Healing Outside The Box

Many of us are feeling some anxiety about what to believe or disbelieve regarding how to avoid getting sick from Covid. Maybe the old saying "if it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck" may be right after all. Does it matter if there is a 5% chance that it is a goose?
I've plowed through a bunch of research articles and I have laid them out in this podcast episode... In no particular order.

1. this first video is a YouTube talking head video between two physicians. They both agree that offering a vitamin D supplement to Covid patients because the evidence is strong that people need adequate vitamin D to fight the disease.
2. These next two references from pub med look at what the past data on thousands of Covid patients are telling us, in an abstract only. Reference(1) reference (2)
3. this British Medical Journal article takes another stance, stating there is not enough evidence proving a strong relationship between vitamin D deficiency and severe illness/death from Covid.
4. Here is a retrospective case-control study from the Middle East, showing that everyone in the world is getting on board with this research. It explains the connection between blood pressure regulation and the binding of the Covid virus to our cells.
5. This article explains that it is currently testing a drug to basically do what vitamin D is doing... Competing with the virus for the binding site to our cells.

I decided to do an episode on the light and airy (dare I say fluffy) topic of popping corn for the holidays. But first, I discussed something on a more serious note. I ran across some information on vitamin D as it relates to Covid 19. The first article that I read through came from the journal Science and it can be found here. 

The second article is a PubMed article published by NIH. That article can be found here. Both of these articles suggest that people with Covid 19 who were on ventilators or died were deficient in Vitamin D. I plan to look into this further for my next episode. 

As for the popcorn links, here is an article on the different varieties of popcorn, if you're interested. And Eden Brothers puts out varieties for sale.

As most of us who sit through TV commercials are aware, any medications we are prescribed come with both benefits and possible risks. And the risk of side effects will go up when the dose goes up.

But how are these clinical drug trials put together and who decides whether or not the risk is acceptable? Today I tell you a story of the Lopid clinical study that I was involved in as a Registered Dietitian.

But first, I refer you to a layperson's article on possible side effects of Lopid, also called gemfibrozil. You can find the article here.

This Journal of the American Medical Association article discussed the benefit/risk ratio in more detail.

This FDA report gives a detailed analysis of possible side effects of taking Lopid or Clofibrate and concludes that the benefits do not outweigh the risks. The risks include gallbladder disease, gallstones, pancreatitis, and even cancer.

In this later report of a rat study with higher doses, there was a significantly higher incidence of liver tumors in these treated rats. 

As always, if you have any questions or would like to suggest topics for future episodes, feel free to contact me on my website contact page, Healing Outside the Box.

Today I am flapping my gums about the use of statins over the past 50 years. First, I give you a little background about what your cholesterol numbers mean, how they may affect your risk factors for heart disease and stroke, and how these statins actually work. Then I delve into the sensitive territory about whether or not dietary changes can do everything that these medications do.

I discuss an article from NIH that gets into detail about the benefits and risks of the different statins. If you want to read further, you can access that here.

One of the possible side effects of statins is irritability or anxiety. People who suffer from these conditions (which can be almost anyone over the past two years) can read more about this side effect in this article.

I want to hear from you! Feel free to email me a question or comment about your own nutrition-related health condition on my website contact page, Healing outside the box.

Have you ever looked at a recipe and thought to yourself: I would like to make this, but I don't like brussels sprouts, or I can't eat wheat flour? This week I go over how we can go about substituting an ingredient, or cooking technique, or a lower fat substitution, without ruining the recipe.

But first, I bring to your attention a couple of great videos on youtube. The first is a Ted talk by Ron Finley, the guy they call the guerrilla gardener. It is a great video if you looking for some general inspiration. The second Ted talk is by Jamie Oliver who encourages us not to give up on childhood obesity and the suffering that it causes to our nation's children.

I also update you on the trial of Dwayne Johnson. Mr. Johnson is suing Monsanto because he was told to spray roundup on schoolyards to kill dandelions and now has non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Read the article on the trial here.

As always, if you have any questions about replacing ingredients with healthier alternatives, feel free to email me on my contact page or comment in the comments section.

I am always looking for new ideas for future episodes. If you want to make suggestions, feel free to email me on my contact page. I look forward to hearing from you!

I recently came across an article in the New York Times magazine that talked about the sciencey details about why we burn extra calories. So I thought I would talk about examples that would clear up any confusion about the science.
That article from the New York Times can be found here.

There is a broader article in the journal Science that the NYT article was based on. You can read more detailed articles noted at the end if you subscribe to the journal Science. 

If you are interested in nutrition counseling or general Health and Wellness coaching, feel free to visit my Healing Outside the Box website and check out the different packages available.  

It is a common belief that the obstacle keeping us from achieving our wellness goals is either a lack of time or money. But when it comes to cooking healthy meals from scratch at home, we may want to consider confidence and priority setting as possible obstacles as well.  The reality is that we can actually save money and possibly time by planning ahead. Then it is only a matter of making it a priority to cook healthy at home and, like everything else, gaining confidence by practicing and getting better. In this episode, I show you how.

I recently came across this article from the Journal of the American Medical Association. It basically says that if you supplement money given to food stamp (SNAP) recipients with programs like healthy cooking classes, the nutritional quality and time spent making home-cooked meals increased significantly. All the numbers improved, folks. Weight decreased, blood sugar decreased, blood pressure decreased, and even moods improved.

Sounds like a magic pill to me. The link to the JAMA article can be found here.

During this episode, I discuss cooking an aromatic dish called coconut chicken curry. The recipe is below:

Coconut Chicken Curry

For a vegetarian version of this dish, swap a 15 oz. can drained, low sodium chickpeas for the chicken. You can alternatively substitute with cashews or peanuts. You can also add ½ teaspoon of garam marsala or cumin if you desire even more aromatics.

Ingredients:

½ - ¾ lb. split chicken breast, (2)
1 tsp. salt

1 onion, chopped or diced
2 Tbs. canola oil

2 cloves fresh garlic

1 cup water or organic broth
1 Tbs. curry powder

1 teaspoon turmeric

6-8 small red potatoes, cut in half
2 fresh tomatoes, chopped
2 large carrots, peeled and sliced
½ fresh green pepper, sliced into strips

5-6 fresh basil leaves

1 large or 2 small bay leaves
1 cup coconut milk

Directions:
• Sauté the onion in the oil for 3-5 minutes. You can brown the chicken at this step and then move to a plate. Add garlic and sauté only another 60 seconds. Add a cup of filtered water or organic broth. If your broth is not low sodium, you may want to omit or reduce the salt.
• Stir in the curry powder/turmeric and cook for 1 minute.
• Add the tomatoes, carrots, potatoes. Cover and simmer until carrots, pepper, potatoes are tender, to your liking, about 8-10 minutes.
• Stir in coconut milk. Add the chicken to the skillet and gently simmer until the meat is cooked through, about 10 minutes.

If you would like me to record your own personal video on how to make a healthy version of your favorite meal, just click the link here.  I offer cooking instructional videos as an à la carte package or as part of the gold package with eight wellness coaching sessions.

As always, if you have any questions or suggestions for future episodes, feel free to email me on my contact page, at Healing Outside the Box.

It's common knowledge that fiber is good for us, but what does it do, and how does it improve our cholesterol levels? Today I will journey through our gastrointestinal tract to answer these questions.

The American Heart Association, along with the NIH, published its annual report on the stats for heart attacks and strokes as relates to diet, exercise, and other lifestyle factors. Their lengthy report can be found here.  

This Cleveland Clinic article gets into specifics about soluble versus insoluble fiber in the importance of both types of fiber.

Fiber feeds our gut microorganisms, and this has been a frequent topic of mine. You may want to listen to episode 223  and episode 229 if you'd like to take control of your gut microorganisms.

Feel free to contact me on my website contact page, which is Healing outside the box.

When you see a study that claims that smoking can cause cancer, have you ever wondered how they could get laboratory rats to puff on those cigarettes? When you hear that eating a lot of carrots will turn your skin orange, have you ever wondered what sucker figured that out the hard way? Well, wonder no more because today we are talking about diet and nutrition studies. Or more specifically, what works and what doesn't.

But first, last week I discussed eating tips to slow down climate change and I wanted to add a reference. There is a webcast called "menus of change" and it can be found here. There's also a great documentary called "the need to grow" that tackles this subject beautifully.
As for today's topic, there is a summing-up article that does a good job describing the different factors involved in determining a valid research claim. That article can be found here.
As always, if you have any questions about the episode or would like to hire yourself a nutritionist or wellness coach, feel free to get in touch with me on my website contact page, which can be found here.