Insuring Health vs. Health Insurance

Regardless of whether we are required to purchase medical insurance, know that we can only buy real health insurance in the produce section of the local supermarket.

Certainly, some aspects of medical insurance coverage are in need of reform.  But a much greater need exists – the need for Americans to reform their health by reforming their diets.   -Dr. Joel Fuhrman

I really believe this!   Type II Diabetes is a life-style disease.  Heart disease is preventable and reversible.  Cancer risk is also largely tied to lifestyle. The American Institute for Cancer Research estimates that about one-third of common cancers could be prevented by following a healthy diet, exercising, and maintaining a healthy weight.

Why don't more people do something about it?  Why are Americans so unhealthy?  Are people really so uninformed?

Is it that: 

A)  They think these diseases just happen and there's nothing they can do about it?

B)  They truly don't know what a healthy diet is?

C)  They've decided that it's just too hard to eat healthy food?

D)   All of the above. 

If your answer was A,  You might want to read The China Study by Dr. T. Colin Campbell for research on the connection between what we eat and disease.  I found it very interesting and I wondered as I read it why I'd never heard this stuff before!  Another one that's an easier read is the Culprit and the Cure by Steven Aldana.

If you answered B, you should read Dr. Joel Fuhrman's Eat For Health or Eat To Live.  His focus is on eating the most nutrient dense foods possible and he tells you which foods those are.  I also follow his blog diseaseproof.com

If you answered C, there are a bunch of people who blog about following a healthy diet and they have some great recipes.  Some that I follow: are Green Smoothie Girl, My Green Diet, Unconventional Kitchen, Super Healthy Kids, and WHOLEmade.  It's not hard to eat healthy.  It's kind of fun trying new recipes and using new ingredients.  It also makes it easier knowing you're not the only one.  Healthy eating means different things to different people.  I take what I want from these blogs and ignore the rest.  You do what's right for you, right?

If you're answer was D (like mine) you've got a lot of reading to do!

 

Green Smoothie Girl

        Last week I attended a free class by the Green Smoothie Girl, Robyn Openshaw.  I thought it was good info.  I'm already in the Green Smoothie habit, but she inspired me to try some different greens in my smoothie.  This week I added kale.  It's going to take some getting used to!  But today I threw a golden kiwi into my regular recipe and it was really good.

  

        I also purchased her children's book "The Adventures of Junk Food Dude".  It's a cute book to use to teach your kids about eating good real food.  Maybe there's a free Green Smoothie Girl class near you.  Click on the link then the "events" tab to find out.

       You could also win a free BlendTec Blender and some other fun things at her class. 
        Happy Blog Anniversary to me.  My first post on this blog was one year ago today!

Where's The Beef?

There is no question that the health of the body affects the spirit, or the Lord would never have revealed the Word of Wisdom. ….To a great extent, we are physically what we eat. Most of us are acquainted with some of the prohibitions of the Word of Wisdom, such as no tea, coffee, tobacco, or alcohol. But what needs additional emphasis are the positive aspects—the need for vegetables, fruits, and grain, particularly wheat. We need a generation of people who eat in a healthier manner.      –Ezra Taft Benson

I’ve mentioned before that one of the books which inspired me to get healthy was Mormon Wisdom and Health by Kenneth E. Johnson MD. 

Dr. Johnson begins by giving a history of The Word of Wisdom.  He writes about the medical knowledge of the day and how diseases were treated.  Let’s just say that I wouldn’t want to have any major medical procedures done in 1833.  He then goes into the medical research that backs up the principles given in the Word of Wisdom. Something that stands out to me is verse 14:

“All grain is ordained for the use of man and of beasts, to be the staff of life,..”

The “staff of life” sounds like grain must be kind of important.  This is one reason I’m going to keep eating good complex carbohydrates like whole wheat bread, steel cut oats, brown and wild rice and others, despite the current trend away from carbohydrates.    

While studying the LDS (Mormon) Word of Wisdom I found that some of the Mormon prophets in fairly recent times ate meat only on rare occasions.  I think a lot of us have the idea that meat is to be eaten “in moderation” (meaning “within reasonable limits) when in fact the Word of Wisdom tells us that it is “to be used sparingly” or “only in times of famine” (verses 12 & 13).

According to Noah Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language (which would have been the current usage at the time the revelation was given), sparingly means: not abundantly, frugally, abstinently, or seldom.  I had to look at my meals and decide if “sparingly” would describe how often I ate meat.  It didn’t.  Not because I love meat, but because I didn’t know what to make for dinner if it wasn’t centered around hamburger, chicken or steak.

Did we cut out meat completely? No. Instead, I made things like Veggie Stir-Fry with a little chicken, bean based dishes, spaghetti with (a few) meatballs, vegetable soups with a little leftover roast thrown in, Cashew Pasta Bake, Sweet Potato Black Bean Enchiladas, or breakfast foods for dinner ie: whole wheat pancakes or waffles, eggs  and hash browns.

We do have roast occasionally, but there are plenty of potatoes, carrots, onions, whole wheat rolls and a salad to go with it. An occasional roast or turkey in the crock pot is a lifesaver on Sundays.  When we have beef, we eat grass-fed beef.  But that’s a post for another day.

Anyway, Dr. Johnson's book and several other books on health that I’ve read, recommend a plant based diet for optimum health.  It was hard to change something that is so ingrained in us and so much a part of our culture.  But it has definitely been worth it.

Tell me what you think.  Have you tried eating meat sparingly?  Any favorite dinners you could recommend?  Because coming up with something good for dinner is one of my least favorite things to think about.

If I don't want it, it's not Willpower

 A friend of mine recently commented that she admired my willpower.  I thought that was so strange. I don't have any more willpower than any one else.  What I do have now that I didn't before is Knowledge.  I've tried the weight loss thing for years with zero results, until last year when it finally clicked.  Now that I know the Why and the Why Not behind my eating and exercise choices, it's simple. No willpower required.

Here are some of the books that have really helped me:

The Culprit and the Cure:Why Lifestyle is the Culprit Behind America's Poor Health by Steven Aldana. Once you understand why your current lifestyle is causing poor health and see what is meant by good nutrition and physical activity, you will be more ready to change your behaviors.

In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan He talks about the Western diet and its detrimental effects on our bodies and culture.  We're overfed and under nourished!

Eat To Live by Dr. Joel Fuhrman  This will educate you on why you on the importance of eating vegetables, fruit, and beans and contains a 6 week plan to lose weight quickly eating plenty of real food.  Eat For Health: Lose Weight, Keep it Off, Look Younger, Live Longer by Dr. Joel Fuhrman.  This is a 2 book set and is similar to Eat To Live except that it gradually eases you into Dr. Fuhrman's nutritarian lifestyle in phases. It's also about losing weight, but more about becoming healthy and preventing and reversing diseases caused by the Standard American Diet. (Diabetes, Heart Disease, etc.) The second book in the set contains recipes.  I haven't used many of them because the ingredients aren't simple common ingredients, at least where I live. But I'd still recommend reading it. 

Mormon Wisdom and Health by Kenneth E. Johnson, MD  This book is out of print, but it's a good one if you can find it. It contains scientific evidence that backs up the Mormon "Word of Wisdom" health guidelines.