When the fat-free craze began back in the ‘80s, I believe it was my sister the marathoner (though she hadn’t started running yet) who raised my family’s awareness of the evils of fat. We ceased making rich homemade desserts and, as did the rest of America, snacked instead on pretzels, red licorice, hard candy and [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Caught an interesting piece on NPR’s Morning Edition today.
http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=120318757&m=120340706
Microbes live in our intestines, helping us to digest foods that we can’t digest on our own. A recent experiment revealed that what we eat influences what kind of microbes become dominant in our intestines, and therefore, what we get out of our food.
Researchers used microbe-free mice [...]
“Don’t eat foods that make health claims on the labels,” says Michael Pollan, author of In Defense of Food. Counterintuitive as this may sound, the best foods for you don’t have labels! If a product is making a health claim, it may be trying to make up for its shortcomings. Not all packaged food is [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Parents are hard-wired to protect their kids from harm. Are you protecting yours from disease? Feed your kids healthy foods now and you will reduce their risk of developing diabetes, heart disease and cancer later. In the meantime, they’ll also likely experience fewer allergies and ear infections, less asthma and quite possibly less ADHD.
What we [...]
Once in response to my pressing her as to why she didn’t reach her goals that week, a coaching client demanded, “Have you ever been overweight?” I had to admit that while I was once about 25 pounds heavier than I am now, I have not ever been significantly overweight. But regardless of weight, we [...]
Read the rest of this entry »You are not ignorant.
Health information appears daily in the media nationwide. You’d have to be living in a closet not to know what’s good for you. For most of us, ignorance isn’t the problem. So if we know what to do, why don’t we do it? The apostle Paul knew this struggle: “For what I [...]
Got Kale?
“Dairy products are far from the solution, and may very well be a cause of the problem,” says Anna Quisel, M.D. in an article about osteoporosis. The dairy industry has done a terrific job of convincing the public that drinking milk is the key to adequate calcium consumption and strong bones. However, the calcium [...]
Who is in Your Peanut Gallery?
I used to work as a wellness coach for a Christian organization which, among other things, actively promoted the health and well-being of its members. In a department meeting one day, my boss asked us these questions: Does it matter to God whether we are healthy or not? And why do [...]
