean children wake up feeling more hungry and are quicker to grab high-carbohydrate, calorie-rich foods.

When children wake up, encourage them to eat healthy breakfasts that include things such as fruit smoothies, high fiber cereal or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on whole wheat bread.

Take a holiday from fast foods. Instead of going to a burger joint, pack a picnic with healthy foods such as turkey sandwiches and salads and go to the park or beach. Armstrong said it's important to "incorporate protein in every meal. It releases relases insulin at a slower rate, and that keeps your blood sugars -- and your energy level -- constant throughout the day."

Parents should check out the menu at their child's summer camp. If the meals and snacks aren't acceptable, pack your child a healthy lunch that includes things such as lean lunch meats, raw vegetables and whole wheat crackers.

During the summer, parents also need to limit their children's consumption of sweets and make sure kids are active.

More information
The Nemours Foundation has more about children and healthy eating.

Balancing Your Hormones Without Drugs... You Can Feel Good Again $19.95 [ learn more ] Hormone imbalance can be reversed! Look and feel better than ever, just take the time to learn about yourself and read the information contained in this just released e-book about reversing hormone imbalance. Are you ready to finally look and feel great? If so... read on... - E-Book Version.(BH)

Day-Care Dilemma: Keeping Our Allergic Son Safe

By Sean Kelley

For a toddler, my son is gaining an unusual amount of notoriety. There’s already a sort of “Wanted” poster of him at the local YMCA, where he drops by a few times a week. And it’s not because he’s prone to biting when hungry or tired. The nursery signs (there are three of them): “Only give Graeme Kelley the snack or food or drinks from his bag. He has allergic [sic] reactions to certain foods. Thank you.”
Graeme’s Y visits constitute the only time his child-care needs are out of our control. The rest of the time he is with one of his grandmothers or my wife and me.
Like many parents, we were obsessive in our selection of caregivers for Graeme’s older sister. And when we found out Graeme had severe allergies—both food and environmental—our obsession turned to paranoia. First, we drilled his grandmothers with a short list of don’ts: Don’t give him anything with peanuts, corn, soy, wheat, eggs, or chicken. Don’t let him near any cats. Read More

All This Talk of Diabetes Mortality Is a Downer

By Sean Kelley

Last week I went to San Francisco for the American Diabetes Association’s Scientific Sessions, a huge annual gathering of endocrinologists, scientists, nurse educators, and pharmaceutical companies. The latest research on type 1 and type 2 diabetes was delivered, theories discussed, and news announced.

There was much discussion of uncomfortable subjects: neuropathy, nephropathy ,cardivascular disease, hypoglycemia , death. While not fatal itself, diabetes has lots of excellent ways to kill you through related conditions: stroke, heart disease, and kidney failure spring immediately to mind. Read More

Diabetic Dilemma: Dinner With an Endocrinologist

By Sean Kelley

When I was diagnosed with diabetes, I learned to avoid dining with two types of health professionals: nurses who specialize in diabetes and nutritionists. Both could quickly become food cops.

The best examples of this were my mother and the woman who is now my wife. Having had plenty of experience nursing diabetics, they quoted low carb verse and scripture every time we dined. Over the years they have all but muted their comments, and I rarely object to their company at the dinner table. Read More

Meltdown on Aisle 6: Finding Processed Food for Our Allergic Son

By Sean Kelley

On my first trip to the grocery store after my son, Graeme, was diagnosed with food allergies, I did something I’ve never done in a food store before: I cried.

I’m usually happiest around food, but it was a moment of rare negative emotion, and my breakdown happened in front of God, my 4-year-old daughter, Elise, and the boy who was stocking aisle six.

I had been reading my way through the store, checking every item before tossing it in the basket for foods that are now verboten in my house: peanuts, corn, wheat, soy, egg whites, and chicken. I knew I had to avoid those, but it was finding the derivatives of them in almost every product that was sending me into a state of panic and sadness. Read More

Health Magazine Ranks the Healthiest Convenience Foods

By Ross Weale

The holy grail of healthy eating is a meal or snack that is tasty, easy to prepare, and good for you. As part of Health magazine’s crusade to find America’s healthiest products and places, our staff and team of experts tested more than 500 new foods found at your local grocer.
Health senior food and nutrition editor Frances Largeman-Roth went on NBC’s Weekend Today on May 31 to talk with Amy Robach about four foods that made the cut.




Read More

Turning My Black Thumb Against Diabetes

Year 2 in my quest to use my organic garden as a tool for better health
by Sean Kelley When my wife and I bought our farm eight years ago, it seemed out of place for us. Despite growing up in rural Alabama, I know more about Gianni Versace than John Deere. Patti owns horses, but having livestock (or 1,200-pound lawn ornaments) does not make you a farmer. Neither does owning a farm.

In fact, most of the growth on our farm in recent years is due more to neglect than intervention on our part. Nature is reclaiming our eight-acre plot.

If owning a farm is out of character, gardening is anathema. Not only do I associate digging in the earth with constant adolescent battles with my father (whose idea of a father-son activity was often limited to early morning turns with a spade and hoe), but I have inherited my mother's black thumb.

(She once killed an entire household of Christmas cacti by feeding them what she thought was plant food, but was—in fact—bleach; I swear I heard plants screaming.)

Against these natures, I tilled up soil on the property last year to plant an organic garden. I had two goals: Make the farm work for us for a change and get more fresh vegetables into our diet. It wasn't a complete disaster, but our harvest of heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuces, and herbs was modest.

Now I'm back at it with renewed purpose. I'm still trying to stick to organic farming principles, but my primary goal is exercise. At the same time, that exercise will (hopefully) produce healthy fare for our table that's in line with my diabetic diet. The strategy has lots of benefits:

• A garden requires constant attention, meaning more exercises. Gardening can burn 300 calories an hour;
• Eating fruits and vegetables lowers diabetes risks and helps you lose weight
• A 2007 study by Saint Louis University found children eat more fruits and veggies when they're home grown—something we proved with our daughter (pictured with me above) last summer when she began to actually eat things we grew that she wouldn't eat from a store.

Monday night I put in 20 tomato bushes, a variety of peppers, leeks, basil, and eggplant. Trailing clumps of soil back into the house, I thought about all the energy I expended fighting the tiller, breaking up clay, and clomping around the property. I still hate digging in the dirt, but the benefits I can harvest for my health have potential that may turn my black thumb green.

How I'm Battling Supermarket Sticker Shock

A health-conscious eater learns to trim the fat from her budget
by Julie Upton, RD

I don't believe in skimping on good food, but my supermarket bill yesterday has forced me to confront my inner cheapskate.

My weekly shopping bill is usually just over $130, with a few odds and ends picked up midweek and the occasional meal out. This week, however, the tab was almost $165—a 27% increase. I rechecked to see if we had bought something pricey like steak or wine. No and no. The escalation of food costs has made news virtually daily, and according to the Consumer Price Index, food costs have increased more in the first quarter of 2008 than they have since 1990—and there's no sign of them heading south anytime soon.

Some of my big-ticket items were cage-free eggs ($5), organic milk ($3.50), imported cheese ($4.50), artisan seven-grain bread ($5.50), and New Zealand apples ($6). And I don't want to give most of them up.

So I researched some ways of putting my grocery shopping on a diet without ruining my healthy diet. I refuse to either spend Sundays clipping coupons or head to big-box retailers, where you can easily save 30% or more on food items, so here is what I'm doing to trim some of the fat from my weekly shopping budget.

Make a List
According food marketing specialist Phil Lempert: "Surveys of supermarketguru.com readers show that list makers spend 40% less when grocery shopping." Now I hope I can stick to only what's on the list.

Brown Bag It
Unlike my mother, who loves to cook and prefers cooking to eating out, I am not much of a cook. However, the best way to s-t-r-e-t-c-h my food budget is to eat in more often. My takeout lunch is around $10, but I can make a sandwich or have soup and salad at home for around $2.

Shop Full
I'm usually pretty disciplined when I go food shopping, but when I'm hungry I wind up with a cart filled with foods that curb my carb cravings: snack bars, pretzels, and more crackers than I know what do to with. These convenience foods are among the most expensive in the supermarket and add little nutritional value to my diet. So next time I go shopping, I'll avoid temptation and go on a full stomach.

Eating Green to Save Green
I'm going to stick to my vegetarian ways even more so now, because the foods that cost the most per serving are high-quality proteins (aka beef, poultry, and seafood). Consider this: Salmon costs about $.62/ounce and beans cost .$04/ounce, making the salmon 15 times more expensive than the beans. And, when I do eat meat, I'll make it go further financially by adding in a lot more vegetables to the dish.

Head to the Farmer's Market
I'm going to try to kick my daily New Zealand apple and South American banana habit. Living in California means that I have great locally grown berries available right now, as well as plenty of veggies. Eating in season can save you $2/pound on many fruits and vegetables. Right now, I can get fresh California-grown strawberries for less than $1/pound, whereas imported blueberries from Chile were $20/pound at the supermarket! Since berries deliver similar nutritional benefits, I'll take the strawberries, thank you.

Compare Prices
Using the unit pricing system (shelf tags), I can do my own price checks on comparable items to see which offers the best deal. Unit pricing provides the price per standard unit, often one ounce. For example, I found Tropicana orange juice costs $.09/ounce but the exotic pomegranate-blueberry juice next to it was .25/ounce—more than twice the price. In the cereal aisle, most big brands were around $.30/ounce but store brands were about $.15/ounce, or half the price.

Let me know if you're feeling my pain in the pocketbook, too—and what you're doing to save some green when shopping.