I just returned from the Living Foods Retreat just outside of Portland, Oregon. It was fantastic! Presenters included Brigitte Mars, Herbalist, Nutritional Consultant and Raw Chef, Gabriel Cousens, MD, and the pretty impressive Victoria Boutenko, author of 12 Steps to Raw Foods and Green For Life. Green for Life is Victoria's latest book and includes the groundbreaking Green Smoothies!
Victoria did some very interesting research. She looked at the eating habits of chimpanzees. Chimpanzees have DNA that is startlingly similar to humans. She noted that the chimp diet was in large part composed of fruit and greens. She cited that work of Jane Goodall who saw the chimps grab some greens and roll a fig inside as a handy snack to munch on! A quest for a more complete nutritional program led her to the development of her wonderful recipes for Green Smoothies. Generally, these drinks are about 60% fruit and 40% greens. Here is one of her recipes:
Minty-Thrill
4 ripe pears
4-5 leaves of kale
1/2 bunch mint
2 cups water
Yields: 1 quart of smoothie
Once Victoria began consuming these healthful drinks, her cravings for heavy foods like nuts decreased. She had discovered that her stomach acid was very low, and that drinking all the greens actually improved lack of stomach acid. This is something I am very familiar with in naturopathic medicine. I have observed that a majority of my patients have some degree of hypochlorhydria, which means low stomach acid.
Stomach acid functions best at a pH between 1-2. This is a very strong acid! Foods are best digestes at this pH. If you have bloating after eating, or gas, discomfort, heartburn, or feel as if the food just "sits" in your stomach, you have symptoms of low stomach acid. When this happens, it will be very difficult to digest your food and it will be even more difficult to absorb all the wonderful vitamins and minerals that your body needs from food.
You might be thinking, how could heartburn come as a result of low stomach acid? When stomach acid is low, food sits in your stomach, begins to ferment (lovely, isn't it) and produces acids. These acids are what causes the burning sensation. So, what do you take as a result? Antacids! These make your symptoms better, but ultimately your situation gets worse, as you are suppressing what little acid you may have.
If you have heartburn or these other symptoms, you may want to contact me for a consultation. It is important not to miss complications like ulcers, or to find out if you have a bacteria in your stomach called Helicobacter Pylori. This bacteria is in some ways responsible for making the stomach produce less acid. In my office I run a test that checks for bacteria in the stomach, small intestine and large intestine (colon.) You would be shocked how many people have parasites like giardia or amebiasis or have the Helicobacter Pylori bacteria. Be sure to ask about this test, called a GI Health Panel, if you are concerned about those stomach upsets or tummy pain.
Back to Victoria's Green Smoothies. These drinks contain high amounts of chlorophyll, which will help to improve your stomach acid! I highly recommend her book, Green for Life. You can get the book and read more about her at www.rawfamily.com
I will be lecturing more with details about greens and nutrtion, and I will be doing a Green Smoothie demonstration class coming up in September. Just to give you a little extra incentive to join us, I will also demonstrate a recipe for an absolutely delicious almond milk that contains raw cacao and carob with some delicious natural sweeteners!
The Living Foods Retreat was a great success. It was great to connect with other people interested in living foods, to hear the latest developments, and to taste some incredible recipes.
If you enjoy the taste of food, I would like to recommend generous sponsors of the retreat, Blossoming Lotus Cafe, www.blossominglotus.com in the Pearl District. They served us a 5 course meal that was out of this world! You wouldn't have to have an affection for raw food to have loved this incredible feast.
Check on my website at www.nwrejuvenate.com for the LIVING FOODS PREPARATION classes coming up in September!!!
Saturday, September 02, 2006
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Could You Be Deficient In Iodine?
In the second edition of Dr. Brownstein's book, Iodine, Why You Need It, Why You Can't Live Without It, he states that out of 3,000 patients tested for Iodine deficiency, 95% were found to be deficient. He has been treating many different conditions from hypothyroidism, chronic headaches, fibrocystic breasts and fibromyalgia, and finding that iodine deficiency was the "missing link" to leaps and bounds toward their healing. He tested them with and iodine loading test. When he established their deficiency, he supplemented appropriately, and the cures seemed nothing short of miraculous. I am currently running the iodine loading test in my office. If you have any of these conditions, or questions about the functioning of your thyroid, please go to my website www.nwrejuvenate.com and contact me with your concerns.
The iodine loading test is a test to see if you are deficient in iodine. You take a high dose of iodine, and then the test is to see how much your body holds on to for the next 24 hours. If you hardly excrete any in your urine, you are deficient! An individual with healthy levels of iodine will release some 90% or more of the iodine ingested in that high dose. However, many people are keeping that iodine in their body like a sponge! They are only releasing about 20-40% on average, showing that their body did not have sufficient amounts.
So, are you running for the salt shaker, thinking some good iodized salt would be the answer to your troubles. Stop! Iodized salt is not the healthies form of salt. Unrefined Celtic Sea Salt is a whole food rich in minerals and would be a much better choice. Many people, though, have been avoiding the salt shaker. Therefore, they are taking in little iodine. Do you eat handfuls of sea vegetables (sea weed) every day? Do you eat a diet that includes fish daily? Most likely, your intake is deficient!
To compound that, there are things we are exposed to each day that deplete our body of iodine. One of those things is bromine, which is used to preserve various baked goods. Another is chlorine, which is in the water, the swimming pool, the shower, and on and on. If you are concerned that you may be deficient, consider reading, Iodine, Why You Need It, Why You Can't Live Without it, by Dr. Brownstein. Or contact me for more information about testing at www.nwrejuvenate.com
The iodine loading test is a test to see if you are deficient in iodine. You take a high dose of iodine, and then the test is to see how much your body holds on to for the next 24 hours. If you hardly excrete any in your urine, you are deficient! An individual with healthy levels of iodine will release some 90% or more of the iodine ingested in that high dose. However, many people are keeping that iodine in their body like a sponge! They are only releasing about 20-40% on average, showing that their body did not have sufficient amounts.
So, are you running for the salt shaker, thinking some good iodized salt would be the answer to your troubles. Stop! Iodized salt is not the healthies form of salt. Unrefined Celtic Sea Salt is a whole food rich in minerals and would be a much better choice. Many people, though, have been avoiding the salt shaker. Therefore, they are taking in little iodine. Do you eat handfuls of sea vegetables (sea weed) every day? Do you eat a diet that includes fish daily? Most likely, your intake is deficient!
To compound that, there are things we are exposed to each day that deplete our body of iodine. One of those things is bromine, which is used to preserve various baked goods. Another is chlorine, which is in the water, the swimming pool, the shower, and on and on. If you are concerned that you may be deficient, consider reading, Iodine, Why You Need It, Why You Can't Live Without it, by Dr. Brownstein. Or contact me for more information about testing at www.nwrejuvenate.com
The Doc's First Post
Hi all,
Thanks for checking in here. I am creating this blog because I thought it would be interesting and informative to see some of the discoveries I am making about health. I am committted to this journey, and I am constantly reading new books, journals, updates, and attending seminars about the latest in natural health. I remain incredibly curious about what makes us heal, even though I have been studying all of this for 15 plus years. My areas of focus are nutritional breakthroughs, cleansing programs, living foods, functional imbalances that go undetected like thyroid or sugar imbalances. So, you get the latest newsbreaking information about health as I get them! Some topics I will be blogging about: Iodine deficiency may be more common than we could imagine, Portland Living Foods Retreat, pH Assessment and Cleansing Programs.
Some books I have been reading:
Iodine: Why You Need It, Why You Can't Live Without It, 2nd Edition
David Brownstein, MD.
Salt Your Way To Health, David Brownstein, MD
The Hundred Year Lie, How Food and Medicine are Destroying Your Health, Randall Fitzgerald
As for a little more about me, the naturopathic doc. I became interested in much of this in 1989. My father had AIDS, my sister chronic depression and an eating disorder. I lost both of these members of my family in 1990 and 1991. During this time, I started reading the books of Norman Walker, Paavo Aairola, and Ann Wigmore. I became fascinated with natural healing and how it was different from conventional medicine. I learned in a class at Baruch College, where I was studying accounting of all things, that the AZT my father was taking was toxic to his bone marrow and could cause liver cirrhosis. Later I learned that the Pentamidine my father was taking to prevent Pneumocystis Carinii was incredibly toxic. Why would good doctors prescribe these toxic medications? What else is out there?
My sister had anorexia, bulimia, and depression. As far as I can recall, nutrtional counseling was not ever part of her treatment plan. She was shifted by medical professionals, including medical doctors and psychiatrists who could not find help for her all over the state of New York, and finally down to one of the best hospitals in the country in Maryland. Her daily diet? It included several diet sodas, non-fat yogurt and cigarettes! Looking back now, large doses of B-Vitamins would probably have made a profound difference, along with an array of homeopathics and herbal formulations. These experiences were really a spark set me in motion on a journey. I have studied nutrtion in foods, traveled to Ashrams and cleansing centers, read many different philosophies on health.
Today, my enthusiasm has not waned! The more I know, the more that I want to know and the more I realize how much there is to learn. So, if you too are interested in the very best in health and are interested in healing yourself or optimizing wellness, check in here for Doctor Ariel's postings!
Thanks for checking in here. I am creating this blog because I thought it would be interesting and informative to see some of the discoveries I am making about health. I am committted to this journey, and I am constantly reading new books, journals, updates, and attending seminars about the latest in natural health. I remain incredibly curious about what makes us heal, even though I have been studying all of this for 15 plus years. My areas of focus are nutritional breakthroughs, cleansing programs, living foods, functional imbalances that go undetected like thyroid or sugar imbalances. So, you get the latest newsbreaking information about health as I get them! Some topics I will be blogging about: Iodine deficiency may be more common than we could imagine, Portland Living Foods Retreat, pH Assessment and Cleansing Programs.
Some books I have been reading:
Iodine: Why You Need It, Why You Can't Live Without It, 2nd Edition
David Brownstein, MD.
Salt Your Way To Health, David Brownstein, MD
The Hundred Year Lie, How Food and Medicine are Destroying Your Health, Randall Fitzgerald
As for a little more about me, the naturopathic doc. I became interested in much of this in 1989. My father had AIDS, my sister chronic depression and an eating disorder. I lost both of these members of my family in 1990 and 1991. During this time, I started reading the books of Norman Walker, Paavo Aairola, and Ann Wigmore. I became fascinated with natural healing and how it was different from conventional medicine. I learned in a class at Baruch College, where I was studying accounting of all things, that the AZT my father was taking was toxic to his bone marrow and could cause liver cirrhosis. Later I learned that the Pentamidine my father was taking to prevent Pneumocystis Carinii was incredibly toxic. Why would good doctors prescribe these toxic medications? What else is out there?
My sister had anorexia, bulimia, and depression. As far as I can recall, nutrtional counseling was not ever part of her treatment plan. She was shifted by medical professionals, including medical doctors and psychiatrists who could not find help for her all over the state of New York, and finally down to one of the best hospitals in the country in Maryland. Her daily diet? It included several diet sodas, non-fat yogurt and cigarettes! Looking back now, large doses of B-Vitamins would probably have made a profound difference, along with an array of homeopathics and herbal formulations. These experiences were really a spark set me in motion on a journey. I have studied nutrtion in foods, traveled to Ashrams and cleansing centers, read many different philosophies on health.
Today, my enthusiasm has not waned! The more I know, the more that I want to know and the more I realize how much there is to learn. So, if you too are interested in the very best in health and are interested in healing yourself or optimizing wellness, check in here for Doctor Ariel's postings!
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