Healing Outside The Box

With our current American diet, preventing diabetes and managing diabetes once you have it are both challenging to do alone. So I have devoted two episodes to dietary and other lifestyle recommendations. Episode 216 is part one, which can be found here. In previous episodes I push antioxidants from foods. Here are a few of those: Putting the Mediterranean diet theory into practice Antioxidants are great! But why? This Mayo Clinic article goes into detail about the American dietetic Association diet principles. It can be found here.

Most of us know someone with Diabetes and some of us may know someone on dialysis or with diabetic amputations. How did this once rare disease get so out of control? And can we reverse this trend? If we are going to take an honest look at this terrible disease, I think we first need to be comfortable talking about the symptoms of diabetes and the complications that can occur... And that can be prevented. This is part I of a 2 part episode where I attempt to initiate the conversation. As always, feel free to ask questions or suggest topics for future episodes by contacting the on my website contact page, which is healing outside the box.  

Since this past weekend was a holiday weekend and we are getting into the lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer, I decided to put up one of my more popular episodes from last year. Why is it so popular? Gee, I wonder. As always feel free to contact me on my contact page which can be found here.

Sciencey people throw around sentences like "We are all getting a leaky gut" without telling us what it is and why we should care. I attempted to do just that today. I have a previous  episode that I dedicated to leaky gut: what it is, what it means, and how we can heal it. You can find that episode here. If you listened to this podcast and are still totally confused and upset about your leaky gut, feel free to ask a question on my contact page, which is on my website, healing outside the box.

Now that we are approaching Memorial Day, many of us are dreaming about being in the great outdoors once again. Even if it's 10 feet from our back door and we're on the porch tending to the barbecue. That doesn't mean that we have to throw up our hands and give in to the cheeseburgers, hot dogs, and sausages when we really want to eat healthier. Yes, Virginia. You can eat healthier when you're barbecuing. And you might actually start preferring the taste of the fresh fish, juicy chicken, or colorful salads that are in front of you. The key is the preparation and planning that you'll need to pull it off. But trust me, your friends and family will both thank you because most of them might be wanting to eat healthier as well. The corn and bean salad recipe that I mentioned in the episode can be found on my healthy recipes page, which is located here.  As always, if you have any questions or requests for new episode topics, feel free to contact me on my website contact page, healing outside the box.com  

There is no doubt about it. We are eating a lot more meals that are prepared by somebody else. Today I look at the the social factors involved in this changing landscape and the nutritional consequences of the comparative composition of our intake. Dr. Michael Gregor has an article on his website about this lifestyle change in our eating habits. It can be found here. The plant-based online cooking school that I mentioned in the podcast can be located here. As always, if you would like a particular recipe and want to we request a custom meal according to your preferences, feel free to email me on my contact page, which is on my website: Healing outside the box.

The Doctor's exam room can be an intimidating place when you're sitting there in your hospital gown, all drafty in the back and all. Sometimes just getting the feel for the sound of all those lab tests and what they mean, may make the experience less overwhelming. Today I go over several different groups, or panels, which screen your blood for signs of any problems. If you have any questions or want to suggest topics for future episodes, feel free to contact me on my contact page which is on my website: Healing outside the box.

Functional medicine is a new theory of conducting a medical practice that was 1st put together by Jeffrey bland, PhD, then made popular by Mark Hyman, M.D. Is a theory that encompasses a preventative approach to medicine that takes into account, the whole individual – rather than someone with a set of symptoms. They encourage nutrition and exercise, adequate sleep, and have extended visits with their patients. What's not to like? Well quite a bit, according to their critics. In this episode I weigh the pros and cons of this theory of whole patient care. Dr. Jeffrey bland, PhD, the founder of functional medicine,describes functional medicine in this video. One of his disciples, Dr. Mark Hyman, M.D., talks about functional medicine in his video.  David Gorski, M.D., is a critic of functional medicine. She is article can be found here. If you have any questions or would like to suggest topics for future episodes, feel free to contact me on my website contact page.

Are you stuck trying to make the improvements that you want in your eating habits, but you're not moving forward? Today I discuss the 5 stages of change outlined by a guy named Prochaska in the 70s. It was initially used to help people with smoking cessation, but it is used by dietitians and other health professionals as another tool in the toolbox.

The Mediterranean diet sounds like it's good for what ails you (if what ails you is most of our current chronic diseases), but how do you translate that into breakfast, lunch, and dinner? In the first half of this episode, I mention something called the CHIP program. CHIP stands for complete health improvement project and involves a Mediterranean diet along with activity and community support. The episode devoted to the CHIP program can be found here. One of the most important tricks to eating healthier is to enjoy what we are eating. So today I thought I would take some typical American favorites and alter them to make them more Mediterranean. That doesn't necessarily mean we all should be eating only fish and chickpeas. It's a principal of building our dinner plate based on seasonal produce, healthy grains, and smaller amounts of meat, chicken, and fish. You can find some of the recipes I discussed on my website podcast page. If you have any questions, would like tips to build your favorite recipes, or wo

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease happens to be one of the most common diseases that we may not know about.  Having spent decades in the nutrition business, I thought I was unshockable. Until now, anyway. I just read that 70 to 80,000,000 Americans may have nonalcoholic fatty livers and I imagine it would surprise most of us to know that. So I looked into several studies on the subject. For a layperson's perspective on how this disease got out of control, you may want to check out this article from CNBC.  The Mayo Clinic has a patient oriented article that defines diagnosis and symptoms. It can be found here. The national Institute of health (NIH) describes the disease in an article that is geared towards health professionals. It can be found here. In a recent episode I discussed why antioxidants are so necessary to maintain health. You can find that episode here. If you need assistance with healthy changes in your dietary habits and lifestyle in general, feel free to contact me here. I am a Nutritionist a

Today I take a look at rapid eye movement therapy by actually trying it out for myself. It's a therapy technique that came about specifically to treat trauma or the psychological consequences of a traumatic experience. There are a couple of YouTube videos that describe the therapy and give you a sample of what it looks like. The 1st is geared toward healthcare professionals and it 1st describes the symptoms of PTSD. That video can be found here. This 2nd video is more of a demonstration of the process for people who might simply be interested in trying it out for themselves. As always, if you have any questions or would like to suggest topics for future episodes, feel free to contact me on my contact page, which is on my website, healing outside the box.

Today I take a deep dive into some of the scientific theories that are now connecting the foods we eat to our moods. But I first considered calling this episode something like "the CHIP diet, revisited" because some of these studies were conducted on subjects following this particular diet plan. CHIP stands for complete health improvement program, which was first studied in 1998 and looked at reducing symptoms of coronary artery disease. I devoted an entire episode to the chip program (episode 185) and you can find it here.  I mentioned an organization called SPUR, out of Eastern Massachusetts. They gave me a :thank you" bouquet of flowers for my volunteer work with schoolyard vegetable gardens. Here is a link to a story about them. Hint: this could be put together in almost any city or town in the United States. I also mentioned a couple of articles on the link between inflammation and depression. This study links depression to interferon treatment in cancer patients.  Here it is another study that links i

I was recently looking over my list of previous episodes and I noticed that I have at least 5 that are partly or mostly about Monsanto. I think there is general agreement that Monsanto is one of the true bad guys of food corporations. So today I pull out memorable pieces of some of my previous episodes for a greater impact about how bad Monsanto really is. And oh, they are bad! There was an article in the Guardian that reviews a recent lawsuit put out by a man named Dwayne Johnson. Here is the link to the article in the Guardian.  In episode 130, entitled "what has Monsanto been up to?", I talk about a secret backdoor meeting that Pres. Trump had with the CEO of Monsanto and the CEO of Bayer. That meeting was bound to give us all a big fat headache. In episode 167, entitled "how to avoid Monsanto products", I tell you (not surprisingly) how to avoid Monsanto products. In episode 177, entitled "now that Bayer has purchased Monsanto, what's next?", I run down the history of attempts to pass and put into law, t

Today I talk about one of my favorite topics, and that is, rats. More specifically, laboratory rats. Yes, I know. They're scary looking rodents. But laboratory rats do something for us that is very important. We cage them, give them cancer, kill and dissect them. All so that we can learn about what foods may possibly harm human beings.  On 2 separate occasions, I had a job in nutrition pathology labs doing studies to secure the safety of food ingredients. In my 1st laboratory job, I worked for Dr. Paul Newberne, who was the famous scientist behind the hot dog study from the 70s. He was able to show conclusively that nitrites and nitrates that are in hot dogs and other processed meats can potentially cause cancer. After a media blitz, the sales of hot dogs changed very little. But now the World Health Organization (WHO) has put out a conclusive report linking processed meats of all kinds to cancer. I review the findings in general, but if you want to read details of the report, start here.  Some of these link

If you're trying to stay healthy eating all those great fruits and vegetables, but have trouble finding good ones in the winter, fear not. There are plenty of healthy late fall and winter fruits and vegetables that will meet your needs for vitamins and antioxidants. Today I go through a list of the best ones with ideas about how to use them.  Now, I got this idea from an online Time article I read recently. You can read the article here.  As always, if you have any questions or would like help with recipes for these winter produce, feel free to email me on my website contact page.  

We all basically know that we crave salty foods when we're feeling overtired, stressed out, or bored. But there are also physiological reasons that date back to the caveman days. It all gets jumbled up in a mix of physical and psychological factors that determine what foods we crave and why. I mention a study I read regarding the link between appetite hormones and cravings for salt. Psychological stress, as it turns out, can trigger these appetite hormones. The link to the article is here. If you have any questions or comments about this episode, or if you'd like to suggest topics for future episodes, feel free to contact me on my website contact page.

Today I played hooky from my nutrition-related material to bring you a personal story from my upcoming memoir. It's about domestic violence, courtroom drama, drug abuse, laughter, tears, lust (not mine), betrayal, bank embezzlement, and the loss of a child.

Here we go again. We've thrown caution to the wind over the holiday season and now we're going to buckle down and make a New Year's resolution to cut calories, carbohydrate, or fat to lose those extra few pounds. But if we try too hard to cut too much, could we be shooting ourselves in the foot?  Let's discuss. If you want to improve your eating behavior and need a nutritionist to help you out, I am available for one hour sessions. Feel free to contact me on my contact page with this or other questions. My website is Healing outside the Box. Happy New Year!

I somewhat reluctantly make a list of meal suggestions for a ketogenic diet this week. The reason I say reluctantly is because it is difficult to stay on this type of dietary regimen for very long. However, I'm aware that many people like to take off a quick 5 to 10 pounds after the holiday season is over. If you want copies of my recipe suggestions, feel free to email me on my website contact page, which is here. Starting in the new year, I will devote at least one podcast episode to Mediterranean diet meal suggestions. Stay tuned and happy holidays!