Lose weight and feel great by eating more fiber

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The weight loss and health benefits of fiber are vast.  When we eat fiber, food passes through the body quicker, less fat is absorbed.  We have a decreased appetite.  Our cholesterol level is decreased.  We use more calories because we have to chew longer and the stomach takes more time to digest.  Best of all, fiber is detoxifying to the body.

Dietary fiber is that part of plant cell walls, such as lignans and polysaccharides, which our bodies cannot digest.  There are two main types of fiber: insoluble and soluble.  The best known insoluble fiber is cellulose.  An example of this type of fiber is wheat bran.  Soluble fibers include: hemicelluloses like oat bran, gums, mucilages found in psyllium seeds, pectins in apples or lignans found in flax.  These water soluble gel-forming fibers provide many beneficial effects.  For your convenience, here is a list of high fiber foods .

Here are a few easy ways to increase our fiber intake:

Buy ground flax seeds.  Flax seeds contain both kinds of fiber. The seed hulls are insoluble, and internal lignans  are soluble.  I have patients grind flax seeds and put them in a shake.  2 heaping tablespoons per day.  They taste nutty and delicious. The lignans protect us against breast cancer, research shows. 

Eat brown rice.  Rice bran fiber helps you stay lean.  Rice bran is only in brown or wild rice, not white rice.  It absorbs fat in the large intestine, and helps heal the lining of the GI tract.  You can take it in capsule form or just eat brown rice, 1 cup per day. 

Eat more vegetables.  To get more fiber in, just eat more vegetables, don’t be afraid to sit down to a very large bowl of steamed broccoli  or kale and eat the whole thing! 

In addition to losing weight and feeling great, eating fiber increases your immune system, feeds the good pro-biotic bacteria there, keeps the gut lining healthy and strong, absorbs and pulls out excess hormones, fat and toxins from the body.  Remember, fiber is essential to detoxifying the body.  A diet rich in fiber reduces our risk for heart disease, diabetes, cancer, gall stones, and kidney stones.  The healthiest people on the planet are the ones that consume larger amounts of fiber. 

For a personalized detoxification, nutritional counseling or weight management plan, feel free to contact me directly.

Remember for a free consult, contact the office at 480-607-0299, or email me directly.  I’d love to talk to you!  Check out our facebook page and follow our feed on twitter.

The healing power of water

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Sometimes stimulating healing can be SIMPLE! 

When hot water touches our body, the blood at the surface moves deeper inside.  Then when cold water touches, blood is drawn to the surface.  This pumping action is beneficial because it moves blood which is detoxifying.  The movement brings nutrients to the area and removes toxins.   This simple remedy method can be used for many conditions.  For example, if you have a sore throat, you can put a cold compress on your throat, and cover it with wool.  This will draw out the heat from your sore throat.  Your body will move blood to the surface to warm the cold cloth, drawing the pain or “heat” from your throat.  This blog article gives the details http://www.natural-health-restored.com/heating-compress.html. 

Another type of hydrotherapy you can do at home is called Contrast hydrotherapy .  Here you are using repeated cycles of hot and cold to stimulate healing in a particular are of your body.  Perfect for sore joints, menstrual cramps, ankle sprains, plantar fasciitis, carpal tunnel, tennis elbow. 

Do you take a hot shower in the morning?  Well one great way to utilize the power of water is to finish your lovely hot shower with 30 seconds of COLD water.  Invigorating!  Your body will be warm enough from the hot, to handle the cold.  You will stay warmer on a cold day and healthier all winter if you do this simple exercise. 

In the office we offer Constitutional Hydrotherapy.  This procedure is done by a medical assistant or myself while you are laying in a relaxing environment.  In addition, this therapy uses slight electric pulses to stimulate liver and bowel movement.  It is very effective to stimulate immune system and detoxification.

Remember for a free consult, contact the office at 480-607-0299, or email me directly.  I’d love to talk to you!  Check out our facebook page and follow our feed on twitter.

Food additives and preservatives

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Did you ever really look at the labels of some of the foods you eat?  Have you ever wondered WHY all that stuff is in there?  I often find myself looking at labels, then I put the box or bag back on the shelf!  We are meant to eat live foods, foods that are close to life, not those that have been rolled, pressed, shaped, put in plastic, added chemicals from drums, put in boxes, shipped across the world… well you get the picture!

I am a big fan of eating local, shopping at farmers markets when possible, and buying foods that are not pre-packaged.  These markets carry mostly organic fresh picked delicious fruits, vegetables and meats.

Some of the most toxic food additives and preservatives include sucralose, aspartame, saccharin, pesticides, BHT, sodium nitrates, MSG, brominated vegetable oil, dyes and partially hydrogenated oils (trans fat).  Many of these toxins, especially pesticides, build up in the system and are stored in the body in the fat tissue.  They way heavy on our immune system and can cause chronic disease.  The best way to get them out is to sweat using a far-infrared sauna.

For details on which are the most important foods to avoid due to pesticides, you can go to www.ewg.org and download the shoppers guide to carry with you.  I like this blog about the dangers of the additives and preservatives that are put in our foods.  Once you make the switch to whole foods, your health will surely benefit.  After beginning this new way of eating, you may be interested in further detoxification of your body.

Remember for a free consult, contact the Scottsdale office at 480-607-0299, or email me directly.  I’d love to talk to you!  Check out our facebook page and follow our feed on twitter.

What is your water doing to your health?

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When it comes to healthy living, what are the most important things to consider?  Water always comes up in my conversations with patients.  How much water do you drink?  I also need to consider the quality of the water.  After reading this drinking water article , you too will fully understand how important it is to pay attention to what is in the water you are drinking every day.  The best water filter system I have found is one that has a resin filter for arsenic and fluorine (especially important for Arizonans).  In addition, it needs a carbon filter for chlorine, pharmaceutical drugs, pesticides, and improves taste.  Finally, a KDF filter removes metals and micro-organisms.  Here is a link to a good choice for water filter . How much water should we drink?  Half your body weight in ounces is a general guideline.  So if you weigh 140 pounds, you need to drink a minimum of 70 ounces of good quality mineral rich water.  Here is an eye-opening link about cell hydration and cancer . One of the most common thing that I prescribe for patients is minerals.  It is common knowledge that due to deficient soil, the mineral content of our food is not what it used to be.   The World Health Organization has published this information.  We need magnesium, potassium, calcium and many others.  Magnesium  is the most common mineral deficiency.  We need to supplement and the best way is to add liquid minerals to our water.  If you are feeling burdened by toxicity, you may want to read this document on toxin avoidance  or get an evaluation at my office in preparation for doing a personalized detoxification protocol.
Remember for a free consult , contact the office at 480-607-0299, or email me directly.  I’d love to talk to you!  Check out our Facebook page and follow our feed on twitter .

What food lowers cholesterol?

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In May 2010 in Archives of Internal Medicine, a study with 583 men and women found that eating 67 grams or 2.4 ounces of nuts each day almondslowered total cholesterol by 5%, lowered LDL by 7 percent and improved the LDL to HDL ratio and lowered triglycerides in people with high blood fats by an astounding 21%. This makes sense due to the content of phytosterols, anti-oxidants and healthy unsaturated fat content of nuts. The study also concluded that the type of nut didn’t matter!

Remember for a free consult, contact the office at 480-607-0299, or email me directly. I’d love to talk to you! Check out our facebook page and follow our feed on twitter.