Tag Archives: nutrition

More on Crumbly Bone Prevention

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My husband saw another adolescent athlete with surgically soft bones. (Back in 2019, I wrote my first post on “crumbly bones.” You can read that post here: Crumbly Bone Alert.) He has to drill holes and put anchors, screws, nails, and pins into bone for what he does, so he sees first-hand whether someone has good bone integrity or not. And increasingly he is seeing normal-appearing, healthy-looking kids with soft bones. Even more distressing is that these kids are high school athletes. They should have strong bones, not soft, flimsy bone.

It’s bad enough when he sees middle-aged women with soft bones, but even more ominous when it’s active kids with no known risk factors. Once, when probed about diet, the mom of one of these youths with weak bones frustratedly replied that her child would only eat two very specific processed, boxed foods. The mom had encouraged other foods to no avail.

Kids Bones are Suffering

“Crumbly bones” are increasing in our kids. In 2003,  a study out of Rochester, Minnesota (USA) looked at the occurrence of forearm fractures in youth and found that boys were 32% more likely to have a fracture when compared to the past 30 years, and girls were 56% more likely (Khosla, 2003). Often-times, these changes of “soft” bone cannot usually be seen with the classic DEXA scan, so it’s not even seen readily with our normal bone density evaluations (Kalkwarf, 2011). And since a broken bone here or there is considered somewhat a normal right of passage for kids, unless the break occurred with exceptionally little incidence, there will be no medical instruction on unhealthy bones and how to take care of the skeletal system with diet and exercise. Doctors and parents aren’t thinking about “crumbly” bones in an otherwise normal, healthy kid.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that this is probably a silent epidemic. That lots of youth probably have poor bone integrity, and we just aren’t catching it.

It’s Not too Late to Start Strengthening Bones at Any Age

But this post isn’t just about kids. Yes, it’s better to play “keep up” with bone integrity than “catch up,” but I have read reports of osteoporosis improvement in elderly patients, either with regard to bone mineral density or with decreased fracture risk (Iwamoto, 2014; Shanb, 2014). There are things you can do now to make bones better.

Today I will touch on vitamin K2, which I mentioned in the first post linked to above.

VITAMIN K2

Bones need vitamin K2 to be healthy. You may also see vitamin K2 referred to as MK-4 (menaquinone-4) or MK-7 (menaquinone-7), the different numbers identify slightly different chemical forms of the same vitamin. (There are even more numbers/forms than this, eg MK-9 or MK-11, which may or may not be important. There are not enough studies yet to know.)

Vitamin K1 and Vitamin K2 Have Different Roles So Don’t Think of Them as the Same

Vitamin K2 should NOT be confused with vitamin K1. (And neither vitamin should be confused with potassium, an important electrolyte whose symbol is a simple “K” on the periodic table.) Vitamin K1 and vitamin K2 are both very, very important, but the expanse of their jobs differ. When you read, you will undoubtedly see vitamin K1 and vitamin K2 lumped together, which is a real travesty. They have different roles and both are needed.

Vitamin K2 Helps Hearts, Blood Vessels, Brains, and Bones

Vitamin K2 is a vitamin which scientists somewhat recently recognized–or at least recognized the significance of. Many American doctors will not even know about it, even though in Japan they have been using high dose vitamin K2 supplementation for osteoporosis treatment for years. (Iwamoto, 2014) Vitamin K2 has profound effects on our blood vessels, brains, bones, immune system [Linneberg (2021) even showed it affected Covid outcomes], and skin.

With regard to bone, Vitamin K2 helps take calcium and put it in bones and teeth. It keeps calcium out of the lining of our blood vessels (think of cardiovascular disease with the calcified plaques blocking blood flow) and tissues and puts it where it belongs.

How Does the Body Get Vitamin K2?

You can get vitamin K2 through different mechanisms. The really confusing thing about vitamin K2 is that its content in foods is unreliable and unpredictable. And some foods might have MK-4, while others have MK-7. And still others might have some of the lesser studies forms of vitamin K2 like MK-9 or MK-10.

Adding to the confusion is that you’ll see some researchers swear by MK-7, while others say MK-4 is fine. It’s often quoted that MK-7, which is found in plant sources of vitamin K2, has a longer half-life and sticks around longer, so it’s better. Others argue that MK-4 is what is present in all animals (so, of course, that’s what we should use), and that it does not stay in the blood because it is “sucked up” by our tissues.

I don’t know. My consensus is to look at the vitamin K2 food list and try to add those foods in. Try to eat more vegetables. And supplement as needed.

Your body gets vitamin K2:

By eating egg yolks, butter, certain cheeses, organ meats, fish eggs, and fermented foods (like sauerkraut or a Japanese food called natto). The problem here is that a food type can have differing levels of vitamin K2 amounts, depending on what an animal is eating or how a cheese is made. So “Brand A” of butter may have less vitamin K2 than “Brand B.” And “Brand A” may have a different vitamin K2 in May than it does in August because the cow is grazing on different grass quality. Vermeer (2018) has a great article with vitamin K2 levels of various foods. Check it out. Chris Masterjohn, PhD, has an extensive page on vitamin K2 and has a spot where you can type in the food to see how much vitamin K2 is in it. Check it out.

By converting excess vitamin K1 to vitamin K2: The human body can convert excess vitamin K1 to vitamin K2. The problem with this is that most humans do not eat enough vegetables and leafy greens to even get enough vitamin K1 for optimal health, so there isn’t much, if any vitamin K1 leftover to turn into vitamin K2. A second confounder is that different people have different processing capabilities, so some people might have “good” genes for vitamin K1 conversion while others do not. A third confounder is that vitamin K1 is best absorbed with fat, and many health-conscious people are low fat.

By your gut bacteria: Your gut bacteria can make vitamin K2. The problem here is the disrupted gut bacterial flora that is very common now, contributed to by antibiotics and poor diets.

By vitamin K2 supplementation: Different formulations can degrade over time, leaving uncertain vitamin K2 levels (Orlando, 2019).

What’s a Person to Do?

So if vitamin K2 is that important, and yet our available sources are that unpredictable, then what’s a person to do? Throw hands up in the air and say, “Life sucks. This is stupid. I can’t do this anymore?” NO! Regularly include the sources you can food-wise. Do what you can! If you can’t eat these things, look at lists and see what you can eat to get K2. If you can’t eat anything, then supplement. Read all about vitamin K2 (the Masterjohn site I linked to above is exceptionally extensive and easy to read).

Eat more egg yolks.

Use butter.

Eat more vitamin K1-rich leafy greens and vegetables. Cook them with butter or olive oil to absorb more vitamin K1 to potentially convert to vitamin2.

Order sushi with salmon roe or some other roe.

Use cheese. Different cheeses have different K2 levels, so check out the lists.

Eat fermented foods like sauerkraut or kimchi.

FInd some vitamin K2-rich foods and eat some daily for your bones. Feed them to your kids for their bones. Every choice. Every day. Adds up.

Terri F

NOTE: Those on warfarin (Coumadin) should not increase their vitamin K2 (including from foods) without a doctor monitoring them closely.

Citations:

Khosla, S., Melton, L. J., Dekutoski, M. B., Achenbach, S. J., Oberg, A. L., & Riggs, B. L. (2003). Incidence of Childhood Distal Forearm Fractures over 30 Years: A Population-Based Study. Journal of the American Medical Association, 290(11), 1479-1485. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.290.11.1479

Kalkwarf HJ, Laor T, Bean JA. Fracture risk in children with a forearm injury is associated with volumetric bone density and cortical area (by peripheral QCT) and areal bone density (by DXA). Osteoporos Int. 2011;22(2):607-616. doi:10.1007/s00198-010-1333-z

Iwamoto J. Vitamin K₂ therapy for postmenopausal osteoporosis. Nutrients. 2014 May 16;6(5):1971-80. doi: 10.3390/nu6051971. PMID: 24841104; PMCID: PMC4042573.

Shanb AA, Youssef EF. The impact of adding weight-bearing exercise versus nonweight bearing programs to the medical treatment of elderly patients with osteoporosis. J Family Community Med. 2014;21(3):176-181. doi:10.4103/2230-8229.142972

Linneberg A, Kampmann FB, Israelsen SB, Andersen LR, Jørgensen HL, Sandholt H, Jørgensen NR, Thysen SM, Benfield T. The Association of Low Vitamin K Status with Mortality in a Cohort of 138 Hospitalized Patients with COVID-19. Nutrients. 2021; 13(6):1985. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13061985

Orlando P, Silvestri S, Marcheggiani F, Cirilli I, Tiano L. Menaquinone 7 Stability of Formulations and Its Relationship with Purity Profile. Molecules. 2019;24(5):829. Published 2019 Feb 26. doi:10.3390/molecules24050829

Vermeer C, Raes J, van ‘t Hoofd C, Knapen MHJ, Xanthoulea S. Menaquinone Content of Cheese. Nutrients. 2018;10(4):446. Published 2018 Apr 4. doi:10.3390/nu10040446

Prostate Cancer Nutrition

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I have put together a prostate cancer diet after reading many, many different sources. I have listed the scientific resources that my opinions are pooled from. Doctors and healthcare authorities rely on research studies, and when you discuss changes to your cancer plan with them, it is a good idea to carry the study with you that you’re basing your desire to change your cancer plan on. Most doctors will NOT encourage complementary diets and think they are a waste of patients’ time and fretfulness. But there is research to support intensive dietary intervention, and if this research is put into doctors’ hands, I believe they’ll read it. If a patient brought me a research article (NOT a blog post or a newspaper article, but a REAL medical journal article), I always made time to read it when I was practicing.

Take a look at the diet I constructed and compare it to what’s out there. Read. Read. Read. And if what you eat is no big deal to you and you want to give nutritional intervention a try for prostate cancer, with your doctor’s approval, go for it! If you can, try to eat organic; if you can’t, try to eat organic at least on the foods you eat every day.

I read all comments (that don’t go through to spam) and diligently consider them. If you have a story, refutation, helpful addition, or grammar correction, please comment. Lastly, medical research changes, and as this post “ages,” there will be new diet information on prostate cancer. Do NOT use this post as medical advice!

(Click here for printable PDF version of this post: prostate cancer nutrition)

My Prostate Cancer Nutritional Intervention Plan

1. Eat a total of 8 CUPS (or more) of a combination of vegetables and/or fruits DAILY. Measure the eight cups so you’re not misjudging. Include as part of this the following foods.

  • Eat ½ cup cooked or 1 cup raw organic BROCCOLI DAILY. (Substitute Brussels, cauliflower, cabbage, or kale if/when you get disgusted with broccoli.)
  • Eat 1 serving size of CITRUS DAILY, such as grapefruits, lemons, limes, oranges.
  • Eat ½-1 cup of CARROTS DAILY.
  • Eat almost daily: Organic tomato products that have been simmered for a long time (spaghetti sauce, tomato soup, tomato juice) with a little fat (like olive oil). Do not use products in BPA-laden plastic containers or BPA-lined cans. I search for products in glass jars.
  • Also add in some of the following fruits that you like each day: apples, apricots, plums, red raspberries, red grapes, pomegranates, and other colorful fruits.
  • Also add in some of the following vegetables that you like each day: Mushrooms (shiitake, Maitake, Reishi), bell peppers, hot peppers, Brussels, cauliflower, cabbage, red cabbage, kale, spinach, arugula, collards, cabbage, onions, Romaine lettuce, radishes, beets, and other colorful and/or deeply green vegetables.
  • Also rotate through starchier vegetables like carrots, pumpkin, sweet potato, winter squashes (acorn, butternut), and potatoes (simply prepared) for foods which will help fill you up.

2. Eat 1 ounce (roughly ¼ cup or 28 grams) of nuts and/or seeds every day. Choose from sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, Brazil nuts, almonds, cashews, walnuts, pecans, pistachios, black walnuts, English walnuts, sesame seeds, and pine nuts.* (The * means see the postscript notes at the bottom of the post before my references.)

Eat them as is, sprinkle them on salads, toss into stir fry, or grind them fresh into “nut butter.”**  (See notes below.)

My personal favorites for health and cancer are sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds, but each nut is special (and I’m not kidding…)—eat ones you enjoy. Also use hemp seeds (for GLA, omega-3, zinc), flax seed (it must be freshly ground PLEASE—I started using my coffee bean grinder for flax), and chia seeds (for omega-3).

3. For meat, eat fish (3-6 ounces provides the vitamin D and omega-3 requirements—or close to it, depending on the fish): wild caught salmon, sardines, cod, herring, trout.**

  • Eliminate or only rarely eat red meat and processed meats (bacon, ham, salami, hot dogs, beef jerky, and cold meat). Do not eat any charred meat.
  • Eliminate or only rarely eat poultry.
  • Eliminate or only rarely eat eggs.

4. Eat ½ cup or more of lentils and/or beans 5-7 days per week. Navy beans and lentils are my personal health favorites but eat what you enjoy. Choose from black beans, kidney beans, pinto beans, etc.

5. Soy is unclear to me. It seems okay (beneficial even) for prevention and for early, localized cancer. However, I would avoid soy for high grade prostate cancers until we have further information. Choose minimally processed soy: soybean nuts, edamame, tofu, tempeh. Really research soy yourself and talk with your cancer team (doctors, nutritionists, etc.).

6. Drinks to include and exclude

  • A good quality, organic green tea, even consider matcha green tea daily if tolerated.
  • Water with the juice and pulp of a fresh lemon squeezed into it daily or routinely.
  • Pomegranate juice daily (100% juice, no added sugar), 8 ounces, IF you have MnSOD AA polymorphism***
  • Good quality water. Filtered tap water is usually fine.
  • Coffee seems neutral or even beneficial.
  • Almond milk or soy milk as needed to prepare appealing foods.
  • Eliminate any animal milk products.
  • Eliminate sodas, store-bought juices, and anything in plastic or BPA lined cans.

7. Force yourself to add herbs and spices (and fermented condiments), both fresh and dried, to your food. Any food you can add an herb or spice to, then find a way to do it.

  • Use turmeric daily (best when heated in oil and served with black pepper, so consider using on your vegetables).
  • Use ginger daily.
  • Use fresh garlic, one clove every day, ideally that has been pressed, cut, or diced and allowed to sit for 10 minutes prior to cooking (for development of a beneficial compound called allicin).
  • Hot peppers
  • Cinnamon
  • Parsley
  • Cilantro
  • Rosemary
  • Oregano
  • Fermented foods (kimchi, sauerkraut, pickles) that haven’t been pasteurized
  • Other spices as you explore: chives, cloves, cumin, etc. Don’t miss a chance to add a herb or spice.

8. Use high quality oils for dressings, sauces, and cooking. Do not aim necessarily for a low-fat diet, but your diet should be/will be lower in fat than a standard diet by nature of eating more vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains, and fish.*** Good choices are: high quality, fresh, well-stored olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil, red palm oil (for natural forms of vitamin E), rare use of grass-fed butter (for vitamin K2), and/or unrefined sesame oil (for something called GLA).

9. Eat only truly whole grains that you must prepare.**** (Please understand that the kind you pour from a box and put almond milk on does not generally count towards the benefits of truly whole grains. You can’t eat cereal from a box or bag and expect you’re eating a cancer-fighter!) Use your prepared whole grains as an accent to your lentils/beans, vegetables, and fruits. Grains really do make foods fun, in my opinion. But DO NOT fall for processed whole grain products like crackers, most pre-made breads, bagels, cereals in a box/bag, etc. These are good whole grains to choose from:

  • Oatmeal (contain GLA, zinc, and prebiotics)
  • Flax (not really a grain but lots of grain-like benefits)
  • Buckwheat
  • Quinoa
  • Wild rice
  • Brown rice

10. Do NOT eat the following foods (but if you do, then by all means let the guilt go and renew your efforts as needed and as desired—this is your life):

  • Sugar (Spare use of honey or maple syrup is thought to be fine and helps flavor salad dressings, vegetable curries, fruit desserts, etc.)
  • Cereal (NO boxed cereals or granolas that contain sweeteners. 100% completely whole grain or grains/seeds that you grind are thought to be good, so make your own cereals.)
  • Bread (unless you know it is 100% whole grain or unless it is helping you to eat densely nutritious foods—for example, if a toasted slice of bread helps you to eat sardines with avocado, onions, and cilantro, go for it)
  • Meat, particularly red meat, is often correlated with increased cancer. Just avoid it. HOWEVER, if you have an intense craving for it that you can’t overcome, then listen to your body and prepare a good quality red meat dish. (I’ve seen a cancer patient who was craving red meat because she had severe anemia which needed a blood transfusion. Her body told her what she needed. I was a little disappointed that she chose McDonald’s hamburgers as her red meat source.)
  • Dairy (If you can’t leave out dairy, use grass-fed dairy and/or organic cheeses, ideally just as small accents to make your food taste better if you need to.)

11. Supplements: I believe in minimal supplementation and that food should be the source of our supplementation. I like to try to eat so I’m getting vitamin D, vitamin E, selenium, zinc, omega-3, magnesium, etc., through my diet. But, there are certain nutrients that I think are hard to get that could benefit prostate cancer, and those are iodine and vitamin K2. Iodine can come from seafood and seaweed, if a person wants to research those. Vitamin K2 could come from natto (which contains soy and is hard to find in the USA) or from high quality, high fat dairy (which I don’t really think agrees greatly with prostate cancer). These might be two supplements worth discussing with your doctor about supplementation (but PLEASE read and research so you have medical studies IN HAND on these—doctors nearly universally believe we get enough iodine and most have never heard of vitamin K2 yet).

That’s it for now. Best wishes to you, your family, and your life. Remember, I didn’t write this plan for you. It hasn’t been tested or tried and could worsen cancer! So if you want to use any or all of it, you need to talk with your doctor. Please take good care of yourself.

Terri F

Notes:

*I encourage you to grind your own “nut butters” rather than buying them pre-ground. Some stores have places you can grind your own. Nuts and seeds are rich in oils that can be oxidized and damaged by air and light. The fresher the “nut butter,” the better for the body. I would not use peanut products routinely because of the molds they can grow before processing.

** There is a good physician who believes no nuts or seeds should be used in cancer because they have fat. His name is Dean Ornish, MD. He is very well-known and believes in very low fat intake. However, with all the benefits I found for nuts and seeds, with ALL the cancer-fighting components they have, and with the many studies that show that those who eat more nuts have better outcomes, I just can’t exclude them from a cancer diet. BUT, I do think that perhaps the problem with nuts and seeds is the fact that their oils and fats are so easily damaged. Fats and oils work in the cell membrane, and if they’re dysfunctional, our cell membranes won’t work optimally. So I think QUALITY should be stressed for nuts and seeds and their oils. Although I, a humble, independent researcher, disagree with Dr. Ornish, a power-house of knowledge and research, I want you to definitely know and read up on his work. He has a prostate cancer study with successful outcomes on his diet. That would obviously be a better researched and accepted diet than I have printed above!

Besides nuts, Dr. Ornish also eliminates all meat (including fish) and then he supplements omega-3, selenium, vitamin E, and vitamin D. This doesn’t make sense to me. Repeatedly in nutritional medicine, certain supplements are thought to be helpful and end up being detrimental, whereas the foods that contain them don’t seem problematic! I believe that very often (not always), isolated supplementation can pose more harm than benefits. I think it’s better to allow fish and nuts than it is to eliminate them and then supplement back a tiny fraction of what they provide.

***Drinking pomegranate only seems to help if a person has the MnSOD AA polymorphism:

  • Prostate Cancer, Nutrition, and Dietary Supplements (PDQ). Health Professional Version. PDQ Integrative, Alternative, and Complementary Therapies Editorial Board. Published online: August 16, 2018.
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK83261/#CDR0000719335__162
  • Note: I was able to figure out my MnSOD status (SOD2; rs4880) by using my 23 and Me raw data input into Promethease.

****Grains are like nuts in that they have precious, easily damaged oils. Once they’re ground, their oils will be oxidized and damaged. I suggest eating them whole (like cooked quinoa or brown rice) OR grinding them fresh yourself. I use a coffee grinder and then use the freshly ground grain or seed (flax, buckwheat, quinoa, brown rice, etc) to make my own bread or sprinkle on foods.

References:

Note: References have been roughly categorized. However, many references overlap and could appear in other sections as well. Please ask if you have any questions about the references. If you know of another reference that you’ve read that supports or refutes any of this information, great! Please comment on it so I can consider it and add notes or addendums to my diet.

Painting to begin post: Severin Roesen, Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Severin_Roesen_-_Two-Tiered_Still_Life_with_Fruit_and_Sunset_Landscape_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg

On eating tons of vegetables and fruits:

  • Nguyen JY, Major JM, et al. Adoption of a Plant-Based Diet by Patients with Recurrent Prostate Cancer. Integrative Cancer Therapies. 2006. 5(3): 214-223.
  • Richman EL, Carroll PR, Chan JM. Vegetable and fruit intake after diagnosis and risk of prostate cancer progression. International Journal of Cancer Journal International du Cancer. 2012; 131(1): 201-210.

On eating tomato products:

  • Chan J et al. Diet after diagnosis and the risk of prostate cancer progression, recurrence, and death. Cancer Causes and Control. 2006; 17:199-208
  • Haseen F et al. Is there a benefit from lycopene supplementation in men with prostate cancer? A systematic review. Prostate Cancer & Prostatic Diseases. 2009; 12:325-33
  • Mroz L. Dietary Advice for Prostate Cancer Patients. Research Gate. 2016. 10.13140/RG.2.1.1539.1125. (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301542461_Dietary_Advice_for_Prostate_Cancer_Patients)

On eating broccoli:

  • Canene-Adams K, Lindshield BL, Wang S, et al. Combinations of Tomato and Broccoli Enhance Antitumor Activity in Dunning R3327-H Prostate Adenocarcinomas. Cancer Res. 2007; 67(2): 836-843.
  • Richman EL, Carroll PR, Chan JM. Vegetable and fruit intake after diagnosis and risk of prostate cancer progression. International Journal of Cancer Journal International du Cancer. 2012; 131(1): 201-210.
  • Kirsh V A,  Peters U, et al.  Prospective Study of Fruit and Vegetable Intake and Risk of Prostate Cancer.   J Natl Cancer Inst 2007;99: 1200-1209.
  • Lassed S,Deus CM,Lourenço N, et al. Diet, Lifestyles, Family History, and Prostate Cancer Incidence in an East Algerian Patient Group. BioMed Research International Volume. 2016. Article ID 5730569.

On eating citrus and the named fruits:

  • Keizman D, Frenkel MA,  et al. Effect of PectaSol-C modified citrus pectin (P-MCP) treatment on PSA dynamics in patients with nonmetastatic, biochemically relapsed prostate cancer: Results of the interim analysis of a prospective phase II study. Journal of Clinical Oncology 2017 35:15_suppl, e16588-e16588. (MY NOTE: Modified citrus pectin is not the same as plain old pectin.)
  • Paller CJ, Pantuck A, Carducci MA. A Review of Pomegranate in Prostate Cancer. Prostate cancer and prostatic diseases. 2017;20(3):265-270.
  • Perez‐Cornago A, Travis RC, Appleby PN, et al. Fruit and vegetable intake and prostate cancer risk in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC). International Journal of Cancer. 2017;141(2):287-297. doi:10.1002/ijc.30741.
  • Lodi A, Saha A, et al. Combinatorial treatment with natural compounds in prostate cancer inhibits prostate tumor growth and leads to key modulations of cancer cell metabolism. Precision Oncology. 2017; 1 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41698-017-0024-z

On adding in the specified vegetables, especially carrots:

  • See above references under “eating large amounts of vegetables and fruits.”
  • Patel S, Goyal A. Recent developments in mushrooms as anti-cancer therapeutics: a review. 3 Biotech. 2012;2(1):1-15.
  • Xu X, Cheng Y, Li S. et al. Dietary Carrot Consumption and the Risk of Cancer. Eur J Nutr. 2014. 53: 1615.

On eating nuts:

  • Want W, Yang M, Kenfield SA, et al. Nut consumption and prostate cancer risk and mortality. British Journal of Cancer. 2016. 115: 371–374.
  • Sparccarotella KJ, Kris-Etherton PM, et al. The effect of walnut intake on factors related to prostate and vascular health in older men. Nutrition Journal. 2008. 7:13.
  • [My note: Dietary zinc beneficial but supplement not.] Epstein MM, Kasperzyk JL, Andrén O, Giovannucci EL, Wolk A, Håkansson N, Andersson SO, et al. Dietary zinc and prostate cancer survival in a Swedish cohort. Am J Clin Nutr. 2011 Mar;93(3):586-93.
  • Richman EL, Kenfield SA, Chavarro JE, et al. Fat Intake After Diagnosis and Risk of Lethal Prostate Cancer and All-Cause Mortality. JAMA Intern Med. 2013;173(14):1318–1326. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.6536
  • Azrad M et al. Flaxseed-derived enterolactone is inversely associated with tumor cell proliferation in men with localized prostate cancer. J Med Food 2013 Apr; 16(4): 357–60.
  • “Flaxseed Supplementation (Not Dietary Fat Restriction) Reduces Prostate Cancer Proliferation Rates in Men Presurgery.”  Cancer, Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. December 2008 17; 3577.

 On eating fish:

  • Chavarro JE, et al. A 22-y prospective study of Fish intake in relation to prostate cancer incidence and mortality. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2008; 88(5):1297-303.
  • Castelló A, Boldo E, et al. Mediterranean Dietary Pattern is Associated with Low Risk of Aggressive Prostate Cancer: MCC-Spain Study. The Journal of Urology, 2018; 199 (2): 430 DOI: 10.1016/j.juro.2017.08.087

On eliminating processed meats and charred meats, eggs, poultry:

  • Zheng W, Lee S-A. Well-done Meat Intake, Heterocyclic Amine Exposure, and Cancer Risk. Nutrition and cancer. 2009;61(4):437-446. doi:10.1080/01635580802710741.
  • Alexander DD, et al. A review and meta-analysis of prospective studies of red and processed meat intake and prostate cancer. Nutrition Journal. 2010; 9:50.2.
  • John EM, et al. Meat consumption, cooking practices, meat mutagens, and risk of prostate cancer. Nutrition and Cancer. 2011; 63(4):525-37.3.
  • Richman EL et al. Egg, red meat, and poultry intake and risk of lethal prostate cancer in the prostate-specific antigen-era: Incidence and survival. Cancer Prevention Research. 2011; 4(12):2110-21.4.
  • Punnen S, et al. Impact of meat consumption, preparation, and mutagens on aggressive prostate cancer. PLoS One. 2011; 6(11):e27711.5.
  • Frattaroli J, et al. (Dean Ornish) Clinical events in prostate cancer lifestyle trial: Results from two years of follow-up. Urology. 2008; 72(6):1319-23.
  • (PDF) Dietary Advice for Prostate Cancer Patients. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301542461_Dietary_Advice_for_Prostate_Cancer_Patients [accessed Jul 25 2018].

On eating lentils:

On eating soy:

  • Yan L, & Spitznagel EL. Soy consumption and prostate cancer risk in men:  a revisit of a meta-analysis. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.  2009; 89(4):1155-11632.
  • Goetzl MA, et al. Effects of soy phytoestrogens on the prostate.  Prostate Cancer & Prostatic Diseases. 2007; 10(3):216-2233.
  • Kwan W, et al. A phase II trial of a soy beverage for subjects without clinical disease with rising prostate-specifc antigen after radical radiation for prostate cancer. Nutrition & Cancer. 2010; 62(2):198-207
  • Applegate CC, Rowles JL, Ranard KM, Jeon S, Erdman JW. Soy Consumption and the Risk of Prostate Cancer: An Updated Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Nutrients. 2018;10(1):40. doi:10.3390/nu10010040.

On drink choices:

  • Guo Y, Zhi F, Chen P, et al. Green tea and the risk of prostate cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Arora. S, ed. Medicine. 2017;96(13):e6426. doi:10.1097/MD.0000000000006426.
  • Perez‐Cornago A, Travis RC, Appleby PN, et al. Fruit and vegetable intake and prostate cancer risk in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC). International Journal of Cancer. 2017;141(2):287-297. doi:10.1002/ijc.30741.
  • Paller CJ, Pantuck A, Carducci MA. A Review of Pomegranate in Prostate Cancer. Prostate cancer and prostatic diseases. 2017;20(3):265-270. doi:10.1038/pcan.2017.19.
  • Sen A et al. Coffee and tea consumption and risk of prostate cancer in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. Int J Cancer. 2018 Jun 26. doi: 10.1002/ijc.31634. [Epub ahead of print]
  • Jiadong Xia, Jie Chen et al. An Up-to-date Meta-analysis of Coffee Consumption and Risk of Prostate Cancer. Urology Journal. 2017; 14(5).

On using herbs and spices:

  • Zheng J, Zhou Y, Li Y, Xu D-P, Li S, Li H-B. Spices for Prevention and Treatment of Cancers. Nutrients. 2016;8(8):495. doi:10.3390/nu8080495.
  • Arunkumar, A., Vijayababu, M.R., Srinivasan, N. et al. Mol Cell Biochem (2006) 288: 107. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11010-006-9126-6
  • Yoon J, Yae, Kim, et al. 2′-Hydroxycinnamaldehyde inhibits cancer cell proliferation and tumor growth by targeting the pyruvate kinase M2. Cancer letters. 2018. 434. 10.1016/j.canlet.2018.07.015.
  • Lodi A, Saha A, et al. Combinatorial treatment with natural compounds in prostate cancer inhibits prostate tumor growth and leads to key modulations of cancer cell metabolism. Precision Oncology. 2017; 1 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41698-017-0024-z

On use of added oils and not necessarily aiming for low fat numbers:

  • Richman EL, Kenfield SA, Chavarro JE, et al. Fat Intake After Diagnosis and Risk of Lethal Prostate Cancer and All-Cause Mortality. JAMA Intern Med. 2013;173(14):1318–1326. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.6536

On eating whole grains:

  • [Flax] Simon JA, et al. The relation of alpha-linolenic acid to the risk of prostate cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2009; 89(5):1558S-1564S.
  • (PDF) Dietary Advice for Prostate Cancer Patients. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301542461_Dietary_Advice_for_Prostate_Cancer_Patients [accessed Jul 25 2018].
  • Azrad M et al. Flaxseed-derived enterolactone is inversely associated with tumor cell proliferation in men with localized prostate cancer. J Med Food 2013 Apr; 16(4): 357–60.

On foods to eliminate:

  • Zheng W, Lee S-A. Well-done Meat Intake, Heterocyclic Amine Exposure, and Cancer Risk. Nutrition and cancer. 2009;61(4):437-446. doi:10.1080/01635580802710741.
  • Park S-W, Kim J-Y, Kim Y-S, Lee SJ, Lee SD, Chung MK. A Milk Protein, Casein, as a Proliferation Promoting Factor in Prostate Cancer Cells. The World Journal of Men’s Health. 2014;32(2):76-82. doi:10.5534/wjmh.2014.32.2.76.
  • Chan JM, Stampfer MJ, et al. Dairy products, calcium, and prostate cancer risk in the Physicians’ Health Study. Am J Clin Nutr. 2001 Oct;74(4):549-54.
  • Rohrmann S, Platz EA, Kavanaugh CJ, et al. Meat and dairy consumption and subsequent risk of prostate cancer in a US cohort study. Cancer Causes Control. 2007 Feb;18(1):41-50.
  • Raimondi S, Mabrouk JB, et al. Diet and prostate cancer risk with specific focus on dairy products and dietary calcium: a case-control study. Prostate. 2010 Jul 1;70(10):1054-65. doi: 10.1002/pros.21139.

On fat intake:

  • Richman EL, Kenfield SA, Chavarro JE, et al. Fat Intake After Diagnosis and Risk of Lethal Prostate Cancer and All-Cause Mortality. JAMA Intern Med. 2013;173(14):1318–1326. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.6536

 

Nutrition for a Gymnast

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Ten Nutrients Every Gymnast Needs and How to Get Them

Recently a college gymnastics coach asked me if I knew one of the best in-practice (or in-meet) pick-me-up foods. I made a few naïve, idealistic stabs. “Nope,” he grinned. “Fruit Loops.” I didn’t know whether to cry at my innocence or to promptly squeeze his grin between my right thumb and forefinger, giving him a verbal lashing and the full weight of my academic condescension. I was so frustrated!

Faulty Nutrition Advice

I’m disappointed in the common gymnastics nutrition advice I encounter. It’s worthy of censorship. I don’t want anyone to touch my daughter’s nutrition without her running it by me first. Often the advice encourages exceptionally high carbohydrate counts and very low fat intakes. (How are they ever to absorb the vitamin D and vitamin K2 they need for their bones as grandmas?) Other times it advocates for highly processed cereals and granola bars loaded with sugars. (What nutritional punch does sugar pack?)

What’s a mom to do? Well, I like the gymnast in our family to focus on the nutrients her body needs to make strong bones, to keep muscle cramping to a minimum, and to protect her head in case of a bad fall. We focus on real, whole, and deeply nutritious foods. Focusing on these foods also encourages her immune system to fight off colds, helps keeps her tendons and ligaments well-supplied, and allows her hormonal system to have a chance to function properly.

Doesn’t She Need Carbohydrates?

As far as macronutrients (carbohydrates, fats, and proteins) go, I ask her to try figure out the best carbohydrate to protein to fat ratio for herself– using her hunger, energy, and mental clarity and focus to help guide her. (I firmly believe that each athlete is an individual with unique macronutrient needs. It is not “one-diet-fits-all.”) I explain that carbohydrate foods, although fast-acting, will not stick around very long, but that fats and proteins digest more slowly and can help her feel full longer. She includes carbohydrates for their quick pay-off of energy, and then she plays with the fat and protein amounts to determine the amounts (and kinds) which keep her feeling full– but still energetic and light and springy on her feet (or hands).

Reality Checks and Hard Talks

Food never goes away and our relationship with it really colors our whole life! So, periodically we talk about eating disorders, and I’ll ask her how she’s feeling about what we’re eating. We have talked in the past about the weight of muscle mass versus fat mass (muscle weighs more) and how weight is not a good indicator of health, fitness, or gymnastics capabilities. We talk about avoiding junk food but how to let loose and enjoy them comfortably when we want to.

Since competitive gymnasts often want to stay “little,” we talk about the changing body and the fact that a female gymnast’s skills will ebb and flow, progress and flop, as the physical body changes– and that will just require her to train smarter (to understand the physics of strength, power, vertical jump advantage, and quickness) and show off what a woman can do!

Competitive gymnastics has been suppressing the growth of competitive gymnasts for a long time, and I want none of that garbage for my precious one. I want her to embrace fully what it feels like to be an empowered woman, never afraid of food or eating–or actually of anything or anyone. I want bold, confident, and intelligent-minded women who will leave their sports behind one day but transfer everything they learned into a new path.

Back to Nutrition

Okay. Back to nutrition. I made a chart for our fridge that I thought I’d share on-line here. It’s the table you see above as the image for this post. You can, I hope, pull up the PDF file for clear printing here:

Blog Gymnastics table

Addendum: I have updated the same table you see as the image to read “Ten Nutrients Athletes Can’t Be Without… And How to Eat Them!” That way it can also be printed off for non-gymnast athletes too. For the PDF to this version, click here:

Ten Nutrients Athletes Can’t Be Without and How to Eat Them

I could have added iron, vitamin B12, and folate to this list. But if the foods on this list are eaten, those nutrients are each covered too. Meat has iron and vitamin B12. Beans and green vegetables have folate.

Many experts do recommend supplementing with calcium, vitamin D, and omega 3 fatty acids for gymnasts. Talk to your doctor about that. Since we don’t eat a lot of dairy in our house due to some intolerances, I do rotate through bone supplements for the kids. But please, I prefer that you talk with your doctor about that. I am here to share our story and my thoughts, but you should not use it blindly as medical advice. Instead, use it to further your own research and discussions with your doctor. I love comments and would be happy to hear what you do for your gymnasts, concerns you have about gymnastics nutrition, or constructive discussion on what I have written and composed here in this post. Thanks!

Please, help your gymnast find his or her way to strength, dignity, courage, and long-lasting belief in his or her amazing self-worth as a person, not just an athlete.

Warmest wishes,

Terri F

A Stay-At-Home Mom’s Diet Enters Medical Research

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gottschall

When I used to work as a physician, I wondered what it’d be like to stay home with the kids full-time. Some moms would say, “I HAVE to work. My kids drive me crazy.” I always thought to myself that I’d still like to try it and see. Maybe crazy is a state of bliss that I’d like quite a lot.

I did get to stay home, and to my chagrin, I did fall into crazy. Crazy nutrition. At first, I honestly did wonder if I had taken neurotic to its pinnacle, but I kept reading and reading. And over the short four years since I began having any interest in nutrition at all, other than having the best chocolate chip cookie recipe, there have been some major upheavals in medicine regarding nutrition, particularly regarding fat and cholesterol. But I know there will be more.

One upheaval that intrigues me, because I swear real food is pixie dust, is doctors using a real food diet to throw inflammatory bowel disease into remission without medicine. At Seattle Children’s Hospital, researchers are reversing serious cases of ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease using the exact same voodoo, or pixie dust (if you prefer), diet that Elaine Gottschall, a stay-at-home mother of two, used in the 1950s to save her 8 year-old daughter’s life from near-terminal ulcerative colitis. The diet, called the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD), was the last hope that Elaine had for possibly saving her child’s colon, maybe even the child’s life itself. Permanent poop collection bag? Death? How about we try this weird diet.

Dr. Sidney Valentine Haas’s Stodgy, Misinformed Diet

The SCD is not a new diet. It has been around in some form since approximately the 1920s, when Sidney Valentine Haas, MD was using it on his celiac and severely afflicted gastrointestinal patients.  At this time, there was no known celiac disease and gluten connection. Dr. Haas, using close observation skills and taking good patient histories (all things falling into disfavor in today’s medical climate), felt that starchy carbohydrates and table sugar were bad for his patients. So he developed a diet which removed starchy foods and sugar, making it inherently gluten-free and grain free. He found that his patients did fine with fruit, and he strongly encouraged bananas, and he even thought there was something special about the banana.

His “banana” diet was pretty popular and was used to manage celiac disease until the gluten connection was verified. Then, Haas and banana diets fell into disfavor, ridicule even. However, Dr. Haas, a reportedly kindly man who lived into his 90s, never acquiesced that gluten elimination should be the sole treatment of celiac disease. He remained adamantly suspicious that most starchy carbohydrates were problematic and needed removed for a time (not a lifetime). He genuinely believed in his diet, and if you read closely, he is scorned for never succumbing completely to the hypotheses that gluten is the sole problem for celiac patients.

(Now, I don’t know whether he was right or wrong about gluten. I DO KNOW that there are celiacs who follow a STRICT gluten-free diet, never eating away from home, and I know they still have abdominal issues. So, perhaps his intuition is not as laughable as it seems. Perhaps, as time passes and we learn more, we will find facts that make him more right than wrong. I don’t know. History repeatedly shows genius in ridicule, and maybe there’s more to treating celiac than just taking away gluten.)

A Doctor -Shopping, Stay-at-Home Mom

elaine_04

This photo of Elaine Gottschall came from www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info , the official Breaking the Vicious Cycle and SCD website.

The SCD would  have probably stopped right there if it hadn’t been for Big Magic (you really should read the book by this title, very good). Elaine Gottschall (now deceased, 1921-2005) called herself an ordinary, happy, stay-at-home, 1950s’ mom. She had two young daughters. One of her daughters, Judy, began experiencing incapacitating gut issues and was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis at the tender age of four years old. Little Judy was so sick and malnourished by the time she was 8, she had stunted growth and even her neurological system was shutting down. Elaine and Herb were told their daughter had two options: colon removal or death. Elaine wouldn’t hear it and refused to take death or colectomy (colon removal) as an answer for her daughter if she could do anything about it.

So she did what all desperate patients do (or parents of patients), she doctor shopped. After much doctor shopping and no hope in sight except surgery, an acquaintance of a friend pointed her to an outdated, nearly ancient physician. She finally landed in the arms (figuratively) of our now 92-year-old Dr. Sydney Valentine Haas. He started her daughter Judy on his version of what is now the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. Her daughter improved dramatically within days and even more in the months that followed, living a full life, even being able to eat a very diverse diet eventually.

Humiliating Success

Dr. Haas died within two years of meeting the Gottschall family. Would his diet die with him? No. Elaine Gottschall made it her mission to understand that man’s diet, even going back to school and earning degrees in biology, nutritional biochemistry, and cellular biology. If this diet helped Judy live and get her life back, she wanted to know why and share it with the others who were sick. Many times she wanted to give up, but her husband was convicted that the world needed this information that would be lost without Dr. Haas, and he knew Elaine was just the woman to do it.

Herb encouraged Elaine to write a book eventually called Breaking the Vicious Cycle, do health consults, and speak. She functioned at a grassroots level, and she touched thousands of lives, helping people turn their health around with the SCD. But, sadly, she could never break through to medical circles. Her daughter said: “She also wanted the acceptance from–if not approval of–the medical mainstream, which she never got. She was told stories by mothers who said their doctors would refuse to treat their children if they followed her diet…”

Doctors refusing to treat patients if they tried this diet? A diet that has now entered the halls of medical research with initial success? Elaine’s diet brought success to many suffering patients, but the patients’ doctors wouldn’t have it. How could a simple diet help? How could a stay-at-home mom know what she’s talking about? Who was she to challenge medical management?

Because of Elaine’s tenacity and courage (and ability to persist despite medical contempt), people today may have an opportunity to try diet over drugs. Some doctors are listening to patients and trying the SCD in clinical research. (See my last post.)

Elaine, Herb, and Judy (their daughter), thank you.

Closing

The SCD studies are small and sparse, but they’re pretty remarkable, especially in kids, whose healing capacities are always amazing. IF diet makes a difference, then I think Elaine Gottschall is right, the only way it’s going to get to medical doctors is if patients keep showing them. Dr. Suskind’s studies from Seattle are shedding some light, but they’re so small. With just a snap or a new successful medical discovery, his work will be trampled over forever, as Dr. Haas’s almost was.

Did Dr. Haas have it ALL right? No. Did Elaine Gottschall? No. Does the doctor named Natasha Campbell-McBride (who has taken Elaine Gottschall’s work further in her clinical practice, renaming her diet GAPS)? No. Does Dr. Suskind, a researcher using SCD in his studies? No. But continuing to cut out colons and continuing to prescribe immunosuppressants without ever trying significant dietary modification such as the SCD is irresponsible and, to me, unethical. Medical doctors maliciously, scornfully, and condescendingly name-call and ridicule diet theories they don’t agree with like pompous elitists. And guess what! When we do that, nurses, dietitians, pharmacists, and the public follow along. Then, we end up in a big mess. Like Days of Our Lives. Please stop the division.

You are never too small. You are never too insignificant. You are always enough. Your experience is for you. Your experience is for others. Live boldly with love and compassion.

Even your cooking can change someone’s life.

Ciao.

Terri

Sites and links I followed for information, which should always be verified before you even think about trusting anything…

Frontiers in Celiac Disease, pages 5-7: https://books.google.com/books?id=gqaDD3jkcfYC&pg=PA6&lpg=PA6&dq=haas%27s+banana+diet+celiac+disease&source=bl&ots=pPA2rdAt9_&sig=tgEgHivZWbdeSKX5j1Dajx243Iw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi1xNTukc_RAhVG4IMKHdtmBKo4ChDoAQglMAI#v=onepage&q=haas’s%20banana%20diet%20celiac%20disease&f=false

http://www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info/p/about-the-author/

Recipes for the Specific Carbohydrate Diet by Raman Prasad

Cleaning the Kitchen

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398px-gray_vacuum_cleaner-svgCleaning up your health (and life) is like cleaning up the kitchen.

If my kitchen is a disastrous trash-dump mess, and I only unload the dishwasher, is the kitchen clean?

No.

If I proceed to sweep the hair and crumbs off the floor but leave the watermelon sticky-juice, is it clean then?

No-ooo.

Well, what if I wipe the bacon grease off the stove top, too? Then is it clean? I mean, come on! I have swept the floor, unloaded the dishwasher, and now the stove top is clean.

How much more must I do?

Counters? Tables and chairs? Mop? The inside of the refrigerator? Sort through those bills and catalogs I’m never really ever going to look at?

Gee. Slave driver. I’d hate to live with you.

Deep Cleaning

People frequently tell me, “I’m trying so hard, and I just can’t [insert phrase such as lose weight, feel happy, be nice to my husband].”

Stop.

Think of the kitchen. Have you “cleaned the kitchen?”

When it comes to something you really want, you can leave no stone unturned. No refrigerator door left unopened. No backsplash unwiped. The kitchen isn’t really clean till you’ve opened every cupboard, wiped down each sticky light switch face plate, put the shoes all away.

If you’ve not reached your health goals (or life goals), then ask yourself, “Is my kitchen really clean?” Is there an area I’m leaving unchallenged?

Sleep. Check.
Eating vegetables and fruits. Check.
Avoiding sugar and processed foods. Check.
Outdoor activity. Check.
Strong relationships. Check.
Forgiveness of yourself. Forgiveness of others. Check.
Minimizing alcohol and caffeine. (And cigarettes and other substances Mother Teresa might frown on.) Check.
Acceptance of an area in your life. Check.
Sunshine and fresh air daily. Check.
Getting your sweat up every now and then. Check.
Taking alone time daily if needed. Check.
Minimizing your schedule. Check.

And so on.

Warning: The Closet Effect

Don’t get sidelined by the closet effect.

Sometimes, as changes are made, things feel temporarily worse. It’s like when you clean out the closet. (I know it’s time to clean a closet when things fall on my head. You know that feeling when everything in your house seems to be falling on your head? I hate that feeling.)

Have you ever cleaned a closet and torn everything out of it? There are piles all over the place, and somehow, cleaning the closet made THE WHOLE HOUSE a mess! How does that happen? Some things to Goodwill. Some things to your sister. Some things to the trash. (Ooh, I’ll keep this Def Leppard tee-shirt.)

In order to REALLY clean the closet, you’re guaranteed to make a bigger mess. Guaranteed. Why in the heck did you decide to clean the closet, stupid? (Because of that breathless sense that makes your heart sing when you open the door, not to chaos, but to competency and efficiency and order.)

So when the going gets hard, when you feel like you fix one thing only to have another break, don’t despair! Slowly, like a gutted closet or a nasty fridge, things will come around if you persist and seek the right things.

When it comes to health, the body cleans out a closet, only to make a mess downstream. So you have to help it out in that area too. It’s like tailoring a suit to fit you. Nip and tuck.

Norwex Power To You

Today, whatever it is, I encourage you to not give up. Motivation. Attitude. They count. They are truly the difference between success and failure. As you move through challenges in your diet, life, exercise plans, relationships, look for those little areas you can clean up a little.

Then, scrub on. (Anyone use those Norwex cleaning cloths?)

Keep it whole. Keep it real. Keep it simple.

Terri

Image credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gray_vacuum_cleaner.svg

 

 

 

NINE Fantastic Tips to Get and Keep Your (Stubborn) Family Eating Whole, Real Food

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MG Diet Disgust Photo 1

Originally, my family initially cut out all processed foods, grains, and dairy for my health, but the unexpected improvements to each family member that followed were eye-opening!

My family wasn’t exactly clapping or panting eagerly like bushy-tailed puppies to eat in this new way. Pant. Pant. Pant. “What’s for supper tonight, Mom? We’re so excited to eat cut apples and oranges for dessert again.” Pant, pant.

Uh, no.

Instead of cute puppies, think Jurassic Park—where that little, deadly dinosaur, the dilophosaurus, would stare, posture, and then spit and attack swiftly. That’s more like it…

So how can you keep the dilophosauruses from spitting in your face and killing your efforts? How can you get panting puppies drooling over dinner?

Sheer tenacity. Don’t give up and use every tactic in the book. Listen to me. Insulin pumps and bypass grafts aren’t pretty. Your family can dig in their heels in denial till they’re knee deep in China, but the fact of the matter is that diet matters…

Check out my NINE TIPS to get and keep your family eating good, real, whole foods by clicking here to go to the full article, “Does Your Family Have Diet Disgust?” It’s in Molly Green Magazine, and they display it with such nice graphics.  Below, I’ve given teasers from each of the methods.  So, if you have a moment, click on over and read them in their entirety!  All the photos here come from Molly Green Magazine (click here to see the magazine cover).

(As always, you know I care about people feeling good and functioning well so they can live their lives with fullness, richness, and contentment.  And I’d write no matter what, but from Molly Green Magazine, I do get a free membership for contributing.)

1.  The Cry-and-Speak Method

If you’ve stood with your head bowed, scraping what you thought was a perfectly good meal (which required effort to make!) into the trash while the cupboards are raided for some immediate post-dinner potato chips… (more)

2.  The Raised-Voice Method

…Sometimes, don’t ask me why, people just don’t think you’re serious until you raise your voice… (more)

3.  The Long-Route Method

What about eating out… (more)

4.  The Hiding Method

People like familiarity, and hey, we should have the comfort we expect in our own homes… (more)

5.  The Out-of-Groceries Method

…You’ll be reminded ten times when you’re out of crackers, and you just say, “Okay. Thanks for telling me.” You don’t need to say more. And you don’t need to buy any more either… (more)

6.  The Don’t-Mention-It Method

My kids informed me that they wished I hadn’t told them we were changing our diet. They suggested that if I had done it slowly and methodically, they probably would not have noticed… (more)

7.  The Involvement Method

If your husband doesn’t normally eat fruit, before you head to the store, ask him, “Which fruit do you want me to get for you…You’ll be surprised what a pointed question like that does to the psychology… (more)

8.  The Recognizing-Needs Method

It’s normal to have some food absolutes. Foods you can’t live without. (And foods you can’t live with!) Identify those for each family member, and allow for those, especially at first… (more)

9.  The Familiar Method

Make familiar recipes that require no or only subtle changes to be healthy. Some recipes are super easy to adapt! The recipes that don’t taste the same when adapted? Skip those for a few months or more. Come back to them later and try them again; you’ll be surprised how taste buds adapt. Some people just need familiar foods, not exotic experiments… (more)

 

What do you think?  Do you use these methods?  What I’d leave out?

Eat well.  Be well.  And if you were following the last few posts, you know I have to say, “Think well.”

Warmest wishes.

A Kid’s Conversation on Butyrate (Fiber–To Way Oversimplify)

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A trashcan at a food court in Salt Lake City, Utah

A trashcan at a food court in Salt Lake City, Utah (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“Whatcha’ doin’?”
“I’m reading about butyrate.”
“What’s butyrate?”
“Oh my goodness.  It’s amazing.  Do you remember those little bacteria I told you about that live in your colon?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Well, lots of fruits and vegetables and certain foods have this stuff called fiber.  And a there’s a special kind of fiber your body can’t use.  [Resistant starch for those of you who want a more intellectual conversation.]  But those bacteria take this special fiber, and they use it for food!  Then, they make this stuff called butyrate, which they can’t even use!  And guess what!  Our body likes butyrate!  Our colons eat up that butyrate and use it for food and energy, and it helps the cells fight infections and cancer.”
“So, they eat the trash we can’t.  Then, we eat their trash, and it helps us?”
“Yes.  That’s right.  Even the body recycles.  So that’s why we have to eat fruits and vegetables [and for those who know, also beans, lentils, and I have to keep working on my butyrate post…].”

♦♦♦♦♦

I am reading and working on a butyrate post, a short chain fatty acid that the bacteria in your colon make–much to your benefit–the bacteria making butyrate that is–not my article.  I have told myself I can’t post anything else until I finish it.  But it’s Monday.  And that’s the day you all read blog articles, based on statistical analysis.  So I hate to let an opportunity slide.

My kids just woke up.  I try to read and blog in the morning before they wake up, which luckily for me as homeschooled kids, is quite a bit later than most other kids.  They file into our schoolroom where I read and write, one by one, in the morning to see what I’m doing.  Today, I was very happy that I was reading about butyrate.

I try to almost never use the word “healthy” when I talk to my kids about food choices.  If I have to use the word healthy, it means I don’t understand why it is “healthy.”  I HAVE to be able to tell them what it is that makes a particular substance beneficial or NOT beneficial.  And I have to be able to see the food from all angles:  psychological angles, physical angles, physiologic angles,  net-gain versus net-loss angles.  If I have to say “healthy for you” or “that’s not healthy for you”–I don’t understand the food well enough.  They’ll never stick with it all their life, which is what I’m trying to do here for them.  If you haven’t explained to your kids that you are SO lucky to have bacteria in your colon, you have missed a HUGE chunk of their nutritional education.  That’s a great thing to tell them, and then you can use conversations like this, which happened this morning in our home.

It’s time to take back our kids’ nutrition.  Take it back from the boxes and packages.  Take it back from the commercials.  Take it back from the schools.  Take it back from the well-meaning dance teachers, coaches, and Sunday school teachers.  (Ouch.  That sounded really harsh.)  Take it back from convenience.  Kids’ bodies and brains function way better on whole foods without dyes and preservatives.  You can do it.

Terri

“Milk and Cookie Disease”

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wpid-IMAG1990.jpgThe Mr. Homeschooling Doctor loves to find articles for me.

Today’s article was:  ‘Milk and Cookie Disease’: The new childhood health condition caused by diet.

It’s a nice, vague little article in which Julie Wei, MD, pediatric otolaryngology, suggests that too much dairy and sugar, particularly before bedtime contributes to chronic sore throats, runny noses, stuffy noses, constipation, and tiredness in the pediatric population.

Conversation tonight then centered in our home around how “us doctors are gettin’ there.”

S-o…

S-l-o-w-l-y…It’s embarrassing at how slowly, really.

We have two issues.  First, food intolerances to things like wheat and dairy are significant in the population, yet unrecognized.  Second, most children are eating way too many dairy, wheat, and sugar products at the expense of vegetables, fruits, and meats.

Our children are suffering (obesity, poor concentration, allergic rhinitis, constipation, reflux), and we adults, who are struggling too, continue to feed them food items they do not need, at the expense of their health.  Why?  Because it tastes good?  They beg for it?  It’s a part of childhood?  A kid almost has to have diabetes before we’ll consider it okay to not feed him a cracker, juice, soda, cookie, cupcake, or ice cream snack.

I’m asking you to stop.  Take the high road.  The road less traveled.  The hard road.  If you’ve read this, you’ve heard it from a doctor.  I’ll stand on doctor ground tonight.  After seeing the changes in our home, I’m that concerned and passionate about this topic.

Our kids need us to reign in their soda, snacking, and poor food habits.  Maybe it’ll get us to thinking about what we eat, too.  A very good thing.

“Wei (MD) recommended her patients eliminate all dairy and sugar before bedtime, and  their symptoms improved significantly…Five-year-old Jonathan Giambrone is one of these children. A heavy snorer since  he was a baby, his enlarged tonsils and adenoids made it difficult to sleep…he would pick foods that were easy to swallow, like yogurt, smoothies,  applesauce and cottage cheese. And every night he would drink chocolate milk  before going to sleep…

After learning about Wei, Giambrone cut down on  Jonathan’s nighttime snacking and allowed him to drink only water before  bedtime.  ‘In a three week period, we noticed a substantial difference,’  she said. Jonathan also had his tonsils and adenoids removed two weeks ago,  which Giambrone hopes will make even more of a difference.”

Why not try a dairy elimination for two weeks, not just nighttime elimination?  And how about trying to take out dairy BEFORE the surgery?  What if…

At the end, the article makes a stab at constipation, a problem we found to be directly cured by dairy elimination in our home.

It’s nice to see articles relating symptoms to food, but we still have a long way to go.  I understand that gluten and dairy are staples, but if we can’t tolerate them, there are PLENTY of other very nutritious food sources.  If we’re concerned about vitamin D, calcium, B vitamins, and fiber, let’s enlist the help of a nutritionist for patients.  Even if patients are tolerant, most of them could benefit by leaning a lot less on grains and dairy.

By the way, not that it matters, and it’s probably quite evident by my simple operation here, I do this on my own.  I have no sponsor.  I have no web programmer.  I don’t get money for any of this, from any source.

Food matters.  Like a drug, foods treat us each differently.  Take only what you need, and watch for side effects.

Terri

Read full Milk and Cookie Disease article:  http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/07/14/milk-and-cookie-disease-new-childhood-health-condition-caused-by-diet/#ixzz2Z4QoeRdi

The Smell of Heaven

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wpid-IMAG0807.jpgIf heaven has a smell, I know it is that of the steam rolling out of a maple syrup shack in the late of winter.

My dad and uncle work together each year to make maple syrup, as their grandfather did before them in the very same woods.  As I write, they are “boiling” maple sap now in a sugar camp far, far away.

“Maple season” (or “sugar season”), the brief time when sap runs through the tree and can be made into syrup, occurs usually in late February or early March.

As winter loosens its grip on nature and mud makes its first appearance, sugar, stored as starch in the maple tree’s roots, begins to rise through the trunk to the limbs of the tree to feed the developing buds.  Freeze at night and thaw in day.  Freeze at night and thaw in day.  A cycle of freezing and thawing promotes the sap’s running through the tree.  During this time, and this time only, can sap be tapped from the tree for maple syrup; one year this may be late February and another year it may be mid-March.001

The number of days or weeks a sugar season lasts will be uncertain and controlled by the temperatures; a few degrees up or down can shut the sap running off.  If it freezes too hard at night, the sap may not run.  If the day is too warm, the sap may not run.  Once the trees bud, you’re done for sure.   Completely predictably unpredictable, even when you think it’s predictable.  Life.

“Tapping” the trees refers to drilling a hole in the tree and placing a spigot to drain the sap water into a bucket or into tubing.

Great Grandpa Grover collected sap in buckets, but Dad and my uncle use tubing to drain and run the sap from the tree to large collecting tanks set throughout the woods.  The “woods” is a large stand of trees and is frequently called a “sugar bush”, although “sugar bush” can also imply the building the syrup is boiled in too.  Tubing runs like a giant spiderweb networking the forest.

wpid-IMAG0711.jpgBefore tubing can be run, a 3/8 inch hole is drilled into healthy mature sugar maple trees, which are usually anywhere from 40-100 years old and at least 12 inches in diameter.  More than one hole may be drilled in a tree, depending on its size.  The hole does not damage the tree, and it seals up without ill effect.  Apparently other maple trees(such as silver maple) can be tapped besides sugar maples, but I don’t know about that.  We and most other people use sugar maples.

After the hole is drilled, a spigot (or spile) is inserted.  If a bucket is to be used, it is hung now and the top is covered to keep out unwanted debris and animals.  Otherwise, tubing is connected to the spigot to drain the sap.  The clear sap water, which is nearly tasteless and only has a suggestion of sweetness, runs through the tubing to other tubing until, ultimately it drains into large collecting tanks placed throughout the woods.

The sap that has collected in the holding tanks must be tranported to the building with the evaporator.

Our “camp”, the building with the evaporator where the sap is boiled, is at the edge of the woods.  Periodically 004during the day the level of the collecting tanks in the woods are checked.  My dad or uncle will take an ATV through the knee-deep mud to do a “tank check”.  I smile when I think of the exasperation in my uncle’s voice when he comes back from a tank check, and the sap has surprisingly overflowed the tank.  When a tank is full, a tractor (it has to be International for this family) pulling a transportable tank will be taken back to transfer the sap from the collecting tank to the transfer tank drawn by the tractor.   Back at the camp, the sap is now again transferred into a tank inside the sugar house (the building with the evaporator).

The evaporator condenses 40 gallons of sap to 1 gallon of maple syrup.

wpid-IMAG0810.jpgThe sap flows into a large evaporator pan that sits over a rip-roaring firebox fed by wood.  Sometimes the fire blazes so hot, the doors burn red.  The size of a sugar camp’s evaporator varies.  Some don’t even have an evaporator but do it in a pot over an open fire.  Mom and Dad’s honeymoon was spent in New York searching for a new evaporator for the sugar camp.  The two didn’t even make it to the Statue of Liberty.  But I believe they got the evaporator.  The evaporator is a series of pans with channels allowing the syrup to flow in such a way that there is more control over thewpid-IMAG0797.jpg syrup’s development and temperature.  At the start, it’s clear sap water, only 2-3% sugar.  By the end, it’s delicious smelling syrup.  A “hydrometer” is used to determine the density of the syrup and thus the sugar content.  Sap becomes syrup at 219.5 degrees fahrenheit and 67% sugar.

It takes approximately 40 gallons of sap water to make 1 gallon of syrup.

Because you have to wait for the daytime temperature to bring about a thaw and cause the sap to run, maple syrup is usually made in the evening and night.  The atmosphere is warm and cozy.  Family, friends, and neigbors stop in and visit while roasting hot dogs, pork chops, and hamburgers on the hot doors of the stove.  Aunt Holly’s “sugar candy” occasionally graces the buffet.  Syrup is made late into the night and wee hours of the morning, always carefully monitored.

Canning it Off

Our evaporator has a faucet at the point where the sap becomes syrup.  The syrup can be taken out.  It is poured through a cheesecloth into a wpid-IMAG0800.jpgfinishing tank, where it is reheated to boiling and canned (or bottled) off.

Sugar is Sugar is Sugar but…maple syrup is unique.

While I mostly think that “sugar is sugar is sugar”, maple syrup does have the advantage of providing in a 1/4 cup serving:

  • 100% of your recommended daily allowance (RDA) of manganese
  • 37% of your RDA of riboflavin (vitamin B2)
  • 18% of your RDA of zinc
  • Magnesium, calcium, and potassium run about 7% of the RDA

There are 50 calories per tablespoon or 217 in that 1/4 cup serving.

Now, I am not telling you to do this in any way, shape, or form.  Remember, I’m a stay at home, homeschooling mom.  But my mom used to give us kids maple syrup in our milk when we were constipated and swears by it.  I think I had it daily–now I know it was the dairy–but that’s another story.

As I regulate all sugar in my house, I place our maple syrup in a condiment squirt bottle and try to ration it like crazy, using as little as possible and then adding more if needed.  It is not allowed on SCD and GAPS because the sugar content is mostly sucrose, but once you move past the year or two on your diet, give maple syrup a thought.  It makes great barbecue sauce and baked beans.  On my grain-free waffle recipe, it’s spot on.  Yum.

What’s the Grade?

Maple syrup is graded, and the grading system varies whether it’s from Canada (who produces 80% of the maple syrup) or from the United States.  Now everybody has their preferences, but if you ask me, skip the “light” and “fancy”.  You might as well buy Karo corn syrup.  The rich, magnificent maple flavor that you want comes in the “lower” grade syrup.  The cheaper syrup!!!!  (But obviously make sure it IS REAL MAPLE SYRUP!)  When I tell Dad I need syrup, it’s the dark stuff he gives me.  Save that light stuff to sell to people who don’t know better.  I get fussy if he gives me the light stuff; it’s a little runnier, clearer, and although sweet, there’s very little maple flavor.

Interestingly, grade cannot be controlled or made by the maple farmer.  It is Mother Nature.  Certain soils and trees produce more or less light syrup.  Certain weather conditions over the year influence grade production.  How much the farmer gets of what grade will change from year to year.  And usually the earlier in the season the syrup is made, the lighter the grade.  It is lighter earlier because the first runs have the higher sugar content and thus don’t have to be boiled as long. By the time the end of the season arrives, the sap’s sugar content is down a bit and so it must be boiled longer, condensing all the nutrients that impart that delicious, rich MAPLE flavor–not to mention more “nutritious”, as far as sweeteners go!

History of Maple Syrup

Maple syrup is characteristic of the North American continent.  The legend tells that an Iroquois chief’s wife discovered a trough of maple sap, either in an old hollowed stump or underneath where her husband had thrown his tomahawk into a maple tree.  She used the sap as water to boil some meat, and the rest is history.  Although Benjamin Franklin wanted to make America self-sufficient sugar-wise on maple syrup rather than refined white sugar, that never panned out.

wpid-IMAG2381.jpgMy mom and dad use maple syrup liberally.  Once opened, store maple syrup in the refrigerator.  If the sugar crystalizes on the bottom, heat the syrup and it will dissolve again (or fish the crystallized chunks out and eat them like candy). 

  • Pancakes, waffles, and French toast
  • Oatmeal
  • Ice cream
  • To sweeten applesauce either before or after canning
  • To top fresh sliced bananas with a sprinkle of cinnamon
  • Mix into baked beans
  • Great for barbecue sauces
  • Mix with unsweetened almond butter along with a little vanilla and salt]
  • Drizzled on top of meat loaf so that as it bakes it caramelizes
  • Use interchangably with sugar when baking, but you must reduce the liquid content by 3 tablespoonsful.

Closing Remarks

Although this article is about maple syrup, really it is about family.  I have the best family in the world.  We’re crazy and nuts, but I cannot tell you how I will always cherish the time spent with my dad, sisters, aunt, uncle, cousins, and now my wonderful husband and children during syrup season.  Mom always stayed home if she could.  I always wondered why.  Now that I have three of my own, I know!  Free night for mom!

I cherish the memories of “sugar season”, and it warrants a special trip home.  I’m telling you , there’s nothing finer than a night at the sugar camp with my family.  I hope that you, too, will find a special time to spend with your children, that they might share it with the world someday in their own way.

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Sources:
Dad
http://www.purecanadamaple.com/benefits-of-maple-syrup/maple-syrup-nutrition/