Well, I did it!  A little over two months ago I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy.  As part of my celebration as a new mom, I decided to focus on children’s health as the subject for our next webinar, taking place on March 20^th.  As I prepare for this webinar, I’m finding all kinds of interesting information to share with all you parents, grandparents, aunties, uncles, and any others who care for kids out there.  Here is a little sampler to whet your appetite!

•  Giving your child a dose of vitamin C, vitamin B12, and cod liver oil before a vaccination can drastically reduce the chances of side effects from the vaccine.
• Egg yolks are one of the best foods to introduce as baby’s first solid food.
• Incorporating fruit and cereal into your baby’s diet too early could make it more likely that your child with have a “sweet tooth”.
• Many nutritional experts feel that pregnant and nursing women should eat 2-4 tablespoons daily of high quality butter from grassfed cows to ensure that their baby is getting enough of the right fat for healthy brain development.
• Children raised on farms tend to have healthier immune systems than children raised in sterile environments because occasional exposure to dirt and bacteria helps the immune system develop properly.
• Occasional mild childhood illness may actually prevent cancer later in life.

I’ll discuss these points and more in our webinar, as well as answer any questions you may have.  To register, click here: Children’s Health Webinar. 

Red yeast rice is a type of yeast that has been found to be, in many cases, as effective as statins to lower cholesterol without the negative side effects.  Below is a link to a Discovery Health article that discusses the benefits of red yeast rice in more detail. 

http://health.discovery.com/centers/althealth/cholesterol/cholesterol.html

Red yeast rice can be found in Omega LDL, along with Coenzyme Q10 and fish oil, two compounds that are vital to heart health!

This month we are running a special on Vitamin D in the form of Arctic-D Cod Liver oil or Essential D3.  Vitamin D is now commonly recognized to be vital to healthy mood and proper formation of bone tissue, but there is so much more to this amazing vitamin!  Below is a link to an excellent article on the subject, complete with a list of food sources of vitamin D.  Enjoy!

http://www.westonaprice.org/The-Miracle-of-Vitamin-D.html

The other night my husband and I went on a date to our favorite Thai restaurant…possibly our last date as a married couple with no children as I’m due to have a baby sometime in the next couple weeks!  The fan in the restaurant kitchen was broken, which caused waves of smoke to billow out into the eating area.  I thought something was on fire, but then realized that the smoke is a normal occurrence in many restaurants because the frying areas are at such high heat that the cooking oil is constantly smoking so the fan is an absolute necessity.  Yikes!!! 

When an oil is heated to its smoke point, that means it is highly damaged and full of free radicals (molecules that cause aging and disease).  Below is a link to a list of oils and their smoke points, apparently compiled by an engineer that also likes to cook.  I don’t completely agree with his definition of refined oils (he defines them as oils with impurities removed, where in actuality refined oils also have nutrients and healthy fats removed and may be rancid prior to processing) but it is still very interesting info.  Enjoy reading, and happy new year!

http://www.cookingforengineers.com/article/50/Smoke-Points-of-Various-Fats

We’re halfway through December, a notorious month for weight gain due to all the holiday parties and other food-related gatherings.  Here are five tips to help prevent weight gain during these festivities:

1. Bring an afternoon snack to work to prevent overindulging at the holiday goodies table mid-afternoon.  Ideas include cheese and crackers, hard boiled eggs, raw vegetables and hummus, or a protein shake.

2. Stay hydrated – it’s easy to mistake thirst for hunger.  Even though it’s cold outside, your body still needs plenty of water to keep from getting dehydrated due to dry winter air. 

3. Eat something containing protein alongside anything sweet or alcoholic.  This prevents your blood sugar from “spiking and crashing” which contributes to weight gain.  There are usually protein choices at most holiday parties in the form of cheese, meat, and dips.  Be sure to put a portion of these items on your party plate alongside any desserts or alcoholic drinks.

4. Eat a light snack before going to evening holiday parties.  It may seem counterintuitive to eat before going to a party, but if you have something very light containing protein (half a protein shake, 1 hard boiled eggs, 2” piece of cheese) then you will arrive at the party with stable blood sugar and will be more likely to stay in control of portion sizes when it’s time to eat.

5. If it’s a potluck, bring something healthy to share that you know you will eat and enjoy.  Ideas include fruit, a veggie tray with dip, a cold cut platter, cheese and crackers, or deviled eggs.

We’re full swing into winter with a blizzard blowing through Marilyn Farms in Iowa and, here in Hawaii where I am…a warm sunny day and 50 foot waves on the North Shore of Oahu.  No matter where you live and what kind of winter weather is happening around you, I’m sure that the holiday season of eating has already begun with Thanksgiving and won’t end until we get through all the holiday parties and New Year celebrations. 

I know that this time of year is when people become concerned about weight gain due to all of the holiday food fests and may try to make up for it by cutting calories elsewhere.  That’s not a terrible idea, but I did want to share with you an article on artificial sweeteners to make sure that you don’t try to make up for the 7 slices of pie your co-workers force fed  you last week by switching over to foods labeled “sugar-free” or “diet” without knowing the potential risks.  Here’s the article:

http://drbenkim.com/articles-artificialsweeteners.html

Stay tuned to upcoming blogs for more on my favorite subject – food!  I’m going to use the next couple of entries to share some ideas for healthy holiday eating, as well as fun facts about winter seasonal foods.

Andrea, a friend of mine who is also a creative chef, sent me this recipe earlier this week and I thought it would be fun to share with you all. 

Tomato soup is really good (especially on a chilly Fall night, but I speak from memory only now that I live in Hawaii) but when you buy it canned it tends to contain additives like sugar, MSG, and artificial flavorings.  Making it yourself takes a little more time, but if you make a big batch and freeze it into individual portions you save time and money.  Here’s Andrea’s recipe.  Enjoy!   

1 28oz can of Diced Tomatoes (I use Muir Glen)
1/3 cup olive oil
2-4 whole garlic cloves
2 celery stalks diced
1 carrot diced
1 med onion diced
1 quart of Chicken Broth (I used home made – just make a chicken in the crockpot with celery, carrots, onions, salt and pepper and cover with water.  Cook on low all day and you have amazing chicken broth, not to mention lots of chicken to use for anything you like.)
Salt and Pepper to taste
Crushed Red Pepper Flakes to taste
1/4 pint of heavy cream (optional)

Preheat oven to 375.  Strain the tomatoes reserving the juice.  Spread the tomatoes out in a casserole dish.  Drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper.  Place whole garlic cloves on top and bake for 15 minutes.

While you are waiting for your tomatoes, saute the celery, carrots and onions with olive oil in a large soup pan.  Once they are tender, add the chicken broth and reserved tomato juice.  Add salt, pepper and red pepper flakes at this point.  Bring to a boil, to make sure your veggies will puree nicely. 

Once the tomatoes are done roasting, add them to the mixture.  If you have a submersion blender, puree right in the pan.  If not, transfer to a blender to puree.  Add the cream if you so desire.  You may want to add more chicken broth to get it to the consistency you like.  Add a little fresh basil at the end, if desired.

I have been finalizing my lecture for this weekend’s webinar on immunity and thought I’d share with you a few of the exciting things I’ve been learning while researching this topic! 

• Most people over 60 years old have natural antibodies to swine flu in their blood because their parents were exposed to the 1918 flu virus.

• Having sufficient levels of healthy bacteria in your gut makes it less likely that you’ll suffer side effects from vaccinations containing thimerosol (mercury).

• All of us have cancer cells in our bodies all the time, but for most of us our immune system continually identifies and destroys them before they are ever able to take hold and grow into a tumor.

• Occasional exposure to children that have chicken pox boosts your natural immunity and helps keep you from getting shingles, an adult expression of the chicken pox virus.

• Mild childhood infections (cold or flu, chicken pox, strep throat, etc.) help the immune system mature and may play a part in preventing autoimmune disease as an adult.

• Regular use of nasal irrigation, such as with a neti pot, can drastically reduce the likelihood of catching the flu even if you have been exposed to the virus because it keeps the virus from reproducing in the nasal cavity and causing infection.

This is just a “teaser” so if you want to learn more you have to attend the webinar!  To register, click here

Registration cutoff is Saturday morning, so make sure you get in before that!

I have heard a lot of people saying that lately they are more tired than usual.  This could be due to many factors – school starting, winter approaching, and heading into the time of year when there is less sun.  I did a little bit of research on fatigue and found this interesting (and short) article on using your diet to reverse fatigue. 

http://www.westonaprice.org/askdoctor/chronicfatigue.html

In it, the author discusses the role that eating too many simple carbohydrates plays in creating fatigue.  When simple carbohydrates are replaced with more nutrient-dense foods such as meat, dairy, and vegetables then many people find relief from fatigue. 

Please note that the author emphasizes the intake of raw dairy products which are wonderful (if obtained from a healthy cow raised by a farmer with reliable farming practices) but may be illegal in your state.  I know that raw milk is illegal in Iowa and Hawaii but is legal in California – if you live in a state other than those three you may want to do some research. 

Most states will allow raw cheese and butter to be sold, since they are cultured.  If you prefer to drink milk, then look for non-homogenized, low-temp pasteurized milk which is much easier for most people to digest than the homogenized, ultra-pasteurized milk that is sold in most grocery stores.

The recent addition of PureNutrition Red to our product line brought up a lot of questions from our customers as to how it compares to Red Alert, a product we have carried for several years.  Below you will find a simple comparison outlining the differences between the two.  Please use the comments section to share your experiences with PureNutrition Red, Red Alert, or both along with your favorite recipes with these products!

Click here for the comparison chart.