April 9, 2008

How Many Meals To Good (or Bad) Health?

co2footprint-hamburger.jpgTo most people, eating an occasional fast food meal or drinking a soda once in a while is acceptable. Even eating out regularly would be considered healthy to most.

But how many meals does it take to lead you to good as well as bad health?

More on How Many Meals To Good (or Bad) Health?

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April 3, 2008

The Real Cost of GM Foods (You’re Already Eating Them)

GM: the Most Expensive Cheap Food You’ll Ever Eat

GM (genetically modified) food is cheap. It is grown under conditions that turn lush complex ecosystems once known as “farms” into monoculture (single crop) deserts. The very concept of integrated farming, where one plant or animal uses the waste of another and sustains the first one (or yet another) is meaningless in monoculture. Vast industrial techniques and huge government subsidies make GM food inexpensive and chemical additives keep the prepared and fast foods so easily available cheap, cheap, cheap. More on The Real Cost of GM Foods (You’re Already Eating Them)

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January 9, 2008

Whole Food Pioneer Gets Organic Certification, Mission to Improve Your Health

Phi PlusOne of the few purely ‘whole food’ companies in the market today, WholeFoodFarmacy, has been granted Organic Certification on three of their popular foods, Phi Plus, Cranberry Phi and Coco Cherry Phi.

Organic certification means that all ingredients are sourced from foods that are grown naturally and free of pesticides and chemicals.

WholeFoodFarmacy is a great example of how food companies can encourage healthy living habits and provide products that support their vision. The company believes strongly in the benefits of whole foods and only supplies products that are minimally handled and contain only whole food vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, herbs, spices and natural grains. Here’s a little more directly from their mission statement:

“The ingredients to health, happiness, vitality, and longevity are no secret. Every major non-profit health organization in the world has been offering the same advice for many years. Eat more fruits and veggies, drink more water, exercise on a daily basis, lose weight if you need to, don’t smoke, avoid toxins, & reduce stress.

To that end, we have combined delicious, healthy foods, with convenience and affordability. Our salon quality personal care items offer superior results without the toxic chemicals.

Nothing short of a consumer based, grass roots return to healthy choices and lifestyles can steer our children, and future generations, in a healthier direction.”

They plan to continue the Organic Certification of the balance of their products and provide only the best foods available.

Personally, my family enjoys the foods and many of the natural personal care products. In fact, one of their 13 day programs, the Tri-Decathlon, helped many family members, friends and readers lose excess weight, regain their health and their tastes for a more natural, whole food diet. I often recommend these programs to those looking to make an improvement in their health, be it losing weight, overcoming a health issue or just wanting to improve their diet.

The reason these foods work is because you eat only whole foods for the 7 or 13 days and your body regains its natural taste for fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and natural grains. They are conveniently packaged and the program is easy to follow (eat as much as you want!). Once you lose the ‘addiction’ to the Standard American Diet (SAD) of fats, clogging dairy products, heart un-healthy meats and processed and junk foods that a majority of Americans (and now becoming the world) eat, you regain your body’s natural taste for what nature intended. You start eating more fresh fruits and vegetables in combination with the WholeFoodFarmacy foods and snacks. In this way, changing your habits is much easier since you are not fighting with the taste addictions (cravings) that cripple many diet efforts and makes it much easier to regain your health, your optimal weight and just feel better all around. The foods are convenient, mostly uncooked, tasty and made from all natural whole foods, nothing else.

And regardless of the fact the New Year is upon us when many of us look to make healthier choices, any time is a great time to take back your health, your body and continue a path to your best health for life. You only have one, why wait?

Visit the WholeFoodFarmacy for more information.

To your best health!

Mark Idzik

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January 2, 2008

Is the Flat Belly Diet Just Another Fad?

flatbelly_book.gifThere’s lots of talk about the Flat Belly Diet, being the New Year and all. But is this just another fad diet that will leave you disappointed with more fat than when you started? More on Is the Flat Belly Diet Just Another Fad?

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December 4, 2007

Processed Foods Put Children at Risk of Liver Disease

New research is now showing that eliminating processed foods from your diet, especially your children’s diet, will help avoid liver disease. The disease, normally found in adults, has started to be found in children as young as 5-7 years old.

A research study at Children’s Hospital Boston showed that eating processed, high glycemic foods created livers with high fat content (double the normal levels), high blood fat and overall higher body fat.

Examples of processed, high glycemic foods include white rice, foods with white flour as well as processed grains. Most snacks, candy bars, baked goods, pastas… most anything sold in a box or pre-prepared in a restaurant, grocery store or factory is a processed food. Low glycemic unprocessed foods include fresh vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds and natural whole grains.

The study results recommend concentrating on a diet of low glycemic foods to avoid liver disease, obesity and all of the side effects.

Since this disease in children is hard to detect, it’s considered a ’silent killer’ and the effects of liver disease may not show until the children grow up when it may be too late.

Many people consider switching to unprocessed foods an inconvenience. The inconvenience unfortunately will lead to poor health and disease, lower quality of life and eventually a shorter life span… all in the name of convenience. What is your health worth? What do you have in life without your health?

And our children will suffer most. Being a good example is the best way to show them how to eat a proper and healthy diet and can change their lives. Watching shows like “Fat Camp” make me sad, where children have obviously not been taught the benefits of eating mainly whole foods and normally eat snack and processed foods out of habit, convenience, example and the seduction of chemicals found in most processed foods that make you want to eat more and more (and bypassing your natural instinct to stop eating).

Transitioning to an unprocessed, whole food diet is not difficult, or inconvenient. You can prepare most freshly made meals in minutes since no cooking is normally necessary and preparation is minimal. Snacking on fruits, nuts and seeds is easy, just wash (and peel if necessary) the fruits, eat and enjoy!

You can also find healthy minimally processed whole foods from the WholeFoodFarmacy which has a large selection of healthy, delicious and convenient foods for you and your family (check out the great snacks, your kids will love them too!).

To your best health!

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November 1, 2007

A Green Halloween?

greenpumpkin.gifEvery year around Halloween I cringe to think about all the candy, sugar and yes, junk that our children get when trick-or-treating. Several years ago I started giving out fun things like Halloween pencils, notepads, spiders, stampers and other creative things hoping that it may catch on. When children would stop by my house most had positive remarks like ‘Cool!’ and ‘Wow!’. That was a good reaction!

Going out this year with my daughter I found that everyone in our neighborhood was still giving out candy. I know there had to be something that I could do to help not only our children, but our future as well. Teaching children healthy habits early pays off greatly.

In searching online today I found it. A mother from Washington state has started something big…. Green Halloween.

I was thrilled to learned about what she was doing and know it will make a difference. She has gathered the support of her community, both businesses (like Whole Foods) and families that want to make a difference and change the traditional ‘candy-centric’ Halloween into a healthier and environmentally friendly event that can be enjoyed by everyone.

You’ll find lots of ways to encourage your neighborhood, school or families to enjoy a ‘Green Halloween’ and make a difference, both for younger as well as older children. The community and web site is new and still growing but you’ll find some great resources.

You can read more about it at:

http://www.greenhalloween.org

By taking action together, we can make a difference.

To your best health!

Mark

P.S. Last year we also gave out ‘Boo-key Balls’, a healthy treat from the WholeFoodFarmacy that they make once a year as an alternative to traditional candy. It’s one of several dozen healthy, natural and organic foods, snacks and personal care products they have available. It was a hit and the kids loved it!

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October 29, 2007

Bill Maher Makes Sense of Health

I don’t always agree with Bill Maher but on his show recently he talked about the health crisis we have in the United States… and he made sense. Watch:

Bill is right on here. As I’ve been saying for years, the solution isn’t another pill, it’s what you put into your body, on your body and what you do with your body that will determine how healthy you’ll be.

There is no magic pill as the pharmaceutical industry or government would make you believe. And no, the government is not here to take care of you.

The only answer is to take responsibility for your own health by eliminating all processed foods, toxins, drugs and concentrating on as much fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and natural grains in their natural state, preferably organically grown as possible. Stay active and maintain a positive outlook.

We can encourage others to do this as well and ‘vote’ with your dollars by buying healthy foods and avoiding the junk. Share this with your schools, friends, co-workers, church members, family… anyone you can. If enough do this, the junk will go away because of simple economics, no one will buy it.

To your best health!

Mark

P.S. You can start by ‘voting’ with your own dollars and selecting healthy snacks and food for your family. Learn more.

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October 9, 2007

Are You Following These Keys To Optimal Health?

Dr. Weston Price was a dentist in the 1930’s that decided to research the health of cultures world wide. He traveled all over the world interviewing, examining and photographing, and since he was a dentist, he also was interested in their teeth. What he found was profound and undisputed even today. Here’s what he learned.

In native cultures that were thriving with good health, what he found these things in common:

  • they ate natural foods that were not processed, without any additives like sugar
  • the foods were organically grown locally and eaten seasonally
  • they ate fermented foods and some ate unpasteurized dairy foods
  • apparently they ate animal foods, including animal fat

[The one area that I digress from Dr. Weston’s findings is consuming animals foods. The research I have reviewed (and my personal experience) is that especially with the way animals are raised today (they were raised differently in the early 1900’s, without the factory farming, drugs and automation of today’s farming business), there are more risks than rewards in eating animal foods.]

He also found that in these thriving cultures, their teeth were healthy and strong - no cavities. He thought of the mouth as the window to the body and the health of your teeth normally indicated the health of your body.

In the cultures where health was declining, including poor dental health with rotting and missing teeth he noticed that they all had one major thing in common - the introduction of processed foods into their diet. He noted that it was plain to see that shortly after a culture was introduced to processed foods, their health progressively declined.

Dr. Preston’s finding are documented in his book, Nutrition and Physical Degeneration.

Another doctor, Francis Pottenger is famous for his 10 year nutritional study on the effects of cooking food. He studied hundreds of cats and fed them different ratios of cooked vs. raw foods. What he found was that those cats on a primarily cooked food diet didn’t make it past the third generation. Their health deteriorated and they could no longer reproduce. Those cats feed 100% raw foods thrived. You couldn’t tell the difference between one generation and the other, they were all in great health.

Both doctors research hasn’t been refuted and if you reflect on their findings, you’ll notice the same affects of the diet on our population today. More and more women are unable to conceive and fertility clinics are everywhere using drugs to stimulate what nature can’t. Obesity and related diseases are growing daily. What also has increased is the amount of processed, modified and denatured foods that we eat every day. Children are being introduced to fake, processed foods and grow up believing that is normal and then continue by passing it on to their children. It’s a never ending circle that will continue forever and lead to a very sick society, or worse.

Actually, we’re already there as America is last among developed countries in health with more disease and health problems than any other. Obesity alone is responsible for over $100 billion dollars a year in health care spending. And America is mainly responsible for introducing and exporting most of the processed foods overseas. The statistics show that when fast food was introduced in foreign countries, their health progressively declined, and continues today. Do we want to pass this on to our children?

Let’s think about it this way for a minute.

If you agree that your body is natural (you weren’t created by a machine or some un-natural method) , why would eating something un-natural, processed, modified, created in a laboratory or grown/filled with chemicals or additives be good for your body (most food packaged or served in a restaurant is processed)? Why would you want to eat something that isn’t natural knowing this?

Here’s something that may also shed some light on this. Did you know that your body automatically rejects anything that it doesn’t recognize as natural? One way we found this out is by researchers looking through the waste from portable toilets. In sifting out the waste, they found thousands of almost whole vitamins and pills (among other things) that were passed almost whole through the digestive system without being absorbed. In analyzing these tablets they found them all to have been created (in a laboratory - most vitamins are made this way) and not a whole food vitamin (whole natural foods condensed into a tablet).

Only you can change this declining trend by realizing that the only way to gain optimal health in all areas of your life is by eating fresh, unprocessed, organically grown foods. Eating primarily a diet of foods that are raw and a small percentage dried, steamed or lightly cooked.

The video goes into more detail and is inspiring.

To your best health!

Mark

If you’re looking for a way to add whole foods to your diet, learn about the convenient, delicious and healthy foods available to you, without leaving your home. And read about the life altering changes others have experienced.