Finding a New Primary Care Doctor

A Big Thanks To Leslie at Wellparents.com for this great advice Thanks to Leslie at Read more

The Rollercoaster of Life

Grandma: "I always wanted to go again. You know, it was just so interesting that a ride could make me so frightened, so scared, so sick, so excited, and so thrilled all together! Some didn't like Read more

Sheltering at Home/Covid 19

Never in the last two decades of my career as a physician would I have imagined that we would be using the same mask to see patients all day and then sterilizing/recycling them at the end of the day. Read more

Turmeric Health Benefits

Have you ever wondered what the paste is applied to the bride and groom's faces and arms in Indian weddings?  It's actually the spice turmeric.  Turmeric is the ingredient in curry that gives it a vibrant yellow color.  Actually, Read more

COVID 19 Precautions

With the scare of COVID here in the USA now, I wanted to post a little info about boosting immunity to prevent contracting the virus. Here are some important facts about Covid-19 It is spread by contact with Read more

Natural Tips for Avoiding Colds

This cold and flu season is still upon us and unfortunately, many patients are still being plagued by these nasty viral symptoms.  Here are a few tips to try if you feel like you are coming down with something. Of Read more

Sherry's Story

Sherry has a great story.  She has been diabetic for years and she has made some massive changes!   "I have been on a lifestyle change. It has been a year following a ketogenic food plan.  When I started this journey Read more

Pharmacy to Farmacy

Many of you may know Erin-- the fabulous Pharm D that worked in our office a few years back.  Erin is a phenomenal gal and we embarked on the journey  into natural medicine around the same time.  As we both Read more

Body

Clean Chocolate Bars

Thinking about the holidays?  I plan on giving all homemade gifts this year (yes, I am broke).  Because my sewing and knitting capabilities are lacking, I am looking for healthy recipes that follow along with our no artificial, whole, clean foods eating plan.  Here is a recipe Kathy stumbled upon that might be a keeper.

 

Chocolate Bars

(12 servings)

3/4 cup pure coconut oil

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup honey

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1/8 tsp sea salt

In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients.  Whisk well.  Then spread the mixture over parchment lined cookie sheet and chill in the fridge over night.

Bah Bam!!!!  Now that is my kind of easy recipe!!!!!  Beware —you all may be getting these for the holidays!!!

You can find more clean recipes at http://www.thegraciouspantry.com   This is a great website with tons of CLEAN recipes!

Posted on by Angela in Body, Diet, Nutrition, vegan, Weight Loss, Whole Food Leave a comment

Simply Become Who You Are

The “Simply Become Who You Are” cookbooks are in and now available for only $10.00.  These cookbooks are complications of recipes received by you wellness warriors over the last 16 months.  Many thanks go out to all of you skinnies that have helped contribute and participate in keeping our Wellness Program going.  The cookbooks make a fabulous gift for the holidays as I can’t imagine a better gift than giving someone the gift of health.  We only have around 50 copies left so get a move on!  The book has hundreds of recipes of healthy cooking options!  The books aren’t vegan or paleo but they are easy recipes that can be modified to fit the type of whole foods you are trying to incorporate into your diet.  Free of artificial ingredients and additives is how we roll!  Whole foods baby and eat your veggies!!!!

Call and reserve one today or stop by and pick one up at the office.

Michelle or Kathy  317-217-2626

Also a quick reminder that the IU West Fall Farmers Market will be held this Friday November 2nd from 10:30 to 2:00pm to get locally grown inexpensive whole food ingredients.  Happy cooking!

Another big reminder—The Biggest Loser contest will start Nov 1st!!!!  We already have many enrolled so get signed up!

Posted on by Angela in Body, Diet, Nutrition, vegan, Weight Loss, Whole Food Leave a comment

Unjunk your candy!!!

 

Emma-the Princess with Attitude!

Trick or treating time is here and it poses a difficult decision for parents.  How much nasty sugary candy do we actually allow them to eat?  I remember back in my childhood days of trick or treating that it was not uncommon to be invited into a neighbor’s house for popcorn and apple cider.  These days we scan for razors, fear arsenic laden homemade treats, and dread “that house” that passes out the healthy stuff.   Heck, I even think I went haunting without my parents well after dark and actually survived to tell about it.  That was a different time and we live in a much different world.    The reality of  Halloween is that nothing fresh is safe, we trust the packaged brand name candy, and want our children to just be happy.  Therefore, we allow the high fructose corn syrup laden candy and attempt to ration it with validation of good parenting.   The truth is—-we might as well be injecting heroin or allowing our kids to sniff bath salts for all that good validating happiness on one evening.  Have you ever really looked at the candy labels?  I hadn’t until I started trying to be more conscious.  The all too tasty Mounds and Almond Joy contain hydrolyzed milk protein which is a pseudoname for MSG.  Snickers (satisfying) contains partially hydrogenated soybean oil.  Reese’s has a preservative in it that is closely related to butane.  Mars and M&M’s are laden with artificial coloring as well as those Hershey’s products which are made with partially hydrogenated oil (major artery clogging stuff).  It makes me want pass on rolling that Rolo to my pal!  I’m no drug dealer!

Hence— a solution to our parenting woes—

“A few years ago, Michael and his 13 year old son Nicky got into an argument over Halloween candy.  Nicky came home with his bag of loot, went to bed, and woke up the next morning to find that his dad had confiscated most of it.  It played out the way these fights normally do, with the candy gone and Nicky going to his room.

Later, Nicky did some research online (to prove to his dad that candy isn’t so bad).  He discovered that his dad was right (for once).

It’s not that Nicky thought candy was healthy.  It’s that he didn’t know how bad it really was. What Nicky learned was that the worst parts of candy (like hydrogenated oils, corn syrup, artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives) aren’t there to make it taste good.  They’re there to make it cheaper to produce.

Nicky had a hunch that without the junk, candy could taste better. With the help of his older brother Kris, and his dad, they set out to prove it.”

 

From that ingenious question stemmed a great corporation called “Unreal”.  Unreal candy values not using HFCS or any artificial colors/flavors.  Unreal products can be found at major retailers such as Kroger and Target.  So thanks Nicky for being proactive and helping raise awareness that will benefit many generations of trick or treating yet to come.


Some of Unreal Candy’s ingredients:

Milk Chocolate (chocolate, skim milk, cane sugar, cocoa butter, milk powder, organic blue agave inulin, soy lecithin, vanilla extract), Peanuts, Cane Sugar, Calcium Carbonate, Peanut Oil, Colored with (beetroot juice, turmeric root extract, purple cabbage juice), Gum Arabic, Vanilla Extract, Carnauba Wax & Beeswax

Contains milk, soy, peanuts. May contain tree nuts, wheat

You can visit their site at http://www.getunreal.com

Posted on by Angela in Body, Diet, disease, Humor, Nutrition, vegan Leave a comment

Genetic Roulette

Here is the trailer to Genetic Roulette which will help explain a little about GMO’s and why our food is making us so sick!  The version above is closed captioned and the one below is subtitled in spanish.

Posted on by Angela in Body, Call to action, cancer, Diet, disease, Nutrition, vegan, Weight Loss, Whole Food Leave a comment

Indiana Persimmon Pudding

It’s that time of the year to harvest those Indiana persimmons.  Many of my patients make that traditional persimmon pudding and have offered to share their favorite recipe.  We have modified it some to make it a little friendlier to the Angela MD plan.  Persimmons have wonderful health benefits in that they contain the tannins catechins and gallocatechin which are antioxidants and help improve lipid metabolism.  They also contain the anti-tumor substance betulinic acid.  There is no fat in persimmons and they are loaded with vitamin c and calcium.  They also contain the substance Zea Xanthin which is thought to help with age related macular degeneration.  Cooked persimmons are used in many other cultures as a treatment for diarrhea.

Traditional Indiana Persimmon Pudding

2 cups persimmon pulp, removed from the skin

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup sugar  (substitute with agave syrup)

2 cups all-purpose flour (substitute with 2 cups gram flour)

1 teaspoon baking powder

pinch of salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

2 cups milk (substitute with almond milk)

1 egg  (pastured and organic)

1 tablespoon melted butter, plus more for buttering dish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Butter a 9×9 baking dish and set aside

Stir the baking soda and sugar into the persimmon pulp and set aside.  This mixture may thicken as it sits… that’s ok!

Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and spices.  Add to the persimmon mixture all at once and stir until flour is almost completely incorporated.

Whisk together milk, egg and butter and add to the persimmon and flour mixture.  Batter will be very loose.  Pour into the baking dish.

Bake for 1 hour covered with foil, or uncovered.  If you make the pudding covered, you’ll have a very wet and moist pudding.  If you bake the pudding uncovered, you’ll have a drier pudding topped with a bread like crust.

Allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving.

 

Posted on by Angela in Body, Diet, Nutrition, Organic, vegan, Weight Loss, Whole Food Leave a comment

Stress–is it killing you?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is no doubt in my mind that chronic unrelenting stress makes you sick!  It inhibits fat loss by way of elevating the hormone cortisol.  Cortisol robs the body of metabolic muscle tissue and messes with your hormone levels.  Unfortunately, today’s society leaves most of us feeling overworked and unrested.  Our current culture thrives on material rewards, debt and drama.  Needless to say,  it’s no wonder we are all fat, sick, and nearly dead.  Here is a little description of how the HPA axis works to cause weight gain.

1.  Stress causes the hypothalamus to produce CRH (corticotropin releasing hormone) to the pituitary gland.

2.  The pituitary gland then releases ACTH (adrenocorticotropin) to head to the adrenal gland.

3.  The adrenal gland then receives the ACTH and starts producing cortisol.

4.  When the hypothalamus senses the cortisol production is up—it turns off the production of CRH

Under normal conditions, the body programs a perfect cycle to rev up cortisol production and then shut it back down.  However, if you continue to have unrelenting stress constantly –the cycle revs up and begins to dysfunction with the constant ups and downs of cortisol levels.  Imagine if you were constantly washing your favorite pair of jeans, drying them and then rewashing –eventually, the jeans wear out and the machine breaks!

So why does stress give you belly fat?  There are 4 more times cortisol receptors in abdominal fat versus subcutaneous fat.

Breathe, Live in the Moment, Smell the Roses, and Relax!

Posted on by Angela in Body, Diet, Nutrition, vegan, Weight Loss Leave a comment

Healthy Spices by Kevin Deeth

Healthy Spices You Should Add To Your Diet.

A diet doesn’t have to be boring. Eating the same thing every day can get repetitive and monotonous. I get this complaint a lot from people saying they can only eat so many chicken breasts, salmon fillets  and stalks of broccoli before they need to change it up. Don’t let yourself get into a rut and add different fruits, vegetables, and meats to your diet. The second solution, and one which this article is based on, is seasoning your meat and vegetables with different spices which will give it a unique taste and provide numerous health benefits.

I cringe when I see people marinating a great piece of meat or fish in a sodium loaded sauce like barbecue  soy sauce, or steak sauce. A small amount of marinade is generally acceptable but often times people over due it by soaking their meats in all kinds of preservative/sugar-loaded sauces. Instead of ruining a great tasting piece of meat with a marinade, opt for spices instead. Spices offer a wide range of benefits that all have unique health benefits and save you from the high levels of sodium, preservatives, and sugar found in most marinades that lead to several health problems

The Recommended Daily Amount of sodium is between 1500-2000 mg. 

What to stay away from

Soy Sauce

The problem: Sodium content in  1 tbsp=1000 mg

Barbecue Sauce

The problem: While the sodium content is less, the sugar levels are still relatively high. The real problem lies in the ingredients and preservatives.  Almost all BBQ sauces list high fructose corn syrup, brown sugar, xantham gum, and artificial flavors as just some of the long list the it takes to make this stuff.

Mesquite Sauces

The problem: Most mesquite sauces are loaded with sugars and unhealthy carbohydrates to go along with the high sodium levels and artificial ingredients.

The  Spices You Should Use Instead

Black Pepper

Pepper is one of the world’s healthiest spices because it is known for its positive effect on the digestive tract. It also has antibacterial and antioxidant benefits. Pepper also provides Vitamin A, Calcium, Copper, Vitamin K, Iron, Manganese, magnesium and Potassium.

Cayenne Pepper

Cayenne pepper is derived from hot chili peppers. Cayenne pepper is great at fighting inflammation. Cayenne pepper is rich in Vitamin A, and also provides Iron, Manganese, Niacin, Niacin, Magnesium and Potassium, Riboflavin, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Vitamin K and Vitamin B6, making it one of the world’s healthiest spices.

Chili Pepper

Dried chili pepper powder adds heat and spice to chili, hot wings, and ethnic foods. Similar to cayenne pepper ground chili pepper provides anti-inflammatory benefits, as it contains capsaicin. Dried chili pepper is one of the world’s healthiest spices because it is also a good source of Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Potassium, Iron and dietary fiber.

Cinnamon

Ground Cinnamon is not only very low in cholesterol, and in sodium, it is low in saturated fat. Cinnamon also boosts your vitamin intake with its Vitamin C , Iron, Manganese, and Vitamin K.

Ginger,

Ginger, like most spices, is low in cholesterol, low in saturated fat, and low in sodium. Ginger is one of the world’s healthiest spices and provides Copper, Manganese, Magnesium, Potassium, and Vitamin C.  Ginger, even when used in Ginger Ale, is known for its positive effects on an upset stomach, or medically, on gastrointestinal distress. Ginger is a great way to quell motion sickness. It also has some anti-inflammatory benefits.In addition to exuding and incredible aroma when cooked, cinnamon has health-promoting properties, making it one of the world’s healthiest spices. Cinnamon promotes anti-clotting, can control blood sugar and improves digestive health.

Tumeric

Tumeric is low in cholesterol and low in sodium. The yellow tumeric also provides dietary fiber, Iron, Manganese, Magnesium, Vitamin B6, Vitamin C, and Potassium. Tumeric is considered one of the world’s healthiest spices because of its anti-inflammatory qualities, it aids in digestion and it can help heal wounds.

Thyme

Thyme has a minty flavor and immune-enhancing properties. Preliminary studies show that it may increase the amount of omega-3 fatty acids present in kidney and brain cells. Like other spices, thyme is an excellent antioxidant and is rich in antibacterial and antispasmodic properties.

Conclusion

Marinating meat, fish, and poultry significantly decreases the amount of carcinogenic heterocyclic amines (HCAs) produced when the meat is cooked at high temperatures, like in grilling. Like i stated before, a moderate amount of marinade is acceptable. My suggestion is if you do decide to marinade, look at the ingredients of the marinade of choice and opt for something with natural ingredients and limited preservatives. If that isn’t an option opt for the spices listed above instead.

Thanks for reading and let me know if you have any questions.

From South Bend,
Kevin

kdeeth21@gmail.com

Posted on by Angela in Body, Diet, Nutrition, vegan, Weight Loss, Whole Food Leave a comment

Why I no longer eat beaver butt!

I’m sorry but I had to post this little tidbit that I just came across.  Sean Croxton has a great website and radio show with pod casts on eating real food!  He is also the author of a great book entitled “The Dark Side of Fat Loss” which is available to buy on his site http://www.undergroundwellness.com.  I was reading one his latest blog posts that discloses the nasty fact that raspberry and vanilla flavorings in many of our foods are derived from the anal glands of Beavers!  Upon further investigation —I found even more information on this and was totally grossed out.  Sorry the content is a little inappropriate today but I NO LONGER EAT BEAVER BUTT!

Posted on by Angela in Body, Diet, Nutrition, Uncategorized, vegan, Weight Loss, Whole Food Leave a comment

Pass the Salt

90% of Americans age 2 and older eat too much salt!  In fact, the average American eats around 3436mg daily!!!  This is amazing considering that less than 1500mg daily is required for prevention of high blood pressure.  In a nutshell, here is what high sodium intake does to the body.

1.  Extra sodium alters the sodium/potassium balance that is necessary for the kidneys to remove extra fluid from the body.  The extra fluid increases blood pressure and strains the blood vessels supplying blood to the kidney

2.  The higher blood pressure puts a strain on the arteries causing the tissue to become thicker and stronger which then even elevates the pressure more.  If left untreated, the arteries can burst or become clogged allowing for decreased nutrients and oxygen flow to organs

3.  High blood pressure ultimately damages the arteries to the heart and brain which can eventually lead to a heart attack or stroke.

 

Salt/Sodium Labeling Woes

Sodium free—-this means there is less than 5mg per serving—-

Very low sodium—this means 35mg or less per serving

Low sodium—means 140mg or less per serving

Reduced sodium—means it is reduced by 25% per serving

Light sodium—is reduced by 50%

 

Here are some little tips to reducing your sodium intake:

Rinse canned foods (vegetables, beans, tuna etc)

Take the salt shaker off the table

When eating out, ask the waiter to hold the salt

Read the food labels!!!!

Shoot for less than 3000mg daily

Posted on by Angela in Body, Diet, disease, Nutrition, vegan, Weight Loss, Whole Food Leave a comment

Pumpkin and Pinto Bean Stew

Here is a delicious treat for this upcoming weekend!  Plans include decorating for Halloween, cozing up in front of the fire, and eating yummy vegan stew in honor of the month!

1 large yellow onion, peeled and diced

2 large carrots, peeled and diced

2 celery stalks

2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

2 tablespoons tomato paste

2 tablespoons cumin seeds, toasted and ground

1 small pumpkin peeled seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes

4 cups pinto beans, drained and rinsed

6 cups vegetable stock

salt and freshly ground black pepper

6 green onions thinly sliced

 

Place onion, carrot, and celery in a large sauce pan and saute over medium heat for 10 minutes.  Add water 1-2 tablespoons at a time to keep the veggies from sticking.  Add garlic and cook another minute.  Then add cumin, tomato paste , pumpkin, beans and vegetable stock and bring to a boil on high heat.

Reduce heat to medium and cook covered rom 25 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper and garnish with green onion.

243 calories, 1.4 g fat, 375 mg sodium, 43 grams carb, 12.7 grams fiber, 12.5 grams protein

Posted on by Angela in Body, Diet, disease, Nutrition, vegan, Weight Loss, Whole Food Leave a comment