Be Well health tips Archives - Page 9 of 18

fear-based medicine

Posted on November 7, 2014

Gentle Reader,

Do you wonder if we approach our health from the point of view of fear? Fear-based medicine seems to trump science. We are afraid of cancer, of sexual dysfunction, of diabetes, of heart disease, of arthritis and of Alzheimer’s or memory loss. I was just with a group of people last night when the person speaking forgot a name and a look of panic clouded his face. Everyone—all over 45–chorused “aging problem”. We all know someone whose spouse or parent “isn’t there” any more.

TV show and books write about common health practices such as fluoridating city water and vaccinating children and using Mercury in dental fillings as extremely dangerous and health threatening. Dr. Sears is one such author. Dr. Sardi’s radio talk show about the dangers of certain medical diagnoses and treatments is another. You can find a pundit to support any fear-based health question you may have. How are we to navigate all this intensity around health?

I tend to live in both camps, seeing my doctor for blood tests and other annual markers to help me decide what actions to take about osteoporosis, skin cancer possibilities, blood sugar, cholesterol and fat levels. I rarely take his advice about prescriptions that might help, but rather go to the alternative health and prevention side of the house for my next steps. I have to admit that given my family history, I get frightened when a pre-cancerous spot shows up in my scalp or on my face. I leave my annual physical triumphant when my blood tests reveal that taking the Shaklee Cholesterol Reduction Complex has lowered my cholesterol 17 points in one year.

Do supplement manufacturer’s research and produce new products in answer to fear based medicine? Do the Shaklee scientists study fearful health issues in order to fix the problem? In order to give us relief from our anxiety? Do I take all the supplements I take because I am afraid of ill health, of losing my agility, my thinking capacity, my resistance to developing cancer? Is supplementation part of fear-based medicine? I do not trust myself to eat a balanced, nutrient rich diet every meal of every day. I don’t trust the food I buy and cook to nourish me enough to prevent the diseases I am afraid of. To counter this fear, I take supplements I believe are organically sourced and designed to reach my cells.

Perhaps good health has become a religion, an answer to fear about the future. I just watched a few episodes of Dr. Phil, the TV host who is going to be talking about Shaklee’s new MindWorks on Nov. 17. The shows I watched portray him as intervening in people and family’s dysfunctional lives. I am curious as to how he will engage the 5 yrs of research Shaklee’s scientists have done to produce and test MindWorks. Will MindWorks be a life changer in the psychological realm? Tune in with me to find out. Monday, November 17^th.

I watched a few episodes of Dr. Oz, whose latest emphasis is on rapid weight loss. He has identified a number of foods that he believes are causing people to gain and retain extra pounds, foods that were extremely challenging for the successful “losers” to stop consuming in the first few days of their rapid weight loss diet. I would be interested to know if those dietary changes will be permanent. If they are, those dieters will lead healthy lives.

Just do a web search for health and wellness shows and you will find a channel devoted to the topic, the Discovery channel’s Health and Fitness program, and the announcement of three new healthy living channels. This latest addition claims to put our fascination with food into healthy actions which will make us healthier. We are all fascinated by our own health. There is money to be made marketing to this fascination.

Roger Barnet bought Shaklee to do well by doing good. Roger is an idealistic wealthy entrepreneur from New York City who bought Shaklee in 2004. His dream is to earn the Nobel Peace prize as the first business to satisfy the criteria of the committee. He does not seem to be motivated by fear, but by a desire to improve the health of poor people. The idea is that healthy people may be less desperate, less likely to fight for survival. He has not put that in writing anywhere that I have seen, but I’ve heard him talk about his vision of a world populated by healthy people being a peaceful world.

What is your motivation for eating the way you eat, or supplementing your diet, or working out? Are you at peace with the fact that no matter how much we work to ward off disease, something will take us down in the end? Unless we suffer accidental death, that is. We are trying to improve our health span to match our life span, hopefully not out of fear-based medicine—panic, but through making better choices every time we eat and move. I would be interested in your comments. Please share. If you are not on my blog list, sign up for the weekly post at the bottom of this page.

Be well, Do well and Keep Moving, out of joy, not fear.

Betsy

206 933 1889

betsy@hihohealth.com

Arthritis, Be Well health tips, Keep Moving: Managing Arthritis

Knee pain

Posted on October 30, 2014

Gentle Reader,

My knee complains. Knee pain from the old injury is caused by arthritis. In the forest searching for chanterelles, my companions and I climb steeply to the plateau, second growth northwest forest of red cedar, western hemlock, Douglas fir, alder and vine maple. The understory is mossy in places, the green blanket providing the perfect platform for the golden mushroom; in other places, it is thick with salal, sword fern and Oregon grape. Chanterelles hide there, too. This hunting ground is well known to local pothunters, the name we give people who hunt mushrooms for food, delicious sautéed-in-butter food. We did not have hope for finding many.

Glorious! On a super steep incline, there they were, pockets of gold, enough for all three of us. On the way down, my knee—the left one—complained bitterly. I traveled without my hiking sticks. They get in the way when hunting mushrooms. A couple times, I feared the knee pain would cause my leg to fail me completely.

In 1992, I avoided a long trek to get back to my car by climbing a chain link fence and jumping to the ground on the opposite side. My left leg suffered nerve damage when I herniated a disc—L5—in 1989, so it did not give or bounce when I landed. I heard the pop and knew I was in trouble. I managed to walk to my car, drove home, had a hearty snack and headed for the emergency room of the University hospital. Fast forward to the consultation after 3 months of non-weight bearing healing:

Mrs. Bell; Expect arthritis, probably severe, within the next couple of years and we’ll see you here for a knee replacement ten years from now.

That was twenty-two years ago. I have managed the arthritis with exercise and supplements and, until now, have had only a few twinges of knee pain and the sensation of the knee giving way very occasionally.

What to do? I have increased the stair climbing exercises, but not straight up and down. I suspect that the knee pain is the result of neglecting the best exercise for

Do the grape vine step up and down stairs to strengthen the knees

knees that I know about: the grape vine step up and down the stairs. I wish I had a video to show you. Point your shoulder to the top of the stairs. Facing the bottom step sideways, begin climbing by putting the outside foot upon the next step behind the inside foot; lift with the upper foot; step up with the inside food; swing the outside foot in front of the inside foot in front and lift the body; repeat. The second 20 steps face the top with the opposite side of the body. I repeated this five times today and will do 200 steps up and down several more times this week. I can tell the difference right away.

Why does this work? Women have broad hips and a wide pelvis. Most of us women have slightly knocked knees as the result of the wide pelvis. The strain on the kneecap, muscles and tendons above and below the knee is great. When you strengthen the sides of the knee, this strain is mitigated. I learned this from a guy I met climbing the monster staircase from Blaine St. to Lakeview on Capitol Hill—300 risers. He was on the stairs going up with the grape vine step to increase his balance so he would be able to navigate backpacking in the high mountains with a heavy pack without as much danger of falling. I was training to climb Mt. Shasta, a 14,000 ft peak in northern California and immediately adopted his training method. I am back at it.

The confirmation of this training method came from an article in Seattle Women, “Training Like a Girl,” featuring Dr. Stan Herring, sports medicine doctor who works with University of Washington athletes and, was my doctor after my herniated disc incident. Dr. Herring stresses that “female athletes will obtain strength gains and aeroic gains in the same proportion as male athletes, if you train them appropriately.”

One major issue female athletes [all women who are active] face is their increased risk of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. “Females should spend more time with upper body strengthening and they should certainly spend more time with lower body conditioning for core and lower extremity strength, balance and motor control because it does have a direct effect on the ACL” says Dr. Herring. Let me share the information about the ACL which I found helped me understand why we women have more trouble with our knees.

The ACL is one of a pair of ligaments in the center of the knee joint that stabilizes the knee from front to back during normal and athletic activities. Increased estrogen production during puberty causes the pelvis to widen, which can cause the knees to turn inward. These hormonal and anatomical facts lead to female athletes sustaining noncontact ACL injuries between two and 10 times more often than male athletes. To avoid this risk, build up the secondary muscles that support the hips, knees and ankles. The stair climbing sideways with the grapevine step helps this. The author

walk sideways with band around your legs above the knee

described strengthening the knees by tying an elastic band around you thighs or ankles—your feet are about 4 inches apart when you are setting this up—and then walking around the house in a squat position, moving sideways and another set moving forward. This strengthens both knees and legs. Do about 40 to 60 steps sideways in one direction and then reverse, leading with the opposite foot for 40 to 60 steps. Maintain the squat position throughout.

Above all, when confronted with joint pain, do not sit down and avoid using those joints. Find something you can still do. Joints have low blood flow. They need movement to stay functional. Of course, if you have a major inflammation, you need to reduce that with medication, ice and rest, but test yourself for the best way to get movement back into that joint. When I was non-weight bearing for so many weeks, I sat on the floor and lifted the affected leg, traced the alphabet with my foot, isometrically tensed and relaxed the muscles up and down the leg, did side lifts with the affected leg. When the cast came off, I walked without a limp. The muscles had not atrophied. I know people whose knee replacement surgery or other foot and leg surgeries have not healed well. More movement to stimulate blood flood would surly help healing.

I am going to avoid knee surgery as long as I possibly can. Using sticks to climb and descend helps relieve pressure on the knees. I’ll keep you posted. Let me and my readers know what your techniques are to lessen knee pain and keep moving.

Be well, Do well and Keep Moving.

Betsy

206 933 1889

Be Well health tips, Health and Fitness

backyard chickens

Posted on October 24, 2014

Gentle Reader,

I depart from my usual commentary on health and fitness to give you a post on backyard chickens. My flock and my granddaughter’s Alicia’s flock have dominated our lives for the past couple weeks. Someone suggested I share the drama.

***

Her cry wrenches their hearts. Mid-range utterances, she tips her head back and repeats the call. She wanders around the garden, not searching for insects, pecking the ground, but looking, looking under the laurel where they laid their eggs in protest against the hen house, calling, calling in that forlorn voice. She comes to the back door, taps the window, one eye peering in. “Help me find her,” she seems to say. “My sister hen is gone.”

So simple, the pathos of a bereft chicken whose only companion has been taken off by a raccoon and eaten down to yellow feet and pile of feathers.

I get the call and make out what has happened through the tearful tale.

“No, we cannot bring a new companion hen into a back yard being stalked in broad daylight by a blood thirsty raccoon. She can come to my house to live with my 3 hens.”

We post this tragedy on Facebook. Within a few hours along with advice and condolences, comes a blog post written by a friend’s pastor at one of Seattle’s principle protestant churches. I read this post. My experience with chickens over my life is so far from the writer’s; I visualize the two flocks at opposite ends of Dante’s Inferno and Paradiso. She and her chickens have passed through the hairy flank of the Devil to the other side and now live with the white rose of heaven. My flock, ever recovering from confusion, violence, mayhem, mutilation, and death, represents life as we know it: ruled by attachment, greed and suffering. The pastor describes a small child who visited her well-ordered coop and reported that there were baby chicks out there. New birth is revealed to a child. The author had not seen them and did not believe the child’s report. Listen to the children, is her conclusion.

I began my urban farming in Seattle when my grandchildren were four-ish. We set up the nursery in the basement using an old playpen and plywood on top to prevent a cat snatch. The one-day old chicks fit into the cupped hands of my 7-year-old granddaughter. We started with six and in a few days had four. All that loving by 4 year olds proved too much for the chicks but provided an excellent opportunity for “softly, gently, quietly,” as if a four year old had a dimmer switch. They are either “on” full throttle, or “off” full stop.

The Pastor’s brooding hen gathered a small clutch of eggs, possibly all her own, and hatched them out, presumably without causing a stir. In my hen house, there are three nesting box platforms to accommodate four to six hens. All three of my current flock insists on roosting and laying in the highest, smallest platform. The gorgeous golden-flecked Americana went into brood-mood, spread her wings, and fluffed her feathers occupying the total footprint of that nesting shelf. Her rage at the other hens when they came to lay their eggs was so raucous; I rushed to the henhouse to investigate. The other two hens laid their eggs into thin air, whereupon they fell to the ground and cracked. My strong arms and hefty broom could not dislodge her from her roost. I called my grandson in Mt. Vernon, champion chicken-raiser. His advice was to separate her from the other two for a week.

Waldorf Astoria for hens Lean-to with wire enclosure — Waldorf Astoria for hens
Lean-to with wire enclosure

I construct a wire enclosure alongside the hen house within the raccoon proof run. Three days in a row, like Houdini, she finds an opening and returns to the nesting platform. I put a playpen up on the other side of the garden, put water and food on the gravel, cover it with chicken wire and shake shingles to keep her dry. An unbelievable wailing and gnashing of hen’s beaks ensues as the three hens call to each other across the garden. At the end of the week, I pick Cana up and return her to the hen enclosure. Red (the top hen, a Rhode Island Red) attacks her with talons and beak,

Cana the broody hen keeps escaping her enclosure

going for the head and neck. I stand in the coop sipping tea and talking down the high level of distress off and on for two days until everything calms down. Cana makes one more attempt to brood but the broom and a strong arm take her down quickly.

I am at a loss to find any beatific or holy lesson from this aggression, possessiveness and anxiety over separation. Perhaps the Israelites wandering in the wildness bad-mouthing Moses and getting all fussed about manna and hardship, but that would be stretching it and I would end playing the role of the all-powerful somewhat capricious Old Testament Jehovah.

Chickens have been in my life since childhood. My brother Eric and I raised a flock of day old Leghorn meat chicken to pullet stage as a 4H project. In 1950, American farmers enjoyed the first fruits of “better living through chemistry” with Purina’s “fortified” chicken food, antibiotics and growth hormones recommended to insure healthy and profitable growth. My parents, who had entered medicine before the Polio vaccine, penicillin or sulfa drugs, were on board with these measures published in the Dept. of Agriculture farm bulletins. Eric, twelve years old at the time, thought that if growth hormones were good for young chicks, they might be good for him, too, so he downed a vial of the liquid. I reported this at the dinner table. It caused not a stir. My father’s physician’s samples of every new pharmaceutical for whatever might ail you filled the largest drawer of the bathroom vanity. I have often wondered what the economic lesson was for us 4H-ers when we were paid the going market rate per pound for grown chickens, but were not required to deduct the costs involved in raising them.

Our first flock of pullets at our home in West Seattle lived in a coop constructed from a kit, built with many little grandchildren hands helping (priceless experience). The coop was too small. I sold it on Craig’s list (1/4 the original price), but not before hiring a carpenter to construct a lean-to against the garden shed. By the time the first eggs came along, my husband calculated that each of the first 4 dozen was worth $250. An expensive “eat local, eat slow food” project.

The most aggressive of the four woke us up one early Sunday morning with a cock-a doodle-do that raised the hairs on the back of my neck. My husband and I took one look at each other, went to church and the minute we returned, went to computer to ask Google, “how to kill a chicken.” Chuck found a method that involved neither an axe nor the wringing of necks.

Take the chicken by its feet; lay its head on the grass; place a broom handle across the neck; stand on the handle; jerk the feet, snapping the neck. Let go. The chicken springs to its feet, dangling the head and prances around the garden, wings flapping, feet kicking for what seems like an interminable forever. A chicken with its head cut off is a Halloween story inspiring terror and awe and a terrible sense of guilt. If you are going to kill something, it should lie down and die instead of mocking you with one last dance.

I open the patio doors, put on Bach’s Requiem at top volume and pluck the beautiful feathers. They come easily. She/he was young. Old hens require dunking into boiling water to loosen the pores. When my first husband and I set up housekeeping in an old farmhouse on Mt. Oread amidst fraternity and sorority houses at the University of Kansas, we furnished our rooms from the second hand stores and our larder from Grandma Bell’s Oklahoma panhandle farm. One fall weekend, Don rung the necks of six aging hens. I can picture him with a red-combed head in each hand, whirling the heavy white bodies from out-stretched arms. Two headless chickens running around the barnyard. I and my mother-in-law and Don’s grandmother stand in front of two great black canning pots of boiling water, ready to dunk those hens and pluck their feathers, eviscerate their innards, cut them and wrap for the freezer. Raising my own chickens from day-old chicks changes the relationship from food to friend.

Grandma’s hens provided Don and me with food besides those butchered hens. When we first married, we lived in Berkeley. Don worked as a TA in history and researched for his PhD; I joined the junior class of undergraduates at UC Berkeley’s peaceful pre free speech movement campus. Grandma mailed us nine dozen fresh eggs fitted into a wooden frame of six layers, a wooden handle with address label at the top. Since these eggs had never been refrigerated, they could sit on our bedroom dresser for many weeks or until we ate them all up. We sent the empty frame back to be re-filled. In the fall when the eggs were large, they sometimes cracked from being over-sized. In the spring when the eggs were smaller, the sometime cracked from rattling around in the frame. I lost twenty pounds that fall, walking a mile and a half to class every day, eating eggs and vegetables.

Chickens are sociable creatures and need their companions, both feathered and human. They talk about everything, arguing about who gets to lay an egg, “honey, move over, it’s my turn now.” Or announcing the laying of an egg. Perhaps it hurts a little so the cry is a complaint. They move on quickly.

Akana, the bereft hen, loved her Alicia and sat on her shoulder. She lets me pick her up, stroke her and comes when I call. I have a couple scars on my arm where a chicken has tried to ride along as I walk around the garden, missed the perch, leaving a mark. My big Norwegian Forest cat lies in the lawn in the midst of them. Chickens have no fear of cats. Picture yourself looking up into that yellow eye past that sharp beak and you will understand. A cat doesn’t have a chance.

I have thanked four chickens for being part of my life, serving as providers of eggs and as exquisite lawn art, before killing and butchering them. Three were chicks that became crowing roosters. (Whoever earns their living sexing chickens has about a 20% failure ratio which seems pretty bad averages to me.) The fourth was a hen who became the punching bag for the others in the coop, the tortured lowest girl on the pecking order. The advice I got from the Seattle Farm Coop people was “to take the weakest one”. In the hen house, you do not punish the bully. You remove the bullied. That was the saddest sacrifice I have had to make.

Akana is getting along with my other hens better every day. I have given them free range in the garden. Space makes for peaceful co-existence. But once they are in the coop, peace is replaced by gang warfare. The happy ending comes at night when they bury the hatchet and settle in close together on the roost high up against the roof, clucking companionably. All will be well. All manner of things will be well.

Back yard hens are a wonderful part of life, slowing down the pace. Watching them is as entertaining as any sitcom on TV. Observing their scratch and peck slow march around the edge of the garden is a lesson is “slow and steady gets the job done.” Reading other bloggers write about the marvelous lessons of chickens does not change my opinion that our chicken clichés describe how animalistic our lives can be. We can be “cooped up”, suffer from a “pecking order”, “run around like a chicken with her head cut off”, be “hen pecked” by a boss or a spouse, and woe be to the person who forgets: “don’t count your chickens before they are hatched.” What is painful in the hen house is painful in our own lives. Three cheers for the writer who finds “lions lying down with lambs” in her backyard. It is not happening that way with my backyard chickens. They make me laugh at how seriously we take our squabbles and one-up-man-ship. That is about the best I can do.

Be well, Do well and Keep Moving,

Betsy

206 933 1889

Be Well health tips, Health and Fitness

Allergy control

Posted on October 16, 2014

Gentle Reader,

Are you suffering from the newly released molds and irritants now that the fall rains are here? Have you been using over the counter medications to keep your nose from running and to dry up that post nasal drip? You need allergy control!

I was an allergy sufferer for years. In fact, I developed an allergy to the Northwest forest after moving here from Oklahoma and Kansas 45 years ago! Happily 27 years ago I found a solution. I want to share this natural miracle with you in this post. Acknowlegments to Michelle Parrott for her allergie wellness information sheet.

An allergy is an over-reaction of the immune system to a foreign protein substance.

60 million people have asthma/allergies. That’s 1 in 4
people! Over the last 10yrs there has been an 18%
increase in allergies!

Allergies & Asthma

40% of children now have allergies.

8 million of those are respiratory allergies

7 million have non-respiratory allergies (food, pets, plants)

The annual cost of allergies is $7 BILLION DOLLARS!!!!!!

– Nearly $6 billion in medications

– Nearly 4 million lost workdays per year totaling close to $700 million lost in productivity!

There are now over 20 million asthma suffers! This number has quadrupled in the last 30 years!!!!! The stats are staggering with 1 out of 13 people having asthma.

60 million people have asthma/allergies. That’s 1 in 4

people! Over the last 10yrs there has been an 18%

increase in allergies!

An allergy is an over-reaction of the immune system to a foreign protein substance.

Exposure to Toxins & Lack of Nutrients

– Exposure to toxins from smoke, cleaners, pollution and mold which puts the immune system under attack. – Lack of nutrients caused by stress, medications and consumption of sugar, refined carbs, caffeine & alcohol.

These things put a toll on our immune system causing it to work harder than it has to and then in turn weakening it.

Never Be Sick Again by: Raymond Francis <br />

What are the 2 causes of disease

In the book by Raymond Francis he said that being sick is quite simple and can be classified by one word: disease.

And DISEASE is what happens when cells malfunction, whether it’s by a virus or bacteria.

Removing toxins from your home from basic household cleaners can make a big impact on your health.

Our Get Clean® line is:

– Non-toxic

– Leaves no harmful residues

– Safe around children, animals & sensitive adults

– Biodegradable

– Outperforms many leading natural brands

Three Key approaches for Allergy Relief

1. Rebuild the Immune System

2. Restore Digestive Tract

3. Remove Toxins from your environment

Rebuild the immune system with supplements that will help support it: Nutriferon, Vitamin C, Vitamin D3, Alfalfa, B-Complex, OmegaGuard (for wheezing).

You also should avoid: sugar, wheat, and dairy. Then add in 6-9 servings of veggies a day!!!!

For allergy suffers who tend to get sinus infections: Garlic Complex will kick it out of the park with its anti-viral, anti-bacterial & anti-fungal properties. (It’s also great at killing off candida, which is a major contributor to allergies.

Restoring the digestive tract is key. Did you know that 70% of your immune system lies in your gut! That’s just astounding! Providing your gut with the proper bacteria to fight off the bad bacteria is essential in your immune systems response to work properly.

Not only will it help your immune system but it will also provide relief from bloating,

Removing toxins from your home from basic household cleaners can make a big impact on your health.

Our Get Clean® line is:

– Non-toxic

– Leaves no harmful residues

– Safe around children, animals & sensitive adults

– Biodegradable

– Outperforms many leading natural brands

Garlic Complex

Allicin, a compound found in garlic, has been shown to be responsible for many beneficial actions, including the support for the maintenance of healthy levels of beneficial microorganisms.* Garlic is an anti-viral, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal & helps kill off candida! * These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.

Alfalfa is a storehouse of nutrients. Its taproot reaches down as deep as 20 feet, searching out nutrients and minerals from deposits in the soil, while its leaves gather large amounts of chlorophyll through the natural process of photosynthesis.

Alfalfa helps with asthma, allergies & arthritis, as it’s a natural antihistamine.

Alfalfa Complex is a Shaklee Signature Formula originally developed by Dr. Shaklee.

The Simplified Approach, a place to begin

Vitalizer is the most advanced multinutrient supplement in the marketplace today with bio-optimized nutrients clinically proven to create a foundation for a longer, healthier life. * Vitalizer is the powerful and convenient approach to complete supplementation providing the best spectrum of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, anti-aging phytonutrients, omega-3 fatty acids, and probiotics*, all in one daily serving.

 Custom formula created specifically for today’s healthy active woman

 Patent-pending delivery system designed to enhance absorption of key nutrients

 Based on 12 clinical studies and a first-of-its-kind Landmark Study

Nutriferon

NutriFeron is a patented, clinically proven blend of immune-strengthening plant extracts. When used daily, it increases the production of your body’s natural interferon, a critical activator of the immune system. NutriFeron works at the cellular level, by rapidly activating your immune system’s defenses*

In a world of hundreds of supplements… and hundreds of claims in a vitamin industry that is poorly regulated and has lots of hype ….

Watch this to understand why people know Shaklee is the company they can trust …

Dr Bruce Daggy , Shaklee Chief Scientific Officer ” When we say our products are based on science, we mean our products are based on solid proven science. We obsess over the quality of our products.”

I am especially relieved when my allergies do not keep me from hiking, walking out doors, moving vigorously. So many who suffer from allergies and take over the counter medications for them, are tired, drained, drugged into a slow moving zombie, even. Try this natural approach and get relief. Yes, you will be taking a handful of supplements. It will shock you how many alfalfa you take. But, believe me, they work. Gone are the sniffles, the watery eyes, the post nasel drip. Why not try it? You get your money back if it doesn’t make you feel better, Guaranteed.

Be well, Do Well, and Keep Moving,

Betsy

206 933 1889

Call for a consultation!

Be Well health tips, Health and Fitness

immune system

Posted on October 9, 2014

Gentle Reader,

Our immune system needs help. Flu season is upon us. People all around me have colds. Our children are getting leveled by Enterovirus 68. Are you nervous about the Ebola virus? The annual debate surfaces again among people who prefer a natural approach to prevention and those accepting vaccines. What are your plans for protecting yourself, your children or your grandchildren, if you have any say in their health care?

Let’s take a fresh look at the immune system. The immune system is a complex and highly developed system, yet its mission is simple–to seek and kill invaders. Every minute of the day, thousands of battles rage inside your body. Millions of microscopic foreign invaders are trying to penetrate your cells, while your body’s immune system struggles to fight them off. If the invaders win, the result can be a lingering cold or flu, or it could be a chronic illness, cancer or some other disease.

The immune system is a person’s primary defense against disease. With the ever-increasing globalization of our world and strange mutations of viruses on the loose, there has never been a more critical time for you to strengthen your body’s immune system. In addition to known viruses such as the common flu, there is a new onslaught of life threatening viruses such as Hepatitis B and C, HIV and SARS. Do not count on the health care system to protect you. Take personal responsibility. Choose your optimum health strategies.

If you have had even a cold, not to mention the flu, that is an indication that your immune system was not able to do its job effectively of protecting your body from these infections.

The immune system protects you in three different ways:

1. It creates a barrier that prevents bacteria and viruses from entering your body.

2. If a bacteria or virus does get into your body, the immune system tries to detect and eliminate it before it can make itself at home and reproduce.

3. If the virus and/or bacteria are able to reproduce and start causing problems, your immune system is in charge of surrounding, isolating and eliminating it.

Knowing this, it is quite obvious why you need to build and maintain a strong immune system. The stronger it is, the more likely your body will be prepared to defend itself when a deadly bacteria or virus comes knocking.

Want to watch a short video made for kids (aren’t we all kids?) to explain just how this immune system works?

It is extremely important to keep this system healthy, nourished and stimulated.

There are many challenges from modern life that affect the immune system:

not enough rest or exercise
too much exercise (like running a marathon) will depress the immune function temporarily
inadequate nutrition
high stress
environmental pollutants & airborne irritants
aging

How to counteract these challenges:

Get better sleep
Exercise regularly
Eat a balanced diet
Reduce stress
Support your system with supplements

Vitamin supplements are highly recommended to strengthen and maintain a strong immune system. As a FIRST CHOICE, choose Nutriferon from SHAKLEE.

Considering the Flu Shot ?

Instead choose Nutriferon for broad spectrum protection

What is Nutriferon?

It is an exclusive blend of clinically-proven immuno-supportive phytonutrients–FOUR key herbal extracts, which contain bioactive polysaccharides that are safe and natural immune stimulators:

1. Pumpkin seed – increases interferon production

2. Plantago seed – stimulates overall immune response

3. Safflower flower – prompts macrophage to produce cytokines

4. Japanese honeysuckle flower bud – increases activity of immune cells

What does Nutriferon?

When used every day, it provides natural, unsurpassed support for the immune system’s most powerful front-line defenses by

increasing the production, speed, activity and accuracy of the immune system cells and
increasing the communication between all immune system cells.

How does it actually work?

1. It enhances cytokine production. Cytokines are chemical messengers between immune cells which encourage immune cell growth, proliferation, activity, accuracy and power. They destroy target cells, such as viruses and cancer cells.

2. It induces natural interferon production, a powerful group of cytokines.

3. It increases the activity of macrophages–white blood cells that constantly patrol the body looking for “bad guys” to consume. When a macrophage spots anything foreign, it calls for help from other immune system cells using the messenger chemicals called cytokines.

4. It enhances neutrophil activity and maintenance. Neutrophils are key players in the immune response process.

5. It causes immediate increase in lymphocytes. Lymphocyte cells organize the entire defense of the body. When they become damaged or begin to be reduced in number, the body cannot defend itself effectively.

6. It optimizes IgE balance–the immune response against environmental irritants and airborne substances. So Immune Building Complex is especially good to cope with asthma and environmental allergies.

7. It helps bring balance to the immune system

a. by helping up-modulate a weak immune system

b. by helping down-modulate a runaway immune system (auto-immune response)

How to Use Nutriferon:

Take two easy-to-swallow caplets daily

It is intended for EVERYDAY USE. Don’t wait until you get sick. It helps to keep your immune system charged and in an optimum state to defend itself DAILY!

Two a day will provide dietary support for all men and women, especially

those interested in maintaining a “peak-performance” immune system
those who are elderly and, therefore, vulnerable to diminished immunity
those whose diets are not always optimal
those with high levels of stress
those who are sedentary or have erratic exercise habits

Precaution People on immune suppressant drugs (prednisone, gout medication, “inhibitors of cytokine activity,” etc.) should consult their health care provider. If the ESR or CRP levels are elevated in the blood, use caution with Nutriferon.

Product History

This incredible formula is the result of decades of work by eminent immunologists.

It was released to the world marketplace in February 2003 by the SHAKLEE Corporation.
It has been awarded four honorary patents in Japan, USA, Europe and China.
Nutriferon was developed by Dr. Yasuhiro Kajima, the discoverer of
interferons and an eminent immunologist, professor and scientific researcher from Japan.

Dr. Kajima began his immunology research in 1932, and IBC is the result of this pioneering research. It is now available exclusively through SHAKLEE distributors.

Incredible Results !

Clinical test results revealed after one month’s usage: Hepatitis-C virus levels reduced to 1/3.

Lymphocyte count recovery after surgery and chemo for cancer was reduced from the usual 3 months to 3 to 4 weeks

Martha Willmore’s patient with environmentally-induced asthma has not used inhalers since introducing Nutriferon—and before Nutriferon had used the inhaler every 2 hours at night.

You will decide what your line of defense will be. Even when you do everything right within your power, some virus or bacteria may get through and overwhelm your immune defenses. What to do should you get sick is the topic of another post. Until then,

Be well, Do well and Keep Moving.

Betsy

206 933 1889

I hope you will take a minute to comment. Pass this information along to anyone you think might benefit.

Be Well health tips

brain exercises

Posted on October 2, 2014

Gentle Reader,

Brain exercises are instructive to any of us who experience lapses of memory or feel muddled in our thinking. May I share a recent posting by Dr. Jamie Mc Manus, Chair of Medical Affairs at Shaklee? Her comments help with life in general but more specifically with understanding the role of exercise in brain health.

If you are looking to banish “brain fog,” forget your forgetfulness, and even support a better mood, then look no further than your running shoes. Exercise, it turns out, is an outstanding way for you to protect (or even enhance) your brain’s health.

Exercise is so powerful at helping the brain, scientists are suggesting that exercise can decrease cognitive decline, and it may even help you recover some function that you might feel you have lost. So, if you find yourself searching everywhere for your keys, struggling to remember names, or just feeling that you aren’t as sharp as you once were, then your first stop should be your local gym.

Personally, it would be outdoors that I would go searching for help, preferring a walk in the fresh air to the gym. But a walk it is, no matter where, that will help unclog the brain.

When you are looking to keep your brain fit and functional, then make sure you include both physical and mental exercise.

Physical exercise

For optimum brain health, you need both regular and moderately intense brain exercises.

Regular exercise means doing something aerobic (such as walking, jogging, swimming, or biking) at least 3-4 times a week (more is better) and moderate-intensity exercise is the type of exercise where you push yourself to new limits. For example, when walking, instead of a leisurely stroll, try to push yourself and pick up the pace. The key here is to breathe a little hard, but not hard enough that it is difficult for you to carry on a conversation.

Regular exercise improves circulation throughout the body, including the brain. More blood means more nutrients and oxygen-rich blood going to your brain. Laboratory studies have demonstrated that exercise influences the synthesis and release of several neurotransmitters (such as norepinephrine, serotonin, GABA, and acetylcholine) and enhances the production of a growth factor called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF).[i]

Exercise is good for the whole body and it helps to maintain healthy blood pressure, improves energy, helps lower stress and anxiety, improves mood, is good for heart health, and helps you maintain a healthy weight—all of which are beneficial for YOU and your brain.

Mental exercise

Your mental capacity is no different from the rest of your body: you have to use it or lose it.

Part of creating your own brain fitness program is to stimulate your brain on a regular basis. When you do this, you increase and strengthen neural connections inside your brain, a process known as neuroplasticity.

What can you do to stimulate your brain?

Social engagement, crossword puzzles, completing challenging tasks, trying brain games or anything new, doing something differently, all stimulate your brain. You can even try brushing your teeth or eating with the opposite hand.

Just like the rest of your body, your brain needs your attention to keep it performing well throughout your whole life.

Shaklee’s new MindWorks comes with a free delivery of mind bending exercises from Cognifit. If you really want to stretch your brain muscles, try it. Or the popular Lumosity which I have been playing around with for a couple months. I’ve been thinking about learning Swedish so I can read a book about the Swede Finns who came to this country around 1900, including my great grandfather, great uncles and my grandparents, all of whom are mentioned and pictured in this book. It is frustrating to not be able to read Swedish. Shall I try it and exercise my brain?

Use the comment section to tell me what your favorite brain exercises are.

Be well,

Dr. Jamie

Jamie McManus, M.D., FAAFP

Chair of Medical Affairs, Health Science, & Education

Be well, Do well and Keep Moving,

Betsy

206 933 1889

www.HiHOHealth.com for shopping

Be Well health tips, Health and Fitness

Genetics?

Posted on September 19, 2014

Gentle Reader,

(This was first published a couple years ago, but not in the Health and Fitness blog thread).

In this post, the latest info on genetic variations. Where is the norm?

No one is perfect

Because my youngest daughter Ruth was diagnosed with invasive breast cancer three summers ago, after already having a melanoma removed from her arm at the same age (34) that I had a malignant breast removed, Group Health decided to do a genetic study of the two of us. My mother had died of pancreatic cancer but had been diagnosed with breast cancer around age 68 or so. They came up with a genetic variant: P53. It turns out that 8 families in the US are now in a study because of multi-generational variants in P53.

I haven’t taken the time to research what this mean for our family except to worry about the melanoma part for myself. (I have been treated for actinic keratosis on my face with chemo cream that makes you look absolutely freakish). Shall I share the photo of a face under reconstruction? Maybe not in this post. There is a third cancer showing up in the families in this study: brain cancer. “Holy Shit” is the only response I could find.

Ii spent time with my mother’s remaining relatives this past summer. One cousin died of melanoma; another of breast cancer. My aunt died of a brain tumor. Were they all carrying this genetic tendency marker, P53? Who knows. And double Holy Shit.

So when Dr. Stephen Chaney, noted cancer researcher and Shaklee consumer and promoter, sent his take on a recent article explaining how many errors our individual genomes have, I was eager to read on. We are all full of variants. ”We’re all defective in one way or another”. I have always said in my health talks that we must not give up in the face of genetic markers, known or unknown. (Want to read the study? http://www.sciencemag.org/content/335/6070/823)

People say, “maybe it’s genetics” when they confront a diagnosis. I find what Dr. Chaney has to say to be comforting, and, while I pay attention to little tweaks and pains here and there questioning the big Cancer picture, I am not about to stop taking care of every prevention measure I can come up with, just because I now have a “genetic tendency caused by a variant in P53.”

Now some of you may be saying ‘What does this mean for me?’Dr. Chaney says, “When you carry this idea through to its ultimate conclusion, the bottom line message is:
1) Nutritional recommendations are based on averages -none of us is average.
2) The identified risk factors for developing diseases are based on averages – none of us is average
3) Clinical trial results are based on averages – none of us is average.
4) Even clinical trials of drug efficacy for treating disease or drug safety are based on averages – none of us is average.
That means lots of the advice you may be getting about your risk of developing disease X, the best way to treat disease X, or the role of supplementation in reducing the probability of disease X may be generally true – but it might not be true for you.“So my advice is not to blindly accept the advice of others about what is right for your body. Learn to listen to your body. Learn what foods work best for you. Learn what exercises just feel right for you. Learn what supplementation does for you. Don’t ignore your doctor’s recommendations, but don’t be afraid to take on some of the responsibility for your own health. You are a unique individual, and nobody else knows what it is like to be you.”I couldn’t agree more. This is my whole reason for writing this blog and sharing information with you. Even with known variants, we can shape our health future. Thirty years ago I was introduced to Shaklee vitamins and other food supplements. I believe these products have made all the difference. If you already take supplements, or have never started, may I suggest the brand you take could be important? Changing brands could change your life. Browse the product guide, and try them out. You will feel better or your money will be fully refunded.

Believe it.

Be well, Do well and Keep Moving. Betsy

Arthritis, Be Well health tips, Health and Fitness, Keep Moving: Managing Arthritis

low back pain

Posted on September 11, 2014

Gentle Reader,

Yicks! Low back pain. Leg numbness. JR, my twenty something trainer, moved me up to a new set of exercises last week. I’m not the only ancient mariner at the Xgym by a long shot, but the way they schedule us in half hour slots for a 25 minute hands-on workout, I don’t have the opportunity to see how the other over-70 year olds are doing. What I do know is the numbness in my right leg showed up on Sunday morning while I was navigating between the choir corner and my chair in the Ensemble (a little pick up band that plays the family service at our Episcopal Cathedral here in Seattle.) And my lower back was killing me.

When you have low back pain because of a workout, do you quit? No. You modify the workout to avoid low back pain.

On Monday, I talked to PJ, the owner and creator of Xgym, who is also a physical therapist. He knew right away what to do to modify my program and to help me avoid low back pain between the twice a week sessions. Squats free standing on uneven surfaces using ski poles to support stability strained by back too much.

Picture ski poles and squats on an uneven surface like this pillow

He changed this quad exercise to leg raises on one of the machine, hands forward so the lower back is relatively uninvolved.

lean forward drapping your arms over the top cushions to reduce back strain. — lean forward draping your arms over the top cushions to reduce back strain.

This round of exercises to strengthen the shoulders and lats meant lifting weights while standing, arms outstretched on either side, ratcheting up two, down one, up two, down one seven times and then back down.

Turn around with the back against the upright frame to prevent low back strain

This action aggravated the lower back. PJ changed the move so I stand against a flat surface stabilizing my back and shoulders while I do the same straight arm lifting.

I tell you this because it illustrates the importance of hands-on training when your body has areas of weakness from previous injuries, arthritis, or some other cause. Friends I have talked to about my Xgym workouts shy away because they are afraid of hurting themselves. “I can’t take all that jumping around,” they tell me. There is no jumping around. “X” doesn’t mean extreme, insane, sweat pouring activity. In fact, there is almost no stress on joints at all. These exercises are designed to bring each of five muscle groups to complete fatigue through slow, controlled movements.

The second corrective advice PJ gave was to suggest daily warm up exercises including “cat-cow” and opposite leg and arm extensions from the neutral “cat-cow” stance. Good old Pilates exercises I have forgotten about. He explained that when the back is stressed, it seizes up, guarding against further pain. Doing the “cat-cow” reassures the lower back that it is safe to move. Relax. Relax and go with the flow. This movement gets the blood flowing freely in the area, supported by the breath.

People go to the gym for all kinds of reasons: body-building, endurance, losing weight or at least making that extra piece of bacon inconsequential—calories in, calories out. I am there for one express purpose: preventing osteoporosis. The slow-burning activated muscles pull on the attached bone and the bone reacts by taking on more density.

Did you know that medical anthropologists have determined that the people with the strongest bones in the history of human kind were the slave-class women in ancient Egypt, as compared to women from the ranks of Egypt’s elite? High ranking women were extremely inactive physically. Same ethnic stock, different life styles. Different bone density and strength.

PJ Glassey’s Xgym has not cloned itself across the US. He has only two locations in the greater Seattle area, Harbor Dr. in West Seattle and downtown Kirkland on the eastside. I hope more trainers with extensive physical therapy knowledge develop this low stress, high intensity approach. Those of us working to avoid the deterioration of joints that comes with aging and keep a high level of fitness and strength need this type of training. You can read about his methods and the science behind them in his book Cracking Your Calorie Code. I do not agree with PJ on the topic of supplementation. The kind of diet his consumes may be adequate for many if you never miss a day eating the way he recommends. As careful as I am about my food intake, there are days I cannot get all the nutrients I need from food. I am just not home to prepare those fresh vegetables three meals a day. Some bodies need more nutrients to build optimal health than they can get from good food alone. Read his book and decide for yourself. He has so many good pointers and if don’t live in Seattle, it’s the next best thing.

Not all supplements are equal. They must be sourced from organic, non-genetically modified plants and they must be processed so no contaminants or impurities taint a single tablet. I trust the Shaklee scientists because my body lets me know how well they are absorbed. If I couldn’t believe my body, I can believe the double-blind clinical trials with real people using these products in independent tests. If you feel your body is not getting everything it needs from food alone and you are already taking supplements, I invite you to change brands for a minimum of three months to see if the Shaklee effect happens to you. It takes three months for the blood to be all new. That length of time would be a fair trial.

By all means, keep moving. The breath carries the blood to the muscles and joints. Moving means breathing deeply, from the bottom of the belly. This action alone will do more for your health than any other single thing.

Your comments are welcome and if this post rings true for you, pass it along to a friend. Sign up to receive this weekly health blog automatically.

Be well, Do well and Keep Moving,

Betsy

206 933 1889

Be Well health tips, Health and Fitness

clear thinking

Posted on September 6, 2014

Gentle Reader,

Clear thinking. We all want it. Brain function is one of several declines we seems unable to prevent as we age. However, it looks as though a new supplement can help. The news coming in from people who notice improvements in the quality of their thinking is so impressive I have decided to share one story with you.

Normally I keep to the physical ailments associated with arthritis, joints and muscles and prevention. These stories are about the brain and our ability to think clearly, forget less, stay on target.

The company whose products I represent, Shaklee, has been studying the human brain for about 5 years. I noticed that I wrote a newsletter about telomeres—strands of DNA—in 2011 after attending a lecture on these studies: Here is that short article published in August of 2011 about a special session at the Shaklee conference for health care professionals.

I attended the special session for health care providers, an audience of more than 200 people. Dr. Jamie McManus, Medical Director, announced a new partnership with Elizabeth Blackburn, Ph.D., 2009 winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Dr. Blackburn, AC, FRS is an Australian-born American biological researcher at UC San Francisco, who studies the telomere, a structure at the end of chromosomes that protects the chromosome. Blackburn co-discovered telomerase, the enzyme that replenishes the telomere. For this work, she was awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, sharing it with Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak.

She and her team have blood samples from 107 Shaklee supplement users and will compare their telomere length with a control group from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). We expect Shaklee supplement users to have healthier telomeres.

The Shaklee Telomere Research Landmark Study II on DNA and longevity will include 107 Shaklee participants who have been taking Shaklee (Vitalizer, Vivix and Cinch) for approximately five years, as well as a group of non-supplement users.

Preliminary results of the study are very impressive. Telomere research is not only about the brain and clear thinking. Every chromosome in the body has telomeres, so Dr. Blackburn’s research tells us about healthy aging in all areas.

Dr. Blackburn is newly appointed to Shaklee’s scientific advisory board. I have posted her videos on my You Tube channel. If you get excited by the science of aging the way I do, you’ll enjoy watching her lectures.

Another highly educated university professor, Susan Bartz Herrick, fell heir to her parents’ Shaklee business. I’ll let her tell you her story as she experiences her clear thinking after a few weeks with MindWorks.

You know I don’t write a great deal but I just had to share this one with you, as it is personal. And you know that I tend to shy away from testimonials. Not that I don’t find them meaningful – I do. It’s just that they are not scientific. Being in academia for over 30 years, it is a common practice that we are forced (sometimes against our will) to think that only reports complete with empirical data published in peer reviewed journals have any validity. Also – I knew someone quite well who was utterly incapable of separating the two, and insisted if something was written in Readers Digest – well… it just had to be true.

However, when something works well, I am more than happy to pass it along to my friends; like recipes, high heel shoes that don’t hurt my feet and any anti-ageing potions of reasonable measure. Ok, I found one – in the last category – of sorts. It’s called MindWorks.

First, allow me to confess that I am the Queen of ADD and have been all my life. Where are my books? Shoes? Glasses? Sit still. Don’t doodle! Squirrel!!! You get the picture. After a while, one learns to live with it and exchanges the label “ADD” with “multitasking” to save face. The fact that my students call me “Professor” still is a mystery to some – including me at times.

Getting back to the story: When Shaklee announced the new MindWorks I was thinking; ”Ok perhaps it will help my failing memory, make me young again, and allow me to wear my 3 inch heels”. Putting humor aside for a moment, I can tell you memory loss was really starting to bother me. I was pushing 60 and expecting some loss of cognition and recall, but I also knew I was dealing with issues far beyond that – and it frightened me. You see, from age 46 to 56 I had lived in an extremely stressful state. I had the usual stress that came from getting a divorce, losing home, income, dealing with a hormonal teen intent on pushing me to the limits of insanity, caring for aging sick parents, dying friends, etc. You get the picture – the typical sandwich generational stuff. All came a screeching halt however when my only child, my son, was almost killed in a car accident four years ago. He was on life support for a week, 27 broken bones and having the nurse tell us they didn’t know what his ‘new normal’ would look like. My world stopped and I could not breathe.

After three weeks of hospital vigilance, we saw he would live and I found myself back in the classroom standing in front of my students who were waiting for the lecture de jour. Only one problem – I didn’t know where I was or what I was supposed to be doing. Truly, I found myself frozen as a deer caught in the headlights first day back. I knew I was in class, but that was about it. At least I had enough awareness to check the date and time on the computer to see where I was and what I was supposed to teach that day. Lucky for me, my lectures were posted on-line so I pulled it up and hoped I was on point. It was scary. My therapist told me afterwards it was classic Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and that it would take time for my memory to come back. Great.

As the years went on, I saw my memory slowly resurfacing – to a point. But still I would say I was at half the recall of what I was before the accident. Then the samples of MindWorks came along from Shaklee. However, by this time I had resigned myself to the fact that I’d have to use detailed notes to teach from this point on and I would never remember your name – even if you were a family member.

Long story short: The first day of taking MindWorks, I felt a gentle mental awakening with more clarity but I wasn’t really paying too much attention to results. Then one day, the same week, in class I found myself on the other side of the room – totally engaged in the subject realizing I had just taught 30 minutes without looking at my notes! Next day – same thing! Hoot hoot!!! Later the next week I found myself working well into the afternoon and actually making sense which had become a rarity past 4PM. Teaching in the morning was not just a preference – it was a necessity! But here I was again: Energy – clarity – focus! The results were enough to make me a believer!!

But what I noticed next was not promoted in the product literature and came as treasured surprise. You see, along with all the stress of those hard years came a certain level of depression – clinical depression. My doctors all told me that one cannot sustain the levels of stress that I had for all those years without having the pool of ‘feel good’ brain chemicals bottom out. To remedy it I was given the usual round of Rx’s to help but they didn’t help: Prozak turned me into a zombie and Welbutrin made me a raging lunatic – according to my son. Nope – I settled on St. Johns Wart much to the chagrin of my MD as she said it would never get my brain chemistry back to the high levels needed to feel joyful again. It helped – a little – but I had resigned myself to the fact that I may never have those light peace filled feelings again. Why do I bring this up? Because this past week I have noticed a joy filled bliss creeping back into my mornings. One morning after a calm read the joy fairy just kind of settled in and a tear of gratitude rolled down my face. Yes, there was a way out of the brain dead pit – and it seems to be called Mindworks. At least it was for me.

So there you go my friends: my testimonial. I am sleeping better too BTW way. And my retention of facts and focus keeps getting better. They tell me that Mindworks also helps reduce brain shrinkage by 30% over 2 years according to the clinical study. That’s impressive but right now, I am just tickled pink to get my brain back!!

Susan

Who do you know who could use this kind of helpful improvement? Happy thinking!

Be well, Do well and Keep Moving

Betsy

206 933 1889

Arthritis, Be Well health tips, Health and Fitness, Keep Moving: Managing Arthritis

Eggplant bad for arthritis?

Posted on August 28, 2014

Gentle Reader,

Is eggplant bad for arthritis? Those of us who suffer the pain of arthritis, especially osteoarthritis, have the uneasy belief that night shade plants including eggplant, tomatoes, potatoes, and peppers make the pain worse. This article came across my desk thanks to Kate McCoy, LMT and friend. I was delighted to see how many great benefits there are to eating eggplant AND most importantly, that there have been no studies to substantiate that eggplant is bad for arthritis. Please read on and discover how great this vegetable is and add it to your diet.

Of course, I always recommend that each individual test out their own body’s reaction to the night shade plants. Perhaps you are the exception and avoiding them is in fact just the right strategy for helping alleviate your arthritis pain.

Eggplant

Long prized for its deeply purple, glossy beauty as well as its unique taste and texture, eggplants are now available in markets throughout the year, but they are at their very best from August through October when they are in season.

Eggplants belong to the nightshade family of vegetables, which also includes tomatoes, sweet peppers and potatoes. They grow in a manner much like tomatoes, hanging from the vines of a plant that grows several feet in height. While the different varieties do range slightly in taste and texture, one can generally describe the eggplant as having a pleasantly bitter taste and spongy texture.

Eggplant, cubed, cooked
1.00 cup
(99.00 grams)

Calories: 35
GI: low

NutrientDRI/DV

fiber 9.8%

vitamin B 16.6%

copper 6.6%

manganese 5.5%

vitamin B6 5.2%

vitamin B3 3.6%

potassium 3.4%

folate 3.4%

vitamin K 3.1%

This chart graphically details the % of daily value (DV) that a serving of Eggplant provides for each of the nutrients of which it is a good, very good, or excellent source according to our (Whole Foods) Food Rating System. Additional information about the amount of these nutrients provided by Eggplant can be found in the Food Rating System Chart. A link that takes you to the In-Depth Nutritional Profile for Eggplant, featuring information over 80 nutrients, can be found under the Food Rating System Chart.

Health Benefits

In addition to featuring a host of vitamins and minerals, eggplant also contains important phytonutrients, many which have antioxidant activity. Phytonutrients contained in eggplant include phenolic compounds, such caffeic and chlorogenic acid, and flavonoids, such asnasunin.

Brain Food

Research on eggplant has focused on an anthocyanin phytonutrient found in eggplant skin called nasunin. Nasunin is a potent antioxidant and free radical scavenger that has been shown to protect cell membranes from damage. In animal studies, nasunin has been found to protect the lipids (fats) in brain cell membranes. Cell membranes are almost entirely composed of lipids and are responsible for protecting the cell from free radicals, letting nutrients in and wastes out, and receiving instructions from messenger molecules that tell the cell which activities it should perform.

Rich in Phenolic Antioxidant Compounds

Researchers at the US Agricultural Service in Beltsville, Maryland, have found that eggplants are rich sources of phenolic compounds that function as antioxidants. Plants form such compounds to protect themselves against oxidative stress from exposure to the elements, as well as from infection by bacteria and fungi.

The good news concerning eggplant is that the predominant phenolic compound found in all varieties tested is chlorogenic acid, which is one of the most potent free radical scavengers found in plant tissues. Benefits attributed to chlorogenic acid include antimutagenic (anti-cancer), antimicrobial, anti-LDL (bad cholesterol) and antiviral activities.

ARS researchers studied seven eggplant cultivars grown commercially in the U.S. and a diverse collection of exotic and wild eggplants from other counties. In addition to chlorogenic acid, they found 13 other phenolic acids present at significantly varying levels in the commercial cultivars, although chlorogenic acid was the predominant phenolic compound in all of them. Black Magic—a commercial eggplant cultivar representative of U.S. market types—was found to have nearly three times the amount of antioxidant phenolics as the other eggplant cultivars that were studied. In addition to their nutritive potential, the phenolic acids in eggplant are responsible for some eggplants’ bitter taste and the browing that results when their flesh is cut. An enzyme called polyphenol oxidase triggers a phenolic reaction that produces brown pigments. Scientists have begun work on developing eggplant cultivars with an optimal balance of phenolics to ensure both optimal nutritional value and pleasing taste.

Cardiovascular Health and Free Radical Protection

When laboratory animals with high cholesterol were given eggplant juice, their blood cholesterol, the cholesterol in their artery walls and the cholesterol in their aortas (the aorta is the artery that returns blood from the heart back into circulation into the body) was significantly reduced, while the walls of their blood vessels relaxed, improving blood flow. These positive effects were likely due not only to nasunin but also to several other terpene phytonutrients in eggplant.

Nasunin is not only a potent free-radical scavenger, but is also an iron chelator. Although iron is an essential nutrient and is necessary for oxygen transport, normal immune function and collagen synthesis, too much iron is not a good thing. Excess iron increases free radical production and is associated with an increased risk of heart disease and cancer. Menstruating women, who lose iron every month in their menstrual flow, are unlikely to be at risk, but in postmenopausal women and men, iron, which is not easily excreted, can accumulate. By chelating iron, nasunin lessens free radical formation with numerous beneficial results, including protecting blood cholesterol (which is also a type of lipid or fat) from peroxidation; preventing cellular damage that can promote cancer; and lessening free radical damage in joints, which is a primary factor in rheumatoid arthritis.

Description

Eggplant, or aubergine as it is called in France, is a vegetable long prized for its beauty as well as its unique taste and texture. Eggplants belong to the plant family of Solanaceae, also commonly known as nightshades, and are kin to the tomato, bell pepper and potato. Eggplants grow in a manner much like tomatoes, hanging from the vines of a plant that grows several feet in height.

One of the most popular varieties of eggplant in North America looks like a pear-shaped egg, a characteristic from which its name is derived. The skin is glossy and deep purple in color, while the flesh is cream colored and spongy in consistency. Contained within the flesh are seeds arranged in a conical pattern.

In addition to this variety, eggplant is also available in a cornucopia of other colors including lavender, jade green, orange, and yellow-white, as well as in sizes and shapes that range from that of a small tomato to a large zucchini.

While the different varieties do vary slightly in taste and texture, one can generally describe the eggplant as having a pleasantly bitter taste and spongy texture. In many recipes, eggplant fulfills the role of being a complementary ingredient that balances the surrounding flavors of the other more pronounced ingredients.

History

The ancient ancestors of eggplant grew wild in India and were first cultivated in China in the 5th century B.C. Eggplant was introduced to Africa before the Middle Ages and then into Italy, the country with which it has long been associated, in the 14th century. It subsequently spread throughout Europe and the Middle East and, centuries later, was brought to the Western Hemisphere by European explorers. Today, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, China and Japan are the leading growers of eggplant.

Although it has a long and rich history, eggplant did not always hold the revered place in food culture that it does today, especially in European cuisines. As a result of the overly bitter taste of the early varieties, it seems that people also felt that it had a bitter disposition—eggplant held the undeserved and inauspicious reputation of being able to cause insanity, leprosy and cancer.

For centuries after its introduction into Europe, eggplant was used more as a decorative garden plant than as a food. Not until new varieties were developed in the 18th century, did eggplant lose its bitter taste and bitter reputation, and take its now esteemed place in the cuisines of many European countries, including Italy, Greece, Turkey and France.

How to Select and Store

Choose eggplants that are firm and heavy for their size. Their skin should be smooth and shiny, and their color, whether it be purple, white or green, should be vivid. They should be free of discoloration, scars, and bruises, which usually indicate that the flesh beneath has become damaged and possibly decayed.

The stem and cap, on either end of the eggplant, should be bright green in color. As you would with other fruits and vegetables, avoid purchasing eggplant that has been waxed. To test for the ripeness of an eggplant, gently press the skin with the pad of your thumb. If it springs back, the eggplant is ripe, while if an indentation remains, it is not.

Although they look hardy, eggplants are actually very perishable and care should be taken in their storage. Eggplants are sensitive to both heat and cold and should ideally be stored at around 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius). Do not cut eggplant before you store it as it perishes quickly once its skin has been punctured or its inner flesh exposed.

Place uncut and unwashed eggplant in a plastic bag and store in the refrigerator crisper where it will keep for a few days. If it is too large for the crisper, do not try to force it in; this will damage the skin and cause the eggplant to spoil and decay. Instead, place it on a shelf within the refrigerator.

If you purchase eggplant that is wrapped in plastic film, remove it as soon as possible since it will inhibit the eggplant from breathing and degrade its freshness.

Tips for Preparing Eggplant

When cutting an eggplant, use a stainless steel knife as carbon steel will react with its phytonutrients and cause it to turn black. Wash the eggplant first and then cut off the ends.

Most eggplants can be eaten either with or without their skin. However, the larger ones and those that are white in color generally have tough skins that may not be palatable. To remove skin, you can peel it before cutting or if you are baking it, you can scoop out the flesh once it is cooked.

To tenderize the flesh’s texture and reduce some of its naturally occurring bitter taste, you can sweat the eggplant by salting it. After cutting the eggplant into the desired size and shape, sprinkle it with salt and allow it to rest for about 30 minutes. This process will pull out some of its water content and make it less permeable to absorbing any oil used in cooking. This salting step makes a big difference in the flavor of a grilled eggplant so take the time to do it. I put the 1/4 inch rounds on a cookie cooling rack suspended over the sink, then pat the beads of water off before brushing with olive oil for the oven, grill or frying pan.

Rinsing the eggplant after “sweating” will remove most of the salt. I pat dry with paper towels.

Eggplant can be baked, roasted in the oven, or steamed. If baking it whole, pierce the eggplant several times with a fork to make small holes for the steam to escape. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit (about 177 degrees Celsius) for 15 to 25 minutes, depending upon size. You can test for its readiness by gently inserting a knife or fork to see if it passes through easily.

A Few Quick Serving Ideas

For homemade babaganoush, purée roasted eggplant, garlic, tahini, lemon juice and olive oil.
Use it as a dip for vegetables or as a sandwich filling.
Mix cubed baked eggplant with grilled peppers, lentils, onions and garlic and top with balsamic vinaigrette.
Stuff miniature Japanese eggplants with a mixture of feta cheese, pine nuts and roasted peppers.
Add eggplant to your next Indian curry stir-fry.
Ratatouille my personal favorite after grilling. Make now with the abundance of zucchini and sweet onions. Serve cold with sour cream.

Cautions: Eggplant and Oxalates

Eggplant is among a small number of foods that contain measurable amounts of oxalates, naturally-occurring substances found in plants, animals, and human beings. When oxalates become too concentrated in body fluids, they can crystallize and cause health problems. For this reason, individuals with already existing and untreated kidney or gallbladder problems may want to avoid eating eggplant. Laboratory studies have shown that oxalates may also interfere with absorption of calcium from the body. Yet, in every peer-reviewed research study we’ve seen, the ability of oxalates to lower calcium absorption is relatively small and definitely does not outweigh the ability of oxalate-containing foods to contribute calcium to the meal plan. If your digestive tract is healthy, and you do a good job of chewing and relaxing while you enjoy your meals, you will get significant benefits—including absorption of calcium—from calcium-rich foods plant foods that also contain oxalic acid. Ordinarily, a healthcare practitioner would not discourage a person focused on ensuring that they are meeting their calcium requirements from eating these nutrient-rich foods because of their oxalate content.

Eggplant Belongs to the Nightshade Family

Eggplant is one of the vegetables in the nightshade (Solanaceae) family, which includes bell pepper, tomatoes and potatoes. Anecdotal case histories link improvement in arthritis symptoms with removal of these foods; however, no case-controlled scientific studies confirm these observations. Eggplant an arthritis are not linked, scientifically.

Nutritional Profile Click here for super detailed info on eggplant.

Eggplant, cubed, cooked 1.00 cup 99.00 gramsCalories: 35 GI: low
Nutrient	Amount	DRI/DV (%)	Nutrient Density	World’s Healthiest Foods Rating
fiber	2.47 g	9.9	5.1	very good
vitamin B1	0.08 mg	6.7	3.5	very good
copper	0.06 mg	6.7	3.5	very good
manganese	0.11 mg	5.5	2.9	good
vitamin B6	0.09 mg	5.3	2.8	good
vitamin B3	0.59 mg	3.7	1.9	good
potassium	121.77 mg	3.5	1.8	good
folate	13.86 mcg	3.5	1.8	good
vitamin K	2.87 mcg	3.2	1.7	good

World’s Healthiest Foods Rating	Rule
excellent	DRI/DV>=75% OR Density>=7.6 AND DRI/DV>=10%
very good	DRI/DV>=50% OR Density>=3.4 AND DRI/DV>=5%
good	DRI/DV>=25% OR Density>=1.5 AND DRI/DV>=2.5%

In-Depth Nutritional Profile for Eggplant

References

Bliss RM, Elstein D. Scientists get under eggplant’s skin. ARS Magazine, 2004 January; 52 (1): http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/jan04/skin0104.htm. 2004.
Ensminger AH, Ensminger, ME, Kondale JE, Robson JRK. Foods & Nutriton Encyclopedia. Pegus Press, Clovis, California. 1983.
Ensminger AH, Esminger M. K. J. e. al. Food for Health: A Nutrition Encyclopedia. Clovis, California: Pegus Press; 1986. 1986. PMID:15210.
Fortin, Francois, Editorial Director. The Visual Foods Encyclopedia. Macmillan, New York. 1996.
Jorge PA, Neyra LC, Osaki RM, et al. Effect of eggplant on plasma lipid levels, lipidic peroxidation and reversion of endothelial dysfunction in experimental hypercholesterolemia. Arq Bras Cardiol. 1998 Feb;70(2):87-91. 1998.
Kimura Y, Araki Y, Takenaka A, Igarashi K. Protective effects of dietary nasunin on paraquat-induced oxidative stress in rats. Biosci Biotechnol Biochem. 1999 May;63(5):799-804. 1999.
Noda Y, Kneyuki T, Igarashi K, et al. Antioxidant activity of nasunin, an anthocyanin in eggplant peels. Toxicology 2000 Aug 7;148(2-3):119-23. 2000.
Whitaker BD, Stommel JR. Distribution of Hydroxycinnamic Acid Conjugates in Fruit of Commercial Eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) Cultivars. J Agric Food Chem 2003 May 21;51(11):3448-54. 2003.
Whitaker BD, Stommel JR. Distribution of hydroxycinnamic acid conjugates in fruit of commercial eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) cultivars. J Agric Food Chem. 2003 May 21; 51(11): 3448-54. 2003.
Wood, Rebecca. The Whole Foods Encyclopedia. New York, NY: Prentice-Hall Press; 1988. 1988. PMID:15220.

For education only, consult a healthcare practitioner for any health problems.

Email me your experiences with eggplant and your health. Is eggplant bad for arthritis in your experience? Let’s share.

Be well, Do well and Keep Moving,

Betsy

betsy@hihohealth.com

203 933 1889