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Welcome to:
"My
Health Corner!"
How
do we show our love? Do we simply tell someone we
love them? Or is it mostly through our actions that
people discern that we love them? Is it through hugging?
Kissing? Touching? Small little reminder notes? Notes
of affection? Through food and Cooking?
In my Italian family, food was and still is love.
Cooking delicious food and sharing it with the family
was one of my mom’s most favorite pastimes.
At least once a week and certainly on holidays food
provided that special time for my family to commune
for an hour or two away from our busy schedules to
share family time. Never mind that it probably took
my mom half a day to shop for and another half a day
to cook what we would all eat in an hour; she loved
the people that cooking brought to her table. We all
knew it through the delicious taste of her food. Not
only was the food delicious but the portions were
huge. There was always room for seconds and leftovers
for the next 2 days. This is because in true Italian
style it is completely embarrassing to run out of
food or not have enough for seconds should someone
happen to request them. Since my mom never knew exactly
how many extended family members, friends, or neighborhood
kids were coming for dinner there was always more
than enough.
In our culture today, food continues to be used as
an expression of affection. Food represents families
coming together, holidays, and the expression of love
through sweet treats and desserts. Often it's the
hidden sugars within the food or the sugary treats
that follow the food that cause us the most trouble.
The holidays support this statement the most with
the baking frenzy that erupts beginning with Thanksgiving
and Christmas; Valentines Day and chocolate; Easter
and candy. In the last few decades our primitive brains
have been equating love with sugar and not the cream
of broccoli/cauliflower dish that mom was sweating
over for and hour. Our children don’t consider
a homemade meal to be an expression of love as much
as the trip to get frozen yogurt is. This begins the
problem that has erupted into a Pre-Diabetes Epidemic.
With
Much Respect,
Dr.
Andrea Purcell, N.D.
Costa Mesa, CA 92627
Telephone (949)
722-6797 |
The
Bitter-Sweet Truth about Diabetes
Pre-Diabetes is a condition I commonly diagnose within
the following parameters:
*A fasting blood sugar above 99;
*Elevated Triglycerides and LDL Cholesterol;
*Elevated fasting insulin.
In addition to these blood levels a person may have
abdominal weight gain or be over weight.
If left untreated, Pre-Diabetes will become Type II
Diabetes over time. Pre-Diabetes is not an official
diagnosis but it should be. Pre-Diabetes is typically
the time in between when the conventional doctor will
say something like this, “Well, the blood sugar
is elevated or borderline but we will wait and see.
We will draw blood next time or next year at the annual
physical.”
When a person is finally diagnosed with Type II Diabetes
they are put on medication for life and are at risk
for heart disease, as well as high blood pressure,
heart attack and stroke. Type II Diabetics are also
at an increased risk of eye and kidney disease, and
have decreased wound healing capabilities. The diagnosis
of Type II Diabetes increased 13.5% from 2005 to 2007
and continues to increase steadily.
Pre-Diabetes is a completely reversible condition.
It can be totally eliminated with lifestyle and dietary
changes. It is much easier to reverse Pre-Diabetes
than it is to reverse Diabetes. When someone’s
body is in a Pre-Diabetes state it is trying to regulate
itself so that True Type II Diabetes does not develop.
When we employ natural medicine at this crucial juncture
and support the body the response is immediate. Cholesterol
and Triglyceride levels will self-correct in as little
as 4 weeks.
In
our culture food is more readily available than it
has ever been. Prepared foods, baked goods, and certainly
processed food greets us wherever we go. There are
quick marts on every corner, chips and candy to grab
and go, baked goods in every coffee shop. Airlines
are serving high carbohydrate sugar snacks in place
of food. Even Staples has a variety of chips and candy
that is easy to access while you are buying your office
supplies. It has become acceptable to have sugar in
front of us all day long.
Foods
that are quick, easy, and processed are “crutch
foods”. I use this term to describe foods that
we use to crutch us along until we can find the time
and energy to prepare real food for ourselves. All
snacks fall into this category. It just depends on
the type of snack we choose, whether it contains sugar
or not. As a rule, if a snack is higher in carbohydrates
and sugar the less nutritional value it has. In the
last 10 years sugar beverages and coffees have come
into our consciousness and for those unwilling to
spend $5 at Starbucks, McDonalds has just come out
with a line of sugar filled coffee beverages at half
the price. Not only does it become harder to resist
what enters your vision no less than 10 times per
day, but when we make these choices the effect it
has on our physical bodies is unmistakable:
• Elevated triglycerides, cholesterol, blood
sugar, and insulin levels in our blood;
• Abdominal weight gain and obesity, which leads
to high blood pressure and sleep apnea;
• Fatigue and lethargy from carrying around
the excess weight which is equivalent, on average,
to a 20 pound Thanksgiving turkey.
How many of us treat ourselves to a Starbucks drink
daily, or a diet coke, or frozen yogurt, or chips
and salsa, or Twizzlers, or chocolate covered espresso
beans, or eat fruit in place of vegetables, or have
a muffin, cookie, brownie, croissant, or drink at
least two sugar beverages per day? Sugar comes in
many forms; real cane sugar or sucrose, natural fruit
sugar or fructose, fake sugars such as aspartame,
Splenda, acesulfame potassium, perverted sugars such
as high fructose corn syrup, and sugar alcohols such
as mannitol, sorbitol and xylitol. It is common for
processed foods to have anywhere between one and five
different types of sugar. My patient recently brought
in a box of Fresh and Easy granola bars where I counted
5 different types of sweetener.
The two types of natural sweetener that I do support
are stevia and agave syrup. Both of these are beneficial
for health, and do not adversely affect blood sugars.
My goal with this Ezine is to raise the awareness
of the presence of sugar in the lives of the people
we love including ourselves. Where are we substituting
sugar in place of real, whole, nutritious food and
how is that impacting our health? What are our “crutch”
foods? How do we feel? Are we happy with our abdominal
weight? Are we a candidate for Pre-Diabetes? If so,
every single one of us has the ability to reverse
that process and reclaim our health.
Eating is something we have the ability to control
3 to 5 times per day. The choices we make on a daily
basis affect how we look, think, and feel; and how
we feed our families. This affects the health of our
current population and the health of future generations.
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| Salsa:
Refreshing, Nutritious, and Guilt Free
CANTALOUPE
SALSA
Enjoy
this refreshing salsa with grilled shrimp.
1/2
large ripe cantaloupe, seeded and peeled
1/2 cup diced cucumber, seeded and cubed
1/4 cup finely sliced green onions (white and light
green parts only)
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice plus 2 teaspoons of
grated zest
1 tablespoon of fresh Orange Juice
1 to 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced
Salt
Chop
canteloupe into very small cubes. Combine with remaining
ingredients and season with salt. Chill.
MANGO
MANIA SALSA
Add
some zip to roasted chicken or fish such as salmon,
swordfish, or snapper by topping them with this tropical
salsa.
1
Large Mango, peeled, seeded, and diced
1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
1/4 cup minced red onion
1/2 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
Salt
Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl. Lightly
season with salt and mix well. Chill before serving.
APPLE PEAR SALSA
This orchard fruit combo is perfect with roasted
chicken.
2 medium, firm but ripe Bosc or Bartlett pears
1 medium sweet/tart apple like Granny Smith or Cortland
1/3 cup finely diced red onion
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint or cilantro
1/4 cup fresh lime or lemon juice
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
2 tablespoons Agave
Pinch of salt
Peel, core, and dice the pears and apple. Combine
with remaining ingredients. Chill.
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