Total Health Breakthroughs: Alternative Solutions for Mind, Body, and Spirit

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could go to the store and know exactly which foods are healthy for you and which aren’t? That’s the idea behind recent “stamps of nutrition approval” you’ve seen popping up all over food packages lately. For instance, the Best Life Diet has a symbol they place on a number of foods they have approved. Food manufacturers have also been making their own “good nutrition choice” type stamps.

In an effort to circumvent the confusion that has arisen from this plethora of symbols, an organization called the Keystone Center has brought together a veritable Who’s Who of food manufacturers (General Mills, Coca-Cola, ConAgra Foods, Kellogg, Kraft, Pepsico, Unilever, and Wal-Mart to name a few) to work with a panel of food and nutrition experts and government agencies to create a new food labeling program called Smart Choices. Foods would carry a “single trusted symbol” representing healthy food choices at the grocery store.¹

There are some positives to the Smart Choices program. For instance, on packaged and processed foods, the label will require calories per serving to be listed on the front of the package along with the number of servings in the package. That’s a good start, but in reality, the idea is better than the actual implementation, for a number of reasons.

Did it ever occur to you that the reason you can’t lose weight may be due to the fact that you are eating foods that you’re allergic to? This is a revelation to many people who have struggled unsuccessfully for years to get rid of unwanted pounds.

The prevalence of food allergies is on the rise in both children and adults.^1-2 Allergies can be responsible for a number of health issues including irritable bowel type symptoms³ and migraines.⁴ Very few people are aware however, that immune responses to foods can go on to create a number of metabolic disruptions that can contribute to weight gain.

At LMI where we counsel people to lose weight using our Metabolic Code Diet (MCD) eating program, we see this all the time. We had one patient in our diet group who had tried a very low carb diet in the past, and lost no weight. The reason? She was sensitive to dairy and didn’t know it. On her previous diet, she was eating a lot of cheese. On the MCD, which is a lower carb, low allergen eating plan, she cut out the cow’s milk cheeses and dairy products, ate according to our meal recommendations, and the weight started coming off.

Whether you need to de-stress from too much holiday partying, or simply want to kick off the New Year right, these 13 healthy nutrition tips are a great way to start.

Raise your champagne flute, and clink, Cheers! It is the time of year to celebrate, and most likely your holiday festivities will include alcohol. The holidays are the time for gaiety and celebration. So enjoy!

However, once the holidays are over and we are all settling back into our routine, it’s important to remember — when it comes to alcohol, moderation is the key.

Oh no! That’s the feeling of dread we all get when we first see those unmistakable signs of a cold — runny nose, a scratchy sore throat and a horse cough. We all hope each year to be able to avoid catching colds. With more than 200 viruses that can cause the common cold, you want to think about preventative measures ahead of time and know the action steps to take at the first signs and symptoms of a cold.

Thanksgiving is right around the corner, so let’s talk turkey. Most people already know that turkey is an excellent source of protein, but did you also know that turkey is a good source of cancer-preventive selenium?¹ Selenium is an essential component of several major metabolic pathways, including thyroid hormone metabolism, antioxidant defense systems and immune function.

Bio-engineers have created a purple tomato that has the food community buzzing. By inserting genes from a purple snapdragon flower into the tomatoes, they grow with a deep purple hue. The purple pigment is rich in powerful anti-inflammatory antioxidants known as anthocyanins. Anthocyanins from other foods that contain them naturally have been shown to slow the growth of colon cancer cells, protect against cardiovascular disease, boost eyesight, and stave off obesity and diabetes.

The development of the new tomato was announced in the October 2008 issue of Nature Biotechnology Journal, along with a pilot study in which the genetically modified purple tomatoes were fed as a powder in the diets of tumor-growing mice.

What’s neither plant nor animal, but still one of the healthiest foods in the world? Give up?… It’s kelp — the marine “vegetable” with over 70 essential nutrients plus fiber, protein, and lignans — a phytochemical being studied for it’s anti-cancer properties.

Kelp is seaweed, algae really, that’s found in both salt and fresh water. It’s rich in all of the vital minerals like magnesium, potassium calcium, and iron found in sea water — and needed by the human body. Kelp is also nature’s best source of iodine, the essential chemical your thyroid must have for healthy functioning.

If you have read any breast cancer prevention articles over the last month, you probably saw several articles on making sure your diet includes plenty of omega-3 fats as well as high antioxidant-containing foods like berries, colorful vegetables, beans/legumes, and green tea — all to help your body keep damage from free radicals to a minimum. This is all good advice, but it does not adequately address the other side of the equation — avoiding foods that promote inflammation in the body.

After years of research and experiments, the arrival of a new herbal lollipop that actually kills the bacteria that causes cavities, was announced in early 2008. The idea behind the lollipop is due to the dedication of UCLA microbiologist Wenyuan Shi, who tested 2000 Chinese herbs to find the one that kills the bad bacteria found in the mouth.¹

Of the 700 kinds of bacteria in the mouth, there are a dozen that cause cavities.