Benefits of Gelatin

Gelatin- a virtual wonder drug! Remember, the days when your grandmother boiled the chicken soup for close to 24 hours and you got all the warm healing properties from the bone broth? That’s precisely where the amazing nutritional benefit came from—the collagen and gelatin that comes from the marrow of the bones. Gelatin is a purified protein, derived from the hydrolysis of collagen. Collagen is the organic component of the bones and skins of mammals. Here are just a few quick reasons why gelatin is such a nutrient.

1. Gelatin binds to H2o in the gut–this helps to improve digestion and essentially slicks up the GI tract for easy movement.

2. Gelatin can help to reduce food intolerance by forming a protective barrier across the gut mucosa.

3. The amino acids in gelatin help to strengthen bones and joint tissues.

4. Gelatin helps detoxify the liver –the major detox organ of the body.

5. Keratin found in gelatin is an essential building block for the teeth, hair and nails.

6. Concentrated collagen found in gelatin helps give the skin a natural boost and prevents wrinkles.

7. Last but not least, it improves sleep quality.

Here is an excellent tutorial on how to make a killer bone broth at home.

For those a little less motivated —-Great Lakes has a great gelatin

Posted on August 17, 2013 by Angela in Diet, disease, Nutrition, Supplements, Whole Food Leave a comment

All About the Numbers

Thanks Dee–this is just more proof that a calorie doesn’t equal a calorie—Check out a little about Johnny Bowden who gives a great explanation on this topic. All calories are not created equal. And Snicker’s doesn’t satisfy!

Dee writes:

We recently had a dietician come to my work to talk about reading food labels and she gave a great presentation about the acceptable levels of sugar, sodium, trans fat, protein and carbohydrates. One thing that she said about calories was funny, that you could do a Snickers bar diet. What she meant was that I could consume all 1200 of my daily calories in the form of Snickers bars — about 5 a day — and lose weight. If you create a negative net calorie point, you lose weight. You need to burn more calories than you consume. Twelve hundred calories of sugar and fat however, will not lead to any long-term benefit PLUS you’ll be starving all the time from the high sugar, simple carb rush. The trick is to get your 1200 (or whatever) calories in each day in the form of colorful, nutrient-rich, raw or minimally processed fruits, veggies, lean proteins and whole grains. That is what keeps you feeling full, energized and ultimately healthy in the long run.

Posted on August 16, 2013 by Angela in Body, Diet, Nutrition, Weight Loss, Whole Food Comments Off

So Glad I Kicked that Diet Dew!

Ok–I’m going to admit a deep dark secret now that I have finally kicked the habit. Up until about 5 months ago, I was drinking up to four diet mountain dews a day!! I popped one first thing in the am. I then cracked another for my 45 minute commute into work. Of course, when I got to work, I needed something to sip on and help me get started. And last but not least, lunchtime required another hit of the vice because I would be starting to drag. I wasn’t worried about the sugar because it was DIET. What I didn’t realize was that the artificial sweeteners + aspartame + caffeine was even worse for me. I watched the documentary “Hungry for Change” and was flabbergasted that what I had been doing was so incredibly toxic to my body. No wonder I felt like crap! I can honestly say that it took some time and effort to wean the habit. I started by telling myself that I could have 20 cans a day as long as I drank a glass of water between doses of my chemical romance. That helped me wean down to 1-2 a day. After months of affirmations in my mirror, (I am not an addict. I am healthy and alive) replaced the drug with unsweetened iced tea. I only have one glass (maybe two on a particularly busy day) of tea that I make at home without any artificial ingredients. I have to admit–I really don’t miss the stuff. If I can do it–you can too. I wish I could get a five month sober medal just to represent my strength!! Maybe I’ll start a DEW-Aholic group!! Watch this cute little animated video that highlights some of the dangers of this addictive drug.

Posted on August 14, 2013 by Angela in Body, Diet, Nutrition, Weight Loss, Whole Food 2 Comments

Roller Coasters are Fun but YoYo Diets are Not

Thanks to Dee for sharing a very important point—

Diet should not be a hobby.

So many times we go head on into a diet to lose weight based on willpower and determination. We do well for a while and since we’ve chosen a habit that isn’t sustainable, we fall back off the wagon only to gain the weight back. It is so much better to focus on changing one small habit at a time. Pick one little thing to change at a time. Start by drinking more water, eliminating soda, or adding breakfast into your routine. Those aren’t overwhelming and are certainly sustainable changes once they are accomplished. Then after it becomes a regular habit, it’s time to pick the next small step. Soon enough, the well deserved side effect of effective weight loss ensues.

Dee shares:

Vintage YoYo’s

Roller coasters are fun!

Metaphorically speaking that is. I am not an amusement park roller coaster fan at all. I’m a chicken. There is nothing about a churned stomach and reckless body motion that is at all amusing to me. Control issues perhaps.

But a diet roller coaster is really not bad — provided that you end up on the ground with the ride is over. Some people diet by weighing themselves every day. I do, because it’s kind of fun to see how scientific the numbers can be. For example, I have been steadily losing a bit of weight all week. Yesterday, after getting to my 1200 calorie limit and not eating more until bed time, I blew it and ate a piece of pepperoni pizza at 11:00 pm. It was homemade and I served it to the kids for dinner without even trying it. But as I was cleaning the kitchen before going to sleep the pizza jumped off the counter and into my mouth. There was nothing I could do. It wasn’t my fault.

Sure enough, I woke up knowing that this morning’s scale would not show a smaller number but a larger number. The number went from 181.5 yesterday to 182.5 today. Bummer! But, overall, my weight has gone from 187.5 last Thursday to 182.5 today. You can’t let a single scale reading count for much. It’s the big picture that counts. AND, don’t let great results let you think you can slack either. That’s the mistake I made at the end of February when I had lost 20 pounds in two months. I thought I could relax on the diet for a while. That “while” ended up being five months and the return of ten of the pounds I lost. Having chosen a habit that isn’t sustainable, we fall back off the wagon only to gain the weight back.

For more of Dee’s journey visit her SITE

Posted on August 7, 2013 by Angela in Diet, Guest Blog, Nutrition, Uncategorized Leave a comment

Ten Steps to Better Health

Dee’s Update:

There are thousands of diets, with a thousand different strategies for how to reach the goal of optimum weight and physical health via exercise and nutrition. Because people are different with so many variables on how much physical activity they get in a day, age, bone structure, height, blood type, chemistry, there could not possibly be one solution that fits every person.

It is important, instead, to look at the most successful weight loss programs to see what they have in common. After that, each person can start with these tried and true fundamentals and modify them to keep whatever works and change the parts that don’t. Throughout the past few months I have volunteered myself to be a human experiment and I’ve assembled the top ten things that I’ve found to have worked when implemented. Start with one or two things on the list. After three or four days, add another. The scientific statement about “it takes 21 days to form a new habit” is actually an unfounded fallacy. New habits really take quite a bit longer to become ingrained to where they are second nature. The good news is that it takes one day to make up your mind to change your routine to incorporate good choices. For example, let’s say you usually drink a glass of orange juice every morning while you’re getting ready for work/school. If you decide today to substitute your OJ for water and an apple, you have just changed your habit. It will take a while for that change to feel like an automatic tendency, but when your refrigerator is full of whole fruit instead of bottled juice you will have some reinforcement to rely upon.

In no particular order, here are my top ten recommendations:

Eat veggies at every meal
Drink three 16 ounce glasses of water before each meal
Don’t skip breakfast
Don’t eat too few calories
Eliminate sugars and starches
Plan, plan, plan – think ahead
Learn to be OK with hunger
Eat to live instead of living to eat
Find someone to partner with
Cut out fried everything (see below)

OK, about number 10. This may be the hardest one to implement. Fried food simply tastes great. Growing up in the 70s with a Southern Baptist family, my mother fried everything from pork chops to potatoes to green beans. We used to cook with lard and bacon grease so it’s in my genes. As impossible as it sounds, cutting out foods can be done. Don’t tell yourself you can never eat it again; just know that eating fried food (and any fast food) has to be the exception not the rule. Fried food is not only unhealthy because of the amount of fat and calories, but usually the food itself (potatoes, hamburger, dough) is low on a nutrition scale. Equally important is the reduction of processed foods. Health benefits are found abundantly in whole foods, produce and grains in their most natural form.

For more on Dee’s journey to better health–visit http://www.gettingthebestoffood.com

Posted on August 4, 2013 by Angela in Body, Diet, Nutrition, Uncategorized, Weight Loss, Whole Food Leave a comment

Water Enhancers

I’ve had several patients lately inquiring about some of the newest water enhancers and asking if they are safe. This prompted me to look into them (although I suspected them evil when I heard the word –Enhance.) Here is the research I have done—

Food companies have recently developed brand new “water enhancers” and are cashing in the big bucks. Here’s a shock!-Water enhancers contain NO Natural ingredients.

They do contain:

1. Artificial Sweeteners- like the dreaded sucralose (AKA Splenda) and we all know how terrible those are for us. Animal studies show that sucralose decreases the amount of good bacteria in the stomach by close to 50%. EEK We need those good bacteria to process the nutrient out of our foods and get them to the cells of our bodies. If you are new to the blog–I will refer you back to This Link

2. Food Dyes- need I really say more after you have read Susan’s story? Here is the link

3. Ace-K- Acesulfame Potassium is the only sweetener on the Earth that is worse that Aspartame (aka-formaldahyde in your brain.) It is made from methylene chloride which is a well-known carcinogen. Really?

4. Proplylene Glycol- This is a mineral oils that has been known to cause allergic reactions and central nervous system depression–do you really want to drink this all day?

This leads me to my main point. Let’s flavor our water naturally. My family doesn’t enjoy the taste of water so much. We initially threw in some lemons and have now graduated to adding cucumber slices and some fresh mint from the garden. One of my friends has recently written a book on vitality and has been selling water bottles with infusers to naturally enhance the water. I love mine! I have been adding fruit, berries, and herbs and have been drinking my target amount daily.

To calculate your target amount—take your body weight (lbs) divided by 2 and that equals the number of ounces of water you need daily just to stay hydrated—that is the minimum amount of water you should drink daily.

The staff and I all purchased the Bring Back Vitality water infuser bottles and have more available if anyone would like to purchase one. Shoot us an email at doc@angelamd.com or call (317) 217-2626. The bottles are $15.00 and well worth it!

Bring Back Vitality Infuser Bottles

Here is a great recipe for some detox water you can make and drink all day!

Please visit http://www.bringbackvitality.com for more great information and to order the bottles online!

Posted on August 1, 2013 by Angela in Nutrition, Weight Loss 2 Comments

Dee’s Race! On Your Mark!

I’m sharing Dee’s latest post. She is building a tribe to help with accountability which is so great!. Look forward to more posts coming once school starts. I have great posts coming on water enhancers, sustainable farming, and autoimmune disease.

On Your Mark, Get Set

See, even in a race you get to mentally prepare for the sound of the starting gun. As much as I love food, and I mean really love food, I can’t believe how exciting it is to think about not eating food tomorrow. Of course I’ll eat, but smart choices make me feel so much better.I’ve recruited some friends to join the challenge to lose 10 pounds in August. Even though we all know a lot about what to do to be healthy and fit, there is an extra difficulty in trying to achieve this goal alone. Accountability to one another will be the key to success this month. Just get your head in the game and realize that you have a bunch of other folks going through the same exact steps. Most importantly, make sure you realize that this is ultimately about a lot more than extra weight. Getting to a healthy weight is REALLY about better health. So many illnesses can be stopped, stalled and even reversed through diet alone. Hippocrates: “Let food be thy medicine…”The first few days are the hardest because your body will go through some change. Don’t let your brain trick you into thinking that you’ll die of starvation if you don’t eat more at night. You won’t. Get to your magic number of calories needed and then stop eating. Period.You will wake up feeling better and by the third day you will notice your tastes changing, leaning toward healthier food.

Visit Dee’s site at http://www.gettingthebestoffood.com

Posted on July 31, 2013 by Angela in Body, Exercise, Nutrition, Weight Loss Leave a comment

Cancer Prevention with Dr. Chris

Thanks to Dr. Nagy for this great share!!!

For more info from Dr. Nagy—visit his site at http://www.yourpersonalwellnesscenter.com

Posted on July 29, 2013 by Angela in Body, cancer, disease, Nutrition, Whole Food Leave a comment

Retrain Your Brain

Thanks Dee!!!

Retrain Your Brain

When I chose the title for my first blog, “Getting the Best of Food”, I envisioned a mental warfare. In a struggle, the person who overcomes their enemy is said to have “gotten the best of them.” Of course the double meaning is also to get the best qualities food has to offer.

Back to warfare. I work five days a week from morning until 5:00 pm. My breakfast, lunch and daytime snacks are perfectly healthy and I stick to the plan but dinner and post-dinner decisions often take a turn for the worse and I think I know why.

At the end of the workday, we’re run down, worn out and hungry. One of my strategies is always to have healthy food on hand and to eat something before you are famished. But there is also a little bit of brainwashing necessary to keep yourself from caving into cravings for junk food and comfort classics.

Here’s a normal weeknight example (after I’ve eaten fruits and veggies all day): 5:05 pm driving home, thinking about dinner options and my brain starts to recite all of the foods that make me joyful – chicken wings, pizza, potato skins, tacos… As I continue to drive home, the list is on a mental merry-go-round and it just keeps repeating incessantly in my head.

So what happens when you tell your brain “I can’t have that brownie, I can’t have that brownie, I can’t have that brownie?” There is only one thing on your mind for food and guess what it is – the brownie!

In the same way that you set up a plan to have easily accessible healthy food around, we all need to also retrain our brains to consider better choices before the disaster hits. Before the drive home and before hunger pains set in, start to recall how amazing fresh strawberries taste, or how flavorful grilled asparagus is with a touch of Parmesan cheese. Whenever possible, have your dinner prepared or at least planned the night before. One trick I have learned is start dinner for the next night as I’m clearing the table and washing dishes. This way I come home and finish cooking dinner that was started the previous night, eat and then start the first half of tomorrow’s dinner. It works really well.

To keep things simple, you can also come up with a short list of standard dinners that you know how to make simply, that fit your daily caloric goals. For me, this is usually fish every other night, alternated with chicken. One night is vegetarian and one night is lean beef or pork. Skip the starches unless it’s whole grain and double up on the vegetables. Salads compliment dinner very well too. Save calories with homemade dressing from blended berries, pears or apples, vinegar, mustard and a small bit of olive oil. Shake it with your lettuce so that a little goes a long way.

Don’t forget that this is a battle, truly. And that you can and will win it, and you’ll feel amazing for overcoming the challenge.

Posted on July 19, 2013 by Angela in Body, Call to action, Diet, Mind, Nutrition, Whole Food Leave a comment

The Infamous Fish Oil/Prostate Cancer Study?

“Too Much Fish Oil Might Increase Cancer Risk”

Wait? Isn’t Fish Oil Supposed to be Good for Me???

The Journal of the National Cancer Institute recently reported data from the selenium and vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT) that supported evidence that fish oil supplementation may increase the risk of prostate cancer.

Before we freak out here let’s look a little further into the data.

First, the primary goal of the SELECT study was to determine if vitamin E could be used to prevent prostate cancer. The data concluded that patient’s taking 400 IU of Vitamin E had a 17% increased risk of prostate cancer. The study was not designed to evaluate the role of fish oil supplementation in prostate risk.

The fish oil data was gathered because they measured plasma fatty acids (plasma phospholipids) –ironically, these levels tend to fluctuate after a meal is consumed. A better study would measure the red blood cell concentration of fatty acids which is a better indicator of actual omega 3 consumption over the past 4-6 weeks.

The difference in data in the two groups was 0.2% which is virtually nothing.

The study did conclude that the that the patients with the highest concentration of EPA/DPA and DHA-3 fatty acids had a 71% increased risk of prostate cancer.

However, the study contained no documentation of any patient taking fish oil or even eating fish in their diet.

So how does that extrapolate out?

My suggestion is to continue to do your research, and hopefully this will stimulate more studies researching actual fish oil supplementation and diet in correlation to disease. My bet is that Fish Oil and Omega 3 supplementation will prove beneficial like all of the other studies.

For more science details for you nerdy types like me –please visit the following:

http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/how-selected-bad-study-became-big-news

So don’t trash your fish oil yet!!! REMEMBER–if you get the “Fish Burps”–put those babies in the freezer! And if you want a really good brand—I recommend the green pasture.com FERMENTED COD LIVER OIL (no financial investment–it’s just what I take)