All posts tagged Health

November 14, 2012 · Blog

A Very Personal Story

“Waaaa, waaa, waaa” said the baby. Cute, you think? I don’t think my mom thought so. I did not sleep through the night for a full year after I was born. So… neither did my mom.

I had severe stomach pain that was not just “colic”. I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. As my mom told me, she took me to a doctor in New York City who specialized in gastro-pediatrics. I don’t know how she found him, but leave it to my mother to find the best. I do remember his wood paneled office and his big desk that I could barely see over.

Back in the day, doctors didn’t only use pharmaceuticals. They healed people. They used nutrition. This wonderful doctor put me on a Specific Carbohydrate Diet or the SCD for short. It is basically a diet that omits any type of grains, beans, and legumes, and is mostly made up of animal protein, vegetables and some fruits. My mom thankfully, strictly adhered to the diet. I was kept on it until I was four years old.

For me, it wasn’t so bad. I actually felt special. My mom made me special meals, and frozen juice pops to eat when those ice-cream truck bells began to ring. I had never tasted sugar so I had no idea what the fuss was about.

At age 4 I was pronounced, “healed” and I was back to a regular diet that I was then able to tolerate. In a family that had our share of learning disabilities, I had none. In fact I was always an honor student. What does that have to do with anything, you ask? Read on…

Years later as my interest in nutrition became strong; I thanked God that I was spared from 4 years of eating sugar, but I questioned the diagnosis I was given for Celiac. Everything I read assured me that Celiac was incurable. I recently discovered I was wrong as could be! It was curable, and I was cured!

I have come to believe, very strongly I might add, that everything can be cured with food and other natural modalities. I have seen it all. Proper nutrition can do miracles and more.

With a lot of experience and all my studies, I came up with a very specific diet that was truly healing a lot of my clients. It helped people who suffered from constipation as well as others who had stomach issues and severe depression. I developed it by focusing on controlling insulin levels and getting a good ecology going in the digestive tract with the very best quality foods. Yessiree I was on to something good!

It was then that I started connecting the dots. If I had not been on that SCD diet when I was a baby, would I have learning disabilities? What else did it save me from?

I happened to have a copy of Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBrides’ book “Natural Treatment for Gut and Psychology Syndrome” (GAPS) that I just received from Amazon. It was sitting on my coffee table just waiting to be read!

The GAPS Diet, based on the SCD, is the one people are using to cure all psychological problems: Autism, Dyspraxia, ADD, Dyslexia, ADHD, Depression, Bi-polar, Schizophrenia, and more. The research and studies that are highlighted in the book, show a very distinct connection to all those problems with the condition of the digestive tract. It is truly amazing!!

Ready for the clincher? The Doctor who cured me, Dr. Sidney V. Haas, was the inventor of the original diet, the SCD! I discovered this at 11:30 at night when my whole household was asleep. I did a low squeal as I flipped-out from the news in the GAPS book!

Dr. Haas developed this revolutionary approach in 1951, and cured me in the early 60’s. All later variations such as the GAPS Diet, are based on his work. I had no idea he was “the man”.

Well that is the craziest, most destined thing I ever saw! He cured me, got my gut and brain working, and now I hope to carry on doing his work? Mind blower don’t you think?

And so it goes. I am dedicating my life to helping people heal their guts and minds in the way mine were healed; in a natural, painless, healthy way. I have so much gratitude to God, my mother, and Dr. Haas for healing my body and mind, what better way to show it?

November 14, 2012 · Blog

Mom Alert: Can ADD, Autism, Dyslexia, and Anxiety be Cured with Diet?

The Gut-Brain Connection

“One area of medicine is particularly prone to look at its organ separately from the rest of the body. That area is psychiatry. Mental problems are examined from all sorts of angles: genetics, childhood experiences and psychological influences. The last thing that would be considered is looking at the patient’s digestive system. Modern psychiatry just does not do that. And yet medical history has plenty of examples, where severe psychiatric conditions were cured by simply “cleaning out” the patient’s gut. A renowned Japanese professor, Kazudzo Nishi, has estimated that at least one in ten psychiatric conditions is due to self-intoxication coming from the bowel.”- Gut and Psychology Syndrome (GAPS DIET) by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride MD

How do people become self-intoxicated? Alcoholism has a serious connection to gut and psychology syndrome. When sugars or complex carbohydrates are eaten, the bad bacteria overgrowth produces alcohol as a by product of digesting the sugars. There is no part of the body that will not suffer from a constant supply of alcohol, even in small amounts.

GAPS people develop a whole overgrowth of pathological flora in their bodies; I call them ‘bad guys’. One of the bad guys is Candida. Candida + sugars = alcohol. Scary.

Opiates are drugs like opium, morphine and heroin. Gluten is a protein. Casein is a milk protein. When GAPS people cannot digest gluten and casein they turn into substances with the same chemical structures as opiates. Those opiate like substances go right into the system of people with this syndrome causing many of the psychological disturbances we see. Even scarier.

These gut-brain toxic connections are just a couple of examples of what is going on with people who have many of the psychological problems we are talking about.

So here is what the GAPS diet does; It restores balance to the digestive and elimination systems to function correctly. When a good balance is reached, symptoms disappear. So beautifully simple. Yes, Diet can cure.

It cured me! Read my very personal story.

October 29, 2012 · Blog

Arsenic in Rice?!

There’s been a lot of talk lately about arsenic in rice! Oh, of course! The gluten-free wonder!

Is nothing sacred? Recently Consumer Reports Magazine released their analysis

of arsenic levels in rice products including;

white rice
brown rice
organic baby rice cereal
rice breakfast cereals

which were all found to contain arsenic.

Arsenic can be harmful to a child’s developing brain and is a potent known carcinogen.

The study found arsenic levels in the blood directly increase with greater rice consumption. Many products tested had more arsenic in each serving than the 5 parts per billion (ppb) limit for adults set by the EPA as safe.

So many rice products are marketed to children and infants as health food. Kids are very susceptible to the dangerous impacts of arsenic exposure.

It is associated with neurobehavioral problems as well as cancer and lung disease.

This means parents should be especially careful to avoid serving their kids food with a lot of arsenic.

Even though we should not serve rice and rice products to pregnant women and children, for an adult a few servings a week of white rice (which was found to have much lower arsenic levels than brown rice) would probably not be an issue.

If you choose to purchase white rice, buy a brand from California like Lundburg

(their white Basmati Rice has well below the safe limit of arsenic).

Also, rinsing the rice before cooking and boiling it in a high water to rice ratio can help to reduce the arsenic content.

Brown Rice is NOT a Health food!

Brown rice and brown rice products should be avoided. Avoid;

brown rice syrup
brown rice pasta
rice cakes
brown rice crisps

In my opinion, aside from arsenic, brown rice is not the health food it has been said to be.

It has phytates that are hard to digest and are anti-nutrients.
These phytates reduce the bioavailability of vitamins and minerals present.
Brown rice also reduces dietary protein and fat digestibility compared to white rice.

Having said all that, no food is completely safe or without some level of contamination risk. So while rice may contribute an unsafe level of arsenic, we need to be cautious about demonizing an entire class of food. While I don’t think rice is an essential part of a healthy diet, I do think it can be eaten occasionally, if we pay attention to the brand and method of preparation.

October 23, 2012 · Blog

The Truth About Toxic Mercury in Fish

Hey, guess what I found out. Most people do not eat enough cold-water, fatty fish, and this is especially true of pregnant women. Everybody is worried about mercury toxicity. I was.

Believe it or not these worries are not supported by science the majority of the time. In fact, it is much safer to eat fish than it is not to eat it!

DHA is a crucial nutrient for the development of the brain and the nervous system and is derived from eating, you guessed it, fish!

Eating plant sources of omega-3 like flax and walnuts doesn’t cut it. Only a very small percentage of the short chain omega-3 fats found in plants (1%) gets converted into the beneficial long-chain omega-3 fat DHA.

How Does Mercury Cause Problems?

You see, mercury binds with selenium and causes a lack of selenium. Without selenium, vitamin C can’t perform its functions, and then oxidative damage (the cause of many serious diseases) is going to happen fast and furiously!

What I want you to understand is that the ratio of mercury to selenium is the key to the problem. Our soil, here in the U.S. is rich in selenium, this is a very important component. In other countries where selenium is poorly available, mercury exposure is much more dangerous.

Most ocean fish and even most fresh water fish have plenty of selenium, much more selenium than mercury averaging 20:1 (except whale and shark meat which contain an excess of mercury).

Mercury is the only thing we know of that can kill selenoenzymes. (enzymes made from selenium)

Bottom line: As long as you have more selenium than mercury you are in good shape.

Studies have shown that the benefits of eating ocean fish during pregnancy amount to as much as 5 IQ points to the developing fetus!

So the more ocean fish moms eat during pregnancy the more selenium, omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin D are taken in. They are known to be hugely important for developing healthy brains as well as contributing to the mother’s health during and post pregnancy.

Eating more fish is actually good advice for women. Too many people have misconceptions. People need to know ocean fish need to be eaten in greater amounts! Dr. Ralston recommends eating fish 2 to 3 times per week.

So here’s a great way to start, with my Eden Crusted Salmon recipe mmmmmm.

This information was taken from an interview on chriskresser.com, with Dr. Nicholas Ralston.

Dr. Nicholas Ralston is a research scientist at the University of North Dakota Energy and Environmental Research Center, EERC, involved in evaluating potential human health effects and risks resulting from environmental exposure to air toxics. He received his PhD in biomedical research biochemistry from Mayo Medical Center and his bachelor’s of science in biology from Mayville State University. Dr. Ralston’s principal areas of expertise include the biochemistry and analytical approaches to quantitative assessment of immune research and inflammation at the molecular and cellular level. His primary interests are in trace element physiology and the pathophysiology of toxic trace element exposures as well as prevention, protection, and remediation strategies. His current research interests include examinations of the molecular mechanism of methylmercury toxicity, selenium-dependent biochemical processes involved in preventing the neurotoxic effects of mercury, mechanisms of pulmonary particulate pathologies, mercury phytoremediation, and other means of diminishing bioaccumulation of mercury in fish.

Prior to his position at the EERC, Dr. Ralston worked at Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center and Bowman Gray Medical School at Wake Forest University. He has authored or coauthored over 50 professional publications, research articles, and book chapters and given numerous invited presentations on health issues related to methylmercury-dependent inhibition of brain selenoenzymes and beneficial effects of maternal seafood consumption on child development outcomes.

October 15, 2012 · Videos

Joy TV Interview with Dr. Jason Horowitz

Dr. Jason Horowitz graduated from New York Chiropractic College in 2000. His mission is to provide a unique natural healthcare experience specifically tailored to each individual patient.

He practices kinesiology with a holistic approach, using natural and hands on therapies as well as herbs, vitamins, minerals, and homeopathic remedies.

Dr. Horowitz is a partner in Forster Health Care, and has been working there for 12 and a half years. He treats a wide range of health issues in adults and children, and loves working with babies.

Dr. Horowitz also enjoys working with sports injuries and has a Certified Chiropractic Sports Practitioner degree.

He has offices in Brooklyn at 265 Avenue U and in Great Neck, Long Island.

You can reach Dr. Horowitz at 917-572-4020

October 10, 2012 · Blog

Coconut Oil, the New Windex

I am so compelled to write about coconut oil because my clients are coming back to me with absolute miraculous results!

“ OMG, Joy! I can’t believe it worked when the steroid cream didn’t!”

“I have so much energy and I am losing weight!”

“My baby’s rash just disappeared!!”

“I am thinking so much clearer these days.”

Did you see “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”? The father used Windex on everything! Sprayed it all over his body, hysterical. Coconut oil is my Windex.

I will tell you what it is good for, but first let me tell you why. Coconut oil is anti-bacterial, anti–viral, and anti-fungal. It is full of antioxidants and Lauric acid (a medium chain fatty acid, known to destroy lipid coated viruses like HIV, herpes, influenza and many more).

So what has coconut oil been known to help?

HIV-AIDS
Thyroid disease
Diabetes- type 1 and 2
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia
Crohn’s Disease
Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Digestive Health and Intestinal Absorption
Weight loss and belly fat
Acne
Anti-aging
Dry skin
Hair (makes it gorgeous and silky, no more frizz)
Candida yeast infections
Alzheimer’s Disease (see video)
Common colds
Athletes foot
Diaper rash
Etc., etc., etc.,….

Okay, okay, you can close your mouth now, and go order some Tropical Traditions Coconut Oil. I use the Gold Label topically, for skin, hair, and I take 1 tablespoon 3x per day (if you are trying to heal a specific ailment, like one of the above, that is the prescription).

They also have the white label Organic Expeller pressed, which I love, because it doesn’t have the coconut flavor and I can use it in all my cooking, which I do.

So let’s review: it helps so many diseases and ailments, it is much cheaper than hospital stays and pharmaceuticals, but it is expensive for oil. Hmmmm, I think I will stick with the coconut oil :), wouldn’t you?

You can find the Tropical Traditions products in groceries Here.

September 27, 2012 · Recipes

Homemade Mayonnaise

2 eggs
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp dry mustard powder
1 1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
4 drops liquid stevia
salt and pepper to taste
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup liquified Tropical Traditions expeller pressed Coconut Oil

-combine all ingredients except oils, in Vita-Mix or blender.

-when fully combined add oils, pouring slowly through the hole in the blender cover with machine running.

-keep blending on high until you see a white, thick mayonnaise.

– Easy, delicious and so much fun to make!

September 26, 2012 · Blog

Yes!! You Are Good Enough!!!

So what is it with those little voices inside many of us, that tell us we are not good enough? We all know realistically that we are pretty darn good at a lot of things, but someone at sometime, early on, very clearly gave us that “not good enough” feeling. Now I got the Not Good Enough Blues!! (would be a cute song, huh?)

Did you ever just want to fly swat that little voice and make it go away? Well I have an awesome fly swatter. It’s EFT, tapping. It is actually possible to make that ridiculous voice LEAVE!

Of course it’s always better to use an EFT Coach, like me (wink, wink) to help you sort through those early years and determine which aspects and experiences to tap on, but I am going to take you through the process.

First find the earliest experience you can remember that gave you that “I’m not good enough” feeling. Hint: It usually has to do with your parents and/or siblings.

Go through the experience like a movie and hit the pause button when you feel the strongest emotional response. Rate your emotional intensity from 1-10 and identify where you are feeling it in your body.

Next, form a set up statement as you tap on the karate chop point.(see below for chart, and tapping video for a demonstration) It sounds like “Even though (my mother made me feel not good enough) fill in with your story, I still love and accept myself. Tap as you repeat 3 times.

Follow all the tapping points as you verbalize the problem. After each round notice how the intensity number gets lower and the physical symptom begins to lessen.

If you are able to get the emotional intensity down to a zero, well congratulations!! You are now the proud new owner of a new kind of memory, one that it doesn’t hurt to think about.

Many people find that as they get issues tapped out, their responses to many things in life change. My clients have told me they are calmer, more patient, and not as defensive as before. I love when a client tells me they feel “lighter and free”.

My own response to this exact tapping sequence was in my eyes miraculous! I lost all my fears about putting myself out there, authentically. I never could have believed that would happen from tapping. It still amazes me!

I know it won’t help much but I will say it anyway. YOU ARE GOOD ENOUGH! Each person has gifts and talents that the world needs and you are the only YOU who can express those gifts to the world. So if you have anything holding you back, GET TAPPING!!

Love and hugs and tap,tap,tap,

JOY

September 24, 2012 · Recipes

Avocado Chocolate Pudding

1 ripe avocado, peeled and pitted

6-10 dates, soaked if necessary

1/2 tsp vanilla

4 tablespoons cacao powder

1/2 cup water

-Place first 4 ingredients in a food processor or Vita-mix and begin blending.

-Drizzle in the water, scraping the sides of the bowl if needed.

-Continue mixing until smooth and creamy.

*If you want to limit sugars use stevia in place of the dates.

September 19, 2012 · Blog

Snack, Anyone?

What should we give our kids for school snacks?

The questions we have to ask ourselves are;

How do we keep our children’s blood sugar level so they are not bouncing off the walls and then falling asleep in class?

How do we give them the maximum nutrition to keep their brains functioning all day?

What do our kids need in between meals to maintain focus and concentration?

The answers to these questions are one and the same. They need a good source of protein, a quality source of fat, and either a fruit or vegetable source for energy.

If your children are young, you can probably get away with a small avocado salad with cucumbers and tomatoes and a hard boiled egg. Older kids may feel self conscious and would do better with one of my apple zucchini (grain-free) muffins.

One important point I want to make is that grains play havoc with blood sugar. I would recommend leaving all grain products out of the equation. The best snack would be a grain free one. Another important point is that a snack should be a small meal not a treat. A treat should be something to have on occasion. So here we go:

-An apple and a tbsp. of raw almond butter

– a slice of banana paleo bread

-a grain-free apple zucchini muffin

– a small salad with chicken or fish strips or sliced egg, avocado and yummy dressing

– a small collard green wrap with tuna, egg or chicken, avocado and sprouts

– you can use a cabbage leaf or lettuce leaves for the above wrap

-chicken ,turkey or beef sliders, good quality ketchup, some black pitted olives and cut veggies

-Kefir with cut apples, pears, berries or melon, topped with grain-free granola

-zucchini pancakes

-apple sauce with slivered almonds and shredded coconut

-raw coconut wraps with nut butter and sliced bananas.

-fruit salad with walnuts and shredded coconut

-guacamole with grated egg and carrots and peppers to dip

-mixed berries with toasted coconut flakes and nuts

-Egg salad or chicken salad in a bell pepper

-roasted chicken gourmettes and sliced vegetables

-whole Kirby cucumber seeded and then stuffed with tuna or egg salad

-spinach strawberry and walnut salad with raspberry vinaigrette

–guilt-free pizza bites with pizza sauce dip.

–paleo pancakes

– organic apple chips or zucchini chips or sweet potato fries can be added to the snacks above.

See what your children prefer from the list and use your imagination to come up with new and interesting choices. Share them with us here in the comments below. We’d love to hear!

By choosing your childs snacks wisely you are helping their education and their health!! Their teachers will thank you !

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