Summer Reading: Outdoors Required

Summer and reading. They just go together for me. I always have a list of books I want to read, but it seems that during the summer, I have an easier time finding opportunities to do it. But, I will not be reading my books in bed and they will not be on my nightstand either. Nope. These books will be peeking out of my beach bag or safely packed in my carry-on travel bag, thrown in my picnic basket or swinging in my backyard hammock. This is my SUMMER reading list after all, and I plan to be outside in the fresh air as much as I can when I read these this summer.

All of these books happen to be written by someone in the medical field - two by doctors and one by a pharmacist.  It is exciting to me that many doctors are taking a more holistic and open-minded approach to practicing medicine.  They are opening their eyes to the role our diets play in how we feel and how our symptoms present.  They take into consideration our stress levels, our lifestyles and are more interested now in getting to the root of our issues and encouraging us, the patients, to take a more active role (and therefore responsibility) in how we feel.

3 Books on My Summer Reading List

Here are three non-fiction books I will be reading this summer on the topic of health and why I chose them. You can purchase all of them off Amazon or at your neighborhood bookstore or check them out at your local library.

1.  Clean Eats by Alejandro Junger, M.D.

On my list because . . .

I have been in a cooking rut lately and I need some inspiration.  I love all the healthy food blogs as well as Pinterest boards out there that are incredibly inspiring with plenty of recipes. In fact, I include them here on this blog and collect them on my Pinterest account here, too, but sometimes I just want inspiration from the traditional book format and, besides, I have no plans to carry my laptop outside.  I have heard great things about this book so inspire me, please!

2.  Gutbliss by Robynne Chutkan. M.D.

On my list because . . . 

The Chinese say the state of our health all begins in our gut, our digestion.  It is key and bliss anywhere including my gut sounds good to me.  Dr. Chutkan has her practice in Washington, D.C. and I think, if I had to see anyone to get more bliss in my gut, I think I would like to see her.  I saw her on TV and she seemed so approachable and knew her stuff!

3.  The Root Cause by Izabella Wentz, PharmD

On my list because . . . 

I have been diagnosed with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis.  It is an autoimmune disorder of the thyroid and is more complicated than just hypothyroidism. I wrote about thyroid care here and how you can take better care of it. Your symptoms can suddenly change and you can present with very seemingly unconnected ailments like anemia, intestinal permeability, food sensitivities, dental issues and the like. This is in addition to the other fun regular symptoms like weight gain, cold intolerance, hair loss, fatigue and digestive issues.  This runs in my family and I need to know all I can to keep myself healthy and anybody else in my family as well from suffering the frustration of this autoimmune disease.


Have you read any of these? What did you think? Please share what you plan on reading this summer - fiction or nonfiction, health related or not. I enjoy hearing what others are finding to be good reads, too, so that I can add 'em to my list!

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Add Magic And Health Benefits To Your Cooking With Edible Flowers

Flowers delight me. My friends, my family know how much they do and they are so thoughtful to bring me flowers often. But, I think my all-time favorite bouquets I have received over the years were the ones my children gave to me when they were teeny-tiny.  They would rush in the house from playing outside with a bunch of freshly picked flowers (mostly weeds) so excited to surprise me. And, they did! Yes, they did delight me - in so many ways!

But, weeds or not, flowers look pretty incredible wherever they are - bunched up in a tiny child's hand, in a field, a landscaped garden, in a vase by your front door or on your plate.  Yes, on your plate and in your food. They are lovely there, too, and can make your next dish a beautiful sight.

How Edible Flowers Taste

Edible flowers are magical and add flair to your dishes, but what about the taste? If you note the scent you take in from the flower, it will give you a general idea of the taste.  Further, if the flower is stemming from an herb or vegetable, the flower's taste is usually a more delicate version of the food item.  For example, the chive blossom tastes very much like chive but milder. And, squash blossoms taste like a more temperate version of the squash as well.

Health Benefits of 5 Edible Flowers

Here are five edible flowers that can add some nutrient punch to your dishes as well as unique flavor and color.  If you feel like experimenting, I provide a link to an interesting recipe on how to use it, too.

1. Violets contain phytochemicals with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that help strengthen capillary walls.  They taste sweet and you may have seen them adorning wedding cakes and desserts. This wild violet vinegar sounds like a interesting addition to your next bowl of salad greens and what a beautiful gift idea.


2.  Lavender contains vitamin A, calcium and iron and may be calming to your central nervous system. Try your hand at this drop over gorgeous gluten-free and raw fig, cherry, lavender and honey cake.  It was made by raw foods chef Lauren Glucina and makes quite an impression.

3.  Chive blossoms contain vitamin C, iron and sulfur, and may be used to help support healthy blood pressure levels.  Here is a new way to serve scalloped potatoes with the colorful addition of chive blossoms to get it some life!

4.  I grew zucchini several years ago and the squash blossoms on those plants were to behold. They are high in calcium and iron and especially high in vitamins C and A. The blooms really are gigantic and lovely and taste great stuffed with all sorts of things.  Cheese is a common stuffing but I thought this quiche with squash blossoms looked terrific.


5.  Some say rose petals can act as a mild sedative and even enhance your mood. They do contain bioflavonoids and antioxidants, as well as vitamins A, B3, C and E. This rose petal honey sounds terrific drizzled in some English breakfast tea or over some fresh fruit for breakfast or afternoon snack.

3 Considerations When Using Edible Flowers in Your Cooking

Below are three tips when using edible flowers in your dishes:

1.  Careful what your choose.

Unless you grow the flowers yourself from seed and know they have not been sprayed with pesticide, choose edible flowers from your market that have been specifically grown for eating and are organic.


2.  Some parts are not invited.

The pistils and stamens from flowers taste very bitter and contain pollen, an irritant to many.  Make sure to remove them first.  Always rinse the flowers with cool water very gently to rid of any remaining pollen or dirt that may have adhered to the petals.


3.  Be an early riser.

If picking your own flowers, choose them in the morning before they wilt in the sun.  Store them in the refrigerator with a damp paper towel in a plastic bag.


Have you used edible flowers before? What did you think? Please tell us and give a link to a recipe you have created or liked in the comments.

chive: photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bg/3571762268/">bgblogging</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/">cc</a>
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lavenderloose: photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/32458744@N02/3690250943/">Elle Jane</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">cc</a>
violets: photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/robfon/2336636957/">Roberto F.</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/">cc</a>

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Fat and Carbohydrate: Clarifications and Details

The last two posts on fat and carbohydrate were written to answer a few important, but relatively narrow, questions that I feel are particularly pertinent at the moment:

• Was the US obesity epidemic caused by an increase in calorie intake?
• Could it have been caused by an increase in carbohydrate intake, independent of the increase in calorie intake?
• Does an unrestricted high-carbohydrate diet lead to a higher calorie intake and body fatness than an unrestricted high-fat diet, or vice versa?
• Could the US government's advice to eat a low-fat diet have caused the obesity epidemic by causing a dietary shift toward carbohydrate?

However, those posts left a few loose ends that I'd like to tie up in this post.  Here, I'll lay out my opinions on the relationship between macronutrient intake and obesity in more detail.  I'll give my opinions on the following questions:

• What dietary macronutrient composition is the least likely to cause obesity over a lifetime?
• What dietary macronutrient composition is best for a person who is already overweight or obese?
• Is fat inherently fattening and/or unhealthy?

From the beginning

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Resistance: A Film on How Superbugs Will Impact You

Sometimes you walk out of a movie theatre feeling inspired after viewing a film. Sometimes, you are left mystified over the film's plot twist or maybe even in awe of the creativity in making it.  But, after walking out of a film preview I saw recently, I felt both horrified and alarmed. The film, Resistance, illustrates survival of the fittest in the tiniest of ways, but those microscopic ways deliver a gigantic, massive impact to all of us.  This film is a sobering documentary on germs and their ability to survive and cause antibiotic resistance infections that can affect all of us, directly or indirectly, in life-altering ways.

Antibiotic's Miraculous But Disorderly Path

The film, previewing now in the US, shows the history of antibiotics from when they were first introduced in the 1940s as a medical miracle to the present. Their unfortunate overuse in agriculture, the military, medical treatments and in our food have directly led to the resistant infections that strike two million Americans each year. The director, Michael Graziano, details several stories of healthy individuals of all ages that contract an antibiotic-resistant infection leading to comas, loss of limbs and even human life. These stories all illustrate the danger of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections and the reality that it can happen to you or someone you care about no matter your age or degree of health.



The director and its sponsors (Applegate, Environmental Working Group, Food & Water Watch, Natural Resources Defense Council, The Pew Charitable Trusts, and Slow Food USA) are not the only ones sounding the alarm bells. In a recent report, the World Health Organization warned that our excessive use of antibiotics all over the world has sparked such a degree of drug resistance that it could threaten our survival. Bacteria that are constantly exposed to antibiotics through overexposure eventually mutate into stronger, resistant strains of themselves. It is not a hypothesis. It is science and it is happening now. Further, one doctor on the panel discussion I attended following the film preview in Washington, D.C. said that even strep throat, in perhaps as little as 10 years from now, could threaten life.  It could become drug resistant and no longer be treated.

Certainly, chemists and drug companies are working on creating new antibiotics, but if we overuse those as well, we only propagate the problem. In addition, newer drugs could cost upwards of thousands of dollars for a single treatment as they are expensive to develop. The future could hold one that includes dying of an infection simply because you will be unable to afford the cost-prohibitive treatment.

How Did We Get Here?

So how did this happen? How did we end up on the other side of modern medicine that provided pills to pop to cure many. Here are some specifics on how we got here:

• Doctors over-prescribe antibiotics in the medical industry even when an antibiotic will not make the patient better. 

• Many patients fail to finish their antibiotic prescriptions because they feel better before the course is complete causing the bacteria to become stronger.

• Animal farming practices where animals are dosed daily with antibiotics to prevent illness and perhaps promote animal growth create possible superbugs that spread among animals and workers. It further permeates into our water and soil. These meat products are delivered to stores consumed by you.

• Human consumption of antibiotic-injected meat leads to resistance to the drugs in human beings.

What Measures To Take

So now what? Are we helpless towards this army of drug resistant forces? The truth is we have as a world society squandered a miracle cure and could further contribute to the damage.  But, there are measures to take that can help change the disastrous course:

Get a sample.  Much like taking a strep throat culture when you have a sore throat, if you are suffering from an infection, ask your doctor to take a culture or perform a lab sample to test for which antibiotic would be useful against your particular bacterial infection. If your infection is viral, no antibiotic would help and only further your susceptibility to antibiotic resistance strains.

Stay the course.  If given a course of antibiotics, finish the entire course, even if you start to feel better. This is to ensure no bacteria is left in you to cause drug resistance.

Make more thoughtful purchases.  If you eat meat, choose organic meats where no antibiotics were administered to the animals. Create a greater demand for humanely treated animals that have not been treated with unnecessary drugs.

Practice safe cooking.  Do not wash meats.  The splashes they create spread bacteria. Reserve separate cutting boards for vegetables and for meats and fish. Always bag meats separately in your refrigerator and when shopping.  Cook to recommend temperatures.

Spread the word.  Tell your friends, your family about this phenomenon. Watch the film.  (You can get it here.) It is so well done.

Speak loudly.  Real reform will require change at the top. We need policy change to address the prudent use of antibiotics. Speak out loudly against antibiotic overuse. The US is lagging behind the United Kingdom and the European Union against taking measures to reduce this resistance. Go here to tell Congress to stop the use of antibiotics in animals.


So tell me, have you heard of antibiotic resistance?  What actions do you take to help the situation? Have you seen the film Resistance and if so, what did you think?

green bacteria: photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ajc1/510676658/">AJC1</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/">cc</a>

petridish: photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nathanreading/5833401441/">Nathan Reading</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">cc</a>

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Food Reward Friday

This week's lucky "winner"... kettle corn!

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Has Obesity Research Failed?

I frequently encounter the argument that obesity research has failed because it hasn't stopped the global increase in obesity rates.  According to this argument, we need to re-think our approach to obesity research because the current approach just isn't working.

Grant funding for obesity research keeps increasing in the US, and the prevalence of obesity also keeps increasing*.  What gives?  Maybe if we just scrapped the whole endeavor we'd be better off.

Let's take a closer look at this argument and see how it holds up.

Why Do Research?

There are two fundamental reasons why we do research:

1. To gather accurate information about the natural world.  This information is intrinsically valuable because we like knowing how the world works, and it may eventually have practical value that's not immediately obvious.
2. Practical applications.  We want to solve problems and improve our lives.

If we want to determine whether or not obesity research has failed, we should evaluate it using those two metrics.

Has Obesity Research Gathered Accurate Information?

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A Solid Marriage: Strawberry and Rhubarb

You know those couples you meet where they both just seem to bring out the best in each other? That perhaps individually they may not have been able to achieve what they do together?  Like Rodgers and Hammerstein perhaps or even Bonnie and Clyde!  Well, I think you could place strawberry and rhubarb in that great couple's classification, too, minus the bank robbing part! The tartness and tang of the rhubarb marries so well with the delicate sweetness of fresh strawberries!

Strawberries are especially perfect in June and fresh rhubarb is making an appearance right about now as well. Yes, Mother Nature has that one planned pretty well. So take advantage and freeze up this little number to add some refreshment to those hot summer days.  No refined sugar here and the vitamin K and calcium in the rhubarb and the vitamin C and manganese in the strawberries should make you feel good about every bite that melts on your tongue.

Strawberry Rhubarb Granita

This does not take a lot of effort, just use of your timer to remind yourself to do some brief scraping. It is a good thing to make when you will be around for the day doing other things at home as you have to come back and scrape away (or have someone else do it for you) several times.

Gather

• 3 cups water
• 1 1/2 cups raw honey
• 1.5 cups rhubarb stalks, chopped. 
• 1 cup strawberries, sliced
• juice of 1/2 lemon

Now do this

• Place water, raw honey, rhubarb and strawberries in pot.
• Simmer together until rhubarb and strawberries are tender -  about 10 minutes.
• Strain fruit from the liquid and pour strained liquid in 8 x 8 pyrex pan.
• Add lemon juice and stir around.
• Place pan in freezer and put timer on for 90 minutes.
• At 90 minutes,  remove granita from freezer and gently scrape surface, with a fork, to break apart the formed ice crystals. 
• Place dish back in the freezer and continue to remove from freezer and scrape every 60 minutes for the next five hours or or until you have a baking dish of “shaved” ice.
• To serve, spoon a small amount the granita into small cups and top each with a sprig of mint.
• Serve immediately.

granita:photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/40878536@N08/5893349730/">Mari Liis</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">cc</a>
rhubarb: photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/haikugirl/4698460852/">Heather Quintal</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/">cc</a>

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Health Clicks: A Show of Hands

Some of us notice someone's eyes when they first meet someone.  Others notice one's hair or height or how that person is dressed.  But me, I notice some of those attributes, too, but I always, always notice someone's hands.  I think those hands? They say a lot.

Join Hands

Click on these green links here in The Health-Minded's monthly Health Clicks and learn a bit more about that intricate body part - your hands.  They just might be telling you something . . . or telling someone else.


1.  Traveling internationally any time soon?  Well, ya better get those hand gestures under control.  You just never know what you might be really saying in another country and it might not be so nice!




2.  I am guessing this could be the single most important health practice to do several times a day. But, do you actually do it? And do it correctly?


3.  Forget hiring a palm reader at your next party!  Learn to do it yourself! So, tell me, what do your lines say?


4.  Don't bite your nails! Besides the germs and unsightly cuticles that causes, those fingernails contain valuable information. Did you know your fingernails can indicate vitamin deficiencies, thyroid health and even your digestion among other things?  Go ahead and give a peek right now for a quick little fingernail analysis.


5.  Of all The Beatles 50 biggest hits, this song about a specific body part came in number 2! The song debuted in 1963.


6.  If you have to give a presentation soon, check this video out on what exactly to do with those hands and how it could help you be a more effective communicator and speaker!


7.  And, ladies? Let's make better choices. Shall we? These are no-nos in your pretty, pretty nail polish!  Let's find other lovely and fun colors that don't list those chemicals like these brands.


8. Speaking of nail polish -- if you or a loved one ever had to go under the knife, did the doc request that you remove your nail polish?  There is a reason for that. Your nails can indicate your oxygen levels and the anesthesiologist will check your nails for oxygen levels while under anesthesia.

So, see what I mean? Those hands can talk, right?  They can say a lot!



hands: photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/fotorita/2313873355/">FotoRita [Allstar maniac]</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">cc</a>

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Calorie Intake and Body Fatness on Unrestricted High-fat vs. High-carbohydrate Diets

In recent posts, we've explored the association between calorie intake and the US obesity epidemic, and the reasons why this association almost certainly represents a cause-and-effect relationship.  I also reviewed the evidence suggesting that carbohydrate and fat are equally fattening in humans, calorie for calorie.

One valid objection that came up in the comments is that calorie-controlled diets in a research setting may not reflect what happens in real life.  For example, in a context where calorie intake isn't tightly controlled, diet composition can impact calorie intake, in turn affecting body fatness.  This, of course, is true, and it forms one of the central pillars of our fat loss program the Ideal Weight Program.

Some low-carbohydrate diet advocates argue that the obesity epidemic was caused by US dietary guidelines that emphasize a carbohydrate-rich diet*.  The idea here is that the increase in calorie intake was due to the diet shifting in a more carbohydrate-heavy direction.  In other words, they're hypothesizing that a carbohydrate-rich eating style increases food intake, which increases body fatness**.  According to this hypothesis, if we had received advice to eat a fat-rich diet instead, we wouldn't be in the midst of an obesity epidemic.

Fortunately for us, this hypothesis has been tested-- many times!  Which eating style leads to higher calorie intake and body fatness when calories aren't controlled: a carbohydrate-rich diet, or a fat-rich diet?

Short-term Studies

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