Hope it’s a good holiday, remembering those who have served our country and sacrificed their lives for our freedom! Have fun sharing these gorgeous fruits and vegetables with your friends and family as you celebrate! I know I will!
The following article was posted at PreventDisease.com and Signs of the Times (sott.net). My mom’s been saying this for years, and her dad Dr. O.C. Thompson before that (he was a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and international expert in the field of poultry medicine). Ever wonder why the “good ol’ boys” who worked hard on the farm and ate eggs and bacon and all kinds of other saturated fats, along with grains and home grown produce didn’t use to struggle with heart disease?! This explains a little of it. Go back to the whole foods. Stay away from packaged foods, especially when you can’t pronounce ALL of the ingredients. Stay active. Meet Dr. Dwight Lundell, M.D. and celebrated Cardiac Surgeon.
Dr. Dwight Lundell, M.D.
♥
“We physicians with all our training, knowledge and authority often acquire a rather large ego that tends to make it difficult to admit we are wrong. So, here it is. I freely admit to being wrong. As a heart surgeon with 25 years experience, having performed over 5,000 open-heart surgeries,today is my day to right the wrong with medical and scientific fact.
“I trained for many years with other prominent physicians labelled “opinion makers.” Bombarded with scientific literature, continually attending education seminars, we opinion makers insisted heart disease resulted from the simple fact of elevated blood cholesterol.
“The only accepted therapy was prescribing medications to lower cholesterol and a diet that severely restricted fat intake. The latter of course we insisted would lower cholesterol and heart disease. Deviations from these recommendations were considered heresy and could quite possibly result in malpractice.
“It Is Not Working!
“These recommendations are no longer scientifically or morally defensible. The discovery a few years ago that inflammation in the artery wall is the real cause of heart disease is slowly leading to a paradigm shift in how heart disease and other chronic ailments will be treated.
“The long-established dietary recommendations have created epidemics of obesity and diabetes, the consequences of which dwarf any historical plague in terms of mortality, human suffering and dire economic consequences.
“Despite the fact that 25% of the population takes expensive statin medications and despite the fact we have reduced the fat content of our diets, more Americans will die this year of heart disease than ever before.
“Statistics from the American Heart Association show that 75 million Americans currently suffer from heart disease, 20 million have diabetes and 57 million have pre-diabetes. These disorders are affecting younger and younger people in greater numbers every year.
“Simply stated, without inflammation being present in the body, there is no way that cholesterol would accumulate in the wall of the blood vessel and cause heart disease and strokes. Without inflammation, cholesterol would move freely throughout the body as nature intended. It is inflammation that causes cholesterol to become trapped.
“Inflammation is not complicated — it is quite simply your body’s natural defence to a foreign invader such as a bacteria, toxin or virus. The cycle of inflammation is perfect in how it protects your body from these bacterial and viral invaders. However, if we chronically expose the body to injury by toxins or foods the human body was never designed to process,a condition occurs called chronic inflammation. Chronic inflammation is just as harmful as acute inflammation is beneficial.
“What thoughtful person would willfully expose himself repeatedly to foods or other substances that are known to cause injury to the body? Well,smokers perhaps, but at least they made that choice willfully.
“The rest of us have simply followed the recommended mainstream dietthat is low in fat and high in polyunsaturated fats and carbohydrates, not knowing we were causing repeated injury to our blood vessels. Thisrepeated injury creates chronic inflammation leading to heart disease,stroke, diabetes and obesity.
“Let me repeat that: The injury and inflammation in our blood vessels is caused by the low fat diet recommended for years by mainstream medicine.
“What are the biggest culprits of chronic inflammation? Quite simply, they are the overload of simple, highly processed carbohydrates (sugar, flourand all the products made from them) and the excess consumption of omega-6 vegetable oils like soybean, corn and sunflower that are found in many processed foods.
“Take a moment to visualize rubbing a stiff brush repeatedly over soft skin until it becomes quite red and nearly bleeding. you kept this up several times a day, every day for five years. If you could tolerate this painful brushing, you would have a bleeding, swollen infected area that became worse with each repeated injury. This is a good way to visualize the inflammatory process that could be going on in your body right now.
“Regardless of where the inflammatory process occurs, externally or internally, it is the same. I have peered inside thousands upon thousands of arteries. A diseased artery looks as if someone took a brush and scrubbed repeatedly against its wall. Several times a day, every day, the foods we eat create small injuries compounding into more injuries, causing the body to respond continuously and appropriately with inflammation.
“While we savor the tantalizing taste of a sweet roll, our bodies respond alarmingly as if a foreign invader arrived declaring war. Foods loaded with sugars and simple carbohydrates, or processed withomega-6 oils for long shelf life have been the mainstay of the American diet for six decades. These foods have been slowly poisoning everyone.
“How does eating a simple sweet roll create a cascade of inflammation to make you sick?
“Imagine spilling syrup on your keyboard and you have a visual of what occurs inside the cell. When we consume simple carbohydrates such as sugar, blood sugar rises rapidly. In response, your pancreas secretes insulin whose primary purpose is to drive sugar into each cell where it is stored for energy. If the cell is full and does not need glucose, it is rejected to avoid extra sugar gumming up the works.
“When your full cells reject the extra glucose, blood sugar rises producing more insulin and the glucose converts to stored fat.
“What does all this have to do with inflammation? Blood sugar is controlled in a very narrow range. Extra sugar molecules attach to a variety of proteins that in turn injure the blood vessel wall. This repeated injury to the blood vessel wall sets off inflammation. When you spike your blood sugar level several times a day, every day, it is exactly like taking sandpaper to the inside of your delicate blood vessels.
“While you may not be able to see it, rest assured it is there. I saw it in over 5,000 surgical patients spanning 25 years who all shared one common denominator — inflammation in their arteries.
“Let’s get back to the sweet roll. That innocent looking goody not only contains sugars, it is baked in one of many omega-6 oils such as soybean. Chips and fries are soaked in soybean oil; processed foods are manufactured with omega-6 oils for longer shelf life. While omega-6’s are essential -they are part of every cell membrane controlling what goes in and out of the cell – they must be in the correct balance with omega-3’s.
“If the balance shifts by consuming excessive omega-6, the cell membrane produces chemicals called cytokines that directly cause inflammation.
“Today’s mainstream American diet has produced an extreme imbalance of these two fats. The ratio of imbalance ranges from 15:1 to as high as 30:1 in favor of omega-6. That’s a tremendous amount of cytokines causing inflammation. In today’s food environment, a 3:1 ratio would be optimal and healthy.
“To make matters worse, the excess weight you are carrying from eating these foods creates overloaded fat cells that pour out large quantities of pro-inflammatory chemicals that add to the injury caused by having high blood sugar. The process that began with a sweet roll turns into a vicious cycle over time that creates heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetesand finally, Alzheimer’s disease, as the inflammatory process continues unabated.
“There is no escaping the fact that the more we consume prepared and processed foods, the more we trip the inflammation switch little by little each day. The human body cannot process, nor was it designed to consume, foods packed with sugars and soaked in omega-6 oils.
“There is but one answer to quieting inflammation, and that is returning to foods closer to their natural state. To build muscle, eat more protein. Choose carbohydrates that are very complex such as colorful fruits and vegetables. Cut down on or eliminate inflammation- causing omega-6 fats like corn and soybean oil and the processed foods that are made from them.
“One tablespoon of corn oil contains 7,280 mg of omega-6; soybean contains 6,940 mg. Instead, use olive oil or butter from grass-fed beef.
“Animal fats contain less than 20% omega-6 and are much less likely to cause inflammation than the supposedly healthy oils labelled polyunsaturated. Forget the “science” that has been drummed into your head for decades. The science that saturated fat alone causes heart disease is non-existent. The science that saturated fat raises blood cholesterol is also very weak. Since we now know that cholesterol is not the cause of heart disease, the concern about saturated fat is even more absurd today.
“The cholesterol theory led to the no-fat, low-fat recommendations that in turn created the very foods now causing an epidemic of inflammation. Mainstream medicine made a terrible mistake when it advised people to avoid saturated fat in favor of foods high in omega-6 fats. We now have an epidemic of arterial inflammation leading to heart disease and other silent killers.
“What you can do is choose whole foods your grandmother served and not those your mom turned to as grocery store aisles filled with manufactured foods. By eliminating inflammatory foods and adding essential nutrients from fresh unprocessed food, you will reverse years of damage in your arteries and throughout your body from consuming the typical American diet.”
“Dr. Dwight Lundell is the past Chief of Staff and Chief of Surgery at Banner Heart Hospital, Mesa, AZ. His private practice, Cardiac Care Center was in Mesa, AZ. Recently Dr. Lundell left surgery to focus on the nutritional treatment of heart disease. He is the founder of Healthy Humans Foundation that promotes human health with a focus on helping large corporations promote wellness. He is also the author of The Cure for Heart Disease and The Great Cholesterol Lie.“
My mother in law introduced me to Teecinno a couple of years ago. It’s an acid-free, caffeine-free beverage that you prepare like coffee. Even though my personal preference is still coffee, if you want a similar flavor in the evening, or when you’re not feeling well or maybe pregnant, this is a valid alternative.
I won a package of the Southern Pecan Teeccino from Simply Life Blog (one of those blogs I follow almost daily–thank you very much for the sample!), and it came with some coupons as well. If I think of it as a nutritional beverage, I’m better off. For some reason when I think of it as coffee, my expectations are too high, and I end up disappointed. The Southern Pecan and French Roast were not my favorite, probably because they’re my two favorite coffee varieties, but they’re okay. I used one of my coupons on a pack of the Maya Chai and did not care for it at all (just being honest). However, the Vanilla Nut Teeccino I actually enjoy quite a bit (that’s the one my mother in law usually has around).
Do you drink Teeccino? What’s your favorite flavor?
This Week’s Basket from Milk and Honey Organics Included: Baby Spinach, Broccoli, Star Ruby (red) Grapefruit, Yukon Gold Potatoes, Curly Parsley, Cameo Apples, Peaches, Hurricane Creek’s Bibb Lettuce, Chef’s Greenhouse Tomatoes, Parisi Onion Mix, and Parisi Beets with Greens. Some baskets also included Kiwi.
Whisk together dressing ingredients from above vigorously (so as to emulsify the oil).
Combine shaved parmesan, shredded carrots and/or peppers, sunflower seeds and slivered onions (or whatever your favorite salad toppings are) to crisp salad greens.
Toss salad with dressing to coat.
Top salad with grilled chicken, fish, shrimp, or beans for an added boost of protein. Or, if you’re not in the mood for salad, try using the dressing as a marinade on fish or chicken before baking and serve over rice or couscous.
Serve salad within one hour of coating with dressing; store in fridge if necessary. Or make the dressing ahead and keep in your fridge for a week or so.
St. Patrick’s Day is traditionally a day of Irish inspired feasting, recognizing the patron saint of Ireland for bringing Christianity to Ireland. There is wearing of green and talking of leprechauns and eating of corned beef, potatoes and cabbage.
This Week’s Basket from Milk and Honey Organics included traditional Irish ingredients, like Local Green Cabbage and Red Potatoes, Jumbo Carrots and Yellow Onions, along with some other seasonal goodies, including Parisi Farms Turnip Greens, Parisi Farms Beets with Greens, Cherry Tomatoes, Bananas, Valencia Oranges, Braeburn Apples, Rio Red Ruby Grapefruit, Shallots, and Boston Butter Lettuce.
I’ve been pinning delicious-looking recipes on Pinterest for months now, and finally took the time to actually try a couple of them!
Quinoa Patties with Asian Brussels Sprouts Slaw and Peanut Sauce
First, was the “Quinoa Burger” by Eating Well Living Thin. I prefer to call it a patty instead of a burger, but whatever you call them, I couldn’t stop eating them! Yum! Very good. I didn’t have cottage cheese, so I substituted greek yogurt, and it still worked well. I’m definitely making these again. They kind of had a falafel vibe. Yum! (Note: Make sure your oil is good and hot before you start cooking up the patties, or it’ll just soak in and stick to the bottom instead of acting as a barrier between the patty and the pan. Also, they cook better smaller than larger. Yea, the first batch didn’t turn out quite as well as the second.)
Then for our side, I made the “Crunchy Cabbage Salad with Peanut Dressing” by Tina Jeffers on the Bliss blog. I used Brussels Sprouts instead of Cabbage. It was a nice topper on the Quinoa Patty or as a side dish. Caution: don’t use too much of the sauce – it’s delicious, but potent. Also, I used chopped raw peanuts instead of cashews, because I had them on hand. By the way, if you’re looking for raw peanuts, check your local Asian Market. They almost always have the best price.
In January, I decided to try the Forks over Knives diet for 12 weeks. It lasted 4. And though I did lose a little weight, it wasn’t the easiest lifestyle for me to stick with (mostly because it took a lot more planning and food prep time).
In February, I still ate a fair number of fruits and vegetables, but I got off the low-dairy/meat concept and basically felt like I was just surviving. It was a busy month.
For March, I’ve been looking at various options and I thought I’d try something similar to the Paleo or Primal diet. It’s a wheat-free diet that limits sugars and other things. My cousin has lived this way for a couple years now and does really well with it, so I thought I’d give it a try. Here’s an overview of the Wheat Belly Diet. We went to the grocery store to stock up a bit and Bryan’s going to try to do this with me (though he admitted he might have a sandwich wrap occasionally). For more information on this diet lifestyle, check out www.wheatbellyblog.com.
And because my exercise routine has been far from stellar, I found this March Mad Abs Fitness plan that I’m going to try to add to daily (or almost daily) walks:
