Posts Tagged ‘getting healthy’
Sunday, October 10th, 2010
Dr. Neal Barnard Shares a Winning Weight Loss Strategy
The range of delicious, healthy foods to enjoy while losing weight is motivating. Try all these whole foods and many more.
Dr. Neal Barnard, President of Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), noticed his conversations on airplanes have taken a new direction recently. In the days when airlines routinely served meals, he would get his vegetarian choice before the other dinners were brought out. When other passengers found out he was vegetarian, they questioned his health and motives. Not eating meat was a strange concept to them.
Now, when he tells fellow passengers – or just about anyone else – that he is vegan, people respond (more…)
Tags: Dr. Neal Barnard, getting healthy, Janice Stanger, lose weight, PCRM, Plant-based nutrition, Power Plate, weight loss, whole foods
Posted in Plant-based nutrition | 1 Comment »
Sunday, October 3rd, 2010
Nutrition and Health Thrive with An Apple a Day
Apples are beautiful, healthy, filling, and yummy. The US Apple Association proudly shows off its product.
So many nutrition myths are untrue, even downright harmful. Yet the saying “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” has important clues to staying healthy and thin. This popular fruit earns its place as a health symbol. When you understand why, you have the information to maximize the benefits to you.
All whole plant foods are rich in beneficial, nutritionally active substances called phytochemicals. Plants make up to 100,000 kinds of these substances to protect themselves from insects, infections, the strong energy in sunlight, and other threats.
Phytochemicals include the substances that determine the appealing colors, delightful aromas, and delicious flavors of whole plant foods. In apples, over 250 kinds of phytochemicals determine the fragrance alone. Vitamins are not the same thing as phytochemicals. While apples are a good source of vitamin C, in whole apples this vitamin accounts for only .4% of the fruit’s antioxidant activity. The vast majority of the health-promoting effects are from phytochemicals.
These protective substances are densest in the skin of the apple. This makes sense when you remember (more…)
Tags: apples, getting healthy, Janice Stanger, lose weight, nutrition facts, phytochemicals, Plant-based nutrition, weight loss, whole foods
Posted in Plant-based nutrition | Comments Off on Why Apples Really Are Your Best Medicine
Saturday, September 18th, 2010
Judi Menzel Revels in a Pain-Free Life
After 22 years of arthritis torment, Judi Menzel now enjoys her active life free of pain and medication
The excruciating pain of severe arthritis dominated Judi Menzel’s life. Her suffering began in 1985, when she was in a sedentary, mega-stress job managing millions of dollars held in trust for her clients. At first, Judi treated the emerging pain in her hips and hands with over-the-counter drugs such as ibuprofen.
The torment migrated to her lower back and her doctors began prescribing stronger and stronger drugs, until she was up to using potentially addictive oxycodone. Still, the pain refused to leave, and continued to imprison her activities. Judi notes “I couldn’t sit without pain in my hip joints. I couldn’t write without pain in my finger joints and working on the computer was the worst.”
The turning point in Judi’s health came in 2007, after 22 years of arthritis agony. Her physical therapist at her HMO suggested she stop eating dairy products, read The China Study by T. Colin Campbell, and try eating only plant foods one day a week.
Ready to try anything to mitigate the pain, Judi checked herself into a vegan holistic health center in San Diego area for two weeks of detox from (more…)
Tags: arthritis, getting healthy, Janice Stanger, Judi Menzel, lose weight, Plant-based nutrition, reverse chronic disease, vegetables, weight loss, whole foods
Posted in Plant-based nutrition | 2 Comments »
Saturday, September 11th, 2010
Where Does All That Great Organic Food Come From?
The Organically Grown warehouse was filled with thousands of pounds of gorgeous organic food
Natural food stores, co-ops, and even supermarkets and many restaurants overflow with organic produce. These extraordinary whole foods, including fruits, vegetables, potatoes, beans, whole grains, herbs, spices, nuts, and seeds, make eating a healthy pleasure. Farmers grow organic foods using the power of nature, not toxic herbicides and pesticides, petroleum-based fertilizers, genetic engineering, or chemical processes.
The abundance of organic food masks all the risk and effort necessary to bring these nourishing choices to market. Until I visited Organically Grown Company, the Pacific Northwest’s largest wholesaler of organic produce, I never wondered “where does all that great organic food come from?” Yet this is a (more…)
Tags: co-op, Eugene, food wholesaler, getting healthy, Janice Stanger, Oregon, organic food, Organically Grown, Plant-based nutrition, Tom Lively, vegetables, whole foods
Posted in Health | Comments Off on Organic Fruits and Veggies Take Over the World
Sunday, September 5th, 2010
Eating for Health with Your Eyes
At 177 foot South Falls, the highest waterfall in Silver Falls State Park, water pounds into a large pool with bone-crushing force and majestic beauty
Oregon’s Silver Falls State Park is a study in green. The forest is thick and welcoming. The sound of water shouts at the park’s ten waterfalls and sings along the steams connecting them. You can smell and feel the freshness in the air, and it’s not because of any canned scent. An amazing hiking trail, with breath-taking scenery at every step, loops around the waterfalls.
Can you feel better simply looking at plants? Thousand of studies show that plant-based nutrition is the healthiest way to eat. But what about just spending time in green spaces, which are open, undeveloped stretches of land with tress and other vegetation? Silver Falls State Park is an excellent example of a green space.
Researchers have found that merely being out in nature, even without exercising, (more…)
Tags: deforestation, environmental degradation, getting healthy, Green spaces, Janice Stanger, Silver Falls State Park, waterfalls, whole foods
Posted in Green spaces | Comments Off on Green Spaces Aren’t Optional
Saturday, August 28th, 2010
Discover the Excitement in Nutrition
Nutrition can be this exciting when you discover how many myths you have been saddled with and how much the truth will change your life
Nutrition’s dull reputation may keep you from delving into one of the most exciting topics you could study. Part of nutrition’s mundane image likely springs from high school classes that indoctrinated you on the standard disease-causing diet while at the same time putting you to sleep.
I still remember my last high school nutrition class. The lesson plan was based on the same four “food groups” I had memorized in elementary school: meat, dairy, vegetables and fruits (combined), and grains (whole vs. refined never mentioned). The instructor was our gym teacher. I had no clue about why this diet was supposed to be good, only that it was what everyone ate. The main concern was about “getting enough protein.” Sound familiar?
From the ages of 16 through 43, I avoided the topic of nutrition whenever I could. This did not mean I regarded food as humdrum. In fact, food was one of my favorite obsessions. Not surprisingly, I was (more…)
Tags: getting healthy, Janice Stanger, lose weight, making a difference now, nutrition facts, Plant-based nutrition, weight loss, whole foods
Posted in Plant-based nutrition | Comments Off on Nutrition and Health: Dull No More
Friday, August 20th, 2010
Barbara Cole Gates Puts the “Healthy” Into School Lunches with Faith, Patience, and Gumption
Lean and Green Kids is impacting the lives of kids now, which means a healthier adulthood later
Barbara Cole Gates is a mom on a mission – to teach kids that “nuts and beans are powerful proteins.” This mission launched when her two children were very young. Barb was a daycare provider. She served the youngsters in her care plant-based meals and snacks. “All the kids loved my food, including the beans” she observed. “Kids just need the opportunity to experience them with a positive perspective.”
Now, as the founder and director of the nonprofit Lean and Green Kids, she is reaching a broader (and older) audience, which includes students, educators, school food service providers, and food policy makers.
Her nonprofit is impacting the choices children have in school cafeterias and the way teachers teach nutrition education. In Oceanside, CA for example, elementary school students benefited from “Lean and Green Mondays,” with healthy plant-based choices.
At the 2009 CA School Wellness Conference, Barbara realized something was missing (more…)
Tags: Barbara Cole Gates, getting healthy, Janice Stanger, Lean and Green Kids, making a difference now, National School Lunch Program, Plant-based nutrition, school lunches, whole foods
Posted in Plant-based nutrition | Comments Off on Getting Kids Lean and Green
Saturday, August 14th, 2010
Animals Are Nutrient Consumers
Plants are amazing nutrient factories. Consider how complex a tree is, with its functioning roots, trunk, branches, leaves, and flowers - all powered by sunlight.
Plants are the base of earth’s food chain, using solar energy to fuel nutrient manufacture. These green factories effortlessly put together the complex carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, and phytochemicals that animals need to survive and thrive. Plants also absorb minerals from the soil to weave into their own cells.
Animals who eat plants reap the benefits of these nutrients, needed for their own lives. With the exception of vitamin D, which forms in skin when sunlight hits it, animals cannot make the raw materials essential for their survival.
When you eat animal foods, you are consuming highly degraded remnants of (more…)
Tags: carotenoids, getting healthy, Janice Stanger, nutrition facts, Plant-based nutrition, vegetables, vitamin A, whole foods
Posted in Plant-based nutrition | Comments Off on Plants Are Nutrient Factories
Wednesday, July 28th, 2010
The American Heart Association Analyzes Which Lifestyle Programs Work
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) causes over one third of deaths in the US, killing an American every 37 seconds. Want to live an extra seven years? That would be the average increase in life expectancy if CVD was totally vanquished.
The American Heart Association wants physicians to be able to recognize and recommend effective ways to lose weight and exercise more.
To combat CVD, the American Heart Association (AHA) put dozens of researchers to work reviewing hundreds of studies on lifestyle change programs. The goal of this project was to identify the interventions that help people exercise more, lose weight, and eat healthier. The AHA summarized their findings in a 37 page scientific statement published July 12, 2010.
The AHA reinforced the role of activity, weight, and eating in preventing CVD. Their statement points out that black and Hispanic immigrants are initially at lower risk for this condition than US-born citizens in the same ethnic groups. However, as the immigrants adopt an American diet and sedentary lifestyle, CVD becomes a harsh reality for them. Since cardiovascular disease is so closely related to lifestyle and obesity, better habits could help prevent illness and death for everyone.
The AHA statement distilled ten strategies that can effectively change the way people think, act, and (more…)
Tags: American Heart Association, cardiovascular disease, getting healthy, goal setting, Janice Stanger, lose weight, Plant-based nutrition, process of change, vegetables, weight loss, whole foods
Posted in weight loss | Comments Off on Ten Strategies To Diet and Exercise Success
Wednesday, July 21st, 2010
Krista Watts Trades In Her Cat Allergies and Inhalers for Veggie Sandwiches
Krista and her wonderfully supportive husband Jeff are the picture of health and happiness
For nine years, Krista Watts needed to use an inhaler several times a day just to breathe. Her asthma overshadowed her life. Exercising was difficult, often leading to wheezing and a flushed face.
Krista’s asthma ordeal began after she adopted two cats. Tests led to the conclusion she was allergic to her new furry family. Unwilling to give up her much-loved pets, she resigned herself to living with a condition that was unpleasant at best, and life-threatening if it got out of hand.
For the last two and half years, though, Krista has not used her inhaler – not even once. She still has her cats, and plays with and pets them every day. Now age 38, she is amazed at her vigorous health and plummeting (more…)
Tags: asthma, cat allergy, getting healthy, Janice Stanger, Krista Watts, making a difference now, Plant-based nutrition, reverse chronic disease, vegetables, whole foods
Posted in Health | 1 Comment »
