Healthy Holiday Eating Tips

Don’t let eating at social events, parties and restaurants side-track your health.

 Social events can put you in situations that can compromise your health goals by offering few items to eat that are good for your health.  High sugar and salty foods, dips ladened with trans-fats and who know what else can be the normal fare when socializing.     

But here are a few tips to help preserve your good health:

• Eat an apple before the affair
• Pick the healthy snacks such as nuts and the vegetable tray- avoid the rest. 
• Eat something healthy (vegetables) before and after the chocolate or cake.  When you consume refined sugars and carbohydrates, potassium is lost, raising sodium.  Wherever sodium goes, water goes.  To counter the loss of potassium, you should consume high-potassium foods – leafy greens.
• When you eat the junk food, don’t stuff yourself - overeating refined carbohydrates severely increases insulin.  Choose a small taste of the junk food and fill up on healthier foods.

The worst restaurants to go to on this program are Chinese restaurants because most have hidden sources of monosodium glutamate (MSG).  MSG causes water retention and swelling because of massive amounts of sodium.  Even if they tell you they add no extra MSG, it’s still in the pre-made sauces.

Italian restaurants have lots of pasta and breaded foods.  Skip the bread on the table and order some fish or steak and salad.  Often the steaks come in 12 and 16 ounces, which is too much to digest comfortably.  Eat only 5 to 6 ounces and take the rest home or share it with your dinner companion.

At Mexican restaurants, order a burrito bowl (which is chicken, salsa, lettuce, cheese and sour cream) without the tortilla, refried beans or taco shell.

When eating a potato, add more real butter or sour cream to buffer the insulin response.  If you eat some popcorn, add more butter to slow the insulin response.  Adding fat helps slow the process.  Don’t overdo the butter and sour cream, though.

Tell the server to bring you a burger without the bun or French fries.  Add a salad instead, and in place of ketchup use mayonnaise and mustard.  Ketchup contains high-fructose corn syrup.

Realize when eating out you are consuming many different chemicals in the sauces, breading, gravy, dips, etc.  Try to eat whole foods, such as fish and vegetables, meat and salad.  Skip the dessert; especially if you are eating meat, as together they affect stress hormones negatively. 

Adding a sugary dessert or alcohol to the meal puts a strain on digestion, which severely affects insulin.  You don’t have to be a social outcast when eating smart, plus you’ll feel better several hours later and your friends and family will wish they had done the same.  Keep focused on the consequences (your future!). 

Check out our previous blog post "Eating When Stressed".

We are here to help you have a healthier future.   

Contact our office to begin today.

Dr. Glenn Nicholas - www.WholeBasics.com

Eating When Stressed

When you are stressed, the adrenal glands overproduce adrenalin and it becomes difficult to think clearly.  You might look for comfort in food.  This means you should eat certain things to support your adrenals.  These are primarily fats, such as butter, cream cheese, Brie cheese with apples, chicken noodle soup, coconut butter and avocados.  These foods greatly stabilize your blood sugar.  The worst thing to do is skip a meal and not eat.  Hunger is stress to the body.  Overeating and stuffing yourself also stress the body.  Eating sugar puts stress on the body.

 The other thing to do is take calming minerals – potassium, magnesium and calcium.  Make sure you do not take the calcium carbonate version, since limestone is not absorbed too well.

When you or your kids consume refined sugar, large quantities of lactic acid builds up, which is a byproduct of the sugar.  Lactic acid makes people restless because it lowers oxygen in the tissues.  This is behind restless leg syndrome and hyperactivity in children.  Various B vitamins also get depleted when refined sugars and refined grains are eaten.  That is why food manufacturing companies enrich grain products with synthetic B vitamins.  However, this doesn’t work because of the type of vitamin – synthetic made from petroleum material.  One of the best sources of B vitamins is nutritional yeast.  Put a little in some plain yogurt each day to supply your B vitamins, as lots of mental stress depletes B vitamins.

Also, organize your life so you have healthy foods available.  Don’t keep sweets at home or at work, since they will always be a temptation.  You’ll need to purchase some Tupperware and a cooler so you can prepare foods and snacks for the day.  Make sure you always have raw nuts, celery, apples, carrots and low-fat plain yogurt in the cooler as well.  By keeping your blood sugars level, it will be easier.

We are here to help you have a healthier future.   

Contact our office to begin today.

Dr. Glenn Nicholas - www.WholeBasics.com

~Nutrients~

It's all about nutrients!

Optimal health and vitality demands daily intake of  the natural nutrients that only real food provides.  Each meal provides the opportunity to take in the nutrients the body needs for a healthy life and to feel great.  But that is not as easy as it sounds.  Data compiled by our government during the past decades show that today's farm grown foods are seriously depleted. This includes  vegetables, fruits, and grains grown in our farm land soils. They are lacking the natural occurring nutrients including vitamins, minerals, and trace minerals as compared to those grown only a few decades ago.

Nutrient Stats:  UK and US government statistics indicate that levels of trace minerals in fruit and vegetables fell by up to 76% between 1940 and 1991.  (This means 4 times as many vegetables need to be eaten each today in order to have as the same amount of vital dietary trace minerals that people had for to support good health 60 years ago.)

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Plants do not make minerals; they draw them up out of the soil. Less minerals in the soils means less minerals in the plants which results in less minerals, etc. in the daily diet.  Can you see why daily nutrient supplementation is recommended by natural health doctors?  But there is another problem... 

Synthetic vitamins: Unfortunately most vitamins sold in stores are made synthetically. This means they do not come from actual food, but are made from chemicals and petroleum products. In nature, vitamins are in chemical complexes composed of many parts, never as isolated high potency parts of vitamins (eg. 1,000 mg Vit. C., 400 IU of vitamin E).

The above picture shows an actual photograph of the difference between complete and natural vitamin C vs. an isolated Ascorbic Acid typically referred to vitamin C. Which one looks more life giving to you?  If you choose the Natural Vitamin C you are correct.  It contains the natural life giving co-factors in proper proportions to safely nourish your body.  The isolated ascorbic acid (made in a lab from a chemical that isn't vitamin C to begin with) does not.  The body is designed to recognize and utilize nutrients in their whole form.  If you eat incomplete foods (or high potency vitamin fractions) all the factors that are missing have to be scavenged from body tissue reserves in order to make the partial food usable.  Sooner or later, depending on your health and past eating habits, there will be a deficiency of those nutrients, causing what's referred to as a "reversal of symptoms."  This means there is a recurrence of the same symptoms, which were causing the problem in the first place, often to a more serious degree. So high potency vitamins can cause the masking of deficiency symptoms, which will eventually create worse future  problems.  Dr. Lee used to say that using high potency vitamins was like whipping a tired horse; he would be stimulated to run faster but sooner or later he collapses because you never fed him.

In our office, for our family and ourselves we utilize   Standard Process whole food nutritional supplements.  Established by Dr. Royal Lee in 1929, it has formulated nutritional supplements from plants grown on their organic Wisconsin farm. 

 

Contact our office today for your nutrient review –

We want you feeling your best!

Dr. Glenn Nicholas ~ www.WholeBasics.com ~ (208)743-4567

Information Tidbit:

The Standard Process Heritage

The history of Standard Process is not as simple as you may expect the history of a supplement manufacturer to be. The company was started during the Great Depression, the "worst" economic downfall in the history of the United States, and endured seven decades of hardship, tribulation, and growth. No matter what has happened since 1929, producing high-quality products has always remained top priority.

Dr. Royal Lee dedicated his life to finding solutions for all sorts of challenges, but his greatest passion was improving the nation's health by providing high-quality, whole food supplements and educating others about them. He devoted the majority of his life to spreading the truth about nutrition.

~Food Cravings~

Do you have food cravings?

Craving sweets, chocolate, bread, and ice are often indicators warning that your body has a specific nutrient deficiency. 

Sweet/sugar cravings are potassium deficiencies, chocolate is magnesium, bread is vitamin B1 and continual ice chewing is iron. Making sure your daily diet includes all the nutrients your body needs to be healthy will keep you  from cravings. 

If increasing foods containing the nutrients indicated by your cravings does not alleviate your craving symptoms within a few weeks contact me and I will see that you get the right whole food supplement product to get you back in healthy balance.  
FYI- Most multi-vitamin products are not complete even if they claim otherwise.  Nutrients come from real foods and most multi-vitamin products are made from synthesized crystalline vitamin fractions. We will discuss this in more depth in our next blog.  

Here is a short list of foods to eat for each deficiency.

Potassium Rich Foods: RDA for Potassium is 4700mg/day
Honeydew Melon 1/2 = 1881mg, Avocado 1 = 1097mg
Banana 1 = 440mg, Broccoli 1cup = 868mg, Cucumber 1lg = 481
Magnesium Rich Foods:
Artichoke = 101mg, Almonds 20z=156mg, Black Beans 1C=120mg
Spinach 1C=157mg, Pumpkin Seeds 1oz=151
Vitamin B1 Rich Foods:
Brewers Yeast, Legumes (beans, lentils), Peanuts, Oatmeal, Cabbage

Iron Rich Foods: 

Clams, Pork Liver, Oysters, Chicken Liver, Mussels, Beef Liver

Beans & Lentils, Pumpkin Seeds, Blackstrap Molasses 

  

Look for our next blog message where we will discuss more about the importance of nutrients. Until then we remain

Yours in Health!

Bones Of Extinction

Laurel & I had the recent pleasure of taking our 'kid friendly' motorhome (for sale by the way) on it's first outing of the season to the John Day Fossil Beds National Park in Oregon.  They have a fine visitor center packed with fossils they have found in the area "dating back millions of years". 

We thought you might enjoy a few of the trip photos.

Here we are at the Fossil visitor center.  Glenn has determined a possible reason for the dinosaur extinction... "They Failed To Adjust!"   Make sure you don't make their mistake.  Correct spinal alignment is your best Strategy for Survival!

The Vitamin Scam

From this month’s Reader’s Digest…            

The Vitamin Scam

But is it really?

In my opinion the answer is yes.  The author of the article wrote in the second paragraph, “Oh, it is painful when another myth gets shattered.  Recent research suggests that a daily multi is a waste of money for most people- and there is growing evidence that other old standbys may even hurt your health.”  On the magazine’s cover the report’s title is accompanied by a picture of typical vitamins today.  They look almost drug-like- clear and purified as if they were produced in a laboratory, and no doubt, they were.  This is a problem- the big problem.  In nature, vitamin complexes are the products of plants and animals grown in and raised on the earth’s soil.  They are marvelous complex chemical compounds.  Unfortunately, the medico-science interests did what they do and undertook to try and isolate which singular chemical molecule(s) is the “most important” of the hundreds that exist in any given fruit or vegetable and call it vitamin A, B, C, D, etc.  Then the FDA is influenced to accept the narrow sighted premise and a new industry is born.  Now the stuff can is sold to consumers.  In a nutshell that is the history of modern nutritional supplements. 

There has not been much research in recent years that has found taking today’s popular vitamin products have much positive effect on a person’s health.  Many studies have increasingly shown otherwise.  In fact, the popular practice of taking high dose anti-oxidants has been shown to increase risks of cancer and heart disease in certain populations and should not be taken in several large studies. 

Perhaps you are wondering how all this lines up with why I recommend and sell nutritional supplements to your patients. According to my Webster’s Dictionary, “...vitamins are essential in small amounts for regulation of the metabolism and normal growth and functioning of the body.  That definition is not very specific but it says it all.  Vitamins are essential in the body to maintain normal health and vitality. So the simple answer is that real vitamin complexes, minerals, trace minerals, and micro minerals that should be abundant in the foods we eat are essential for life, and that is what my nutrition practice is all about.  Why else would vitamins occur naturally in foods?  Without complete nutrients any body gets sick and dies.  The disease will have a name (heart disease, arthritis, etc), but the underlying cause is deficiency of the necessary nutrients for the organ or system to maintain normal optimal health.  On the surface this seems to fly in the face of the previous paragraph. Just try living without complete vitamins as they are found in real foods.  You wind up going to the doctor with a disease for which they have a drug to recommend to you.    (Note- I do not recommend high dose synthesized supplements.)  

There are no vitamin A trees or vitamin E bushes in the plant kingdom.  NEVER will you find a plant or animal that contains singular vitamin concentrations high enough to cause a toxic or drug-like effect.  They come in small amounts surrounded by a myriad of other chemical compounds that serve as synergists to safely bolster the vitamin’s intended natural effect.  Vitamin A taken by itself is proven potentially harmful- but you can eat virtually all the whole carrots you want, a rich source of vitamin A, without fear of toxicity.  The apple is another example.  Apples typically contain around 15 mg. of vitamin C which is not much compared to the 1,000 mg. strength found on the One-a-Day bottle.  But due to the other chemical synergists naturally occurring in an apple its vitamin C effect is equivalent to about 1,500 mg of vitamin C.  The important point is this- Vitamins as they occur in nature are the best and the safe choice rather than those produced in a laboratory. 

In my office I recommend a product called Catalyn.  The name is taken from the word catalyst which is a primary function of vitamins in the body. Catalyn is a multi but not like the ones at the store.  It is a multi-food supplement.  It contains organically grown in the earth foods that have been concentrated and formed into tablets.  From the planting of the seeds to making the tablets takes over 280 days.  Frankly, they are not clear, made in a pharmaceutical laboratory looking capsules.  They actually look and taste just like what they are- ground up earthy real food.  They fit perfectly the definition we took from Webster- “…vitamins are essential in small amounts for regulation of the metabolism and normal growth and functioning of the body.” 

In today’s world I believe every person should be taking Catalyn daily.  I recommend Catalyn for every patient and person.  Often it is all they need.  It contains a little bit of a broad assay of needed nutrients in a safe and complete natural form- even my dog loves them.  (try that with your store bought One-A-Day vitamin!) 

Call me or drop me an e-mail if you would like more information on making Catalyn a valuable part of your good health regimen.

Glenn Nicholas, D.C.

www.wholebasics.com

If you know of someone who may benefit from this information please consider forwarding it to them.  Thank you.

Purification Program Graduation Day!

Graduation day arrived!  For the past 21 days the 4 souls in our house have undergone the 21 Day Purification Program.  We are finding that we kind of hate to see it end.  Collectively we have lost several inches of body mass and many unneeded pounds.  Those are the numbers most folks focus on and we enjoyed good success by those metrics.  But more importantly we all are enjoying the fact that we are generally just feeling better every day. It is as if we have more life within.  That is even better than being 2 inches smaller around the waist and 15 pounds lighter.  This leads to an important point.  Extra pounds are commonly a result of being unhealthy.  Most people need to get healthy and they automatically lose their extra pounds in the process.  This program can make that change for a person.

For 21 days we have been undergoing a subtle change in how we relate to what we eat.  The first week was challenging, the second was getting into the groove of the Program’s routine, and the last week was a breeze.  By week 3 we were all feeling much better and were trimmer.  On our graduation day we considered going out for dinner to celebrate.  We decided against it after considering how it would make us feel afterward and tomorrow.  Instead, we ate at home.  We enjoyed some organically raised hamburger patties (1/4 lb each) with some really hot horse radish for zing, a nice big mixed greens salad with some carrots and cucumbers added, and some sautéed onions, red peppers, and mushrooms.  For dessert we enjoyed a little plain yogurt mixed with some blue berries and a few almonds.  It was quick to fix, it was food our bodies easily digest, high in nutrition and low in calories, and low stress because it all was very low in anything toxic our bodies would need to deal with.  The next morning we woke up feeling very good, again. 

I know this report resonates with many of you.  We all share many similar habits and lifestyles.  These habits and lifestyles are intimate factors in determining our level of health and vitality.  TV ads continually claim the reason people don’t feel good is somehow an unknowable mystery, but can be alleviated by a toxic substance that will cover it up.  Which do you think is true?  

If you are interested and motivated to make the changes that will put you on a healthy track the 21 Day Program may be for you.  I would be happy to help you along the way.

Yours in health,

Dr. Glenn Nicholas

208-743-4567

Drglenn@wholebasics.com

www.wholebasics.blogspot.com

21 Day Purification Update-Week 1

It has been a week since we began the 21 Day Purification Program.  So far, so good!  Actually, in my experience the first 3 days of the program are usually the most challenging.  After that you kind of get into a groove and the routine is easy.  3 of our group have shed significant extra pounds already.  One of our members had a tough start because of fighting off flu symptoms.  We are now ready for week two.  This week we will begin introducing small portions of animal protein back into our diet.  I think we are all looking forward to that.  I have not come across many people who can maintain a vegetarian diet and remain healthy very long which may be contrary to what you might assume.  We have finished with the cleansing supplement that triggered the release of stored toxins and waste from fat cells.  Now we begin a whole food supplement support of the detoxifications systems- especially the liver, kidneys, and intestines.  We will do this with whole food concentrates containing organic cruciferous vegetables and continuing to eat a lot of vegetables and fruits.  This week we also begin daily exercising to promote sweating and increased breathing. 

A few benefits we have noted already include cessation of craving sweets and carbohydrates, an increase in energy level, sleeping better, and I have found my joints to be less stiff and I can stretch further without restriction and pain (like I could when I was younger).  I am anticipating our energy levels will noticeably improve as this is what I have experienced before when undergoing this program. 

If you would like to learn more about this powerful health renewal don’t hesitate to ask.  Contact me at 208.743.4567 or by email at DrGlenn@wholebasics.com.

PS. We have all enjoyed new culinary delights.  Who knew vegetables could be SO good!

 

Time To Get With The Program

As many of you know we recommend a health renewing 21 Day Purification Program in our office.  Many of you have undergone the experience.  I think it might be of interest to those of you who have not yet done a program and those who have that I am doing the Program again for the 4^th time beginning today.  Actually, I am beginning the Program along with my youngest son, his new bride, and my wife, so there are four of us undergoing this process.  Every time I do the Program it is a unique experience.  It will be a different dynamic this time doing the program with a group of four.  With all the support we should have great results.

The 21 Day Purification Program is designed to be a health renewal for the body.  Especially after the holidays, our bodies are often overwhelmed and stressed with the excesses that come from over eating and eating highly processed foods.  The extra calories have been converted into fat and is now stored in fat cells increasing body weight and size.  The excess “toxic stuff and waste” from eating processed foods (coloring, preservatives, flavor enhancers, etc) that are not really food at all has been dealt with by the body’s detoxification systems.  The body is equipped to eliminate these toxic wastes and does.   However, the detoxification systems can be overwhelmed when there has been too much dietary excess.  That means the waste and toxins that are not immediately eliminated wind up being stored in fat cells, also.  Besides adding weight to fat cells and causing a feeling of general sluggishness this also disrupts normal cell functions and interferes with needed biological activities vital for good health.  This phenomenon is the cause of many symptoms people suffer from including head-ache, depression, allergies, mind-fog, indigestion, fatigue, and constipation.  Ironically, a person will then take a drug to counter the symptom which results in adding more toxicity into the already over-burdened body systems.  It is much healthier to restore normal health in the body through purification than medicating the symptoms of being over burdened with waste and toxins.

Today all four of us are weighed in so we can keep track of our weight-loss goals and have begun the Program regimen. We will be eating only fresh fruit, vegetables, and avoiding certain other foods.   A key ingredient to this Program is a special shake drink to assist the body during the purification process and taking specific supplements to trigger the release of stored wastes and toxins.  This program differs from others in that it not only stimulates cleansing of wastes and toxins but it also supports and rebuilds the body’s detoxification systems.  When you have completed the Program you are cleansed and renewed.  Other detox programs are harsh and leave the body depleted. 

I hope to send an update to you a few times during the next 21 days to let you know how things are coming along.  If you have any questions about the Program please feel free to call me at 208-743-4567, or email me at dr.glenn@wholebasics.com.

Yours in health,

Dr. Glenn

(208)743-4567

wholebasics.blogspot.com