Restoring Healthy Through Nutrition

I have spent a fair share of my life gulping down giant vitamin pills and chewable vitamin C tabs in an attempt to micro-manage my health and prevent communicable illness.  When my children were young, they were also subject to my "pushing" of chewable vitamins in fun shapes and colors.  Even until just recently (this morning) I thought that I needed to take vitamin B-12 from a safe and trustworthy supplier.  Everything I have read and studied about the vegan diet has pointed me in the direction of supplementing B-12 as it is presumed to be absent in plant-based foods.   Here is a good article regarding B-12,  B12 Breakthrough - Missing Nutrient Found in Plants by T. Colin Campbell, PhD ,  Dr. Campbell states in the following excerpt: 1. Contrary to the most recent U.S. Dietary Guidelines, B12 can be found in plants. 2. Organically grown plants contain higher levels of B12 than plants grown non-organically with chemical fertilizers. 3. Plant roots are ...

Dr. Pam Popper's news post for today is a good one!  Adults, parents and school staff are "feeding" the childhood obesity problem.  As parents, we are challenged by our kids when we make dietary changes meant to benefit the health of the entire family.  I won't try to say anymore, here.  Just watch Dr. Pam's 9 minute video and hear for yourself how adults can perpetuation the growing obesity epidemic among children in America.  Dr. Pam Popper: Kids are Unhealthy and Parents and Educators are Part of the Problem My husband and I laughed at her final point, "Children don't need tall friends.  They need parents to tell them what to do and when to do it!"  It is funny - but very TRUE!   Imagine the life-long difference that you could make in your kids lives and the lives of those who come into your home and eat with you.  By preparing healthy, simple and nourishing meals, you could help someone else decide to take their current and futu...

Have you ever considered that some foods, touted as being healthy "diet food", could be the cause of a vicious addictive cycle that makes you overeat, feel fatigue between meals and cause you to  gain  weight?  Many processed foods are labeled as "low in fat and calories" or packaged in tiny little portions so that a person can only eat 100 calories of that item.  When the package is eaten, or the serving size is consumed, only a short time passes before your tummy is growling or you experience a gnawing hunger pain that can't be relieved.  If that is your problem, there is good reason for it and there is a way to eliminate the viscous cycle of hunger, small portions and starvation.  It is possible to eat unlimited quantities of nutritious food and lose weight - no more calories to count! A person can eat more food by volume (which is lower in calories than the standard 2000 calorie American diet) by eating mostly unprocessed vegetables, beans, whole grains...

The foods that a pregnant mom consumes significantly influences the long term health of her child.  In fact, studies have shown great benefit to the child's life long health when the mother's diet has been nutritionally stable for at least 2 years prior to pregnancy.      Eating a high sugar diet can influence the developing baby to lay down more fat cells in order to accommodate the elevated insulin in mother's blood.  This determines the baby's number of fat storage cells for his or her lifetime.    Consumption of dairy, animal and high fat foods can leave gaps in the nutrition which is needed for the baby's development.   Low consumption of vegetables and fruits prior to and during pregnancy has been linked to the most common childhood form of leukemia (ALL).   Leafy green vegetables , essential to everyone's diet, are of particular importance to pregnant and nursing women in order to provide support to the baby's immune system. Eating ...

Lentils are mild in flavor, protein rich, high fiber, filling and easy to digest.  For those who have trouble digesting beans, lentils are the best choice within the bean family. We enjoyed a visit with "soon-to-be" family members over the weekend.  It was refreshing to be able to eat someone else's cooking and know that it was whole food and plant based to accommodate our dietary changes.  Some new recipes were put together for us and I now have a new menu item for our rotation of meals at home.  This lentil soup recipe, from www.allrecipes.com , has become a new favorite soup.    http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Lentil-Soup/Detail.asp The hostess who made the soup for us made a couple of additions that tweaked this recipe with fantastic flavor.  She added one teaspoon of ground cumin and the juice of one lemon . FANTASTIC! Insulin like growth factor One great health benefit from eating beans comes from the bean's ability to lower the insulin like growth ...

They look like hamburger patties but they are meatless.  Made with simple ingredients, these "burgers" can make a filling meal in just 30 minutes.  Serve them up with a bun or on a bed of lettuce.  Add some sliced tomato, black olives, avocado, sweet onion, pickle, ketchup and mustard and you have a very affordable meal.  The best part is that these "burgers" contain zero artery clogging animal fat.   The recipe comes from the Amazing Discoveries website.  There is a link below  that gives the recipe as well as a video to demonstrate how these burgers are made.  (I omit the nutritional yeast in this recipe.)  http://amazinghealth.com/oat-burgers No Nutritional Yeast! I have stopped using nutritional yeast as well as Bragg's Liquid Aminos as these two flavorings have been the culprit of my brief episode (two weeks) of heartburn.  Nutritional yeast is naturally high in free glutamic acid - like MSG - which triggers heartburn for me.  ...

My husband and I have recently started a love affair with dates - particularly Medjool dates.  These delightful dried fruits have become one of our favorite daily snacks.  They are soft, slightly chewy and very sweet, making us feel as though we have eaten something like candy (caramel candy).  However, dates have much more to offer than a piece of candy could ever provide in the  nutritional  realm.  Dates provide a source of potassium, manganese, magnesium, vitamin B-6 and fiber.   Potassium  There are many benefits to increasing your potassium intake.  Just 4 dates a day can provide enough potassium to aid the kidneys in eliminating sodium, reducing blood pressure and reducing the risk of stroke by 40%.  Potassium is also essential for nerve and muscle cell action throughout the body. Because p otassium is an electrolyte, it functions to conduct the electrical impulses that make muscles work - including the heart!   An inadequat...