The spice rack is the medicine cabinet of your kitchen

With many of us eating more and more processed foods, a very neglected part of cooking is the use of herbs and spices.  In countries such as India and Thailand, spices are used every day adding wonderful flavours and colours to the food.

But did you know that there are many health benefits that have been associated with spices?  A recent article in the AARP magazine talked about just a few examples:

• Turmeric (a component of curries) contains curcumin which has been shown to break up the amyloid plaques in the brain associated with Alzheimer’s disease
• Saffron has been shown to help decrease depression
• Ginger, when combined with feverfew, seems to stave off migraine headaches
• Garlic has anti-cancer properties in the brain in addition to the many well-documented benefits for the heart
• Cinnamon helps to regulate blood sugar levels which may contribute to increased brain processing of visual cues

So why don’t you try adding more spices to your cooking?  It’ll make your meals taste great and do your body some good too!

This is a glass of apple juice!

Many of us are familiar with the infamous “Friends” episode where we learned about how a little tinkle may help relieve the effects of a jellyfish sting.  Well, I think it’s safe to say that for most of us, the idea of one’s own pee is probably a bit repulsive.  After all, “number one” is something that is usually reserved for the bathroom and we associate it with a  certain colour, temperature, and of course SMELL!  However, are we thumbing our noses at something that has healing properties?

Urine therapy (or auto-urine therapy, urotherapy) has ancient origins.  There are traditional uses for one’s own urine both as a topical remedy as well as a remedy taken internally – yes, that means DRINKING it.  There are many examples throughout history of urine being used to improve one’s health in Anceint Rome and China as well as for Ayurvedic practices in India.  Some have gone so far as to espouse urine therapy as being beneficial in the treatment of certain cancers, although there is no scientific evidence to back up these claims.

Of course, high-performance athletes are always willing to try all legal means to stimulate the body’s natural ability to heal itself.  When American downhill ski racer Lindsey Vonn suffered a bad shin bruise prior to her races at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, she resorted to some unconventional remedies for her recovery.  and wound up winning two medals.  More recently, Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida has talked several times about his daily practice of drinking his own urine and how it has greatly improved his physical health.  Unfortunately, for Machida, he was unsuccessful in defending his UFC light heavyweight championship against Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 113 this past Saturday in Montreal.  However, he does have a number of injuries as a result of getting knocked out during the fight so maybe he’ll drink his way back to good health!

The rules for eating healthy food are simple

As I’ve mentioned many times before, I believe at least 80% of my patients’ health conditions would resolve if they ate a healthy diet.  The thing is, it’s easy for people to get confused about what foods are healthy and what foods aren’t because of marketing by food manufacturers (you know, misleading phrases such as “natural”, “light”, “fat-free”, “vitamin water”, etc).

The good news is that knowing how to eat healthy is SIMPLE.  Michael Pollan’s new book, Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual, is a great little common sense pocket-guide to healthy eating.  The 64 food rules are based on the overall conclusion that, in order to be healthy, humans should:

“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants… instead of edible, food-like substances.”

Some of the simple, yet brilliant, rules that I particularly like include:

• “Shop the perimeter of the grocery store where food is fresh and unprocessed.”
• “Avoid food products advertised on television”
• “If you’re not hungry enough to eat an apple – you’re not hungry.”
• “Stop eating before you’re full and try to eat only 67 to 80 percent capacity”
• “Break the rules once in a while”

Go pick up a copy of the book and teach your family to eat healthy.  It’s really an easy thing to do.

Many pro athletes don't eat meat

A recent ad featuring Strikeforce middleweight champion Jake Shields caught my attention.  Not only did the talented mixed martial artist recently successfully defend his championship, but he did so without any meat in his diet – Shields has been a vegetarian his entire life.

Eating meat was very important to me growing up in Alberta as a kid who liked to compete in sports such as hockey, baseball, and wrestling.  In my mind, I just assumed that I needed the protein in meat to build muscle and help me perform well athletically.  Even years later, despite learning about how different amino acids from foods help make up protein I still somehow couldn’t fathom how it could be possible to be vegetarian and be a good athlete.

The truth is, however, that a meat-free diet can definitely provide the elite athlete with everything that they need to not only build lean muscle but all of the macronutrients and micronutrients for optimal performance.  Some notable superstar vegetarian athletes include:

• Carl Lewis – Olympic sprinter
• Edwin Moses – Olympic hurdler
• Martina Navratilova – Tennis
• John Salley – Basketball
• Joe Namath – Football
• Hank Aaron – Baseball
• Georges Laraque – Hockey

It's true - you are what you eat.

A young student came to the clinic today as part of a work experience component of her high school education.  She was very bright and curious and wanted to learn about naturopathic medicine.  As we talked, however, I told her that despite all the fancy treatments and remedies that I have at my disposal, I could probably improve 80% of the conditions that I saw if patients would just simply eat better.

No matter where you live or how much money you have, one thing that is certain is that you have to eat.  Companies realize this and it’s no wonder that the food business is big business.  The best way for a company to add value to your food is to process it with added sugar, salt, fat, and chemical additives and preservatives.  Furthermore, you package it nicely and market it so that people like you and I want to eat it instead of nutritious whole foods.

So, what’s the big deal, you ask?  Well, it all translates into extra calories with decreased nutrition.  That, in turn, translates into obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer and a myriad of other chronic health conditions that result from these.  Actually, now that I come to think of it, I could probably help MORE than 80% of my patients just by getting them to eat healthier!

If you want to start getting healthy, start thinking about what you’re putting into your mouth.  What’s in your food?  Where did it come from?  Is it healthy?  If you don’t know the answer to those questions, pick a healthier alternative.

Certain foods get sprayed with more pesticides

If you’ve recently tried to buy more organic food in an attempt to benefit your health, you probably realized that your grocery bill will be substantially higher.  Now, it’s hard to put a price on your health, but most people have a limit to how much they can spend on the food they eat.

So then, where are you going to get best organic bang for your buck?  Well, in terms of fruits and veggies, consider the amount of pesticides that are sprayed on the surface of the produce and whether you can avoid eating those toxins.  If the food has a thicker peel which you will not be eating (such as bananas or oranges) might not be as high on the organic priority list.

Here’s a list of produce items that you should definitely consider buying organic because of the high amounts of pesticides used to grow them: Peaches, Nectarines, Grapes (especially from outside North America), Pears, Strawberries, Apples, Cherries, Bell peppers, Celery, Spinach, Carrots, Lettuce.

Other foods that you should definitely consider buying organic include coffee and tea, meat, and dairy.  For more information on this topic, check out Wayne Roberts’ book Real Food For A Change.

Burgers healthy for your heart? Yeah right.

Canadians need to be smarter about their food choices and the effects they have on health.  That’s why it is particularly frustrating when an organization like the Heart and Stroke Foundation puts out a program like “Health Check”.

The Health Check program is intended to make it easier for you to make healthy food choices that will benefit your cardiovascular health.  Instead of focusing on cooking with nutrient-dense whole foods, the program’s logo will appear on menu items in restaurants such as Boston Pizza, Tim Horton’s, Subway, and even McDonald’s!  You don’t have to be a doctor to know that you don’t go to eat at McDonald’s to benefit your heart health.

How can this be possible?  Well, all it takes is a lot of money from these corporation to loosen up the criteria for the amount of sodium and other junk allowed for food items to be considered “heart healthy”.  It’s disgusting.  When you have an organization that collects donations from Canadians on the premise that they are working to find cures for cardiovascular disease and then they turn around promote the kind of fast-food lifestyle that is killing millions of people, something is very wrong.

All I can say is money talks but sometimes you have to use your common sense to protect yourself from being misled.

A pasta meal the night before can improve your endurance

A common question that I get from athletes is whether or not they should be consuming increased amounts of carbohydrates prior to their endurance event.  This practice is carried about by many athletes and is commonly referred to as “carboloading”.

The idea behind carboloading is to ensure that the muscles of the body have extra glycogen (the sugars that fuel the muscles during exertion).  While some athlete swear the practice of carboloading give them extra energy for their workouts, the fact is that it is probably most beneficial for endurance events (such as marathon running) and can help the muscles to sustain high levels of workload for an extra 30-60 minutes.

The easiest way to do this is to increase the amount of carbohydrate intake and decrease the intensity of exercise during the last week of preparation for the event.  The results may vary depending on the athlete and the practice of carboloading is more appropriate for some athletes than others.  Also, if you are not going to be exerting your body physically for longer than 90 minutes, it is questionable as to whether carboloading would have any effect on your performance.

So, before your run your next big race, consider a nice pasta dinner the night before in order to load up your muscles with some extra glycogen.

You'd be shocked to know how food gets to your table

A report tonight on CNN’s AC360 detailed how unsafe slaughterhouse practices which could lead to public health concerns are going unchecked because officials would rather not deal with such problems.  The truth is most people would be shocked to learn about what happens to the food supply before it reaches them.

Do you know what chemicals are used on your fruits and vegetables?  Do you know what drugs are given to the chickens and cows that you end up eating?  Do you ever wonder why you can buy watermelon in the middle of winter?

The fact is the we are completely desensitized and unaware about where our food comes from.  An excellent documentary called Food Inc. by filmmaker Robert Kenner exposes some of these hidden secrets and explains why many of the health issues that are devastating our society these days can be attributed to what is being done to our food supply.  It’s definitely food for thought.

Nutrition during pregnancy is as important for mother as it is for baby

Everyone knows that nutrition during pregnancy is important, but most assume this is to ensure the health of the baby.  The fact is that pregnancy is a very emotionally and physically demanding time.  If you are not focusing on eating well and staying healthy, both you and your baby may suffer the consequences for years to come.

The old idea that you are “eating for two” during pregnancy doesn’t mean pickles and ice cream are OK!  When you are pregnant, it is important to to eat a varied diet that is high in nutrition.  However, there are a number of foods – such as certain raw foods – that you should avoid to ensure the health of your baby.

It is important to remember that any nutritional deficiencies and poor lifestyle habits during pregnancy increase the mother’s risk for health problems such as post-partum depression, anemia, weight gain, and more.  Consult your health practitioner o ensure that both you and your baby are healthy for years to come.