To Your Good Health

07/30/2022

Yes and yes!! Don't be intimidated. Not any different than your car mechanic or your plumber. In the end, it's your choice.

07/15/2022

Come across this often. Don't believe the lies. Your child can not be kept from school because of your parenting choice. Get the waiver. Educate school staff who keep spreading false information.

03/24/2022

There’s no evidence that we need milk to strengthen our bones. ⁣⁣⁣
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The federal government tells us that milk is a perfect food that Americans should lap up daily, three glasses to be exact—in spite of a large (and growing) body of research showing its lack of benefits and awful side effects. I agree, it is nature’s perfect food…but only if you are a calf!⁣⁣⁣
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Humans are the only species that continue to drink milk after weaning.
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These dairy-free options are not only better sources of calcium, but they also contain other great sources of nutrients.

03/22/2022

In a study of heart disease, people who consumed diet drinks every day had a greater risk of diabetes and metabolic syndrome. Artificial sweeteners have proven to be carcinogenic in animal studies. They wreak havoc on your gut microbes, destroying beneficial bacteria and causing glucose intolerance. ⁣⁣
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Something that tastes sweet but contains zero calories may sound like the perfect cure for sugar addiction. But it’s not, and here’s why. Normally, when you eat or drink something sweet, it’s accompanied by lots of calories. But not when you consume artificial sweeteners. This confuses your brain. It senses that the taste of sugar without the accompanying calories from glucose and fructose is wrong, and it tries to correct the imbalance by making you hungrier. ⁣⁣
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Not only that, but it also confuses and slows your metabolism down, so you burn less calories every day.⁣⁣
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Bottom line: There is no free ride. Diet drinks are not good substitutes for sugar-sweetened drinks. They still (or even more) increase cravings, weight gain, and type 2 diabetes. And they are addictive.⁣⁣

03/17/2022

Kids today spend at least six hours a day at school, where they eat breakfast, lunch, and multiple snacks. Removing thinly disguised Franken-foods from their school menus would have a huge impact on their health.

One group of researchers looked at what happened when California instituted strict new rules to limit junk foods and sugary drinks in school cafeterias in 2005. Published in JAMA Pediatrics, the study looked at childhood obesity rates in the state before and after the rules—among the strictest in the nation—took effect. It found that the prevalence of overweight and obese fifth graders in California climbed in the four years before the rules were implemented and then suddenly trended downward in the years after the rules took effect. Such school nutrition policies, the authors concluded, “may be crucial interventions to prevent child obesity.”

The authors found that the steepest declines in obesity occurred among kids who attended schools in neighborhoods with the highest income and education levels. The reason is that schools in wealthier areas enforced the strictest nutrition standards. Schools in poorer areas are often under more financial pressure.

To make up for budget shortfalls, they are more likely to sign lucrative “pouring rights” contracts with soda companies and more likely to allow junk food advertising to their students. Studies show that 70 percent of elementary and middle school students in America see ads for fast food, candy and soft drinks at their schools—and those ads have a direct impact, leading children to consume more junk-food-laden diets.

We can take back our kids' health with these steps, and much more. You can find more information in my book, Food Fix. FoodFixBook.com

02/26/2022

But if our children go to school with a breakfast of Coke or colored sugar water and Doritos or Flaming Hot chips how can we expect them to focus or pay attention?⁣⁣
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These are not foods. They are food-like substances with no nutritional benefit.⁣⁣
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This diet creates an “achievement gap” because kids are too sick to learn—and affects far more kids of color than any other group. These kids are less likely to go to college, earn good incomes, and more likely to get sick and die young.⁣⁣
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One in 10 of our kids are on ADD medication. And the science shows the junk our kids eat is a big part of the cause.⁣⁣
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The food industry spends $10 billion on marketing junk food to our kids every year. The average kid sees over 6,000 ads for junk food and soda on TV and even more through social media. And minorities and African American kids are targeted more aggressively. These companies are junk food pushers.⁣⁣
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How do you get your kids to eat healthier? ⁣⁣
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They most likely want to eat whatever it is you’re eating. Marketing healthy food to your young eater is a chance for you to think like a kid again. ⁣⁣
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Getting your child interested in the kitchen is easy if you turn on your creativity and appeal to their interests! When I wanted to encourage healthy eating in my children I realized that it wasn’t as simple as saying “eat your spinach because it is good for you.” I had to get them interested and excited.⁣⁣
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I’m sure you can relate to having a picky eater or an eater who goes through a picky phase. Either way, make your food come alive in the eyes of your child and you will be very pleased with the end results.⁣

02/20/2022

https://www.metrotimes.com/detroit/your-drinking-water-in-metro-detroit-is-unsafe-and-its-not-just-lead/Content?oid=29233603&media=AMP+HTML

Flint and Benton Harbor aren’t the only Michigan communities that have been plagued with tainted drinking water. Metro Detroit residents are unwittingly drinking tap water...

02/20/2022

When gluten enters the bloodstream from the digestive tract (which happens due to leaky gut, another thing gluten contributes to), and the immune system is already primed to attack thyroid tissue, the body then reacts and attacks, worsening symptoms in the process. ⁣⁣⁣
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This is why I always recommend a gluten-free diet to my patients with Hashimoto's and why they often see dramatic results. ⁣⁣⁣
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With a Functional Medicine approach, there are so many other steps for treating the thyroid, too. We need to address the gut, look at toxicity, deal with stress and sleep, and so much more.⁣⁣⁣
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The thyroid plays a major role in metabolism, growth, and development, which is why so many different symptoms can ensue when hormone levels are off. ⁣⁣⁣
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Intolerance to cold, weight gain or difficulty losing weight, brain fog, constipation, depression, brittle and thinning hair, heart palpitations, irregular menstruation, and others, can all occur from an under-active thyroid. And if When Hashimoto’s is active (identified through antibody testing), the destruction of the thyroid gland continues and the immune system stays on overdrive. ⁣⁣⁣
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The good news is that the right diet and lifestyle choices can work wonders when it comes to treating and healing the thyroid. ⁣

02/19/2022

Constipation is a condition that many children suffer from in developed countries, with many mothers and pediatricians overlooking the condition. Studies have shown that up to 30% of children in the United States have experienced constipation, and it accounts for over 35% of trips to the gastroenterologist. This condition may be overlooked for the more serious symptoms which may accompany it, such as allergies, eczema and asthma.

There are many ways to help with constipation. One way is by adding more good fats and oils to the diet. Oils like coconut and organic olive oil can keep things moving. Try making these “Constipation candies” for your little to make getting their oil in fun!

Find the recipe and instructions here - https://mommypotamus.com/constipation-candy/

02/17/2022

Another example of how allopathic medicine (conventional, mainstream, medicine) gets it wrong. If your doctor tells you to wait for anything, and he/she will check it again in 6 months, etc, run, don't walk out of the office and find a functional medicine doctor. What they are really telling you is, they have to wait until you're fully diseased before they can write you a script or refer you to a specialist.

Even with world-renowned healthcare, 90% of Americans are still walking around with undiagnosed insulin resistance. Why? Because most doctors aren’t testing for it. Instead, they test fasting blood sugar, a measure of the glucose in your blood at least eight hours after your last meal.

The problem is, no action is taken until your fasting blood glucose reaches 110 mg/dl, and even then, we’re usually just told to “watch it”. What this really means is that the patient is becoming (or already is) insulin resistant.

When insulin resistance goes on untreated, your blood sugar will continue to creep higher and higher until it reaches 126 mg/dl and your doctor diagnoses you with type 2 diabetes and puts you on medication. At this point, your risk for comorbidities has already gone way up.

So instead of testing the final destination (high blood sugar), we need to assess the journey it took to get there (insulin resistance), and that doesn’t happen overnight, folks. It takes years, sometimes even decades, to develop.

Ask your doctor about testing your fasting insulin levels. That way, high insulin (anything greater than 5 uIU/mL fasting and above 30 uIU/mL after a meal) can be detected early and you can intercept with diet and lifestyle changes to drive that number down and reverse your chances of developing or worsening, chronic disease.

02/15/2022

Late last year, in Canada, a group of scientists expressed concern that acetaminophen could alter fetal development when taken by pregnant women. But the Society of Obstetricians and Gynacologists of Canada subsequently dismissed that idea, saying the pain killer is safe to take during pregnancy.

Now, they’re finding that it may increase the risk of both heart attack and stroke in patients with high blood pressure who’re using it long term.

Yet it’s one of the worlds most used over the counter medicines!