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Posts from the ‘Health’ Category

16
Mar

“Don’t Wait Until Your Doctor Kicks the Habit”

I don’t mind dying. I just don’t want it to be my fault.                                          ~ Dr. Kim A. Williams, MD, Past Pres of ACC

When Dr. Williams was elected President of the American College of Cardiology (ACC) in 2015, he became the first vegan president of a very prestigious medical association concerned with education of cardiovascular health. Imagine a cardiologist who promotes a plant-based diet as a way to reverse heart disease and Type II diabetes, lower blood pressure, and lose weight? Read more »

4
Feb

Mountain Dew? Doritos? In a Hospital?

Recently, I spent several hours at the JFK Medical Center in Atlantis, Florida where a friend was being treated. The waiting room was filled with family and friends who had very few options while waiting for news of their loved ones. In one corner of the room was a coffee maker and a basket full of  Otis Spunkmeyer Blueberry Muffins (which earned a D+ from www.caloriecount.com for its 19 grams of sugar, 9 grams of fat, and 270 mg of sodium) while in the other corner were two vending machines. Read more »

12
Nov

The Top Ten Nutrition Resources

Why don’t physicians offer the plant-based nutrition option to their patients?

1. They are not taught nutrition and are unfamiliar with the efficacy of a plant-based approach.
2. They don’t have time for patient nutritional counseling.
3. They often lack the skill set for behavioral modification.
4. Insurance support for counseling is sparse.
5. The status quo offers a handsome income stream.

~Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, MD

Finding “good” nutritional information is difficult primarily because cultural, educational, economic, political, pharmaceutical, medical and food industry influences get in the way of consumers finding this valuable information. Read more »

8
Oct

Who To Trust For Nutrition Advice?

Lifestyle choices are one of three aspects (the others being genetics and the environment) that greatly affect our health. We can’t pick our parents and environmental factors are not wholly within our control but we can focus on lifestyle choices that affect our health so who do we turn to for advice?

Everyone has an opinion about diet and nutrition which makes the amount of information to sift through a monumental and often overwhelming task that typically leads to confusion – which is just what the industries who are threatened by the power of nutrition want. Read more »

28
Sep

THE NIH and Nutrition

When people hear the letters “NIH” they often think of the National Institutes of Health which is not one center but 28 separate institutes and centers responsible for biomedical and health-related research. The Office of the Director oversees the 27 institutes/centers, sets policies, and coordinates activities. Nestled within the United States Department of Health and Human Services (the cabinet level department at the federal level whose motto is “Improving the health, safety, and well-being of America”), NIH is the primary agency for health related issues in this country: Read more »

12
Sep

The Hardest Part of Living Vegan – Imperfection

For most people becoming vegan or plant-based is a journey and not a switch that was turned on one day. In fact, I don’t know anyone who was a carnivore one day and a vegan the next. The change is really an evolution which occurs over time. Very often, as was with me, a person becomes vegetarian because of a nutritional concern and then learns about the animal livestock and dairy industries and gradually cuts out dairy products out of a moral, ethical, or religious belief. And, then there is the third part of the vegan triangle which is the environment because there is no doubt the animal livestock and dairy industries are destroying the environment with the CO2 emissions, contaminated water systems, and forest destruction. Read more »

8
Sep

PlantPure Summit 2016

PlantPure Summit 2016 is a 10-day on-line series (September 7 – 16, 2016) that brings together healthcare industry experts from around the world to promote the benefits of plant-based nutrition and lifestyle changes to fight against heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, cancer, hypertension, and obesity. The summit is free and is a public service to learn more about nutrition and health so take some time, scroll through the schedule (the link is below), and listen to a few life-changing experts tell you how to lead a healthier life. 10 days. 60 speakers. 59 talks.  Invaluable Information. Read more »

20
Jun

The Purple Carrot

With our plant-based recipes, you’ll soon be cooking the world’s most delicious meals-

The Purple Carrot is an economical meal service provider of delicious entrees that will rock your culinary world by providing perfectly portioned fresh seasonal ingredients along with recipes to make it easy to cook up a flavorful plant-based meal at home in 30-40 minutes.

Everything is pre-measured (including spices) and of the highest possible quality, often organic, ethically sourced and always non-GMO so that all you have to do is follow the simple instructions for a delicious meal. Read more »

2
Jun

McDonald’s and US Hospitals

You have to hand it to McDonald’s for getting their fast food inside hospitals. Having a fast food chain like McDonald’s in a hospital is like having a candy store in the American Diabetes Association headquarters or a liquor store in a building that hosts AA meetings. When I was growing up, there was a word – nimrod – for someone who did something stupid or for someone who was inept. But allowing McDonald’s within the walls of US hospitals goes deeper than that. Read more »

13
Apr

Why GMO’s Don’t Matter but What You Eat Does

The recent defeat of the Senate bill that would have created voluntary national standards for food labeling with genetically modified ingredients would have prevented states (including Vermont, the leader whose food labeling laws go into effect July 1, 2016) from mandating labels on food that contain genetically modified ingredients. Read more »