Along my journey I have acquired a rather large volume of self-education regarding foods and nutrition. There are innumerable "experts" in this arena and much of the information has to be taken with a "grain of salt" (which by chance has to be the thing I miss most about raw food - and I have started using small amounts of sea salt from Trader Joe's).
Yesterday I watched an amazing movie (having previously viewed FOOD, INC. and KING CORN) and I would recommend to all that you spend the $5 and watch FOOD MATTERS!
In this blog I have gathered some of the readings that I found in Google much of which was new information to me. At the end is one of the best free raw food books I have found.
FOODS AND SKIN
Eat Like a Greek to Avoid Skin Cancer
Not only do Greeks, Turks, Israelis and others who follow a traditional Mediterranean diet have lower rates of heart disease and cancer, but thanks to all the colorful fruits and vegetables, nuts, legumes, olive oil, yogurt and fresh fish they eat, they also have extremely low rates of melanoma.
And new research from Israel suggests that the Mediterranean diet protects against this potentially deadly form of skin cancer. Investigators gave one group of study volunteers a daily drink that was high in antioxidants; a second group drank beverages such as sodas instead. After two weeks - and five to six hours per day in the sun - blood tests showed that the volunteers who drank the antioxidant mix had 50 percent fewer oxidation products in their blood than the soda drinkers. In addition, drinking the antioxidant cocktail also delayed a tell-tale skin change - one that indicates the beginning of the tissue and DNA damage that can lead to skin cancer.
FOODS AND ARTHRITIS
How Certain Foods May Affect Your Arthritis
June 04, 2007
By Lisette Hilton
Content provided by Revolution Health Group
If you're looking for that magical food that will rid you of arthritis or that might be the culprit in making it worse, you'll find convincing claims — but not a lot of solid scientific research to back them up.
"Good" controlled research trial data is lacking to suggest that any one food or vitamin supplement has a significant impact directly on the pain or progression of osteoarthritis, says Patience White, M.D., a rheumatologist and chief public health officer for the Arthritis Foundation, a not-for-profit organization in Washington, D.C.
Osteoarthritis is joint trauma that usually affects single joints in the body such as the knees and hips. The research is more plentiful in the area of rheumatoid arthritis, however, where studies suggest that omega-3 fatty acids (found in cold-water fish like salmon and mackerel, as well as olive oil, walnuts and flax) may have a positive impact on the disease because of their potential anti-inflammatory effect.
The anti-inflammatory diet
While widespread research has not proven that natural sources of omega-3 fatty acids can help osteoarthritis, some experts think there is a link between what people eat and inflammation in the body, including joint inflammation.
Omega-3's are good all-around. Lona Sandon, a registered dietitian who's a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association and an assistant professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, recommends omega-3's for people with rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. Sandon, who has rheumatoid arthritis, says natural sources of omega-3's are better than omega-3 vitamin supplements. That's because fish provides you with nutritional benefits that supplements do not. Those include less saturated fat and high-quality protein. Also, supplements cannot make up for poor dietary habits. Fish oil or omega-3's also come in gel caps, which you can find at your health food or vitamin store.)
A study published in Rheumatology International in 2003 showed that people following a typical Western diet with a fish oil supplement did not gain as much benefit as those following a primarily plant-based diet with the supplement.
If you choose the supplement route, Sandon advises to take only up to 2,000 milligrams a day to avoid any side effects, ranging from excessive bruising to stroke. "The adequate [daily] intake is 1,100 milligrams," Sandon says. To put this into perspective, one 3-ounce serving of salmon contains 1,800 milligrams, 1 ounce of walnuts has 2,600 milligrams and 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseed has 3,200 milligrams.
Stock up on olive oil. Sandon also recommends olive oil for people with arthritis. High olive oil consumption, she says, is linked in studies to lower incidences of rheumatoid arthritis.
Sandon recommends one-half to 1 tablespoon a day. Olive oil can be added to vegetables or salads in place of other fats, she says. A study published in The Journal of Nutrition in 2005 found that a diet that’s high in omega-3's and olive oil resulted in more overall health improvements. Mediterranean cultures that eat fish and olive oil regularly have a much lower incidence of arthritis, Sandon notes. "Olive oil provides the monounsaturated fatty acid, which then replaces some of the saturated or polyunsaturated fats in the diet. By having more of this monounsaturated fat, it changes how the body responds, or lowers the inflammation levels in the body," Sandon says.
Vegetarian or meat? Avoiding meats and following a predominately vegetarian diet might help some people with arthritis, Sandon says. The theory is that meats, including red meats and poultry skins, are filled with saturated fats, which promote inflammation in the body.
Taking vitamin D and calcium don't help directly with arthritis, but they help build stronger bones in both men and women, which lessens the chances for a fracture later in life, says Yusuf Yazici, M.D., a rheumatologist and director of the Seligman Center at the New York University (NYU) Hospital for Joint Diseases. Injury and trauma to joints can lead to osteoarthritis. Calcium-rich and calcium-fortified foods, as well as supplements, are great sources. Sun exposure helps to get the needed vitamin D.
Mixed signals on glucosamine and chondroitin. Yazici says that glucosamine and chondroitin (often in supplement form together) might be worth a try if you have osteoarthritis.
"Glucosamine-chondroitin has been shown in some studies to help with osteoarthritis of the knee, and some studies have shown that it might not help. It might help, especially for moderate to more severe kinds of arthritis …," Yazici says. "If patients ask about it, I say that it has a 50 percent chance of helping. Usually, I tell them to take it for about six months … and if it doesn't help in six months, it's probably not going to help.” The only potential problem with taking glucosamine-chondroitin is being on the blood-thinning medication Coumadin, according to Elinor Mody, staff rheumatologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and the director of its Women’s Orthopedic and Joint Disease Center. The combination could cause the blood to become overly thin. "That's as far as we know; studies are limited, however. No dietary restrictions should interfere [with taking the supplements]," Mody says.
Cut out omega-6 polyunsaturated fats. Consider cutting out foods with these bad fats that are typically found in prepared foods such as snack chips, crackers and cookies. While they might not directly impact your arthritis, they will affect your heart health and weight — even your chance of diabetes. Increased weight could affect your joint health, and some believe these foods promote inflammation.
See for yourself what's good, bad Whether certain foods affect your arthritis is an individual thing, many experts say. Often, the best way to find out is to eat a certain food that you suspect might affect your arthritis and see how you feel in the morning. If you're stiffer than usual, try cutting out that food and see if you feel better. There are all sorts of foods that are reputed to cause flairs of pain and stiffness in some people. "Some people are sensitive to the nightshade family of plants — tomatoes, peppers, eggplant," says Hyla Cass, M.D., a Pacific Palisades, Calif.-based psychiatrist and author of integrative health books, including Eight Weeks to Vibrant Health (McGraw-Hill, 2004). Some believe that the nightshade plants promote inflammation, although studies are lacking to suggest which, if any, of these foods results in more inflammation. Nightshades contain a chemical that interferes with an enzyme called cholinesterase, which allows nerves and muscles to relax. The chemical can lead to muscle spasm, aches, pains, tenderness, inflammation and a stiff body. These symptoms may dissipate in a few hours or days if ingestion of the particular offending food is stopped, Cass says. "If you suffer from arthritis, you should keep a food diary to identify foods that may trigger worsening of symptoms," Sandon says.
One sure thing White says that people with diabetes would benefit from working to achieve a healthy body weight through diet and exercise. "If you lose a little bit of weight — 15 pounds — you'll decrease your pain [from osteoarthritis of the knee] by 50 percent. That's better than any drug we have out there," she says. "We know from studies that every pound you gain is like 4 pounds across your knees."
FOODS AND CANCER
Dr. William Li, president and medical director of The Angiogenesis Foundation, says the excessive or insufficient growth of capillaries is a common denominator in many debilitating conditions like age-related blindness, cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetic ulcers, stroke, and many others. Your body can regulate the number of blood vessels it needs at any given time using an elaborate system of stimulators and inhibitors.
Defects in this system can lead to certain diseases, Dr. Li explains. When your body cannot grow enough new blood vessels, it can lead to problems such as erectile dysfunction, heart disease, the inability to heal chronic wounds, neuropathy, and stroke. On the other hand, when your body cannot “prune back” extra blood vessels, this promotes arthritis, blindness, cancer, endometriosis, and multiple sclerosis.
Cancer and Capillaries
Like other cells in your body, cancer cells cannot survive without the nutrients and oxygen
provided by capillaries. Many people carry cancer cell clusters in their bodies, but not all of them actually develop cancer. Dr. Li believes that as long as your body has the ability to properly balance angiogenesis, blood vessels will not be formed to feed these microscopic tumors. It is only when cancer cells get their own blood supply that they turn deadly. Anti-angiogenesis therapy is the method of cutting off blood supply to cancer cells. Unlike healthy vessels, tumor vessels are abnormal and poorly constructed and because of that, they're highly vulnerable to treatments that target them, Dr. Li explains. Obesity is also dependent on angiogenesis because like tumor cells, fat cells grow when capillaries grow. Dr. Li points out that there are about a dozen anti-angiogenesis cancer drugs that have significantly increased the survival rates of patients. But what is more exciting and promising about angiogenic research is not just making better drugs to fight cancer; it’s in preventing cancer from occurring in the first place, Dr. Mercola points out.
There are a large number of fruits, herbs and vegetables that are natural angiogenesis inhibitors.
According to Dr. Li, anti-angiogenesis foods include:
• Artichokes
• Berries – blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries
• Cherries
• Garlic
• Green tea
• Kale
• Maitake mushrooms
• Parsley
• Red Grapes
THE POCKET GUIDE TO INFLAMMATION
http://nutrition.about.com/library/ninflam.htm
Unexpected effects of a wheat-free diet
Posted Sep 17 2009
http://www.wellsphere.com/heart-health-article/unexpected-effects-of-a-wheat-free-diet/805019
Wheat elimination continues to yield explosive and unexpected health benefits. I initially asked patients in the office to eliminate wheat because I wanted to help them reduce blood sugar and pre-diabetic tendencies.
A patient would come to the office, for example, with a blood sugar of 118 mg/dl (in the prediabetic range) and the other phenomena of pre-diabetes or metabolic syndrome (high blood pressure, high inflammation/c-reactive protein, low HDL, high triglycerides, small LDL), and the characteristic wheat belly. Eliminate wheat and, within three months, they lose 30 lbs, blood sugar drops to normal, blood pressure drops, triglycerides drop by several hundred milligrams, HDL goes up, small LDL plummets, c-reactive protein drops.
People also felt better, with flat tummies and more energy. But they also developed benefits I did not anticipate:
--Improved rheumatoid arthritis --I have seen this time and time again. Eliminate wheat and the painful thumbs, fingers, and other joints clear up dramatically. Many former rheumatoid sufferers people tell me that one cracker or pretzel will trigger a painful throbbing reminder that lasts a couple of hours.
--Improved ulcerative colitis --People incapacitated with pain, cramping, and diarrhea of ulcerative colitis (who are negative for the antibodies for celiac disease) can experience marked
improvement. I've seen people be able to stop all their nasty colitis medications just by eliminating wheat.
--Reduction or elimination of irritable bowel syndrome
--Reduction or elimination of gastroesophageal reflux
--Better mood --Eliminating wheat makes you happier and experience more stable moods. Just as
wheat is responsible for a subset of schizophrenia and bipolar illness (this is fact), and wheat
elimination generates dramatic improvement, when you or I eliminate wheat, we also experience a "smoothing" of mood swings.
--Better libido --I'm not sure whether this is a consequence of losing a belly the size of a
watermelon or improvement in sex hormones (esp. testosterone) or endothelial responses, but
more interest in sex typically develops.
--Better complexion --I'm not entirely sure why, but various rashes will often dissipate, bags under the eyes are reduced, itching in funny places stops.
It's also peculiar how, after someone eliminates wheat for several months, re-exposure of an errant cracker or sandwich results in cramping and diarrhea in about 30% of people. Obviously, people with celiac disease, who can even die of exposure to wheat, are even worse. What other common food do you know of that makes us sick so often, even occasionally with fatal outcome?
Ann Wigmore Chart for Raw & Living Foods
Ann Wigmore is one of the pioneers of raw food living. This link has her chart for raw and living foods and information about raw and whole foods.
http://www.greensmoothie.com/eat/wigmore.html
THE SIMPLE GUIDE TO EATING RAW FOOD
Sheryl and Piers Druz from Raw-Pleasure in Australia has a beautifully illustrated ebook that is currently available as a free download. It's title is "The Simple Guide to Eating Raw". Some of you might be familiar with the ebook when it first came out in 2006. It is now in the expanded 2nd edition and has almost double the recipes and new stories of people's experiences on raw.
Please note again that the ebook is completely free, but you need to download it at http://www.raw-pleasure.com.au/ebooks/. According to both Sheryl and Piers, sending people to download it here makes sure they get future updates and other great free help as well as supporting Raw Pleasure to create and share more lifesaving free educational material.
Enjoy your free ebook if you get your hand on it!
NON-GMO SHOPPING GUIDE
The Environmental Working Group has a downloadable guide to pesticides in food:
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