The American Dietetic Association recommends 25 grams of fiber daily for women and 38 grams for men.  Most of us are only getting 15 grams of fiber a day.  The World Health Organization extimates cardiovascular disease causes approximately 17.5 million deaths per year world-wide.  A vegetarian or living food lifestyle will greatly lower your incidence of heart disease than it will for meat eaters.  Saturated animal fats raise cholesterol levels and clog arteries.  Eating a well balanced vegetarian diet will give your body the heart-healthy nutrients it needs.  Foods like fruit, veggies, and whole grains are easy and fun to prepare and eat. 

These six food compounds can significantly reduce the risk of heart disease: Soluble fiber, Potassium, Carotenoids, Omega-3 fatty acids, B vitamins and Flavonoids. 

Soluble fiber combines with water in your GI tract to absorb cholesterol and stop it from being distributed through your body.  It will also push it out of you.  We all know how great fiber is for elimination, right?  Sometimes called roughage, fiber is the indigestable portion of plant food.  Wikipedia says, “Soluble fiber, like all fiber, cannot be digested.  But is does change as it passes through the digestive tract, being transformed (fermented) by bacteria there.  Soluble fiber also absorbs water to become a gelatinous substance that passes through the body”.   What foods are fiber filled?  Whole grains like oats, barley, and pinto beans, potatoes, brussel sprouts and fruits like apples, plums and oranges are good sources of soluble fiber, whereas 100% bran cereal has more insoluble fiber.  Insoluble fiber will pass through the body unchanged.

Potassium is associated with lowering blood pressure levels.  It counters the effect of excess sodium and aids in transmitting nerve impulses and promotes normal muscle function.  Both effective for optimal heart and blood vessel health.  Foods like potatoes, bananas, dark leafy greens, pumpkin seed, avocado and almonds are high in potassium.  Potassium deficiency can lead to high blood pressure problems, hypertension, strokes, and heart irregularities.  Meat, poultry and fish are high in potassium, but it’s not healthy to eat an entirely carnivorous diet.  These foods will cause a rise in acid levels and deplete potassium levels.  Instead of supplements, try a slice of cantaloupe, a banana or strawberries. 

Omega-3 fatty acids are essential fatty acids that play a key role in heart health.  These are a class of polyunsaturated fats.  They cannot be manufactured by the body so must be obtained from food.  They contain molecules that will ward off blood clots that can trigger stroke and heart attacks.  Omega-3 fatty acids reduce inflammation and prevent risk factors associated with chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer and arthritis.  You can find Omega-3 fatty acids in flaxseed, flaxseed oil, walnuts, soy, and baby dark leafy greens like watercress and arugula.

Low blood levels of B vitamins and folic acid have been found to increase the risk of atherosclerosis, which can lead to heart attacks and stroke.  Atherosclerosis is a condition in which fatty material collects along the walls of the arteries.  Some sources of B vitamins are fortified breakfast cereals, sunflower seeds, potatoes, broccoli and asparagus.

Flavonoids have antioxidative and anti-inflammatory properties that protect you against heart disease.  They keep the lining of the arteries flexible which will promote healthy blood flow and reduce clotting.  Catechin is a flavonoid compound found in tea and cocoa and it can reduce heart disease.  It’s found in dark chocolate, green tea, red wine, extra virgin olive oil and apples.  Soy flavonoids (isoflavones) can also reduce blood cholesterol and can help to prevent osteoporis. 

Carotenoids have fat solubility and antioxidant properties.  These plant chemicals are a big factor in fighting heart disease. and give fruits and veggies their yellow, red and orange colors, not to mention the green in plants.  There is evidence they interact with bad LDL cholesterol and prevent if from oxidizing and sticking to the artery walls.  Food sources of carotenoids are carrots, spinach, kale, collard greens, red peppers and tomatoes.  However, to maximize the availability of these carotenoids in your food, they should be eaten raw or lightly steamed.

And please….don’t forget your emotional heart.  Feeling emotionally healthy is just as important.  Get in touch with your physical and emotional body.  Yoga, meditation, chi gong…all great ways to start “feeling”.  Releasing all the “baggage” will detox your blood as well as your muscles. 

Breathe, breathe and breathe again.  Keep going……

I’ve mentioned many times in this venue how raw, living food is what will allow the body to heal.  Not cooking your food keeps enzymes, oxygen and water content in your food, and therefore making it better able for your body to absorb.  Heating destroys nutrients and your food’s enzymes.  Heating also destroys water soluble vitamins like vitamin C and all the B vitamins.  I still eat a small amount of cooked food, but it just doesn’t taste the same anymore.  I’m eating more vegan food as well as high raw foods.  The past couple of weeks, since I’ve been moving around a lot, I’ve had a cucumber for breakfast almost every day. I know vegetables for breakfast?  Yes, and you can too.  It’s all about changing your patterns.  Fresh organic produce has been easy to find these days.  I am in the Adirondacks in New York State taking advantage of the local farmers markets every week. 

If you want to get good at anything, you have to focus, learn and invest some time in learning how it works, right?  Everyone needs to learn about taking care of their body because everyone has a body.  In addtion to your “day job”, you need to make the time to learn the basics of taking care of your body.  The reason we believe what the drug companies, media, agricultural and food and beverage companies have to say is because we are nutritionally ignorant.  So let’s learn a little bit more about the food we cook on a daily basis.

When you cook food on a grill, stove top, oven, camp fire or a microwave, you are changing the molecular structure of the food and change the nutritional content and digestibility.  This structure becomes denatured, deranged and degraded, and the molecules are changed into new chemical configurations and carcinogenic byproducts are formed, thereby promoting a broad spectrum of allergies, infections and degenerative diseases..  Certainly the degree to which this happens depends on the cooking time, temperature and method of cooking.  Heating food above 105-120 degrees F, destroys all enzymes and lowers the concentration of vitamins and minerals.  You body can produce the enzymes necessary for digestion and absorption of food, however this process requires a great deal of energy that would otherwise be used for  the process of elimination, fighting disease, and allowing you to function at an optimal physical and mental level. 

In cooked foods, fats are carcinogenized, carbs are caramelized, and proteins are coagulated and become virtually unusable by the body and fiber becomes barely usable in the colon.  Heating food also creates toxic byproducts.  Here’s a few of these dangerous byproducts:

Acrylamides:  Cancer causing byproducts of cooking carbohydrate food such as breads, potatoes, pastries and any other kinds of starch.  The FDA acknowledges on their website the perils of acrylamides, but the processed and fast food industry would rather you don’t know about these.

Epoxides, Hydroperoxides, unsaturated aldehydes:  These three are generated when you cook the fat from meat, milk, eggs and fish.  From Wikipedia, “An epoxide is a cyclic ether.”  The rest of the definition on Wikipedia was not even understandable to me.

Furfural/furans: generated when sugars are heated.  Wikipedia states, “Except for occasional use in perfume, furfural remained a relatively obscure chemical until 1922, when the Quaker Oats Company began mass-producing it from oat hulls….When heated above 250 degrees, furfural decomposes into furan and carbon monoxide, sometimes explosively… Furfural is also used as a solvent in petrochemical refining….” 

Nitrosamines:  When nitrogen oxides in the gas flame from gas ovens or barbecues interact with fats, these toxins are created.  Nitrosamines are chemical compounds of a chemical structure, some of which are carcinogenic.

Polycyclic Hydrocarbons:  These carcinogens are generated from the charring of meat. From Wikipedia,  ”PAHs occur in oil, coal and tar deposits, and are produced as byproducts of fuel burning….as a pollutant, they are of concern because some compounds have been identified as carcinogenic, mutagenic, and teratogenic….PAHs are also found in foods.  Studies have shown that most food intake of PAHs comes from cereals, oils and fats.  Smaller intakes come from vegetables and cooked meats.”

Hydrogenated oils and Trans fats:  These are man-made.  They are also called hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated fats and were specifically developed to allow processed foods to sit on the shelf longer without going rancid.  Many of today’s common foods are now cooked in these trans fats.  Consuming these fats can lead to obesity, heart disease, an increase in bad cholesterol and lowering of the good.  Also keep in mind when you heat common cooking oils, the heat denatures the oil molecule and causes the oil to turn rancid.

Are you still asking yourself what happens to you if you eat cooked foods?  Digestive leukocytes is a term that refering to when your body produces an increase of white blood cells, indicating the body is on the attack.  This response also happens when you eat cooked food.  However it does not happen when you eat raw foods.   A build up of toxic, acidic waste materials, often referred to as “free radicals”, accumulates in the skin, liver, nervous system and brain when you consume large amounts of cooked food.  When you don’t get the proper nutrients in your diet, your white blood cells are always on the attack mode.  Toxic waste are circulating in your weak and overworked body, allowing it to breed common ailments such as allergies, headaches, sinusitis, diabetes, heart disease, erectile dysfunction, depression, arthritis, osteoporosis, and various cancers will thrive.  Unfriendly flora build-up is also a byproduct of cooked foods.  Unfriendly bacteria take over the colon, feeding on thick, undigested and uneliminated cooked food putrefying in the intestines.  This flora will give off a waste product that is a food for cancer cells.  Eating a plant based uncooked diet will decrease the toxic load on the colon and will also decrease unfriendly bacteria and its dangerous byproducts.

Not cooking your food will have the following benefits: Weight stabilization, increased energy, more restful sleep, radiant skin, enhanced mental clarity, increased immune function and prevention of illness.  You don’t need to eliminate all cooked food from your diet to have these benefits.  How about just substituting one meal a day with raw food for starters?  Or if you are already doing that, how about increasing to one day a week eating nothing but uncooked food?  Most people believe lunch or dinner is their best bet for raw.  Large salads with every veggie in the fridge, juicing a meal or sandwiches with sprouted grain bread (these breads are usually available in the frozen section.  They are baked at low temperatures to retain the nutritional content of their ingredients). Top your sandwich with all raw ingredients, like veggies and sprouts.  It doesn’t have to be fancy, just make it colorful.

Be proactive about your own health.  Stay informed.  It’s your job.

As always, consult your primary physician if you have questions regarding your specific circumstances.

I remember eating salad growing up.  I remember carrots and potatoes placed beside the meat on my plate.  I remember tuna added to the spaghetti sauce.  I’m sure we had vegetables.  My brother had a garden in our backyard.  I remember pictures of him tending to it.  Most of my knowledge about vegetarian and living food comes from my parents, but not when I was a kid.  I learned most of it later on in life when they both started their own vegetarian/living food lifestyle. 

The body requires electrically charged foods.  This energy comes from sunlight and many veggies are a prime source of chlorophyll.  Chlorophyll is vital for photosynthesis, which is what plants use to obtain their energy from light.  The body needs vegetables to aid in the making of essential nutrients.  Leafy greens are a high alkaline food.  They contain protein and important amino acids used in breaking down protein.  Past eating habits have built up highly acidic environments in our bodies. 

Broccoli-all parts of the broccoli are highly nutritious.  An antioxidant, it also contains potassium, calcium, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, magnesium, beta-carotene and Lutein.  Great for dipping, lightly sauteing or blanching.   You can also make a raw broccoli soup by putting all parts of the broccoli into your Vitamix blender, combined with water, onion and any spices that float your boat.

Cauliflower-contains calcium, potassium, sulphur and silicon.  Try juicing the leaves and the flower for a highly beneficial drink.  You can also eat raw, make a mock mashed potato either cold or cooked, by adding garlic, olive oil and onion.  Cauliflower also has sulforaphane which enters your bloodstream and helps your antioxidant defense systems.

Celery-mmmmmmm. A highly nutritious, alkaline veggie.  Juice it with the leaves on or eat raw with almond butter topping.  Celery can reduce blood pressure and help with appetite control.  It contains chlorine, sodium, potassium and magnesium.

Kale-a favorite of mine for making green smoothies.  Kale has phytochemicals high in sulphur and aids the body’s detoxification enzymes.  It contains sulphorapahne which comes out when kale is chopped, chewed or juiced.  Other nutrients in kale are calcium, iron, Vitamin A, C and K, beta-carotene, lutein and zeaxanthin, with are known to help protect against molecular degeneration.

Beets-Ok, this in one veggie I haven’t gotten my daughter to eat.  I think they taste like apple and absolutely love them either raw or lightly cooked.  Victoria Boutenko says eating beets should not turn your urine red.  Juiced beets can have a high sugar concentrate.  Sugar beet juice was used in Chicago to help prevent ice build up on the roads (just a little tid bit for you).  Beets are a very good source of betaine, potassium and folate and can help to replenish iron that is lost during the menstrual cycle.  It is good for the liver and heart health.

Red Bell Pepper-source of Vitamin A, C and Potassium, it also contains Lycopene.  Red is better than green when it comes to peppers.  Green peppers can be hard on the digestion.

Avocado-another yummy veggie.  High in heart healthy monounsaturated fat, it also contains Vitamin E and glutathione.  We need fats in order for the body to work.  Make guacamole by adding tomatoes, sea salt, and onion (optional).  Dip other veggies like carrots, cucumbers, or mushrooms into it instead of chips. 

Put a salad together with all the above ingredients and add flaxseed oil, a dash of any seasonings that you enjoy.  You can also add apple cider vinegar or liquid amino and top with any sprouts you found at the local market. 

How can you get your children to eat them if they won’t?  First, keep trying to add different veggies to their plate.  Babies have taste buds not only on their tongue, but on the sides and roof of their mouth.  This means they could be very sensitive to certain foods.  But as they grow, the taste buds disappear from the sides of the mouth.  As you get older, your taste buds become less sensitive and you will most likely be able to eat foods that you didn’t when you were younger.  Change it up.  Add color and mix veggies in with pasta or soup, or use veggies to dip into their favorite dressing.

Enjoy your veggies!

I don’t remember the morning program I was watching the other day that stated Colorado and Vermont are two of the thinnest states in the United States and that obesity is on the rise throughout the country.  Fast food restaurants are popping up on every street corner in America.  Why Colorado and Vermont?  They say because they are four season states.  The ability to get out there and exercise throughout all four seasons is more readily available in these states.  I believe, since I’ve lived in Vermont for over 20 years that it is also because there are less fast food restaurants and more local farms and local produce available.  Vermont is the only state that does not have a McDonalds in their capital city.

I remember growing up in Connecticut going to McDonalds at least once a week. There were10 of us in my family and my dad would have to go with a list.  It was a highlight of the week. The other highlight was game night in my home.  The prize for winning Bingo was a Twinkie or a Susie-Q.  However, we also grew up with a tennis court, basketball court and swimming pool in our yard.  Exercise was also available.  And my parents went vegetarian before any of us did and passed that knowledge onto us later in life.  It’s not too late to start good habits for you or your children.

Healthy eating starts in your own home.  The local schools can only do so much with presenting healthy food to your children if you are not willing to support that in your own home.  Obesity rates have doubled for adults and tripled for children since 1980.  Is it any wonder?  Fast food joints, vending machines and inactive lifestyles, contribute to a country with an obesity epidemic. 

What are some other factors for obesity?  Genetics, emotions, age, culture and medical problems all influence weight gain.  As you age, muscle mass decreases and will slow metabolism (I’ve been seeing that one myself).  Because of this, your exercise and eating patterns must be adjusted.  This could be a great time to read those books on your shelf about being a vegetarian or raw foodist.  Our bodies want to move.  Take the stairs instead of the elevator.  Park your car in the furthest space away from the store.  By keeping a journal of your food and how you are feeling before you eat, you can start to recognize your eating habits.  Are you eating just because you are sad, anxious, or angry?  Notice how when your children hurt emotionally, the first thing you may want to do is feed them.  They need emotional nurturing, not a way to deny their feelings with food.  Start a diary with your kids.  This could also help to diagnose food allergies.

We learn about eating and cooking in our own households growing up.  In our family, birthdays were plentiful and also a great reason to get together for pizza, soda and cake.  Do you praise your children with food for good behavior or winning a game?  Most of us don’t recognize the habits we are teaching our children.  Think about your own upbringing.  What were your patterns when it came to food?  How can you help your child learn good eating and exercise habits?  Get rid of the distractions at the dinner table; the newspapers, tv and phone.  Eat slower, even with less talking.  Save the talking for before dinner during preparation and after dinner during clean-up. 

The Mayo Clinic states the following:  “Although there are some genetic and hormonal causes of childhood obesity, most excess weight is caused by kids eating too much and exercising too little. Children, unlike adults, need extra nutrients and calories to fuel their growth and development. So if they consume the calories needed for daily activities, growth and metabolism, they add pounds in proportion to their growth. But children who eat more calories than needed gain weight beyond what’s required to support their growing bodies”.

Get excited about learning some new things with your kids.  Yoga, raw food, the local farmer’s market, or just the fruit and vegetable isle at the grocery store.  Get out the juicer that you bought yourself and is now gathering dust in the cabinet.  Let the kids choose what fruits they want to throw in.  See who can achieve the best color of juice!  It’s ice cream season.  Some juicers will make really awesome, healthy and fresh ice cream.

Here’s to family health!

I’ve been hearing so much about all the shifts in the universe these last months.  Is this the time for you to shift?  What do you need to do to shift?  What are you experiencing these days?  Is there struggle?  Is there drama?  Is there something pushing you from behind?  How can you use these struggles and difficulties?

Most of you know I am closing my business that I’ve had for 20 years and moving to another state.  Big changes, right?  I’m ready; I’ve been ready and preparing for quite some time now.  A good friend of mine decided a few weeks ago to start eating healthier.  What was it that caused her shift?  She certainly has heard me talk about adding living foods and decreasing processed foods for many years.  So why now?  Why is she now reading these blogs I’ve been writing, when I’ve been writing them for over six months?  Very simply put.  It was her time.  Another friend of mine I’ve always felt was struggling with what we’ve been talking about regarding shifts.  But the struggle was with me, not just the idea of shifts. She certainly has enough skill and tools to do her work.  Today was the first day she actually opened up to what the problem was and why she didn’t exactly “hear” me.  She quickly changed the subject, but not before I “heard” what my intuition has been telling me for years.  Was this my time?  Have I been doing so much clearing of the old, to actually begin to accept the truth?

Let’s go back to my first friend.  She started drinking a lot more water, took out soda and her nightly handfuls of jelly beans completely.  She added more fruits and fresh veggies and was very conscious about what was coming up for her.  She called me after about two days of this and said, “What’s up with the sugar cravings?”  I laughed and said, “Ah, you are noticing you have sugar cravings?”  That’s a great first step.  Noticing.  In yoga we say, first acknowledge you have the feeling.  But how can you notice it if each time it comes up, you are quickly pushing it down with sugar, processed food and/or alcohol (you know the rest)?  She’s now been walking this new lifestyle for a few weeks.  Today her phone call was, “What’s up with the nausea?”  Yep, something else to notice.  Toxins build up in the body.  They build up from past emotional struggle and from past food that has not been “digested”.  And toxins are toxic!  The more we accumulate, the harder it is to get rid of.  It builds up and backs up.  So now, my friend, ”Are you also having some really good bowel movements?”  Oh yeah.  Now you are helping to get rid of those toxins. 

Ok, so what can I do about these things?  Nux vomica, the homeopathic alternative for nausea, comes in those little blue vials filled with little white pellets.  You usually disolve 5 pellets under your tongue, three times a day.  You can always find something for whatever you are experiencing in the Boiron aisle.  The bowel movements, I’m afraid, not as easy to ease.  It has to happen.  Stay close to a bathroom and just know that this too shall pass (pun intended)!  Length of time?  Varies for everyone, depending on how much is in there and how much of a transition you are going for.  If you have been a standard american diet (SAD) eater, then I suggest going to vegetarian food for a bit.  Adding in more and more raw and fresh fruits and veggies.  Read, read and read some more.  Find a group or person in your area that have some experience with living food and detox.  Drink, and drink some more green smoothies!  Add the high water content veggies like, cucumber and celery to your diet.  My friend didn’t go completely raw.  She did what she felt comfortable with. It was her time. 

Louise Hay has some great things to say about nausea….Fear, rejecting and idea or experience.  Your mantra?  “I am safe.  I trust the process of life to bring only good to me.”

I’ve been doing a lot of tapping.  Have you checked into that yet?  Sure, I have my bad days.  My cat got sick again, my brother lost his job this week and I could add more about my life, but the good news is….I feel great!  It’s my time.  Is this your time?

These statements should not take the place of your primary health care physician.

We make many choices in the course of our lives.   When I decided to get pregnant, I made the choice to become a vegetarian.  I thought that was the right choice for my baby.  It turned out to also be the right choice for me.  My daughter was born 18 years ago.  At that time there weren’t a lot of choices or places to turn that supported my beliefs.   I didn’t want to give her dairy and I didn’t want to give her meat.  I’ll never forget at each visit to the pediatrician when the doctor would ask her if she was drinking milk and eating meat and my little girl would just nod her head.  Then we’d have a good laugh in the car.  There’s more than one way to get your vitamins and nutrients!  She was rarely sick and she was growing in all ways.  I made choices.  I made mashed bananas and mashed vegetables.  I purchased the expensive, organic baby food at the local health food store.  As she grew, I made other choices.

We live in a town without fast food.  I am thankful for that.  I took as much as I could in the car with me for road trips.  Eventually we’d have to stop at a restaurant or fast food chain.  Again, the choices there were minimal.  Today there are more choices .  And now there’s much more support for kids and making healthy choices every day for yourself and your children.

How do you make the choice to eat healthier?  It starts with asking for just that…And then listening.   At a yoga retreat many years ago, I sat down to a silent breakfast.  I asked my body what it needed to eat.  I walked through the food line and put only what my body needed on my plate.  How did I know?  I listened.  I sat and thanked all the hands that came into contact with the food on my plate.  I took one small bite.  I put the fork down.  I chewed until it was liquid in my mouth.  And I did that again and again until I was finished.  I took the time to slow down.

Two years ago I made the choice to delve into a raw food lifestyle.  The internet has put in front of us a wealth of knowledge.  We make choices every day.   Lately my choices come more from my body than my mind.  I wake up grateful for the gifts that will appear in my life that day.  Does it always work?  Nope…it doesn’t.  That’s where the choice of feeling guilty or not comes into play.  I choose to drink my greens.  I choose to eat smaller amounts.  Since my transition to more living foods, I need less food.  I feel the best I’ve ever felt.  Do I eat this way 100% of the time? No, I don’t.  And that’s my choice.

Yesterday I visited a friend at his farm.  He was kind enough to let me go home with a bag full of his root veggies and swiss chard.  Yes, that’s right….it’s Dec 10th in Vermont and he’s still growing greens!  I’m writing this with a green smoothie by my side.  I put in my Vitamix the following ingredients:

1-2 cups water

Two big handfuls of fresh organic swiss chard

Small amount of parsley

One frozen banana

One cup of frozen raspberries

Every part of my mind this morning wanted to eat something that my body didn’t want.  I took deep breaths and I made the choice to drink what I knew would make me feel better.  Ultimately it really is about feeling better.  Body and soul.  I will be thinking about you today making the right choice for your body. I’ve come a long way and I’m still learning. Here’s to the choices we make and may they be the right ones for each of us.

Donna, I chose that, Bergonzi-Boyle