I recently had a conversation with a fellow member of our local Rowing Club, I’ll call her Wanda.
I was in my third year of medical school, spending some time at the Women’s Health Clinic on lower University Avenue in Berkeley, California, across the Bay from my school, University of California at San Francisco. It was Spring of 1978 and the women’s movement was making some headroads in medical schools. My class was 40% women, an all-time high!
How many times have you thought, “Sheesh 2020 has been a bitch of a year, hope 2021 is better!” ? How many times today?
“Oh no, they rushed Harvey to the hospital, they think he’s having a heart attack!” Something dramatic has happened in Harvey’s life, and a complex chain of events set in motion.
Have you been checking in with old friends? New friends? Even just your “regular friends” whom now you haven’t seen for the last month? I delight in knowing that—to the best of my knowledge—everyone is okay. But of course, there are many who aren’t “okay,” whether the suffering comes from sickness, loneliness, poverty… or just the uncertainty of not knowing where we are and where we’re going. I think we all feel a bit of the latter type of suffering.
If you were to ask me what my greatest health challenge was, I would have answered you with clarity and assurance, “I am just not a very good sleeper.” I might explain my different strategies and interventions and supplements that I experiment with, all to improve my sleep quality. I might even have offered you the diversion my patients frequently try on me: “I come by it naturally, my mother wasn’t a good sleeper.”
Our annual December tradition starts today: store-wide 10% discount so you can take care of yourself or your loved ones during this busy and dark holiday season. Use the code HCPC416HOLIDAY today through the close of business on January 1 to receive your discount!
A couple thoughts that might help anyone:
About a year ago I met a lovely couple, both concerned about possible cognitive changes the husband was experiencing.
(No that’s not milk, scroll to bottom of article for explanation. Yes, gardens on the “farm” in the background!)
It’s just possible that the scientific world is shifting its paradigm of understanding metabolic disease.
You have to be close to my age to recognize the lyrics taken from Guys and Dolls, an influential movie of my childhood, a story for another day. How the song goes is something like, yes I can wish you riches and good luck, but
More I cannot wish you
Than to wish you find your own true love
Your own true love this day.
But when it comes to health, if I were to rewrite the song, I’d have to say instead:
What an interesting coincidence: as I was collecting a variety of newsy articles that were of interest to me this month, I was struck by something they all have in common. Each article interested me because of the associated health condition.
Which type are you?
Do you want to lose body fat, gain muscle, all without going on any kind of a diet?
Pretty much guaranteed that public advice based on “the latest research” will fall into the category I would call misguided at best and unethically stupid at its worst.
My good friend Gene returned recently from ten days with her lovely grandsons: delighted but exhausted. We shared a good laugh about how glad we are to not have young children now. We can be mothers of adults and grandparents to wee ones, but parenting young children takes a younger parent’s energy.
Pet peeve: speaking with folks about nutritional choices and hearing the insistence that “everything in moderation” is the sensible way to go.
Healthy and fit at 60 years old, my patient Kay was complaining only of some hair loss and fatigue. On questioning she assured me she eats “plenty of protein” but I knew we had to go deeper. If you want to stay strong as you age, you have to eat more protein than you might think.
Omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acids have such a good reputation for improving cardiovascular health that someone actually invented a prescription form of them. The official indication for Lovaza is the existence of high triglycerides, and the expected benefit is reduced risk of heart disease. The motivation was great, the solution is crazy. Let’s explore a bit.
Fats, or fatty acids, fall into three major categories:
Best Amount of Protein is __________________???
Some time ago I wrote an article about the importance of avoiding sarcopenia as one ages in which I stressed the importance of consuming enough protein, perhaps more than you are regularly eating. I suggested that you eat thirty grams of protein, three times a day.
Maybe you really OD’ed on sugar over the holidays, maybe you’ve been meaning to do this for a long time.
It’s already later than I want to eat dinner and I just got home from work. Diane is outside taking care of the chickens and I said I’d put together something to go with the meat nicely thawed on the counter and the sweet potato already cooking in the timer-set oven.
I have been fascinated recently with the intersecting stories of genetics, lifestyle choices, and dementia, and thought I’d share with you some of the information particular to genetics!
Warning: if you don’t believe in the process of evolution and natural selection, you might not enjoy the opening paragraphs. Skip to the second part!
For whatever reason, you wonder if you’re not eating as healthily as you would like to. Perhaps you’ve noticed that you’ve gained some stubborn pounds, especially around your middle. Maybe your hair (or skin or nails) lacks the vitality and sheen it used to have. Maybe your doc has added a few prescriptions to your daily routine, something for high blood pressure or maybe for cholesterol.
Today is day 30 and this has been my best (of three) one yet! As I mentioned last month, I added one allowed cheat (dairy in coffee, no more than once a day) and everything else didn’t even ask me to find a cheat for it. For some reason, I didn’t miss the beer or wine before dinner, didn’t miss the cheese appetizers, nor the chocolate after lunch, and my usual oblivion to bread and legumes persisted nicely.
Just for fun, what do the experts say about healthy aging, are they right?
Just this week (late August, 2016), I received my latest copy of the American Family Physician: it’s a handy journal for renewing my CME requirements and it’s a great reminder of basic family medicine protocols on a wide range of topics. One issue might cover insights about strep throat, fractured backs and cardiac rehab after a heart attack. Cover story this mid-August is on treating the behavioral disorders associated with dementia, typically referring to nursing home patients.
“Wait, so what are you saying, is HRT a good idea or not?” I was talking with a patient to whom I had recommended hormone replacement, but mentioned I had some concerns about “everyone” taking HRT.
You can do a lot for yourself, for your own brain and memory health. You can improve your own memory by attending to clearly identified details of diet, lifestyle choices, and getting serious about some crucial supplements. I’ll divide up your work for you into three separate articles, let’s see where we’re going.
A couple of exciting events have happened in the world of nutrition recently, causing feathers to ruffle and fur to fly!
A truly excellent clinician, podcaster, and researcher, Michael Ruscio, DC, recently focused his attention on Homocysteine.
One of the most challenging aspects of my practice is trying to help people recover lost brain function: even when they know they have a problem, and want help for the problem, the path of relief is not straightforward. Intelligent people are particularly adept at creating coping techniques and strategies to compensate for a decline in mental function, so it is often not noticed or addressed until cognitive decline is significant.
I read a fair amount of medical research, but a topic that always catches my attention is anything related to breast health, specifically preventing breast cancer. Pretty much the same information applies for resolving fibrocystic breast disease or other sources of breast discomfort.
We all want strong muscles, regardless of our age or general health. There will be some time in your life, I can assure you without reservation, when muscle strength becomes a real concern for you. Perhaps you’re an athlete, and you want to have a better performance in your chosen sport: you’ll want to make sure you are building muscle during your workouts.
When I hear the term “arachidonic acid” I must admit that I have always thought of spiders. My mind quickly corrects itself, and I remember that arachidonic acid is a polyunsaturated fatty acid, an omega-6 fatty acid, one that we require for its various functions in the brain, muscles, and liver, primarily for the pliable nature of our cell walls and for important signaling to modulate inflammation.
Ahh, crisp October air, leaves are brilliant and there is just a hint of chill in the air. Love this season, with the longer, darker and sleepier nights and a change of fresh produce in the store. Yes, I think tomato season went by all too quickly, but am happy to be choosing squash and cruciferous vegetables and sweet potatoes. It’s the season when I’m happy to use the oven again.
The first of a series
We are outliving our ancestors, but are we outliving them well?
Some time ago, I posted a blog titled simply “Trouble In Paradise.” Now I sadly must add a Part Two to what I hope will be a very limited series of articles.
Sad truth about most exercise resolutions: they’re temporary. The most important choice about an exercise program is finding one that gives enough reward to make it stick, which usually means finding one that is actually enjoyable.
For someone who practices individualized medicine, it may be surprising that there are two tests I think almost everyone should have. Oh yes, you should check your blood pressure, and know the general parameters of the broadly available tests: blood counts, chemistry panels, and probably even lipid profiles. But be careful with those lipid profiles: most physicians interpret them with a lot of fear and less understanding.
Perhaps one shouldn’t be eating pork at all?
The Bible, and some biblically based nutritionists, believe that the meat from pigs is unavoidably contaminated by their willingness to eat almost anything. If a pig has eaten something rotten, maybe their meat is rotten? Following that same argument, we’d have to caution the people living in the Mediterranean and Himalayan regions to stop eating goat meat as well.
Several times a day, I find myself discussing chemistry and currency with my patients. The chemistry part is to describe what comprises a methyl group: a carbon atom with three atoms of hydrogen attached to it. And though I know nothing really about economics, I do understand that methyl groups are the currency used for transactions in numerous parts of our physiology.
I love the potential benefits of using hormone replacement therapy! As a post-menopausal woman, aiming for vibrant health as long as possible, as a physician and research geek, and the daughter and grand-daughter of women with breast cancer, I take hormone replacement therapy, and – unless information changes – will continue to do so as long as I’m able! I’ve looked into the subject very thoroughly, so – if you’re curious – here’s a meandering through the science of hormones, with my personal take on the whole subject.
IMeRG Emerging
Last weekend, February 28, 2015, I gave a quick five-minute presentation to the first meeting of our local IMeRG group. I want to tell you about the event and the group.
First, IMeRG is the brainchild of one of our local physicians, Dr. Dawn LeManne, an integrative oncologist with a keen understanding of metabolism and its interaction with cancer cells.
In January I was fortunate to spend three days in Scottsdale, Arizona, with a small group of physicians. We had traveled from the US, Canada, and Norway to participate in the third annual educational meeting of Physicians and Ancestral Health (PAH).
The first time I suggested to Stan that he might improve his obesity, diabetes, and irritable bowel by eliminating grains from his diet, he thought it over seriously. He took the suggestion home to his wife, somewhat of a gourmet chef, who dismissed the idea of eliminating an entire portion of the palate. “That’s ridiculous, part of this gluten craze, isn’t it? Humans have eaten grains for ten thousand years, they can’t be bad for us.
“I want to know how many of these capsules YOU take!” protested a patient recently, when she brought in a supplement list that I could not reasonably shorten for her. (I like to do a supplement review with patients – we commonly identify supplements that are no longer necessary.)
Keeping up with research includes not only reading the research, but reading the response to the research. I particularly enjoy thoughtful responses to our shifting store of medical and health knowledge. And sometimes I get a kick out of particular institutions and individuals who will never change.
Have you tried Bulletproof Coffee (also known as butter coffee), the brainchild of Bulletproof Executive Dave Asprey? I was reluctant to try it, conjuring images of fermented yak butter forming an oily slick on weak tea. I not only loved it right away, I now recommend it to patients for a variety of reasons, and in various forms.
Have you ever opened one of my newsletters, only to quickly close it when you see an article suggesting you’re doing something wrong? Does reading articles on the internet contribute to a growing case of hypochondria (“Oh, no, maybe I have that disease!”) or orthorexia (an eating disorder where fixed ideas about health cause one to restrict or control their foods to an unhealthy degree)? Egads, not my intention, as you might imagine.
Living in my tipi in the early 1970’s, we might have said we were “tuning in to our bodies” when we tried to figure out if being a vegetarian was a good idea, or if a particular job was taking too great a toll on our health. Ten years ago we would take a morning temperature and pulse to assess thyroid function and readiness to exercise.
As a clinician I know that common sense is an incredibly reliable tool: it’s most likely that the patient returned from a back-packing trip has abdominal pain and diarrhea because of some exposure from the trip.
One thing that every woman knows is that we become almost invisible at menopause! We can walk alone with impunity because we are rarely noticed. Evidently our invisibility extends to the medical eye. I was listening to one of my favorite and educational podcasts on the way to the lake this morning: Revolution Health Radio with Chris Kresser.
The possibility of a connection between red meat and breast cancer has been scrutinized repeatedly over the last two decades, probably in an effort to give women more control over a disease that so often seems to strike without reason. For instance, although there is indeed a hereditary component to breast cancer, most women diagnosed have no family history of the disease.
Can we wrap our minds around a new paradigm?
Per reader request, I started off the PaleoFx weekend by attending John Kiefer’s talk on timing carb consumption: when we eat carbs can have a tremendous effect on our health in general and our efforts to lose excess body fat in particular. And for this discussion, when I say carbs, I mean “starchy carbs”, grains, super-sweet fruit and fruits in general. Non-starchy vegetables have more fiber than carbs, so eat them whenever you want to.
Thursday through Sunday, April 10-13th, PaleoF(x)2014 takes place in Austin and it looks like a great schedule. Almost every single time slot has more than one presentation I’m hoping to attend. There are only two presentations I know right now I will be attending, and those are the two panels on which I am participating!*
While we’ve been busy taking apart the seriously flawed article indicting meat, we have missed celebrating a very welcome article. An editorial in an online journal called Open Heart, affiliated with the British Medical Journal, summarizes almost 50 years of clinical research regarding the metabolic effects of standard nutritional guidelines.
(Welcome back to guest blogger, Anna Rose-McComb, who has a message for us all.)
February is officially Heart Disease Awareness Month, but since I don’t treat disease on this website, but rather help you to be as healthy as possible, I officially decree that in our world, February is Heart Health Awareness Month! And in honor of that decree, I have a pocketful of heart-related and health-related topics to discuss with you. Let’s start this week with the oft-heard recommendation to take an aspirin a day to prevent heart disease.
Decades ago, my eccentric Uncle (J Ward) produced several notable cartoon programs, starting with Crusader Rabbit, moving on to Rocky and Bullwinkle, Fractured Flickers – you get the idea. His idea was to produce cartoon shows that adults could watch with kids, each person laughing at different parts of the gags.
I have written before about sarcopenia which I see as an increasing problem among folks as we age, seriously impacting quality of life when it becomes significant. We naturally lose muscle bulk (and effectiveness) as we age, a loss that leads to wobbly walks, unsteady standing, and general frailty. Nothing makes someone feel or look older than frailty.
… and Their Better Substitutes
Snowed in this weekend meant movie-time, and one jewel we watched was The Company You Keep, directed by and starring Robert Redford, about some proverbial legal chickens coming home to roost decades later for some 1970’s-era radicals. By surrender, investigation and intrigue, the radicals who were involved in the bank robbery involving a murder are brought to the justice that has been unable to find them since the time of the crime.
Of the various medical freebies I receive in the mail, I only read two of them.
Here’s a statistic for you: For every 2000 women obtaining annual mammogram screening for 10 years, 1 less woman will die of breast cancer. 20,000 mammograms will be performed. During that time, 10 women with non-threatening disease will receive a diagnosis of breast cancer and are unnecessarily treated.
I know your physician has your best interests at heart when he or she notices a slight increase in your LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and suggests that you further eliminate fats from your diet, or consider starting a statin medication.
An Open Letter to the Weston A. Price and Paleo Communities:
Before you decide you don’t have time to read about playing (of all things!), consider that play has a powerful benefit for adults as well as children. Researchers in the mental health field have explored the area of “positive psychology”, learning from happy and vital people the secrets to their mental well-being. Something resembling play is a prominent part of happy people’s lives. And if you are still wondering, happier people have 22% less risk of cardiovascular disease.
And I imagine most of you do, also. Sometimes it seems that the focus of health advice, including mine, is more about what you can’t eat than what there is to enjoy about food. What’s there left to enjoy if you’re not eating gluten – or all grains, or whatever food restriction arises out of your particular food sensitivities. Too much attention to rules about food can obscure the real pleasure to be had in sharing food with friends.
I have been concerned recently with the way we physicians make a diagnosis of insulin resistance: we’re late. We wait to make the diagnosis until it’s “definite”, but by then it’s also advanced and more difficult to reverse. Meanwhile, we have often been overlooking brilliantly colored red flags along a long and winding road of disease development. Happily, there are ways you can speed up the process through your own awareness of a potential problem.
I understand loving the taste of grains. Now that I’ve spent the better part of a year without gluten, months without grains, I can still admit that I have loved grains in my life. When posed the “Name one food to have on a desert island” question, I was always torn between eggs and brown rice. If I could have had two foods (butter!), I would have gone with the rice. And if we’re talking about more complex foods, who doesn’t love freshly baked whole grain bread?
The first week of April is actually National Public Health Week (NPHW) and includes World Health Day. Oh, if only every day were actually devoted to health. All year long we have days, weeks, and months devoted to disease awareness, all well and good.
No kidding, that’s the title of the Medscape (doctors’ chat room?) forum on the recent news that calcium supplementation over 1400 mgs. daily or low calcium intake (600 mg or less) are both associated with increased risk of death. Admittedly the study’s methods were observational, meaning that they can identify an association but not that it’s causative.
People mutter that phrase as if it’s a bad thing, but isn’t learning one of life’s great excitements? I’ve been a student of nutrition for almost fifty years, learning from both old masters and new innovators. The thought of studying nutrition in and of itself was fairly innovative when I started reading Adele Davis in the 1970’s, particularly when I tried to incorporate nutritional wisdom (Davis, Francis Moore Lappé, Harvey Diamond) into my medical school curriculum.
Live, Lose, and Learn, part 1 of 6
Two studies published this year raise additional and serious challenges – that’s putting it mildly – to the common wisdom (sic) of annual mammograms for women of any age. The US Preventive Services Task Force shocked the world in 2009 by suggesting less routine screening mammograms: none until the age of 50, and then only every two years.
Throughout the Northern Hemisphere, people who love to row are renewing their annual winter friendship with the rowing machine, known as the ergometer (ur-GAW-muh-tur) or more affectionately as just the erg.
Human beings are essentially tubes – long channels open at both ends. The walls of our human body tubes can be described as the most complex tube in the world, so bear with me – this is actually a valuable concept. To understand our tube-like nature is to begin to grasp the relationship between the inside of the tube (our guts), the outside of the tube (our skin), and what connects the two – the wall of the tube, our bodies. Our bodies’ health and the very experience of a human
On a recent Tuesday night, I had to go down into the basement – a dark and dingy combination of crawl space and failed fall out shelter – to get my fluffy comforter and an extra sheet to guard my outdoor tomatoes against that night’s frosty threat.Our house is nicely shaded throughout the summer, keeping our rooms delectably cool on hot nights. Now the shade is already a hindrance – our leather couch cannot be enjoyed without a throw across my lap.
The recent news about vitamin D is confusing if you look to the news for insights about managing your health. Does it help prevent colds? What about more serious diseases? Health bulletins make good headlines, but they are often misleading and contradictory. It’s helpful to look at some specifics, and then remember to fall back on modeling our understanding of how health works based on how our healthy physiology works.
The end of summer is a good time for thinking about your skin.
You surely don’t need to be a research scientist to see the flaws in the utterly ridiculous study whose findings that recently made the news. Researchers in Canada surveyed over 1200 middle aged men and women in a vascular prevention clinic where they were referred after suffering a stroke or “mini-stroke.” The study participants were asked to recall their egg yolk consumption over their lifetime.
It was the last leg of the race. The finish line, with all the rest and reprieve it had to offer, was minutes away. My body felt tired, my muscles exhausted from the last 49 miles and hours of sweat and adrenaline.
Research is currently being published in a peer-reviewed journal demonstrating a measurable physiological effect in response to blinded administration of homeopathic remedies.
Kristin and I used to run together at least once a week. It started when we both fought fire, and we ran or worked out together every day. That summer we ran in the rain, water sloshing into our mesh running shoes.
What I publish on DrDeborahMD embodies what I think of as Sensible Medicine. We offer you a partnership in health, similar to what I offer patients at my medical practice.
In the past few years, nutrition has become a controversial subject. To some it’s political or ethical, and to some it may be the construct on which they base their lifestyle. To me, nutrition is an important and basic foundation of how I want to live my life. What I put into my body determines what I can get out of my body and for how long.
Some people understand how a low carb-eating plan can help them lose weight, balance their hormones, and reduce inflammation, and are easily able to make an instant change. However, other folks encounter obstacles with this process.
There are two objections to this concept. First, it goes against everything we’ve ever been told about weight loss. Every bit of dietary advice suggests we cut the fat out of everything we eat and drink. It’s difficult to imagine that we can eat calorie-dense, high fat food as part of a weight loss program. Not only can we, but in fact we must eat those foods to lose weight.Remember that there are three basic food groups:
As I said in my last blog, simple rules don’t always translate to simple implementation. The straightforward principles of our Weight Loss Eating Plan are not difficult to explain.
The sun beat down on us as we clamored across the boulder field of Shasta-Trinity granite. It was hot, and the shade at McDonald Lake where we’d eaten lunch seemed a distant memory. Our backpacks were laden down with sleeping bags and food; no tents, we were going to sleep under the stars. As we hiked upward, our sweaty backs stuck to the nylon.
If you read my earlier posts, you know that one of my pet peeves is outdoor air pollution wafting out of nearby dryer exhaust hoses. Those fragrances however aren’t just annoying, they are actually toxic or intentionally obscuring the odor of more hazardous irritants and carcinogens. Even worse, most toxins persist in the environment and in our bodies, bloodstreams, and even mother’s milk.
Everyone seems to be talking about the Harvard School of Public Health Study which claims that eating red meat causes death and disease.
My daughter asked me to write a column for The Women’s Club Newsletter, and I thought I’d share it with you.Just to remind you that big shifts in your level of activity or exercise can come at any age!
We made it through the holidays. The fruit cake is stale and trash-worthy, and the last remaining Valentine’s chocolates are quickly dwindling. For those of you who have fought through this tempting time and remained vigilant in your workouts, I salute you. However, for those of us with an intense sweet tooth or two, the end to the holidays can be bitter-sweet. But bitter-sweet it just the solution that I want to celebrate. Chocolate! Dark chocolate, that is, is good for you!
Everyone’s talking about it: red meat is bad for you! So says a study out of the Harvard School of Public Health published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
“Plant peas in February” is the rule I’ve heard living in Southern Oregon. Last year that didn’t work at all, as our wet spring rotted out every planted pea until things began to dry out in May. After a slow start the peas burst out of the ground, and quickly flowered, fruited, and wilted, leaving only a few weeks’ worth of edible peas to enjoy.
People often ask me how frequently they should work out. Unfortunately there isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer. Important factors to consider include current fitness level, goal, type and intensity of exercise and available time.Whether you are new to training, out of shape or a highly conditioned professional athlete, proper recovery time between workouts is the key to avoiding injury, fatigue and poor performance.
Dr. Robert Lustig from the University of California, San Francisco (my alma mater!) is gaining notoriety this week for calling attention to the serious health hazards of sugar. The most accessible read is in the online version of The Atlantic.
Today I was proud of my training as a Family Physician when I read an article from the Journal of the American Board of Family Practice about melanoma. The article investigated what has been a very unpopular opinion that a minority of physicians has held for quite a few years: melanoma is not as simple as you think, nor is sunshine as dangerous as some dermatologists might tell you.
Like a building with a poor foundation, a body with poor posture is less resistant to strains and injuries. Poor posture often develops because of habitual, incorrect movements and patterns. Most of us struggle with muscle pain and limited range of motion caused by or complicated by postural misalignments such as rounded shoulders, forward protruding head or tucked pelvis. Chronic neck pain, headaches and lower back pain are also indicators of misalignment.
Unless you grew up in a home where traditional Indian cooking was the norm, you may not be totally familiar with ghee, or clarified butter. In fact, you may be thinking that clarified butter sounds awfully artery clogging, and avoid it completely.However, if you’re looking for a great butter substitute, ghee is the way to go. So what is ghee, exactly?
The New York Times Sunday Review had a lovely article this past weekend about how the first step to meeting your New Year’s resolution is to make a New Year’s resolution. If you have defined goals, you’re more likely to me
People commonly look to the New Year as a time of renewal and optimistic goal setting. “This is the year I …(fill in the blank). It is a busy time for the fitness industry!But by March or April, the enthusiasm is gone and the new treadmill in the bedroom is a really expensive clothes hanger.
If you judged all food by its packaging, you might start to believe that low-fat is totally where it’s at, for healthy eating. While you may feel good — great even — about purchasing the low-fat meal in the freezer, you could be much better off buying a hunk of organic, sustainable, grass-fed beef from the butcher. After all, how satiated are you going to feel after that tiny frozen dinner, compared to a grass-fed steak and a side of sautéed greens?
When women tell me that “someone told them” that they should be on statins, I’ve been pointing out that there is a serious lack of study concerning the health benefits and risks of statins used in women. Women have long been neglected or assumed to be just insignificantly different from men when it comes to clinical studies, the far majority done on males and assumed to be true for women too. Okay, that’s another subject for another day.
I came up with the idea for a blog when I walked outside one day and was assaulted by someone’s offensively perfumed dryer sheet and thought I would write about Local Pollutions. Then I went to my office where the delivery truck was dropping off fresh spring water in glass jugs (we just pay for the delivery, the water is free).
If you’re looking for an easy way to improve your mental and physical health, nutritional supplements could be the answer. New findings suggest that in addition to enhancing holistic mental and physical wellness, supplements could lengthen your lifespan. Though nothing can replace the benefits of organic food and exercise, nutritional supplements have begun their journey to becoming the best new medical break-through. No pain or nasty side effects included.
If you really want to make breakfast the most important meal of the day, why not give yourself a huge nutritional boost first thing in the morning, by skipping the cereal and trying a morning scramble with greens, protein, and an array of vitamins and minerals. This recipe for a healthy morning scramble will make leafy greens part of your usual meal rotation, and will not only save you money in the grocery store, but also provide you with vital fiber and nutrients you need to be healthy. Combining greens with healthy proteins and fats will enable your body to absorb the nutrients and leave you completely satisfied until your next meal.Anytime you can start your day with cholesterol lowering, and heart healthy garlic and onions is a win as well. Especially during cold and flu season (and any other time of the year), garlic and onions contain bacteria-fighting sulfur and vitamin C.When choosing your dark leafy green, experiment to see which you prefer. The mildest dark, leafy, green will be something in the chard family, and the more intense flavors will be your spinach and kales.As you’re preparing all of these amazing foods, you want to be sure to avoid toxicity and the mass consumption of free radicals. Any time you’re cooking with high heat, be sure to use the best oil for the job. You want an oil that is solid at room temperature, such as coconut oil to cook all of these goodies up in the healthiest way possible. If you have any fat from cooking duck or chicken, that’s also a fantastic choice, as is organic lard, butter, or ghee.Here’s how to create a nutrient-packed, incredibly delicious morning scramble to start your day off right: