November 2009 Blog Posts (28)

Our health report card for 2009: Are we making progress?

As 2009 winds down and the season for gratitude is upon us, this is a great time to reflect on our progress and contemplate the road ahead. This year especially, with the ongoing debate over public-policy directions for the U.S. health-care system, the collective state of our health deserves our attention.

America`s Health Rankings’ 2009 report came out just recently, and as a two-decade continuous assessment of our nation’s… Continue

Added by Ayala laufer-Cahana MD on November 30, 2009 at 6:00am — No Comments

Inexpensive Way of Keeping the Weight Down

Bicycling!

The United States is among the nations with the highest obesity rate in the world, obesity has been a difficult issue to deal with in the social life of us Americans, and in the last decade we have really led the way in overweight people but recently we seem to have been more aware of how deadly obesity can be and have taken… Continue

Added by David on November 29, 2009 at 6:47am — No Comments

Healthy Thanksgiving meal - Brazilian Nut Roast en Croûte

I had a healthy Thanksgiving at home with my family. It took a big effort and long time to cook everything but it was worth it!

I made a Brazilian Nut Roast en Croûte from scratch the day before just to be sure it came out OK. Also, I made veggie gravy from scratch for the first time! Roasted potatoes, carrots and peas were the side dishes.…

Continue

Added by Susana on November 27, 2009 at 7:37pm — 5 Comments

Holiday Cleansing Teas and Exercise Tips

From Ask Dr. Mao:

Stuffed with stuffing, filled with turkey, crammed with cookies, and saturated with alcohol. Now what? Holidays call for celebration, and many of us know the consequences that come from overindulging in alcohol and food. Sometimes, despite out best intentions, we overdo it. This holiday… Continue

Added by David on November 27, 2009 at 7:19am — 1 Comment

Protein and Weight Loss - How Much Do You Need?

In a previous post I touched on how protein affects weight loss. If you haven't read the post, here's a link - How does protein affect weight loss?

Standard recommendations for protein each day is 0.8 grams per kilogram body weight (0.8 g/kg). To calculate your protein needs multiply your weight in pounds x 0.37.

Here’s an example of how to do the calculations for someone weighing 140… Continue

Added by Lisa Nelson on November 26, 2009 at 8:00pm — No Comments

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Have a happy and healthy Thanksgiving!

Added by Susana on November 26, 2009 at 9:32am — 1 Comment

About the Acai Berry

The acai berry (ah-sigh-ee) grows in the Amazon Rainforest on acai palm trees and looks like a purple marble or purple grape. The Acaí berry (fruit) is 90% seed pit and 10% acaí pulp and must be carefully handled before it can be consumed. During the process the acaí berries with water are put into a machine and are agitated against one another. This process separates the acaí pulp from the seed to produce a thick acaí fruit pulp puree.

Acaí berry has a unique tropical… Continue

Added by Kitty Finessa on November 25, 2009 at 3:07pm — No Comments

Recipes for a healthy and happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks, celebrate fall, and enjoy the bounty of nature and the company of family and friends.

I love this holiday because it’s so important to take a break from focusing on all the problems in our world and in our lives, and spend time reflecting on the good in the world. There’s much to be grateful for, even in hard times.

As a vegetarian cook I follow the traditional Thanksgiving meal quite loosely. The palette of my… Continue

Added by Ayala laufer-Cahana MD on November 23, 2009 at 6:00am — No Comments

Berries and Your Heart Health

In the battle against chronic disease, specifically heart disease, the antioxidant content of berries is a fantastic weapon.

Researchers in 2008 studied 72 volunteers over an eight week period. The volunteers were divided into a berry group and control group. The berry group was fed 100 grams of whole bilberries, 50 grams of lingonberry-rich nectar, and 100 grams of blackcurrants, strawberries, or raspberry-chokeberry juice every other day. The control group received non-berry “fruit… Continue

Added by Lisa Nelson on November 19, 2009 at 9:30pm — No Comments

Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs and Wear Cows

The publisher created a terrific promotional video with a reenactment of this scene:

New book by Melanie Joy, Ph.D.

The vast majority of Americans view eating meat as natural, normal and necessary while recognizing that vegetarianism is an ideology, or belief system. Thanks to Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs and Wear Cows by Melanie Joy, Ph.D. (published November, 2009 by Conari Press), the way we eat animals now has a name and is exposed to be… Continue

Added by Susana on November 19, 2009 at 9:15am — No Comments

Life without cow and pig

It has been a little over a year not eating red meat or pork. My entire life, I grew up on eating and loving to eat these meat products. Some of my favorite foods included Italian combos, steak drizzled with gorgonzola and rueben sandwiches. Anytime I ate red meat, I always felt tired and as if some brick was just sitting in my stomach. Red meat never settled well for me. After conducting some research on how industrial cows were treated, and the impact of raising and then eating it has on the… Continue

Added by Sharon Porter on November 18, 2009 at 11:45am — 4 Comments

How Does Protein Affect Weight Loss?

Fat, protein, and carbohydrates are all essential to your overall health. When you are working to lose weight it’s important that you do not cut any one nutrient too low. Let’s focus on your protein intake.

Types of Protein

Protein is made up of 20 building blocks called amino acids. Eleven of these amino acids are nonessential and nine are essential. This means the body is unable to create nine of these amino acids on its own and must receive them from food… Continue

Added by Lisa Nelson on November 17, 2009 at 9:30pm — No Comments

100 Things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do (Part 2)

From the New York Times: Or what you should expect when eating out, but do not want.

This is the second half of the 100 do’s and don’ts from last week’s post. Again, this list is for one particular restaurant, mine, which is… Continue

Added by David on November 17, 2009 at 3:05pm — No Comments

The changing face of poverty

Millions of Americans live in poverty, more families are suffering and hunger is seen growing.

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Poverty and hunger are problems that many Americans relegate to the Third World. But the steady growth of poverty has left millions of American families afraid they won't have enough money to put food on the table.

According to the most recent… Continue

Added by Susana on November 17, 2009 at 1:26pm — 2 Comments

Thanksgiving Recipes and Meal-Planning Tips

The holiday season provides an opportunity to try new healthy recipes and share them with your friends and family. You can turn traditional family recipes into healthier ones by making simple plant-based substitutions. For your potatoes convenience, The Cancer Project team has pooled together some holiday recipe favorites and resources so that your Thanksgiving meal will be a great success. The key is to incorporate fresh seasonal fruits and… Continue

Added by Susana on November 14, 2009 at 12:00am — No Comments

1 Simple Method = Better, Faster Results

The holidays are fast approaching. Only about 2 weeks until Thanksgiving.

This time of year I bet you don't have a lot of time to workout.

But it is vital right now to do just that. With all the cookies, cakes, parties, and social gatherings...

With one simple method, you can get better, faster results from your workout routine.

Tony Horton includes it in his P90X Program. (But no, he didn't invent this exercise principle. It has actually been around… Continue

Added by Bobbi Johnson on November 13, 2009 at 6:32am — No Comments

Colon Cleanse was not a familiar term until a few years ago. With the growing awareness about poor colon health and related ailments there has been a sudden rise in demand of natural colon cleanse pr…

Colon Cleanse was not a familiar term until a few years ago. With the growing awareness about poor colon health and related ailments there has been a sudden rise in demand of natural colon cleanse products. Cleansing your colons with natural products has its own benefits. Using herbal products are always better than chemical based products. Continue

Added by Acai Berry on November 11, 2009 at 11:22pm — 1 Comment

100 Things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do

From the New York Times. Or What you want when eating out.

Herewith is a modest list of dos and don’ts for servers at the seafood restaurant I am building. Veteran waiters, moonlighting actresses, libertarians and baristas will no doubt protest some or most of what follows. They will claim it… Continue

Added by David on November 11, 2009 at 12:36pm — 1 Comment

DASH for More than Just Blood Pressure

The DASH Diet has been proven to lower blood pressure in as little as two weeks. Researchers are interested in the impact of the DASH diet on other aspects of heart health.

A new study looked at the DASH diets effect on heart failure in women. Out of over 36,000 women between… Continue

Added by Lisa Nelson on November 10, 2009 at 9:30pm — No Comments

Remembering Patrick Swayze - Pancreatic Cancer Prevention: Go Veg

More Fruit, Veggies, Less Sugar, Red Meat

The recent loss of beloved actor Patrick Swayze to pancreatic cancer at age 57 is a sad but compelling prologue to November's Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month. Swayze lived a year and a half after diagnosis -- about three times the six month median survival time.Called the "stealth cancer,"… Continue

Added by Susana on November 9, 2009 at 11:00am — 2 Comments