Health Tips

Getting physical helps!
Just 17 minutes of exercise daily- whether it's
walking, biking, swimming or tennis- eases
bloat for eight in ten women, a recent study
found. Physical activity improves blood vessel
tone (so fluids can't leak into tissues), plus it
increases perspiration, which releases trapped
fluids.

Watch out for this brew!
Surprise: Drinking percolated coffee can make it
tough to get your cholesterol under control. Why?
It's loaded with cafestol, a compound that prods
your liver to make more artery-clogging fats, say
Baylor researchers. The good news: Coffee brewed
in disposable filters doesn't do this, since cafestol
gets trapped in the paper's fibers instead of sneaking
into your cup!

Sniff away the blues!
Feeling down? Grab your cinnamon shaker! Cornell
University researchers found that the aroma of
cinnamon makes folks happier!

Stop any pain faster!
Eating anti-inflammatory foods can help ease any
ouch as much as 25% faster! Top choices:
Tart Cherries
Berries and red grapes
Dark leafy greens
Cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli and cabbage

-Woman's World Magazine, August 6, 2012

Wild Lettuce Tea

Native Americans have relied on this wonder herb as a
tranquilizer for centuries! And thanks to its unique ability
to work on your central nervous system as both a sedative
and a pain killer, research shows it's the perfect antidote
for nighttime aches and pains that can interrupt your sleep.
It's especially effective at soothing menstrual discomfort,
which regularly robs 67% of women of sound sleep.
Enjoy by...steeping one tea bag or 2 tsp. dried leaves in
1 cup hot water for 15 minutes; drink one hour before bed.

-Woman's World Magazine, August 6, 2012

Nutrition Nuggets Newsletter

Watch Out For These “Health Foods” - Joy Lasseter, Ph.D. Nutritionist

You have heard many times “Don’t eat junk food. Eat healthy food instead.” Hold on… are some of the so-called healthy foods not good for us?  Let’s take a look. (Become a label reader. Take a magnifying glass to the grocery store.)

Frozen Yogurt: If you want the friendly bacteria that support intestinal health eat fresh yogurt. Freezing yogurt kills them. Frozen yogurt often has added sugar, flavorings and other chemicals.

Canola Oil: This crop is one of the genetically engineered crops whose health consequences have not been fully studied. (Other GMO crops include alfalfa, corn, cotton, sorghum, soybeans, sugar beets and wheat.)

Grocery Store Cereals: Most commercial cereals are high in sugar and low in fiber. Best choices: old fashioned rolled oats, and whole grain cereals like Muesli. (People with wheat or gluten allergies should avoid cereals and grain products.)

Food Bar Types:

Energy bars - quick energy (for working out) high in sugar

Meal replacement bars - balance of protein, carbohydrates and fat (too sweet)

Breakfast bars - made from cereal grains (mostly carbohydrates)

Snack bars - more like candy, high in sugar

Take real food snacks: walnuts, almonds, carrots, celery, fruit, hard-boiled eggs or dried fruit.

Egg white omelets: Fat phobic people are cutting out important fat-soluble nutrients and creating deficiencies of vitamins and essential oils. (Egg yolks contain lutein and xeazanthin, important nutrients for eye health.) Enjoy whole egg omelets a couple of times a week. Buy high Omega 3, organic eggs.

Wild caught salmon - is good for us, but beware of the farm-raised salmon with high level of PCB’s and lower levels of important Omega 3 Fat.

Apple juice: Look for added sugars. Any juiced fruit or vegetable has fiber removed. Important nutrients can be damaged by pasteurization heat. Eat whole, raw fruit and vegetables to get the fiber and health promoting nutrients.

Bottom Line: Eat fresh, raw (when possible) organic foods.

Disclaimer - If you have a disease or you are on medications, follow your doctor’s recommendation about foods and exercise relevant to your disease, medications and condition.

Have a healthy day by making wise choices!

Dr. Joy

-www.joyhealth.com

Something New

Would you like to read some great information and try some new recipes?
Check out www.liveskinnybliss.wordpress.com
It is truly an experience!

Gluten-Free Tidbets

The Scoop on Ice Cream

I hear lots of you asking if ice cream is safe for a gluten-free diet. For the most part, it is. Just be sure to pick products with the recognizable ingredients (vanilla, milk, sugar, etc.) and avoid flavors like cookie dough or brownie crumbs. Several companies will list ingredients that contain gluten or even label the package as "gluten-free." Here are several: Edy's/Dryer's; Blue Bunny; Mayfield Dairy; and Turkey Hill.  

For those who are also dairy-free, there are frozen desserts for you, too. Sorbets are made from water and fruit. But some contain milk products, too, so check the labels. Here are a few that I like: Ciao Bella; So Delicious (even makes a g-f cookie dough flavor); and Rice Dream (check labels)

If you go out for ice cream, stop at Carvel (avoid chocolate crunchies); Cold Stone Creamery; Jeni's Ice Cream; and Dairy Queen. Most soft serve ice cream is gluten-free, but stick with simple flavors to be sure. Order your ice cream in a cup and make sure to ask the server to use a clean scoop.  

Another good source: Celiac-Disease.com

Alvine Pharmaceuticals Completes Phase 2A

At 2012 Digestive Diseases Week in San Diego, California, Alvine Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced the publication of data from Phase 2A trial of its main celiac disease compound, ALV003.

The results show that ALV003, orally administered to celiac disease patients on a gluten free diet, significantly reduces gluten-triggered intestinalmucosal damage.

For the trial, 41 adults with clinically proven celiac disease who had followed a gluten-free diet for at least one year were randomly given ALV003 or a placebo each day for six weeks. During that time, they also received 2g of gluten in the form of bread crumbs.

Participants received a small bowelbiopsy prior to randomization and again, at the end of the six week challenge.

When researchers compared biopsy results from 34 patients, they found significantly less small intestinal mucosal damage in patients treated with ALV003 than in placebo-treated patients.

Placebo-treated patients suffered worse damage and symptoms. Most often, these included abdominal distention, flatulence, eructation, abdominal pain and diarrhea.

Daniel Adelman, M.D., Alvine's Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, says that the trial results represent the first time that any such treatment for celiac disease has met its pre-specified primary endpoint of providing protection against damage from gluten-exposure in celiac disease patients, with data that is both clinically and statistically significant. The company plans to initiate a Phase 2B trial later this year.

Source: Celiac.com

An Update on Quinoa

From an article By Caroline Scott-Thomas in News on Food & Beverage Development - North America

A study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, suggests that more thorough testing of different varieties of quinoa is necessary to ensure their suitability for those with celiac disease, after researchers found two of 15 varieties contained levels of celiac-toxic elements sufficient to cause an allergic response in a minority of gluten-sensitive people.

The researchers tested 15 different quinoa varieties, and four samples triggered some antibody reaction, although all had levels of gluten epitopes that were below the 20mg per kg suggested for foods that can be labeled as gluten-free.

"Generally, quinoa is safe for patients with CD [celiac disease," they concluded. "However, we observed large variability in the immune effects of protein, depending on the cultivar tested, as occurs in oats."

The study recommends more work "to confirm the suitability of quinoa for patients with CD and to facilitate its full incorporation in the gluten-free market."

Source: FoodNavigator-usa.com

Mintel Picks Top Five New Product Claims From 2011

From date released in June, Mintel's Global New Products Database (GNPD) spotlights 2011 most frequent health focused claims on new product packaging. By a wide margin, "kosher" led the way, but "reduced allergen" and "gluten-free" rounded out the top listings.

From an article in Gourmet News www.gourmetnews.com

Gold Medal for Dana Vollmer

Last week we mentioned that swimmer Dana Vollmer was gluten-free and had become the spokesperson for Crunchmaster Crackers, her go-to snack when she works out.

This week, I am delighted to report that Dana Vollmer broke a world record and is bringing home the Gold in the 100-meter butterfly. Congratulations, Dana!

Here's more about athletes going gluten-free - -

Olympians Share a Carb-Eating Secret That's as Good as Gold

Posted by Adriana Velez TheStir.com

Carb loading is the athletic tradition we all love. Big plate of pasta right before the race? Don't mind if I do! Remember Michael Phelps' training diet: Pancakes, French toast, grits, a pound of pasta as a side dish, an entire pizza for dinner. I think my blood sugar just spiked writing that! Even if we're just vicariously living through another athlete's feat, it's still a thrill to see all those carbs fly.

But some Olympic competitors as saying athletes have been carb loading the wrong way all along. Forget the pasta, forget the pizza, and definitely ditch the pancakes. The most cutting-edge Olympic athletes are cutting one key ingredient out of their carb foods.

Yep, gluten. Going gluten-free: It's not just for all of your friends and relatives anymore!

Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic credits his incredible winning streak to his gluten-free diet. He says he's allergic to gluten. American runner Amy Yoder Begley and British runner Andrew Steele claim their gluten-free diet has improved their race times, given them more energy and fewer injuries, and even helped them recover faster. World champion swimmer Dana Vollmer is now spokesperson for Crunchmaster wheatless crackers.

Can a gluten-free diet really ramp up your athletic performance like that?

No, says celeb nutritionist Andrew Weil. "I know of no evidence confirming that this kind of diet leads to all the health benefits being claimed for it these days," he says on his website. No, says sports dietitian Marie Spano. "It will only help those who are truly sensitive to gluten, but it won't benefit those who aren't."

So the nutritionists say it's all bunk. How do you explain the athletes' performance, then? Maybe it's just the idea of eating differently that gives them an edge. I mean, part of the competition is a head game. Just like how a lot of us end up losing weight when we give up gluten, I guess athletes feel more powerful after they go gluten-free. I say, real or not, they might as well use every advantage they can.

-Beth Hillson Weekly Newsletter, July 31, 2012

Fat Flush Water

Cellulite does a disappearing act with my signature beverage!
If you’re familiar with my Fat Flush program, you know that it’s a concept dedicated first and foremost to supporting the liver in its daunting role as the body’s purifier. A liver clogged with poisons or excess fats cannot perform its fat-burning duties. Freeing up the liver to do its job may be the single most important step you ever take to reach your weight loss goals and improve your health.
The MVP in this essential cleansing process is my signature Fat Flush Cran-water beverage, a mixture of antioxidant/polyphenol-rich cranberry juice and water that keeps the liver’s detox pathways moving right along.
Cranberry juice is packed with flavonoids, enzymes, and organic acids, such as malic acid, citric acid, and quinic acid which have an emulsifying effect on stubborn fat deposits in the lymphatic system. The lymphatic system – what I like to call the body’s “garbage collector”—transports all kinds of waste products not processed by the liver. With the help of these organic acid components, cranberry juice digests stagnated lymphatic wastes. This explains why so many Fat Flushers report that their cellulite disappears!
Even if you’re not following a specific diet or trying to lose weight, sip this tart and refreshing beverage daily to help flush out water weight, balance blood sugar, improve cellulite and keep your liver and lymph in optimum cleansing mode. It works so well that Fat Flushers have been known to lose as much as 6 to 7 lbs of backlogged water weight in the first day!
My Fat Flush Cran-water Recipe
Mix together 1 oz. 100% pure unsweetened cranberry juice with 7 oz. plain filtered water. To save time during the day, mix a full batch (64 oz.) in the morning – add 1 cup (8 oz.) cranberry juice to a half-gallon container and fill the rest with water.
Beyond its status as a Fat Flushing Superstar, there’s even more good news about cranberry. Since I first began researching this miracle fruit over 20 years ago, a whole host of new cran benefits have come to light:

• Cranberries were analyzed with other fruits for their antioxidant power by measuring their ORAC value (oxygen radical absorbance capacity). Cranberries register a 9,584 ORAC value compared to the second runner up (raspberries), which were only 4,882. So cranberries are powerful medicine in neutralizing harmful free radicals and preventing them from taking a foothold in the body.
• Cranberry juice may help raise high-density lipoprotein (HDL), or the “good” cholesterol, according to research presented at the American Chemical Society’s annual meeting in April 2004. A study was conducted suggesting that drinking three glasses of cranberry juice a day might reduce heart disease by 40 percent!
• Gum disease—the gateway to many other infections—also seems to respond well to the humble cranberry. Dental plaque is a breeding ground for bacteria and other micro-organisms that can serve as precursors to a wide range of diseases. Various forms of cranberry seem able to help clear bacteria from the mouths of experimental subjects.
• Among the most potent elements in cranberries are polyphenols, a kind of plant-based antioxidant that has powerful health-inducing effects. Laboratories have shown that 8 ounces of cranberry juice contain 567 milligrams of polyphenols—compared to .53 milligrams in apple juice and 400 milligrams in red wine. Just 2 ounces of fresh cranberries contain 373 milligrams of polyphenols, more than much larger servings of oranges, broccoli, blueberries, or strawberries. 

 -Edge on Health, Dr. Ann Louise Gittleman

Instead of Corn Syrup, Use This DIY Replacement

Corn syrup (not to be confused with high-fructose corn syrup, which is a different beast) appears in myriad baking and dessert recipes for texture and flavor. But what if you want a non-glucose, non-GMO alternative?
Chef Matt Gordon, chef at San Diego’s Urban Solace and a champion of zero tolerance for artificial ingredients in restaurants and bars, provides this DIY corn syrup replacement made with real cane sugar. Like all sweeteners, use in moderation.
Corn Syrup Replacement
Yields 1 quart
1 quart white organic cane sugar (may be made with unrefined cane sugar but will yield a darker result)
1½  cups water
½ teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
Candy thermometer
1. Combine all ingredients in a pot. Stir and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cover for 3 minutes to get sugar crystals off the sides of the pan. Uncover and cook, stirring often, until it reaches softball stage (between 235 and 240 degrees on a candy thermometer). Cool and store at room temperature for up to 2 months. For dark corn syrup, add ½ cup of molasses to the above recipe.

-Delicious Living E-News, August 1, 2012