Is There Any Corn in Corned Beef and Cabbage?

The Irish staple refers to a beef roast that has been “brined” and then flavored with spices. The brining, or soaking in salt water, makes a tougher cut of meat more tender. Then the corned beef is slow cooked with moist heat and served with healthy cabbage for an easy and delicious change from other protein/vegetable dinners. Here is a recipe. http://culinaryarts.about.com/od/beefporkothermeats/r/Corned-Beef-And-Cabbage.htm

Of course, I don’t recommend green beer or an excess of Irish whiskey to wash it down! The tradition of green tinted beer dates back to 1914, and blueing, used to whiten laundry, was the source dye. Chicago and New York City are awash in green beer on March 17. Dogfish Head Brewery makes a green beer naturally tinted with algae, so there is an alternative. http://www.kegerators.com/blog/2009/01/06/green-beer/

If green beer is not your cup of tea, here are some good choices to celebrate the day when everyone is a bit Irish. http://www.foxnews.com/health/2015/03/14/5-healthy-green-treats-for-st-patricks-day/

And how about the food we most associate with Ireland, the potato? Although high in carbs, potatoes do have nutritional value. They contain more potassium than  bananas, Vitamin C, iron and other trace minerals, as well as fiber. Potatoes originated in South America, and were brought back to Europe by Spanish Conquistadores. Potatoes grew well in the rocky soil of Ireland. For Irish peasant farmers of the 1800’s, potatoes provided 80% of their daily calories. The Great Famine that occurred when the potato crops failed caused one million deaths among the Irish and is largely responsible for the great Irish immigration to the U.S. Caused by a fungus, the blight started in Mexico and spread to Europe. http://www.history.com/news/after-168-years-potato-famine-mystery-solved

Who can resist the comfort of mashed potatoes or one of the hundreds of other delicious ways to prepare potatoes, from scalloped to baked.  The problem with French Fries is really the trans-fat and rancid oil more than the potato. If you are trying to lose weight, go easy on the potatoes. Yams and Sweet Potatoes are better choices.

One of my favorite Irish foods is soda bread. During a wonderful road trip in Ireland, we stopped in villages we passed to sample the local Irish bread, cheese, and butter. We hardly ate in restaurants because the bread and cheese was better! Not exactly a low-carb holiday, but delicious. You can buy Irish Kerrygold butter in most grocery stores. They say that Irish cows are the most contented in the world, and when you see the color of the Irish grass they graze on, you can understand why. There are shades of green that only exist in Ireland. And check out a gluten-free Irish soda bread recipe here. http://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2015/03/13/gluten-free-irish-soda-bread-muffins/

If I sound fond of the Irish, blame it on my parents. My mother was a Lehan and her grandparents met on the boat from Ireland and married in New York. My dad’s family was Irish/English. I have kissed the Blarney Stone!

So, for St. Patrick’s Day I wish you all Sláinte mhaith which means “good health”  (pronounced Slawn-cha Wa.) Don’t forget to wear green, or you just might get pinched!

Is Eating Organic Food a Mental Disorder?

“Orthoexic” is the newly coined term for people who are picky about what they eat and insist, for health reasons, on eliminating certain foods, or consuming a certain quality of food, such as food free of gluten, dairy, genetic modification, pesticides and chemicals. http://www.naturalnews.com/048886_orthorexia_nervosa_healthy_food_brain_disorder.html

So, following this reasoning, people with Celiac Disease-extreme allergy to gluten- and people who are lactose intolerant, actually have a mental disorder. Adele Davis, Dr. Oz, Gwyneth Paltrow, and just about everyone who shops at Whole Foods can all be diagnosed as mentally ill.

This is pretty hard to swallow, if you will pardon the pun. Makes me wonder if Big Agribusiness is pushing this agenda. Who else stands to benefit if people are like sheep and eat the Standard American Diet (SAD)- full of toxins and deficient in nutrients? Big Medicine and Big Pharma also benefit, because the American diet produces more sick people. This is not just theory. In the U.S. we spend more money on health care, but have the worst outcomes in the developed world. http://time.com/2888403/u-s-health-care-ranked-worst-in-the-developed-world/

Does focusing on eating “clean” ever get out of hand? Sure. Very occasionally I see patients who are afraid to eat anything because nothing is healthy or pure enough. Fear is probably more detrimental to your health than anything that could lurk in your food.

However, when you insist on a high quality diet, you are asserting your right to live as you dictate, not as big money interests want to sell to you for their profit. And you may be asserting your right to live at all, given the rate of obesity, heart disease and cancer which plagues as at epidemic proportions. In fact, it may be more American to insist on healthy food. "Was the government to prescribe to us our medicine and diet, our bodies would be in such keeping as our souls are now."
--Thomas Jefferson: Notes on the State of Virginia: Query XVII: Religion, 1781 

Thomas Jefferson grew 18-24 varieties of apples at his estate in Virginia, and by his own accounts, he was a man who enjoyed the fruits of the land. http://www.monticello.org/site/house-and-gardens/royal-family-our-democratic-fruit-thomas-jeffersons-favorite-apples

You are also asserting your right to eat food that has more flavor and enjoyment. Commercial foods often seems flavorless, despite the size and color of produce in the grocery stores. If you choose substance over style, that makes you a wise consumer.

Advocating for your own well-being, and that of your family, would indicate positive mental health to me. Making responsible choices in a sea of confusing marketing  and philosophical messages also indicates positive mental health.

There is always a point where extremism becomes mainstream, when enough people start standing up and demanding a change. It may be that enough people are now demanding organic and unmodified foods that the big money interests are becoming concerned.

Let’s push them harder so that every single family can have the choice of real food instead of chemicals, and experience the benefits of a healthy body, supported by actual Nature-made nutrition.

If you have any confusion about what food is real and beneficial for your body, let us know. Part of our mission is to inform you, so you can be you own health advocate. The term “Doctor” originally meant “Teacher” in Greek.  If you have missed any of my other blogs about optimum health and nutrition, they are all posted in the archives of my website at www.annedunev.com

Should Knees and Hips Last a Lifetime?

A few years ago I attended my ex-husband’s reunion party for Vietnam Veterans and their wives. Out of all the couples there, my ex and I were the only ones who had not had a knee or hip replacement. We were also the only people with weight in normal range.

Many of my patients have had hip or knee replacements or are now having difficulty severe enough so that their medical doctors are talking about it. How did we reach this point where our own hips and knees don’t last a lifetime?

Cartilage does not just “wear out”. Like everything else in the body, new stuff is made on a regular basis. So, the question becomes what are some people lacking to make new cartilage and why do some people have too much wear and tear?

For a pro athlete, it may be understandable that such a high demand on their joints, plus traumatic injury, might cause some long-term problems. But most of us are not working out that hard! In fact, lack of exercise may be one of the problems, or at least lack of the proper type of exercise.

Here are some things you can do to protect your joints so that you can keep them working for your entire lifetime.

1)   Move around.  The new data on exercise is indicating that is more important to exercise a few times a day instead of going to the gym and then sitting all day at a desk, in a car, or on a couch. Maybe every office should have a jogging track, mini trampolines, or workout stations. At least try to take a walk at lunchtime. One of my patients told me that she tries to change straight into walking shoes after work and head out for a walk. Of course, you may have to organize dinner around this, but putting off exercise for last often means skipping it.  Your joints need the lubrication of movement.

2)   Don’t go over your ideal weight and lose weight if you are more than ten pounds over your ideal weight. Hip to waist ratio is the big key. Your waist should be smaller than your hips-at any age. It is not hard to understand that carrying around extra pounds puts a burden on joints.

3)   Get your adrenals checked. Adrenal glands make hormones that hold the structural integrity of the body, and help muscles to be strong. Low back pain is a sign of adrenal fatigue.

4)   Wear correct footwear. Knees are very dependent on the foot, which has 27 small bones. If the foot bones are out of place, that can put a lot of pressure on the knee, just as a building will not be structurally sound if the foundation is not stable. Self-treatment with orthotics is not a good idea. Get your feet checked out by a professional like myself, or your chiropractor who understands how to assess structure. I use wonderful orthotics that are not at all expensive, and are very thin, soft and flexible.

5)   Check out “Pain Free” by Peter Egoscue for special exercises for joints. There are two Egoscue Centers where you can get personalized programs for joint pain relief. Or see a Physical Therapist or Chiropractor. Take Yoga or Pilates or Tai Chi or dance classes. Starting a lifetime of proper movement may give you back the great pleasure of flexible and pain-free movement later in life.

6)   Curcumin or Tumeric has been shown to inhibit cartilage degeneration. http://science.naturalnews.com/C/Curcumin_and_cartilage.html There are dietary sources. http://www.livestrong.com/article/142078-foods-with-curcumin/ You can also supplement. We have a Boswelia complex and another herbal complex called Vitanox that both include Curcumin. Ginger is anti-inflammatory for joint health, also. And good fish oil will help to protect against or reduce inflammation.

Have you noticed all the commercials that direct our attention to having enough money in retirement? Perhaps the only thing worse than running out of money is running out of health. All the money in the world will not make up for chronic pain or debilitating illness.  The human body was designed to move. Look how flexible our skeleton is and how beautifully it can move. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kuYGKVa4t4

Think of all the joy of movement in your life. Dancing, running, skipping, walking. When a baby takes its first step, the whole world opens up. I want to be able to dance until my last breath in this body. All it takes is to keep on dancing, with a few stretches in between. I believe our hips and  knees were made for a lifetime of moving to the beat.

Love and Romance for Valentine's Day

You may have heard that sex is 90% between your ears, but sex hormones are made in the little glands above your kidneys called the adrenals. When adrenals are tired or you are stressed, the adrenals make cortisol, instead of testosterone. And testosterone is the main hormone governing libido or sex drive men. For women[i] the libido is also affected by levels of testosterone.

Juggling careers, kids, family and social lives can make finding the time and energy for romance a big challenge. Judging from the number of patients who mention this as an issue, both sexes and all ages can suffer from lack of interest. Both men and women describe a lack of shared time and intimacy with their partners as a problem for creating romance. So, you might say that sex starts at hello, and is fostered by giving your partner the attention and interest they need. But even when relationships are strong, the physical expression may be elusive.  Addressing the  physical/hormonal component can provide a remedy.[ii]

So, if you are looking to rekindle fires for this and future Valentine’s Day, here are a few pointers.  First, keep your weight in normal range. Excess pounds mean excess estrogen for both men and women.[iii]

Second, eat plenty of healthy fats and protein and limit sugar and excess carbs. Blood sugar issues can interfere with blood flow. And a junk food diet can make you feel lethargic and bloated.

Third, get your adrenal hormone levels checked. If excess cortisol is a problem, reduce your stress. Moderate exercise, like walking, is one of the best ways to reduce stress. If you need more DHEA or Testosterone, consider adrenal supplementation.

Fourth, keep alcohol, drugs and medication to a minimum. More than a little can numb your responses, rather than enhance them. Herbal medicine can work better than alcohol or drugs to relax you, without impairing your liver or your sexual response.

Fifth, get enough sleep. Spend more time sleeping between the sheets, in order to enjoy more romance between the sheets.

Notice how all these factors go together. More sleep, better eating habits, moderate exercise, weight loss and less stress are all part of the recipe for more love.

I wish you all Happiness and Romance for Valentine’s Day. Lucas and I will be joining some of our family in Napa, so the office will be closed on Friday. If you need supplements for this Valentine weekend, let us know.

[i] http://www.webmd.com/sexual-conditions/news/20030626/testosterone-increases-libido-in-women

[ii] http://www.webmd.com/sexual-conditions/ss/slideshow-sex-drive-killers

[iii] http://health.howstuffworks.com/sexual-health/male-reproductive-system/testosterone-and-estrogen-balance-in-men.htm