All posts filed under: Links and References

Vaccine Prep: Protect your child BEFORE vaccinations.

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This very excellent article was posted earlier this month on Dr. Kara Fitzgerald’s blog, who is a Functional Medicine Provider I follow as I believe she researches things very well and this one is particularly timely. In Wisconsin, we are facing an epidemic of measles — and we aren’t alone. Measles Cases in 2019. From January 1 to May 24, 2019, 940** individual cases of measles have been confirmed in 26 states. This is an increase of 60 cases from the previous week. This is the greatest number of cases reported in the U.S. since 1994 and since measles was declared eliminated in 2000. CDC/Cases and Outbreaks, updated quarterly As a health coach, I tell clients that I believe the answer to whether to vaccinate, like ANY medical and drug intervention is individual and should be made by the physician and the patient, or in this case the parents. But Dr. Fitzgerald’s staff member Romilly Hodges goes a step further: she makes an excellent case for things we SHOULD be doing to PREPARE our children …

Why you should know your reverse T3

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Read this and ensure your thyroid function get evaluated properly.

Boost Your Metabolism

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Mark Hyman posted this great list on his blog this week.  If you follow these 7 simple rules, losing weight and/or having more energy is much easier!  I especially like #4.  Read it, and avoid putting your body into starvation mode, where it “hangs on” to fat.  You have to EAT to get THIN! Eat plenty of healthy fats. Healthy fats like avocados, nuts and seeds, along with wild, fatty fish are your mitochondria’s preferred fuel. My favorite “gasoline” for your mitochondria is medium-chain triglycerides or MCT oil, which is found in coconut oil. Go for color. While nutritionists often disagree, one thing nearly everyone concurs with is that we need to eat plenty of fresh vegetables and other plant foods. Colorful, antioxidant-rich plant foods become essential for healthy mitochondria and reducing oxidative stress. (I’ll add eat organic as much as possible…) Avoid sugar and flour. High-glycemic, high-carb foods put tremendous stress on your mitochondria. In fact, quick absorbed carbs are the biggest driver that damages your entire system.  This is what drives triglycerides and …

Grass Fed Beef ONLY

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Updated Nov. 1, 2015 Changing your shopping habits to purchasing grass fed beef only is probably one of the best things you can do for your family’s health. I’ve updated this post with some new research and tables to make my point.  We live in a culture where beef, chickens and pork are all fed grain, and (especially for beef) grain is not their natural diet.  So, why spend the money on grass fed beef?  Simple.  All the research we were taught about red meat causing heart disease and cancer was based on evaluating data of people in US eating corn fed beef.  But, when you look at populations who ONLY eat grass fed beef, they don’t have the same issues with heart disease.  Even butter, long thought to be “evil” is actually pretty healthy if you buy “pasture” butter a.k.a. grass fed butter.  So, if you are not vegetarian, you CAN enjoy a steak or hamburger and not feel guilty!  Want to see more research?  Click on links at bottom of this article. Why …

Pan Perfect

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Cooking and being organic is great, but it doesn’t do you a lot of good if you’re using a non-stick pan that causes carcinogenic or toxic substances to deposit on your food.  When I went to Food As Medicine, (an amazing medical conference about cutting edge nutrition research and how food can heal us), we got some great advice from their resident chefs, including basic skillets to purchase for your kitchen. The list is pictured at the bottom of this post.  But I will also add my 22 cents about other pots you should consider.  Here they are, in order of importance: A heavy but reasonably priced Cast Iron Skillet — They are honestly the BEST thing you can do for yourself.  They never warp, and the one we bought in 1975 at a garage sale we still have and use! I’ve gifted all my kids and their friends getting married with them.  You can find them online, they are not expensive, and the brands they have below (Lodge) are what we own. All-Clad or other …

Our food has become toxic.

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This picture speaks volumes.  I’ve already talked about why soda, (diet OR regular) is bad for you, but there’s so much more to say.  Sugar is buried in everything.  And it’s killing us.  86 million people in the US have pre-diabetes, and NINE OUT OF TEN don’t know they have it!  15-30% of them will develop full blown Type 2 Diabetes within 10 years.  Economically speaking, the cost of diabetes alone is $245 BILLION dollars a year.  Think of what we could do with 245 billion. (And two years ago, it was 174 Billion…  this trajectory is going to bankrupt us more than any other cost.)  So many of these people could reverse their pre/Type 2 diabetes simply by eating whole foods.  (see my post on this, you CAN reverse Type 2 Diabetes!) Here’s where a lot of people are at:  you are a bit overweight, but your doctor hasn’t told you you you’re sick.  But, you probably are.  Maybe you’re on a statin, you blood sugar is around 100 — or maybe you aren’t …

A calorie is not just a calorie…

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Scientific research concludes there are real health benefits to low Glycemic Index/Load (GI/GL) diets.  After reviewing all the latest research on glycemic index, glycemic load and glycemic response, an international committee of leading nutrition scientists have released a Scientific Consensus Statement that concludes that carbohydrate quality (Glycemic Index = GI) matters and that the carbohydrates present in different foods affect post-meal blood glucose (sugar) differently, with important health implications.  A calorie isn’t just a calorie.  They also confirmed that there is convincing evidence from a large body of research that low GI/GL diets reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease, help control blood glucose in people with diabetes, and may also help with weight management. They recommend including GI and GL in national dietary guidelines and food composition tables, and that packaging labels and symbols on low-GI foods should be considered. They also confirmed low GI measurements complement other ways of characterising carbohydrate foods (such as fiber and whole grain content), and should be considered in the context of an overall …