Another Reason to take Whole Food Vitamins

Taking vitamins and supplements by pill has long been advocated by doctors and nutritionists in the health world - particularly in the realm of natural or holistic health. Unfortunately, many people take the wrong approach to ensuring their body gets the vitamins and nutrients it needs. What many don't realize is that the human body works best when digesting whole foods that include all the important vitamins - not just the vitamin itself. Thankfully, whole food vitamins and supplements can provide a healthier and better way!

When reading that Vitamin C found in many citrus fruits and vegetables helps to boost the immune system, you might be tempted to rush out and buy the latest Vitamin C tablet at a local discount or drug store. But when taking Vitamin C as an isolated vitamin, your body is missing out on a more complex source of nutrition that is produced only through consuming whole foods. In other words, it's not just the Vitamin C that contributes to a boost in your immune system or other health benefits; it's the entire process of eating and digesting whole foods. This process can only be matched by taking whole food vitamins and supplements.

What are Whole Food Vitamins?

Whole food vitamins are just the opposite of synthetic isolated vitamins. They are high-density concentrates of real whole foods processed by drying the whole foods and turning them into a powder form, which is then encapsulated so we can take the food as a pill. Whole food supplements contain all the cofactors and micronutrients found in whole foods, thereby providing a more complex source of nutrition than the vitamin supplements created in a lab.

With more than 25,000 different micronutrients, or cofactors, being contained in whole fruits and vegetables, it's no wonder citizens in our Western society find it difficult to consume the number of nutrients needed for optimal health. And synthetic vitamin supplements simply don't meet the complex nutritional needs of the body as do whole foods. By consuming whole food vitamins, you are getting the vitamins your body needs and providing an easy way for your body to process these vitamins. In a world of fast food and processed meals, these can be a lifesaver!

The Creation Process Makes a Difference

Whole food vitamins and supplements are produced through a unique process of culturing and fermentation, which makes the nutrients more easily digestible. This process also creates even more nutrients, probiotics, and enzymes to benefit the body. Many isolated vitamin supplements or synthetic vitamins actually pull nutrients from the body while being processed. These may also cause your body to store unprocessed nutrients that cannot be absorbed properly (sometimes at toxic levels), or the unprocessed nutrients may simply be passed out of the body unused.

Whole Food Multis

Half of US doctors use placebo treatments

Survey: Half of US doctors use placebo treatments

Interesting dilemma.

Just in from London...

"About half of American doctors in a new survey say they regularly give patients placebo treatments - usually drugs or vitamins that won't really help their condition. And many of these doctors are not honest with their patients about what they are doing, the survey found.

"That contradicts advice from the American Medical Association, which recommends doctors use treatments with the full knowledge of their patients.

"It's a disturbing finding," said Franklin G. Miller, director of the research ethics program at the U.S. National Institutes Health and one of the study authors. "There is an element of deception here which is contrary to the principle of informed consent."

"Placebos as defined in the survey went beyond the typical sugar pill commonly used in medical studies. A placebo was any treatment that wouldn't necessarily help the patient.

"Scientists have long known of the "placebo effect," in which patients given a fake or ineffective treatment often improve anyway, simply because they expected to get better..." Continued here. PDF in case

And therein lies the dilemma: to tell or not to tell?

Experts don't know if the placebo effect would be undermined if patients were explicitly told they were getting a dummy pill.

Your take?

Whole Food Multis

Vitamins A, C and E are 'a waste of time and may even shorten your life'

Vitamins A, C and E are 'a waste of time and may even shorten your life'

So said the headline published around the world this past week:

From the newspaper article:

"Vitamins taken by around a third of the population do not extend life and may even cause premature death, according to a respected group of international scientists.

"After reviewing 67 studies involving more than 230,000 men and women, the experts say there is no convincing evidence that taking supplements of the antioxidant vitamins A, C and E can make you healthier."

We were as stunned as anyone else at the timing and impact of this huge report.

As you know from the "Are Your Vitamins Safe?" report, this is only the most recent in a growing number of studies finding that synthetic vitamins (either from a lab beaker or isolated from a plant or animal) are worthless or even risky for a significant number of people. How can this be?

Here's a big reason:

These isolated synthetic vitamins are not absorbed and utilized properly by the body.

That's because - the 'main vitamin' ingredient, (e.g. A, E, C, etc.) which is extracted by synthetic vitamin makers, does not include the chemical cousins and other ingredients that main vitamin comes with in its natural form. Apparently, the body needs these "cofactors" to absorb the main vitamin.

It's cheaper to extract just the main vitamin. Only it appears now that the resulting synthetic vitamins are useless or worse.

What's the alternative?

Today there is a new class of multis, whole food multis. They put the whole food in the supplement (minus water and fiber), rather than just the isolated main vitamin or mineral.

Order the Pops Here

Vitamin Scare

Your daily vitamin might not be the insurance you think it is.

Are you aware of big vitamin scare going around the US and UK? The staid Reader's Digest even had a cover story, "The Vitamin Hoax: 10 not to take" Feb., 2007).

Worst case: some vitamins are harmful. Best case: they do, well, nothing. So says the Reader's Digest.

Before you pop that next daily multi, check the bottle for two things:

1. Toxic ingredients.
Artificial colors: FD&C Blue #2 Lake, FD&C Red 40, etc.
Preservatives: sorbates (eg, Polysorbate 80), benzoates (eg, sodium benzoate), nitrites (eg, sodium nitrite), sulphites (eg, sulphur dioxide)

2. Are they synthetic?
Look at the names of the vitamins and minerals in the “Ingredients” listing on the label of the bottle. (You may need a magnifying glass.) A vitamin or mineral is synthetic if only its chemical and/or popular name appears, with no plant source.

E.g. from the label of a popular synthetic multivitamin seen on TV

Ingredients: Calcium Carbonate, Calcium Phosphate, Magnesium Oxide, Potassium Chloride, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), DL-tocopheryl acetate (Vitamin E), ALL SYNTHETIC vitamins.

Your vitamins are not synthetic if they are listed with their whole food source. For example, “Vitamin C (from camucamu fruit)” indicates that you’re getting the Vitamin C, along with the other nutrients it lives with in the whole fruit. Not just the isolated vitamin C made in a lab.

That's the reason Dr. Heidi finally designed a daily whole food multi, the Pops.

If you want a daily multi that is whole-food based, with no toxins or synthetic vitamins, go here and get some. They're not a drug, so give them a few months to test them.

If you HATE to pay shipping like I do, check the 4 month (4 boxes) "subscription" option, and you don't pay shipping.

Regardless of whether you get the whole food multis designed by Dr. Heidi or not (I've taken them for three years) please throw out any synthetic vitamins that might be doing you more harm than good.

From Robin- About the ER Fat Burn Program

This is a post from my aunt, I thought it was great and felt I should share it, I am hoping to start the program soon myself. I share a lot of the same views, I also do not have a weight problem, am to thin in fact, but have similar issues with food.

Why the ER Fat Burn wasn't for me...

"I didn't need to lose weight. I audited the program because I wanted to make sure my ten-year-old son was eating right." -Robin.

"I was eating right, mostly plants, and no red meat, not too much fat and rarely ate sweets. (ok I thought I was eating right!)

"I did drink a lot of Alka Seltzer because my stomach was always upset. I was always bloated and couldn't get rid of the 10-year-old baby belly fat. I didn't have energy to play with my son or stay awake with my husband after our son went to sleep.

"I didn't sleep well, always woke up a few hours after falling asleep tossing and turning for hours. I didn't make a connection with how I felt and the food I ate.

"A little voice kept telling me the ER Fat Burn program wasn't for me because I don't like meat, I've never heard of kefir, can't drink milk, don't like fish or cod liver oil, and didn't know how to find or afford the foods on the ER list.

"It wasn't as hard to find the real food as I thought it would be. I've become a regular at the St. Paul Farmers Market. This is where I found pastured eggs, pastured chicken, and grass-fed beef.

"I found raw cheese, uncured bacon and ham, real butter from grass-fed cows, Himalayan salt, sprouted bread, Kombucha and many other ER foods from my local Mississippi Market co-op. It was fun foraging for these foods. I didn't have to eat things I didn't like – fish, yuck. ( I am using lemon Cod Liver oil and drinking non-homogenized whole milk)

"The best and most unexpected thing was how my 10-year-old has grasped what I've learned in the ER program and has changed the way he eats.

"He tells all his friends what we eat now and why. He's on his own mission to help get his friends off the chicken nuggets, fast food and even low-fat milk. He will only eat eggs and meat from pastured sources. He helped me make butter a while back and loves the whole milk (I admit I haven't found raw milk yet - but I will).

"It's priceless to know I'm teaching my son how food affects health. The timing was so perfect to involve him in the things I was learning from Dr. Heidi. The entire ER group has helped shape the future of my son, so Thank you all!

"Also, my family loves grass-fed beef, that's huge for my son and me, we've never been red meat eaters.

"I haven't used Alka Seltzer in 10 weeks, no more upset stomach, bloating and the baby belly fat is gone.

"I enjoy playing with my son (and husband) again. I have energy again.

"Most nights I sleep through the night. If I do wake it's not all the tossing and turning like before.

"Thank you Dr. Heidi for showing what real food is and helping my son get on the ER food plan. Maybe when he has his own family our Extreme Regime food will be normal...

Thank You Robin!!!

Lemonu Sugar Cookie Monsters

Lemony Sugar Cookie Monsters

Makes about 3 dozen

To decorate these frightening monster cookies, we’ve opted for flavorful dried fruit and nuts instead of sugary icing. Try using dried blueberries or currants for the eyes and pumpkin seeds or pine nuts for the teeth and eyebrows. Dried cranberries and slivered almonds are great to have on hand for decorating, too. Make sure to allow time for chilling the dough.

Ingredients

2½ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
3/4 cup (1½ sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
10 drops natural orange (or a combination of red and yellow) food coloring (optional)
Dried fruit and nuts for decorating

Method

Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl; set aside. In a second large bowl, beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until fluffy, about 30 seconds, then beat in 1 egg. Add lemon juice, zest and vanilla and beat again until smooth, about 30 seconds more. Add flour mixture and beat to combine. Add food coloring (if using) and beat again, or knead by hand, just until color is evenly distributed. Shape dough into two logs then wrap each snugly in parchment paper, twisting the ends in opposite directions like a piece of candy to tighten each roll and make it uniformly round and about 6 inches long. Chill for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk remaining egg and 1 tablespoon water together in a small bowl to make an egg wash; set aside.

Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Cut dough crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices and transfer to prepared baking sheets, arranging cookies about 1 inch apart. Working with a few cookies at a time, brush tops with egg wash then decorate with dried fruit and nuts to make monster faces on each. Bake until light golden brown about the edges, 12 to 13 minutes. Set aside to let cookies cool completely then serve.

Nutrition

Per serving (3 cookies/86g-wt.): 360 calories (160 from fat), 19g total fat, 8g saturated fat, 65mg cholesterol, 105mg sodium, 44g total carbohydrate (3g dietary fiber, 20g sugar), 6g protein

Cheddar, Corn and potato chowder

Recipe:

Cheddar, Corn and Potato Chowder

Serves 4

Ingredients

3 tablespoons butter
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 tablespoon flour
32 ounces vegetable broth
2 1/2 cup diced Yukon Gold potatoes (about 4 large)
2 cups frozen yellow corn
2/3 cup milk
1 1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
Pinch of cayenne pepper (garnish)
Chopped parsley (garnish)

Method

In a large saucepan over medium high heat, melt butter and sauté onion about 5 minutes, until tender. Mix in flour, coating the onion. Add broth and bring to a boil, whisking constantly until smooth. Reduce heat, add potatoes and simmer 20 minutes until tender. Slightly mash potatoes in soup, then stir in corn and milk. Cook another 5 minutes, remove from heat and stir in cheddar cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Garnish, if desired.

Nutrition

Per serving (about 19oz/535g-wt.): 450 calories (210 from fat), 23g total fat, 13g saturated fat, 70mg cholesterol, 1200mg sodium, 47g total carbohydrate (4g dietary fiber, 6g sugar), 17g protein

Food Fight Round 2

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Food fight. Round two.

In Food fight. Round One, we discovered what, contrary to some people's beliefs, does not make most people fat.

Here's the second surprise from the food fight front:
What food DOES make a person fat?

One journalist spent five years looking into this full time. He reviewed tens of thousands of pages of research findings, and interviewed numerous doctors and nutrition folks. Here's his second (of nine) conclusions about what DOES make a person fat.

"2. The problem is carbohydrates in the diet, their effect on insulin secretion, and thus the hormonal regulation of homeostasis - the entire harmonic ensemble of the human body.

"9. By stimulating insulin secretion, carbohydrates make us fat and ultimately cause obesity. The fewer carbohydrates we consume, the leaner we will be." Taubes, p. 454

Before you gasp in disbelief, here's what Andrew Weil, the well known MD said about Taubes' stunning and revolutionary book on Larry King Live:

“I think this is a very important book. I’ve been recommending it to my medical colleagues and students. There are some very big ideas in this book…[Gary Taubes] has done a meticulous job of showing that many of the assumptions that are held by the conventional medical community simply rest on nothing…

"It’s very important to get these out to the medical community because a lot of the ways we try and prevent and treat obesity are based on assumptions that have no scientific evidence.”
-Dr. Weil, speaking on Larry King Live, 2008

Gary Taubes was as surprised by this conclusion as you might be right now.

[Carbs: bread, pasta, legumes, grains, cereal, chips, rice, sugar & sweets, donuts, muffins...]

"Hey," you say, "doesn't that sound like Atkins? But he's been been vilified in the professional community, hasn't he?"

Yep. Millions of people have lost weight using his approach. But Atkins today has many detractors. Here's a surprise reason...

Food fight. Round Three, next.

Posted by Kim Klaver at 12:11 AM

What does not make a person fat

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Food fight. Round One

People have been fighting for years about what foods make a person fat or slinky, sick or healthy.

Here's the latest surprise from the food fight front:
What's a food that does NOT make a person obese?

One journalist spent five years looking into this full time. He reviewed tens of thousands of pages of research findings, and interviewed numerous doctors and nutrition folks. Here's his first (of seven) conclusions about what does NOT make a person fat.

"1. Dietary fat, whether saturated or not, is not a cause of obesity, heart disease or any other chronic disease of civilization." Taubes

Dietary fats include coconut oil, the fat on a Porterhouse steak, butter and bacon. They do NOT make you fat or obese after all.

Before you gasp in disbelief, here's what Andrew Weil, the well known MD said about Taubes' stunning and revolutionary book on Larry King Live:

“I think this is a very important book. I’ve been recommending it to my medical colleagues and students. There are some very big ideas in this book…[Gary Taubes] has done a meticulous job of showing that many of the assumptions that are held by the conventional medical community simply rest on nothing…

"It’s very important to get these out to the medical community because a lot of the ways we try and prevent and treat obesity are based on assumptions that have no scientific evidence.”
-Dr. Weil, speaking on Larry King Live, 2008

Gary Taubes was as surprised by his conclusion as you might be right now.

So what, did he find, really DOES make a person fat?

Food fight. Round Two, next.
By Kim Klaver, Whole Food Nation

Are Your Vitamins Safe?

Who needs whole food multis?

Who Needs Whole-Food Multis?

• Adolescents
• Alcohol drinkers
• Athletes
• Dieters
• Drug users, prescription or recreational
• Elderly
• Health fanatics
• Junk food regulars
• Overweight and obese people
• People who supplement with specific nutrients
• Sick people
• Stressed out people
• Smokers
• Women who are pregnant, nursing, or taking oral contraceptives
• Workaholics

Whole Food Nation