Organic Food - not just for white folksLaDonna Redmond got her business inspiration in her own neighborhood of Austin, on Chicago's West Side. She noticed that you could buy all sorts of items there, but could not find even an organic tomato. "Folks say black people won't eat organic food - that all we want to eat is Cheetos," she says. Such ridiculous stereotyping keeps marketing and distribution of organic and other healthy foods away from black communities. So Redmond decided to correct the problem herself. She launched a farmer's market in her inner-city neighborhood to bring in fresh organic produce. Having only one supermarket and dozens of fast food and processed food outlets serving 117,000 residents, there was plenty of room for a better source of food in Austin. "We need to get folks the information to make a choice," she says. "Eating is a political act." Now on Saturdays during the summer an elementary school playground becomes the scene of stands selling okra, collards, turnips and other produce grown by African-American farmers in Kankakee County, south of Chicago. The Redmond family also started growing vegetables in their own backyard, which has now expanded to a working farm on six vacant lots. Last year they grew 40,000 pounds of produce. As a result, five Chicago universities have teamed up with Redmond's non-profit group, the Institute for Community Resource Development, under a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to study the food needs of the Austin community. They have already begun salad bars and nutrition classes in neighborhood schools, and plans are underway to build a large food co-op. Trick yourself into drinking more waterHow many times a year to you get browbeaten about not drinking enough water? Worst part is, those dreary scolds are right. You get so busy that you don't get around to drinking those eight to ten glasses of water a day. Here's how you can trick yourself into drinking more water. Spike it with substantial lemon. This means not just the demure lemon slice floating on top of the glass like you get in restaurants. It means cutting a good size 3 inch by 1 inch wedge of fresh lemon, squeezing it into your water, then throwing the rind in your water for good measure. The way it works is the lemon is not only sour, but also astringent. This has a slight drying effect on the tongue. So the tongue, that same spoiled brat that has been known to demand unhealthy food, now feels dry, and demands . . . more water! Diluting the juice of a hefty lemon wedge in a 16-ounce glass of water is enough to produce the drying effect necessary to motivate continued drinking. However, the sourness of the lemon is diluted enough by the water not to create an overwhelming lip-puckering sensation of sourness. Just don't add sugar, of course. Because if you do, you run into a host of well documented problems:
Have you ever sought a physician who learned the following in medical school:
Look no further: the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians www.naturopathic.org |
Idaho licenses Naturopathic PhysiciansBreaking news on April 8, 2005 is that the Idaho House of Representatives has just unanimously approved, 60-0, the licensing of naturopathic physicians to practice throughout that state. Their Senate approved the bill, SB 1158, by 34 to 1. The bill includes a full scope of practice for naturopathic doctors. Further details will be available after the governor signs the bill into law, which is expected within the next few days. Now over 1.3 million more people will be allowed the freedom to choose their own kind of physician. Great job, Idaho! Another reason to eat fruits and vegetables!Pancreatic cancer is one of the most deadly diseases. Very low rates of remission and high mortality leave less than 5 percent of patients still alive five years after their initial diagnosis. Now Dr. Parviz Ghadirian of the University of Montreal has co-authored a study showing that fruits and vegetables, specifically broccoli and cauliflower, are correlated with a lower risk of pancreatic cancer. The findings were particularly dramatic in male patients. Men who consumed the highest amounts of fruits and vegetables were only half as likely to develop pancreatic cancer as those having the lowest intakes. Naturopathic physicians recommend cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli and cauliflower, to their patients, in part because of their high anti-oxidant content, particularly Vitamin C. Anti-oxidants are one of the strongest known defenses against cancer. Cruciferous vegetables also contain Indole-3 carbinol, which is important for the detoxification of common pollutants, household chemicals and drugs. Indole-3 carbinol has been shown to reverse early stage cervical cancers. Cruciferous vegetables have previously been shown advantageous in lung, colon and prostate cancers as well as non-Hodgkins lymphomas. Isothiocyanates, found in cruciferous vegetables are thought to also have anti-cancer properties. See related article: Cancer-Conscious? Eat Your Veggies by Matt Brignall (ND). Lupin Flour Can Cause Peanut Like Allergic ReactionsIndividuals who suffer allergic reaction to peanuts may suffer a similar reaction to lupin flour, which is slowly appearing as an addition to flour in many countries. In the April 9th edition of the Lancet Dr. Michael Radcliffe and several associates, Royal Free Hospital in London, reported the case of a 25-year-old woman who has a known reaction to peanuts. After eating a meal, which included onion rings, the woman suffered severe anaphylactic shock, requiring adrenaline. The woman in question was already known to be allergic to peanuts. Further tests revealed that her reaction was in response to lupin flour - one of the ingredients that had been used in the batter to make the onion rings. Historically lupin flour has been used as a component in animal feed. With-in the last 6-8 years lupin flour, which is made from the crushed seeds on the lupin, has slowly started appearing as an inexpensive component to flour - particularly in Europe. The article concludes that people with peanut allergy may have a disposition to lupin allergy and should avoid products containing lupin until they can be tested for this allergy. |