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John 14:23
10 hours ago
Friday, August 13, 2010
Charlotte, NC Prevention Plus with Reagan Dean
2010 09 11 Platinum Regional
The Platinum Regional
Dallas, Texas
“The Cajun Invasion”
Featuring
Dr. Doug Odom, MD, NMD, Elton Award Winner
Dany Martin, NMD 100 club
Nick Hundley, SSC
Linda Cole, NSA
Emcee: Jody Mow, NMD 24 Club
9:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Registration begins at 9:00 a.m. / Lunch is provided
Prevention Plus with Dr. Odom
3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Richardson Civic Center
411 West Arapaho Road / Richardson, TX 75080
For registration and payment, visit:
http://dallasplatinum2010.eventbrite.com
2010 Dallas Platinum Regional Flier.pdf (460 KB)
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Monday, August 2, 2010
REBROADCAST: Saturday Morning LIVE with Dr. Joseph Cannizzaro
"Some Observations fromThe Pediatricians Care Unit"By Dr. Joseph CannizzaroHosted by Carol Ann CannizzaroMaterials will include:1. Primary Clinical Outcomes2. The 4 A's Epidemic3. Dr. Mom--transformation of the family4. Kids as Health Ambassadors
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Eating Fruits and Vegetables to Stay Healthy | Diet Discovery
Eating Fruits and Vegetables to Stay Healthy
Dietary experts recommend that every person should eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables every day. The importance of fruits and vegetables to a healthy diet has been known for quite some time, but studies have shown that very few people eat the amount of fruits and vegetables recommended for a healthy diet.
That’s a shame, since eating a sufficient number of fruits and vegetables just may be the single most effective thing you can do to improve your overall health. The five a day approach to healthy eating may be the single most important strategy you can adopt for a healthier lifestyle.
The many health benefits of eating fruits and vegetables have been established for quite some time now. Study after study has shown that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables lowers the risk of certain cancers, heart disease and other chronic diseases and conditions. Some studies have suggested that as many as 35% of cancer deaths can be attributed to diet, and that diets high in fats and low in fruits and vegetables contributes to unnecessary cancer deaths.
Fruits and vegetables have a lot of advantages besides just their nutritional importance. For one thing, they taste great and add a great deal of variety to everyday meals. Fruits and vegetables come in such a wide variety of colors, textures and flavors that they can be used in virtually every meal. Those seeking to maximize their consumption of fruits and vegetables should get into the habit of using fruits in salads, as toppings and as garnishes.
In addition to their great taste, fruits and vegetables are packed full of many essential vitamins and minerals, including many micronutrients that are not included in packaged vitamin supplements. For instance, foods like butternut squash, pumpkins, carrots, mangoes, peaches, pawpaws and green leafy vegetables are rich in beta carotene. Beta carotene is vital for healthy skin and eyes.
In addition, most varieties of fruits and vegetables contain vitamin C, another important vitamin and a strong antioxidant. Good sources of vitamin C include Brussels sprouts, citrus fruits, strawberries, broccoli, nectarines and kiwi fruit. Many fruits and vegetables, including spinach, broccoli and avocadoes, are also good sources of vitamin E, another excellent antioxidant.
Men and women alike should always strive to eat a healthy diet, but women have an extra incentive to get all the nutrition they need. Proper nutrition is essential to a healthy pregnancy, and some of the baby’s biggest nutritional needs happen before the pregnancy is discovered. Folic acid is perhaps the best known essential nutrient for pregnant women. Folic acid has been proven effective at preventing a variety of birth defects, including Spina Bifida. Good dietary sources of folic acid include Brussels sprouts, broccoli, spinach and oranges. In addition, due to its importance to women of child bearing years, many common foods such as cereals and breads, are supplemented with folic acid.
In addition to their importance as source of vitamins and minerals, fruits and vegetables also provide essential dietary fiber. Adequate fiber in the diet is important in preventing heart disease and some kinds of cancer.
Another great feature of fruits and vegetables, especially to those watching their weight, is the high nutrition, low fat, low calorie nature of these foods. Fruits and vegetables contain very low levels of fats, and a diet low in fat can be quite effective for long term weight loss. In addition, fruits and vegetables contain no cholesterol, and they are lower in calories than many other types of foods.
With all these things going for them, it is no wonder so many dietary experts recommend eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables. Not only are fruits and vegetables delicious and nutritious, but they can be quite inexpensive as well. Buying fruits and vegetables that are locally grown, and that are in season, is usually the most cost effective way to get the freshest fruits and veggies at the lowest possible cost.
This buying strategy also helps to ensure a steady stream of new fruits and vegetables every month, as some go out of season while others are just coming in. Trying a variety of different fruits and vegetables, including some you may not be familiar with, is also a great way to create exciting new dishes and prevent yourself from becoming bored with the same old diet. Whether your goal is to lose weight or just increase your level of fitness, it is hard to go wrong with a diet rich in fruits and vegetables.
Jesus Smay
Health Benefits of Eating Berries
Health Benefits of Eating Berries
If you have ever had the pleasure of picking berries right from a garden or gathering wild berries in the woods, you already know how wonderful fresh berries are.Most berries are naturally sweet and require little effort to prepare. Just rinse them under water and serve for a nutritious snack or dessert.
One cup of strawberries contains over 100 mg of vitamin C, almost as much as a cup of orange juice. We need vitamin C for immune system function and for strong connective tissue. Strawberries also add a bit of calcium, magnesium, folate and potassium and only 53 calories.
One cup of blueberries offers a smaller amount of vitamin C, minerals and phytochemicals for only 83 calories. The same amount of cranberries is similar, but with only 44 calories, 1 cup of raspberries offers vitamin C and potassium for 64 calories.
You can choose other berries with similar nutrition, such as loganberries, currants, gooseberries, lingonberries and bilberries.
More Than Pretty Colors
The pigments that give berries their beautiful blue and red hues are also good for your health. Berries contain phytochemicals and flavonoids that may help to prevent some forms of cancer. Cranberries and blueberries contain a substance that may prevent bladder infections. Eating a diet rich in blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, cranberries and strawberries may help to reduce your risk of several types of cancers. Blueberries and raspberries also contain lutein, which is important for healthy vision.Choosing Berries
Every grocery store carries a wide variety of fresh, canned and frozen berries. Look for ripe, colorful and firm berries with no sign of mold or mushy spots. Berries can also be found in the frozen section of the grocery store. Once they thaw, they will not be as firm as freshly picked berries, but they are still delicious and good for you.For the freshest berries, try farmers' markets that offer berries harvested that same day. Some berry farms allow you to pick your own berries.
Ideas for Serving Berries
Most berries like strawberries, blueberries and raspberries are sweet enough to be served just as they are; however, here are some more ideas:- Top a bowl of berries with a dollop of light-whipped topping and a sprinkling of chopped pecans or walnuts
- Add strawberry slices to a bowl of whole grain cereal
- Sprinkle blueberries on a salad
- Stir fresh raspberries into vanilla yogurt
- Combine frozen berries with bananas and low-fat milk to make a smoothie
Healthful Berry Recipes:
Source:
Seeram NP. "Berry fruits for cancer prevention: current status and future prospects." J Agric Food Chem. 2008 Feb 13;56(3):630-5.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Blueberries and Kale to Fight Aging « Tasty. Easy. Healthy.
Blueberries and Kale to Fight Aging
Blueberries and dark leafy greens… I think that I will be gorging on them for the next day (or decade). It’s not because they are a delicious combination. In fact, I’m not recommending them in the same dish.
However, they are considered to be two of the top foods to include in your diet if you want to embrace anti-aging. I haven’t considered the aging process too much. I do my best to eat a healthy diet and exercise. I know what I do now will directly correlate into my quality of life over the next 20 years. When I look at family and friends in their 60s and 70s, the ones that had an active life and took care of themselves 20 years earlier are the same ones that are enjoying an active life today. This doesn’t mean I’m embracing a life that is void of flavor, fun and enjoyment. Quite the contrary.
It’s exciting that some of the foods most recommended for good health are so delicious. The blueberry goes way beyond the smoothie. It’s fantastic in a spinach salad with a bit of fresh basil. In the heat of summer, keep organic frozen berries on hand for a quick snack or as an addition to low-fat yogurt for an antioxidant boost and nutritious treat. For dessert, how about a rosemary and honey shortcake with blackberries and blueberries? (You can stop by my restaurant Catelli’s and try this if you don’t want to make at home.)
I know that kale, chard and the dark leafy greens can be a bit intimidating. Once you start having them as part of your regular diet, I think that a love affair can be born. I take a bunch of kale, give it a rinse then stack it up and cut through it into one-inch slices. I throw it on a sheet pan, drizzle it with extra virgin olive oil and some salt, and roast in a 450 degrees oven for 3-5 minutes. You can give it a squeeze of lemon when it comes out for some extra flavor or a sprinkle of Parmesan. Another great way to enjoy kale or chard is by coating it with a generous amount of fresh lemon juice and olive oil over night. This softens and “cooks” the greens. If you keep the leaves whole, they become soft enough that you can use them as a wrap for other veggies or tuna.
And just to let you in on a little secret… it’s not random that I’m on a antioxidant mission today. I’m on a less-than-24-hour countdown to my 40th birthday and it looks like it’s going to be a blueberry smoothie and roasted kale salad kind of day.
Until next time, stay fresh and delicious!
~ Chef Domenica
What are your tricks for adding blueberries and other anti-aging foods to your diet? Share your summer recipes with the Food and Cooking Community.
Juice Plus Vineyard Blend contains blueberries. Juice Plus Orchard Blend contains kale
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Veggies, fruits, fish and supplements will help keep your vision sharp as you age
Veggies, fruits, fish and supplements will help keep your vision sharp as you age
By Evelyn Theiss, The Plain Dealer http://www.cleveland.com/healthfit/index.ssf/2010/04/veggies_fruits_fish_and_supple.html
April 12, 2010, 9:00PM
Foods like collard greens, walnuts and some cheeses all have nutrients in them that are beneficial to eyesight. 
Staci Andrews, The Plain DealerNutrients for your eyes
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Maybe a trim waistline isn't enough motivation for you to eat more leafy greens and fish. Lutein
• How much/where found: 10 mg a day, found in a half cup of spinach (cooking it gives you more lutein than eating it raw) or 3/4 cup of collard greens, kale or turnip greens.
• What it does: Helps filter blue and ultraviolet light; referred to as nature's sunglasses. May help prevent cataracts.
Zeaxanthin
• How much/where found: 6 to 10 mg a day, found in yellow or orange vegetables, such as orange peppers and sweet corn, and in spinach and greens. Tangerines and mandarin oranges will add to your daily total.
• What it does: Protects from ultraviolet and free-radical damage.
Essential fatty acids
(omega-3)
• How much/where found: Cold-water fish, like salmon (or herring, mackerel and sardines), are best source; 4 to 6 ounces of these three or four times a week is a good amount. In supplement form, start with 500 mg and go up to 1,000 mg, twice a day.
• What it does: Prevents buildup of plaque, reduces inflammation and also reduces oxidative cell damage to the retina.
Vitamin A
• How much/where found: Cheese, eggs and liver, broccoli leaves (florets don't have as much) and carrots, 2,310 IU a day for women and 3,200 IU for men. The upper limit, which you don't want to be near, is 10,000 for both men and women.
• What it does: Helps formation of rhodopsin, which assists in night vision.
Vitamins B-6 and B-12
• How much/where found: Fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, fish and eggs. B-6 (50 mg) and B-12 vitamins (1 mg), plus folate (2,500 micrograms, or mcg).
• What it does: May reduce risk of macular degeneration.
Vitamin C
• How much/where found: Fresh fruits, especially citrus fruit and juice; 500 mg a day. Upper limit for men and women is 2,000 mg.
• What it does: May reduce risk of macular degeneration.
Vitamin E
• How much/ where found: Raw nuts, especially walnuts -- six halves a day (unsalted). 400 IU a day.
• What it does: May reduce risk of macular degeneration.
Zinc
• How much/where found: Fish, meat (lean is better) and dairy products (low-fat is better). 40 mg a day is upper limit.
• What it does: Helpful for night vision, protection from macular degeneration.
What about the idea of keeping your eyesight well into old age?
Good nutrition for eye health goes beyond carrots and their beta carotene, doctors now say, and the addition of some key nutrients can help avoid two leading causes of vision loss and blindness -- age-related macular degeneration and cataracts -- and aid conditions such as dry eyes.
Researchers who study the connection between diet and eye health say certain supplements might be helpful even for those who do eat their vegetables, especially once you hit your 40s. That's when many age-related eye problems begin to crop up.
Rocky River optometrist Mark Davis spends his spare time studying the impact of nutrition on vision and eye health, as an active member of the Ocular Nutrition Society, an international society devoted to eye health.
"I am so tickled that more and more professionals are embracing the aspect of good nutrition for eye health," says Davis, who co-owns Europtical in Rocky River with his wife, Simona. "The field is recognizing that people want to know about this -- they're interested in supplements, too -- and now we're doing more research to find what is beneficial and what isn't."
The nutrients that Davis currently encourages his patients to take include lutein (it helps with night vision), zeaxanthin (it protects the eyes from ultraviolet damage and prevents free-radical damage to the retina and lens), omega-3 oils (the DHA in them prevents retinal damage), zinc (good for preventing macular degeneration) and vitamin A (helps our night vision, but excessive doses can be toxic.)
Lutein, especially, is crucial when it comes to eye health as we age -- it is present in the macula of the retina and helps us discern fine details. We are born with a certain amount, but since the body doesn't produce it, the amount of lutein in your eyes depletes with age -- so the only way to get it is by ingesting it.
Some foods -- the same ones that are bad for the rest of your body -- are bad for you eyes as well. Hydrogenated oils, for example, are linked with arterial plaque, inflammation, diabetes and other chronic illnesses. Too much saturated fat -- say, more than one main-dish-sized serving a week of beef, pork or lamb -- has been shown to increase the risk of macular degeneration. There also seems to be a link between being overweight and eye disease (independent of the eye damage, retinopathy, related to diabetes) including an increased risk for cataracts and glaucoma.
Study showed effectsof zinc, antioxidants
Davis' interest in the connection between nutrition and the eyes was forged when he was doing his residency at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Cleveland in 1992. That hospital was one of the research-gathering sites for what would become the National Institutes of Health's study on age-related macular degeneration, or AMD.It's referred to by doctors as AREDS, an acronym for Age-Related Eye Disease Study. Results showed that high levels of antioxidants and zinc significantly reduced the risk of advanced AMD and its associated vision loss. (A second AREDS is under way.)
"That truly spearheaded my, and a lot of other people's, interest in the connection between vitamins and minerals and vision," says Davis.
The optometrist recently returned from a professional meeting of the Ocular Nutrition Society in Atlanta in late February, where much of the focus in the lectures was on how antioxidants found in fruits, vegetables and supplements aid eye health, as do omega-3 oils.
"This wasn't the Reader's Digest version we heard," says Davis. "Everything was all about the clinical studies, what they're showing, what they're looking at next."
Age-related macular degeneration is the leading cause of blindness in people older than 50 -- and AREDS revealed that people with macular degeneration were able to achieve a 25 percent reduction in its progression when they upped their intake of key antioxidants combined with a zinc supplement (tinyurl.com/aredstudy shows more details).
Hundreds more studies have been done since then on eye health and nutrition, and much more research will take place in the next five years, says Davis, especially into lutein, zeaxanthin and omega-3s. "We have enough research to show these are beneficial, but we need more clinical data to back that up."
Most people don't eat enough fruits, veggies
Steven Meadows, an eye surgeon with offices in Fairview Park and Lakewood, also is intrigued by the effects of a healthy diet."I tell patients that if you eat at least three servings each of fruits and vegetables a day, you'll probably get everything you need," he says. "But today, most people don't do that, so it's worth taking vitamins and supplements."
Meadows says that he is at increased risk of macular degeneration because he is farsighted, has blue eyes and a family history of the disease. The main risk factor, though, is age. So he has become meticulous about eating more fruits and vegetables.
"I've seen the research that says people who eat spinach two times a week develop macular degeneration at a lower rate," he says. And after researchers determined that, they isolated lutein in spinach as making that contribution.
Soon after, lutein became an ingredient incorporated into supplements aimed at healthy vision.
Meadows says one of the most common problems many of his patients have -- and a condition more common with age -- is dry eyes. It's especially a problem for women who are postmenopausal, and for those who wear contact lenses. Working in front of a computer all day can aggravate it, too.
For people with dry eyes, he recommends omega-3 fatty acids, either taken in the form of eating fatty fish like salmon three or four times a week, or adding ground flaxseed to foods, or taking fish-oil or flaxseed-oil supplements.
"Your body can't manufacture the omega-3, so you have to take it in," he explains. He said he's seen a dramatic difference in tear quality with people who get a good dose of the oil, and those healthy tears often help people achieve less-blurry vision.
"I don't eat enough fish, so I take it myself," Meadows says.
Eye doctors say the demand for their services is expected to dramatically increase over the next few years, due to a major portion of the population aging into eye problems and to the diabetes epidemic.
The Ocular Nutrition Society predicts, "Disease prevention, including lifestyle modification, attention to dietary intake and micronutrient supplementation must become more of a focus of primary vision care."
What can you do? Eat more veggies, more often. Then add fruit.
How much should you take?
You've heard it before: Ideally, you need at least nine servings total of fruits and vegetables a day for your eyes and your general health.
Yet the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said less than 15 percent of the population consumes even five servings of fruits and vegetables a day.
People who eat fish more than four times a week have a lower risk of macular degeneration than those who consume it less than three times a month. Omega-3 fatty acids are known to improve blood circulation to the eye.
So try to improve your nutrition -- taking baby steps if you need to -- and consider taking supplements. We've added the amounts (in milligrams and international units) of most of the nutrients that research has shown to be helpful for your eyes, in case you decide to boost your totals using supplements.
The main nutrients shown to help you keep your eyes healthy as you age are those with the antioxidants lutein and zeaxanthin; essential fatty acids (omega-3s in particular); vitamins A, B, C and E; and zinc.
In the Age-Related Eye Disease Study, the National Eye Institute (of the National Institutes of Health) found that the combination of daily supplements to bring down the risk or progression of age-related macular degeneration is: 500 mg of vitamin C, 400 IU of vitamin E, 15 mg of beta carotene, 80 mg of zinc oxide and 2 mg of copper, also known as cupric acid. For the second ARED study now under way, the level of zinc has been cut back to 25 mg.
As always, it's best to talk to your doctor for advice before starting a new regimen.
Juice Plus contains 17 different fruits, vegetables and grains to help bridge the gap between what you eat and what you should eat.
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