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This month’s Healthy Diet Podcast is about news on organic leafy greens and the California raw almonds update. Show notes: $20 million, 4 year organic produce study coordinated by European Union. Found Up to 40% more antioxidants and mineral content higher. Even milk from organically raised cows had up to 90% more antioxidants than conventional milk. USDA issued an advanced notice of proposed rule making recently, trying to establish uniform growing practices to protect consumer health against ecoli bacteria. Farmers in California asked to take extreme measures that indirectly eliminate biodiversity on farms by destroying hedgerows around farms. Natural vegetation surrounding farm fields actually has many benefits for organic farmers. It’s the bagged leafy greens produced by manufacturing type farms that typically have the ecoli problems. Visit the Cornucopia Institute for more info on these regulations. Unbagged leafy greens have fewer problems and are more likely to come from smaller farms. The prevalence of the virulent E. coli 0157 in our food system is due to the animal industry being allowed to raise cattle in stressful environments on unnatural diets. A grass diet for cattle vs a grain diet reduces ecoli in the stomachs. Government is burdening the small farmers instead of dealing with the root issue. Almond farmers who sell 100 Lbs a day are required to pasteurize (aka kill) their almonds. Are these regulations really about protecting consumer health when the regulations result in a decrease in nutritional value? Almond framers using propylene oxide to pasteurize almonds is raising concern for consumers. Propylene oxide is a gas used for fumigation as part of the pasteurization process. Banned by European Union and Canada, the EPA identified it as a probable human carcinogen. There is a war out there on our health and it begins with the farmer and we urge you to continue to support local and organic farmers. Alan Tags: organic, leafy greens, california almonds, propylene oxide, antioxidants

Today’s Healthy Diet Podcast is about brain health and how good brain food plays an important role in taking care of your head. Show notes: Special announcement: Yahoo podcasts is shutting down on Oct 31st. Subscribe at iTunes, Podcast Pickle or Podnova. See the links in the sidebar to the left. If our brain is not functioning well, you are not going to function well. People ignore their brain, but the brain is involved in everything you do. Dr. Amen, says, “brain controls mood, personality, intelligence and adaptability. It experiences our hopes, dreams, sorrows, pains – it is involved in everything you do…influences how you get along with others, how you think, feel and act.” Diet is the number one way to care for your brain. Central Alternative Charter School in Appleton, WI removed all processed foods from students diets. They provided only fresh foods, water and 100% fruit juices. The project resulted in major positive changes in behavior and learning. To listen to the podcast on CACS here. Amen says: “food is a drug” that has powerful effect on the brain. Diet exercise are the cornerstone’s of Amen’s programs for anxiety depression. Amen’s dietary recommendations for good brain health: Plenty of water, adequate protein, complex carbohydrates and omega 3 fatty acids. More information on Dr. Amen can be found on his website. No podcast next week because we will be on vacation. Alan Tags: brain food, brain health, itunes, processed foods, dr amen

Today s Healthy Diet Podcast is a continuation of our most recent post about Restless Leg Syndrome. Show notes: Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) affects 12 million people in US. RLS is called a neurological disorder by some and a sleep disorder by others. Symptoms of RLS include: unpleasant feelings or sensations in the legs. Feelings described as creeping, crawling, tingling, pulling, or painful. Some have no odd feelings but have irresistible urge to move their legs. Generally symptoms come on at night and cause insomnia. Periodic Limb Movement of Sleep affects whole body with jerking every 10-60 sec. Conventional medical treatment uses same medication used for Parkinson’s disease and seizures. Requip, according to GlaxoSmithKline’s insert, may cause pathological gambling and increased libido including hypersexuality. Alan does not recommend using this drug if you are going to Las Vegas. Natural treatments use exercise, hot baths, massage, heating pads or ice packs. Natural treatments also may include supplements such as folate and magnesium. Jean has found relief from RLS by: Not eating several hours before bed time. Exercising her legs strenuously through out the day. Not sitting for long periods. Exercising legs and upper body prior to going to bed. Jean uses an essential oil formula which relaxes her legs found at Nature’s Wellness Oils. Jean was very surprised at how well this essential oil formula for RLS worked. Alan Tags: restless legs syndrome, rls, essential oils, requip, glaxosmithkline

Today’s Healthy Diet Podcast is about our new veggie burger recipe. Show notes: Today we share our newest dehydrator recipe - veggie burgers. It’s difficult to find veggie burgers without ingredients like soy protein isolate, natural flavorings, etc. In nutritional value, dehydrates are next best thing to raw. These veggie burgers have all the nutritional value preserved in the dehydration process. This makes them superior to any processed, frozen and cooked veggie burger from the store. The main ingredients in this recipe are sprouted wheat, celery, onion, sunflower seeds, walnuts, carrots. Blend in the Vita-Mix blender on low. Form into patties on teflex sheets. Dehydrate for 3-4 hours. The first hour is on high, then reduce the temperature to 105. These veggie burgers are great on their own or with a side of coleslaw. We ate them with Food for Life brand sprouted wheat rolls. The trick to dehydrating is planning ahead when you have to sprout/soak seeds/nuts. These veggie burgers were fantastic warmed in the dehydrator the next day. We’ve been hearing about a great site called www.goneraw.com. One of our listeners recommends their Rich Cheddar Sauce. Visit the veggie burger recipe at ezHealthyDiet.com Alan Tags: veggie burger recipe, veggie burgers, excalibur dehydrator, natural flavorings, sprouted wheat

Today’s Healthy Diet Podcast is about our new healthy corn chip recipe we make in our Excalibur Dehydrator. Show notes: Today we share our newest favorite recipe: homemade corn chips. This corn chip recipe has given us the ability to eat a completely unprocessed diet. Sadly, Corn Chips, aka tortilla chips have been a staple in our diet for some time. By investing in the Excalibur we now have no need for any processed foods. This Recipe was inspired by The Present Moment Café in St Augustine, FL Main ingredients are white corn, flaxseed, almonds, yellow bell pepper, and onion. We make this recipe in our VitaMix blender. Be careful not to spread the batter too thin on the Excalibur Teflex sheets. We are still working on a chip scoring process that is reliable. The recipe assembly time is about 30 minutes. This Corn Chip Recipe makes about 2 trays of chips (using the Excalibur). Price comparison with processed corn chips: One bag of Bearitos is $2.79. Two trays of home made corn chips costs between $3.25-$4.25. It is economical because we eat far fewer chips. We eat fewer chips because the home made corn chips are so nutritionally dense. Plus, the health benefits are worth the extra cost. Almond update: recently the Almond Board of California asked the USDA to delay the mandatory pasteurization of almonds until March 2008. For more information on this ruling to kill all almonds, listen to our Raw Almonds podcast. Don’t forget to share and encourage one another through the interactive portion of our Healthy Diet website. Please share your recipes, health tips and testimonies. Alan Tags: corn chip recipe, vitamix blender, dehydrator, bearitos, raw almonds

This week s Healthy Diet Podcast is all about ezHealthyDiet.com turning into an interactive community website where you can add healthy recipes, healthy living tips and testimonies. Show notes: ezHealthyDiet.com is now interactive! Now our friends and visitors to our website can support one another. With our listeners and visitor’s help we are building a healthy living community. We can support one another by adding your favorite recipes, healthy living tips and testimonies. Because the world around us eats mostly processed foods we need avenues of support. The avenues of support we offer are our Healthy Diet website, this Healthy Diet Podcast (Blog and weekly podcast) and the Healthy Living Nutrition Newsletter. Add your own material by going to www.ezHealthyDiet.com . Click on the share a recipe etc link and follow the directions. Enter into the page a title, the body of the recipe / tip / testimony (up to about 500 words.) You can even add one link back to your website or blog! No knowledge of HTML is necessary. You can even add your own picture to support your recipe, testimony or healthy living tip. We are really excited about people sharing their testimonies, including before and after pictures. There’s also a place to put the author’s name and location information. We promote a mostly raw/living food lifestyle and invite our visitors to promote that as well. We believe it is possible to take charge of our health and avoid the diseases of affluence the western world suffer from. Giving your body nutrition it needs through nutritionally dense, living foods and exercise is the key Share a recipe, testimony or healthy living tip today at ezHealthyDiet.com ! Enter your Healthy Recipe here. Enter your Healthy Living Tips here. Alan Tags: healthy recipes, healthy living, testimonies, community, nutrition

Today’s Healthy Diet Podcast is about our newest recipe, California Miso Soup. Show notes: Jean’s inspiration comes from food magazines, produce shopping and just gazing into the refrigerator. Her newest inspiration: California Miso Soup. Miso is a condiment the Japanese use to flavor food. Miso is made from fermenting and aging soybean and/or rice with a mould called koji. This recipe uses unpasteurized (the best kind) organic mellow white miso by Westbrae. The name for the soup came from Jean’s love of Japanese Miso soup and vegetarian sushi rolls (which she wrongly calls California rolls). The California Miso Soup recipe: start with miso soup base with sliced nori pieces. Add a variety of sliced, diced and spiralized vegetables. We use sweet potato, zucchini, green onions, avocado, and celery. Don’t forget the secret ingredient, half a haas avocado. Season the miso soup recipe with herbamare. It takes about 10 minutes to make and is absolutely delicious. We enjoy this soup with sprouted wheat crackers made in our dehydrator. Check out the Miso Soup recipe on ezHealthyDiet.com Exciting update: Our Healthy Diet website is going interactive! Soon our visitors will be able to add their own recipes, testimonials and health tips to the site. The goal: to create a community of people, helping and supporting one another, in our mutual quests for taking charge of our health. Alan Tags: miso soup recipe, soup base, recipes, health tips

Today’s Healthy Diet Podcast is about our new Excalibur food dehydrator and we share a few of our recipes with you as well. Show notes: A food dehydrator removes the water from the food. The Excalibur circulates thermostatically controlled warm air around food that is laid out in single layers on stacked square trays. Dehydration extends the shell life of perishable foods while conserving the nutritional value. Dehydration is the next best thing to eating raw living food. The key to preserving the enzymes requires a process that keeps food temperature low enough so enzymes aren’t killed and air temperature is high enough to dry the food quickly. We chose the Excalibur because it is used by leading raw foodist experts like Viktoras Kulvinskas, Anne Wigmore, the Hippocrates Health Institute and Hallelujah Acres. We normally hear that food cooked over 118 degrees kills most enzymes. Studies have shown most enzymes don’t die until food temperature is above 145 degrees. Enzymes are more susceptible to damage by heat when food is wet. Once moisture is removed, enzymes become more stable. We are really happy with the crackers we have made in our dehydrator. The corn chips and wheat crackers came out thin and crispy. The Corn chips recipe was adapted from a recipe from Eating Without Heating. The wheat thins crackers were made from sprouted wheat, ground flax seed, soaked sunflower seeds, water, honey and sea salt. The crackers were bursting with flavor and nutrition. Having a good dehydrator has made a world of difference in being able to eat a nutritionally dense diet of mainly living food. Good-bye packaged, processed corn chips! Grab an Excalibur Dehydrator over at eBay. Alan Tags: excalibur dehydrator, dehydrator recipes, sprouted wheat, food dehydration, raw foodist

Today the Healthy Diet podcast is more about osteoporosis and what you can do about it. Show notes: Last week we presented osteoporosis mainly as a women’s disease. Supposedly 58% women 50 and older have low bone mass. National Osteoporosis Foundation: 1/2 women and 1/6 men age 50 + will have osteoporosis related fractures. By the age of 65 or 70 men and women lose bone mass at about the same rate. Diagnosing osteoporosis requires a bone mineral density test. BMD test is and Xray that determines bone bass in different areas of your body. Alan asked his mother’s doctor about Fosamax, a drug designed to counter the effects of osteoporosis. The response was, ”This is in addition to what you can do naturally.” Beware of this new mantra used by drug manufacturers and repeated by your doctors: “Although diet, exercise, and vitamins are important in maintaining your overall (bone, heart etc.) health, these alone may not be enough.” Human nature is such that we find it easier to pop a pill than to eat right and exercise. Stay away from foods that cause calcium loss and thus may lead to bone loss such as soda/caffeine. Jean’s favorite alternatives to caffeinated/decaffeinated tea Ruby Chai by Numi Teas Yellow and Blue (Chamomile, Lavender and corn flowers) by Harney and Son Bottom line take charge of your own health – if you won’t, no one else will Raw Brownie recipe to share from one of our faithful listeners…Tara from Ontario Raw Brownies: 1 c. date paste (or pitted dates and 2tbs water) 1 1/4 c. almond butter 1 1/4 c. organic cocoa/carob powder 1/3 c. raw honey -smush in 9 x 9 glass tray and freeze. How easy is that! Visit our healthy recipes section of or website. Alan Tags: osteoporosis, fosamax, calcium loss, bone density, healthy recipes

Today the Healthy Diet Podacst is about osteoporosis prevention. Who gets it and why and what you can do about preventing osteoporosis. Show notes: Researching Alan’s mother’s medications led us to discover the side effects of Fosamax, a drug used to prevent osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is a weakening of the bone resulting in fractures. We have 1.5 million fractures each year in America – 300k are hip fractures. Bones have cells called osteoblasts and osteoclasts that continually remodel our bones. Osteoblasts build new bone and osteoclasts remove old bone. It’s a natural process. Fosamax kills the osteoclasts, the cells that break down and remove bone. Manufacturer claims this makes bones stronger by preventing bone loss. Fosamax has lot of side effects such as stomach and digestive problems, eye problems and interferes with parathyroid hormone drugs. Also has lawsuits pending for jaw death. Highest bone fracture rates occurs in countries like America, Australia and New Zealand who have high dairy intake. Alaskan Eskimos have very high hip fracture rate – They eat lots of calcium (soft fish bones) but mainly through an animal protein and animal fat diet. Women in India, Japan and Peru, who eat mainly an unrefined, vegetarian diet and consume only 300 mg/day have low rates of bone fractures and osteoporosis. Ways to prevent bone loss naturally are to create an alkaline body system. Avoid foods that create an acid system which causes calcium to leach from bones. Avoid caffeine because it promotes calcium excretion. Avoid animal protein because it causes calcium leaching due to creating an acid body system. Eat lots of fresh fruits and veggies, especially dark leafy green veggies. Get adequate Vitamin D (hormone) because it’s as important to bone health as calcium. Body makes Vitamin D when exposed to adequate sunlight each day. Get Vitamin K (leafy green veggies) which plays a role in bone formation and calcium regulation. Exercise is one of primary ways to prevent osteoporosis. Weight bearing exercise signals the bone to keep building and remodeling. Great article on calcium and milk at Harvard School of Public Health The answer to many health problems is eat healthy (i.e. whole food, largely raw diet) and exercise. Alan Tags: osteoporosis prevention, fosamax, jaw death, bone fractures, raw diet

On today’s Healthy Diet Podcast we ask the question, is it really that expensive to eat healthy? Show notes: The number one reason people don’t eat healthy is because they think it is more expensive that it really is. Jean keeps meticulous records of what we spend and have broken down our food budget to indicate that we spend $2.50 per meal. That includes all the food we eat, snacks included, carrot juice as well. Is the cost of groceries an accurate way to determine the cost of eating healthy? What is the cost when you add in the benefits? Some of the things we don’t spend our money on because we eat healthy – prescription drugs, over the counter medicines, sick time, unscheduled visits to the doctor. We cleaned out our medicine cabinet, a basket, on the podcast. It only had about 5 things in it. We threw out the Preparation H, expired Tylenol PM and Robitussin. The only supplement we take on a regular basis is vitamin B-12 We ate some non vegan food this past Sunday. We were trapped at a church dinner with only bar-b-que to eat. By the grace of God and our diet, fortunately we don’t get sick. How much does being sick cost you and your family? Jean took an antibiotic a few year ago that we believe contributed to some persistent intestinal problems. It killed the good and bad bacteria in her system making it hard for her digestive tract to work as it needed to. When you are talking about eating healthy versus being sick is it really that expensive to eat well? What are your spending priorities? What is the cost of developing heart disease or cancer or diabetes? Take charge of your health by choosing to eat healthy! Check out a couple Vita Mix smoothie recipes we just put up on our Healthy Diet website. Alan LeStourgeon Tags: eating healthy, food budget, prescription drugs, smoothies, carrot juice

Today our healthydiet podcast is about Honey – Is it vegan? We give you the facts and let you decide. A listener challenged us with our referring to some of our recipes as vegan when they have honey as an ingredient. Show notes: The term veganism was developed by Donald Watson founder of Vegan Society of Great Britain. Hardcore vegans avoid using or eating animal products out of reverence for animal life We primarily refer to vegan as a healthy way of eating that avoids all animal products because they have largely been connected with disease. Eating a vegan diet won’t promote health if you are eating refined foods. Science points us to a whole food, largely raw diet for optimal health. So is honey vegan – is it an animal product that we should avoid for health reasons? We found some great info at www.honeybee.org.au Bees are fascinating. Each bee has a job to do – no bees swinging in a hammock. The bee collects flower nectar and places it in his honey pouch Bee brings nectar to bees in hive and deposits nectar into the repository bees. The repository bees move the honey from bee to bee. This process adds enzymes that help remove moisture from the nectar honey. When the honey is the right consistency, bees put honey in storage cells and cap with wax. Bees can carry nearly their weight in nectar payload (most advanced aircraft only carry ¼) Bees are animals called arthropods not anthropods. Honey is a product made by bees. In our opinion, honey is a product bees process, not produce versus the cow who produces milk whether he’s eating grain or grass Bees transform nectar into honey. The nectar is required first. As far as we know, honey is not linked to the disease process like other animal products, particularly those products that are in essence animal meat. Honey has medicinal qualities – antibacterial, healing and absorption of fluid. It takes 17-20 lbs of nectar to make 1 pound of honey. Decide for yourself whether to eat honey, decide on your own philosophy of eating. Science points to importance of eating a whole food diet with lots of raw plant foods. Visit our Healthy Diet website. Alan Tags: honey, vegan, veganism, donald watson, bees, recipes

Today’s Healthy Diet Podcast is about coffee, decaf coffee and caffeine. What’s the verdict? Is it good for you? Are there any health benefits? Show notes: A little of the history of coffee. Coffee is very much a social drink and is found in most cultures. Just check out all the coffee bars around. Coffee was thought to originate in Ethiopia in the Kaffa area where shepherds noticed their goats were getting happy. It became popular in the United States after the War of 1812 when Brittan imposed restrictions on tea imports. There are 2 kinds of coffee beans coffea arabica and coffea robusta. Coffea arabica is the more popular plant and used in most coffees. Coffea robusta has 40-50% more caffeine and is used in some espresso blends. Coffee gets its taste from the roasting process. Some articles tout the benefits of drinking coffee because it may have a few antioxidants in it and help with diabetes and cancers, but by the time you add cream, sugar, syrups and more, any health benefits are probably gone. Negatives of coffee is that it contains acrlyamide a known carcinogen. Both caffeinated and decaf coffee has this ingredient. Decaf coffee isn’t that good because decaffeinating coffee can be done using chemical solvents unless your coffee uses the Swiss water process. The food we eat is the fuel for our bodies so the bottom line is this, how many nutrients are in coffee? Coffee is really a drug, it isn’t a food. We suggest eating the most nutrient dense foods possible and coffee isn’t on that list. Visit the Healthy Recipes section of our web site. Alan Tags: coffee, caffeine, decaf, arabica, coffee beans, acrlyamide

Today’s Healthy Diet Podcast, the 50th podcast by the way, is about preventing diverticulosis and diverticulitis by getting more fiber in your diet. Show notes: We had out cholesterol tested and Jean’s came in at less than 120 and mine was in the high 150’s. Half of people over 60 years of age have diverticulosis and it runs in Jean’s family. Jean’s father died of it. Diverticulosis is a disease of the large intestine that forms pockets in the intestine. When those pockets become infected and inflamed this is diverticulitis. If you have the symptoms of diverticulosis which are bloating, cramping and constipation, please see a health care practitioner. Diverticulitis symptoms are abdominal tenderness, fever, nausea, vomiting and cramping and you need to see a doctor or get to the hospital immediately! The disease develops in people who eat a low fiber diet like in the United States and doesn’t show up in societies that eat a high fiber diet. It seems fairly simple to get to the root of the problem. One of the first books Jean read on health was The Save Your Life Diet that suggested a high fiber diet was good for you. Hospitals scare me because the typical way of treating a disease is a mix of prescription drugs and processed food. Alan’s criteria for going to the hospital – I must be unconscious and in more than one piece. Fiber in whole grains is important because it contains the nutrition and the bulk, the good stuff. Food needs to move through your intestines and colon so you will keep from getting constipated. That’s why we need fiber. What can you do about getting enough fiber? Eat a whole food diet that contains fruits, vegetables, sprouts, seeds, nuts, whole grains, flax seed and more. When we make smoothies with our new Vita Mix you can add the whole seed because the Vita Mix grinds it up. Visit our Healthy Diet website. Alan LeStourgeon Tags: diverticulosis, diverticulitis, cholesterol, fiber, whole food diet

On today’s Healthy Diet Podcast we talk about our new Vita Mix blender and why it’s important to take charge of your health. Show notes: It’s amazing what a hospital thinks is nutritionally sound food with Alan’s mom being sick. It’s a diet of medication and processed foods, yummy! We want to take charge of our health so we bit the bullet and purchased a Vitamix Super 5000 blender. These are the blenders used in Starbucks, Barnes and Noble and many other places. The Vita Mix came with 2 - 8 cup containers and can be used for making smoothies, frozen desserts, chopping vegetables, hot soups, grinding grain, making bread dough and more. Features we like are the way the lid fits. It comes with a tamper that you use to push ingredients into the blades. It’s fast. It has an automatic overload protection so it doesn’t overheat. Making green smoothies in the Vita Mix is great. Other blenders don’t chop the greens fine enough, the Vita Mix turns greens into liquids breaking down the cellular walls. The blades on the Vita Mix rotate from 11 to 240 mph. The variable dial, only on the Super 5000, allows you to adjust the speed of the blades. Tomatoes processed in a Vita Mix yield 3 times more lycopene than a whole tomato does when just chopped. A recipe we’ve made with the Vitamix is tomatillo sauce. Ingredients are 5 tomatillas, 1 small onion, jalapeno slice, 2 teaspoons lime juice or apple cider vinegar and sea salt to taste. Put it in the blender and mix it up. Use it the way you would use any tomato based salsa. The Vita Mix grinds grain superbly. What used to take us 3 to 5 minutes in a grain mill now takes us about 30 seconds. You can even use this blender to cold compost. Grind up your kitchen scraps (vegan only) and you get non weed seed compost for your garden. The Vita Mix can be purchased on eBay, that’s where we got ours. Alan LeStourgeon Tags: vita mix, vitamix, blenders, starbucks, green smoothies, tomatillas

We talk about cooking oils and heart health on this edition of the Healthy Diet Podcast and cover monounsaturated fats like olive oil and omega 3 oils. Show notes: We gave away 5 copies of Dr Esselstyn’s book Prevent And reverse Heart Disease and they went to Victoria from Maine, Bridget from Illinois, Kathy from Louisiana, Meagan from Texas and Sharon from Florida. We cover more of Dr Esselstyn’s simple yet vigorous diet that prevents and reverses heart disease. Dr E’s diet is based on science and research that he did for 12 years and a study he did for 20 years in which he interviewed participants every one to two weeks for 20 years. What foods does Dr Esselstyn say to avoid? Anything with a face or mother even fish with omega 3 oils All dairy All refined grains Nuts All oils, every single drop The verdict is still out on heart healthy oils. Sites the famous Lyon Diet Heart Study where the Mediterranean Diet became famous. Further examination of the study shows that the results may not have had anything to do with the olive oil, it was probably the fruits and veggies. The Mediterranean diet was not proven to arrest or reverse heart disease. The difference between the Mediterranean Diet and the diet of rural Chinese peoples is the lack of oil in the Chinese diet. No fat products may have hidden fat. Serving sizes are small enough that manufacturers can claim they have no fat. We cover a good testimony about a quintuple bypass patient eating heart healthy oils. Diet cheaters run into trouble when they eat high fat snacks. Visit our Healthy Diet web site. Alan LeStourgeon Tags: cooking oils, healthy heart, olive oil, omega 3, mediterranean diet

On this week’s Healthy Diet Podcast, we discuss nutrition and dietary guidelines for having a healthy heart from Dr Esselstyn’s Prevent And Reverse Heart Disease. Show notes: Listen to the end of the podcast to learn how to win a free copy of Prevent And Reverse Heart Disease by Dr Cauldwell B Esselstyn A quick review of past podcasts about Prevent And Reverse Heart Disease. If you have cholesterol below 150 your chances of getting a heart attack are almost zero. C-reactive protein implications in heart disease that causes inflammation of coronary arteries. The American Heart Association’s guidelines on cholesterol aren’t good enough. The level of 200 considered safe may not be that good and can be leading people to heart disease. There are many issues surrounding the quality of our diet and health. The USDA should not be setting dietary guidelines when they are looking out for the dairy, meat and poultry industries. They suggest eating low fat or fat free meats, but there aren’t any fat free meats! Dr Esselstyn’s critique of the USDA’s food guidelines. The kind of diet Dr Esselstyn recommends to prevent and reverse heart disease. Go to our healthy diet web site and contact us about winning one of 5 copies of Prevent And Reverse Heart Disease. (US residents only) You must listen to the podcast to find out how to qualify. Alan LeStourgeon Tags: heart disease, nutrition, cholesterol, usda, c-reactive protein

Welcome back to the Health Diet Podcast. On this week’s show we cover more information on reversing heart disease from Dr Caldwell B Esselstyn’s book Prevent And Reverse Heart Disease. Show notes: There is so much you can do to live a healthier life and avoid the major diseases that kill most people. Getting your cholesterol below 150 will almost insure that you will not ever have a heart attack. Why would people choose to have radical heart surgery instead of eating a healthy plant based diet? The Women’s Health Initiative study showed that low fat diets made no difference in the overall health of women, until you really look closely at the study. The study by the NIH claimed the diet they fed these women was low fat, even though it was comprised of 29% fat. Of course it didn’t work. The dietary guidelines recommended by the FDA claim that a healthy diet can consist of between 20 to 35% fat. If you consistently eat a diet that is 35% fat, it will kill you. Research shows that if you have a lifetime cholesterol below 150, even if you smoke, drink and have high blood pressure, you won’t get heart disease. Moderation kills. Even after one high fat meal your blood flow can be seriously impaired. Try a new fruit and a new vegetable that you’ve never eaten before and let us know how you like it. We just ordered a new VitaMix and we are so excited to get it because we’ve been through 3 blenders. You can make everything with a VitaMix. It’s the most heavy duty blender on the market. Alan LeStourgeon Tags: heart disease, heart attack, cholesterol, vitamix, vita mix

On this week’s Healthy Diet Podcast we cover cholesterol and how it contributes to heart disease. We talk more about Dr Esselsten’s book, Prevent And Reverse Heart Disease. Show notes: February was American Heart Month. Did you wear red? The most significant factor in heart disease is your diet, period. However, the medical profession has no incentive to let people know this. Why, because they get most of their revenue from heart procedures. The national healthy plan could be very simple – Eat a plant based diet. Now if we could only get the politicians to work towards that. Heart disease in people with a cholesterol level lover than 150 is nearly non existent. Dr Esselstyn cut out all oils in his diet to get his cholesterol to go from 158 to below 150 because the evidence for health was so compelling. So why in the world does the American Heart Association still recommend a cholesterol level of 200 being okay? Cholesterol is found only animal products. Our body produces all we need and eating animal products add cholesterol to our blood and cause our body to produce even more cholesterol. A high fat meal injures the endothelium, the interior lining of our veins. Even a single high fat meal can injure the endothelium and possibly cause a heart attack. What if we ate low fat meals 365 days a year, how healthy could we be? Stay tuned for our contest where 5 of our listeners will have the chance to win Prevent And Reverse Heart Disease by Dr Esselstyn. Visit our healthy diet web site. Alan LeStourgeon Tags: heart health, cholesterol, endothelium, dr esselstyn, heart disease

The Healthy Diet Podcast for this week covers what you can do to prevent heart disease. Yes, you really have control over this disease. Show notes: We were reminded of how important it is to take care of your health this week when Alan’s mom was taken to the hospital. We also share the number one secret for preventing heart disease after reading the book Prevent And Reverse Heart Disease by Dr Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr. Dr Esselstyn works and the Cleveland Clinic and became disillusioned when he and his colleagues weren’t doing anything to prevent the diseases they were operating on people for. Some of his colleagues weren’t interested in prevent heart disease. In Dr Esselstyn’s research he found that the United States was actually in the minority when it comes to heart disease. In other words, world wide heart disease is not common. People that live in countries that eat a plant based diet don’t have heart disease. The evidence for what may be causing most heart attacks has been changing. They are thought to be caused by a clot rather than blockage from cholesterol. However, they ultimately are cause by cholesterol, but in a different way. The good news is that you can do something about it by eating a plant based diet and keeping your cholesterol below 150, not 200. We reference the famous Framingham Heart Study. Getting your cholesterol below 150 will eliminate heart disease according to Dr Esselstyn’s research. We are going to give 5 of our listener’s the chance to win Prevent And Reverse Heart Disease by Dr Esselstyn. Visit his web site at www.heartattackproof.com Alan LeStourgeon Tags: heart health, heart attack, heart disease, dr esselstyn, cholesterol

On this week’s Healthy Diet Podcast we have breaking news about The California Almond Board, or actually the Almond Board Of California, and their mandate cooked up with the USDA and FDA to pasteurize almonds so they will no longer be raw. Show notes: As of September 1, 2007 it is very likely you will not be able to get raw almonds any longer thanks to the FDA, USDA and the Almond Board of California. We were informed of this by Jinjee Storm of The Garden Diet from The Daily Raw Inspiration The mission of the Almond Board of California is to promote the best quality almonds, really? They oversee California’s 6,000 almond growers. We thought this was a voluntary program, but further investigation proved otherwise. The Almond Board of California is misleading people on their web site. They say this ruling has not been mandated by any government organization such as the FDA or USDA, but if you read the actual ruling, it specifically states that it is mandated by the USDA – The Department of Agriculture (USDA) is issuing this rule in conformance with Executive Order 12866. It can’t get any plainer than that! The almond growers don t have a choice in the matter though. The reason for this ruling is because of 2 outbreaks, one in 2001 and one in 2004. They say that pasteurization does not alter the nutritional content of the raw almond. This is pure bunk! Plant a pasteurized almond and see if it grows. The pasteurization process involves using Propylene Oxide a known human carcinogen. Pasteurized almonds will not have to be labeled, they can still be called raw when in fact, they are not! You can’t make almond milk with pasteurized almonds. Almond protein is changed during the pasteurization process. This is bad news for the raw vegan community. Salmonella is definitely a problem, but it can be taken care of by better quality control. Sign the petition and / or contact the Almond Board of California about this. Alan LeStourgeon Tags: raw almonds, usda, pasteurization, propylene oxide, carcinogen

On this week’s Healthy Diet Podcast we talk about what is in bread today and how to make or choose a healthy bread that still has some nutrition left in it. Show notes: We talk about a brief history of bread. Wheat is one of the most important and oldest grains in the world. Bread has been around since Bible times and Egyptians were probably the first people to bake bread. Bread rained from Heaven when the Israelites were in the desert for 40 years. White bread first appeared in the Middle Ages probably used for communion. White was a sign of purity. There is a lot of nutrition in the whole grain of wheat. One quarter cup of whole wheat berries contains 8 grams of protein and 6 grams of fiber. However, whole wheat products are not what they appear today. Most wheat products contain a large amount of white flour with added grain or coloring to make it look brown. There is no substitute for the whole wheat berry. What about wheat allergies? Wheat has been adulterated from the seed by herbicides, fungicides, fumigation and more. More information from Dr Mercola. We make our own pizza crust and bread and we make a sprouted grain bread. If you eat bread, choose 100% whole wheat, sprouted wheat of grind your own wheat berries. We buy our sprouted grain tortillas from Food For Life which we discovered at The Jungle restaurant in Indialantic Beach, Florida. Next week: TBA Alan LeStourgeon Tags: bread, whole wheat, whole grain, wheat allergies, nutrition

On today’s Healthy Diet Podcast we talk about the consumption of fruits and vegetables by the average adult and a new initiative by the Center For Disease Control, CDC, to get people to eat better. Show notes: The CDC wants us to eat 2 servings of fruit and 3 servings of vegetables a day. What do they consider a serving? What does the Center For Disease Control really mean? Are they really controlling disease? Only 27% of adults eat enough veggies and 33% eat enough fruit per day according to the CDC. What does the CDC consider a serving? How about a half a cup. The goal of the CDC is to get people to eat 1 cup of fruit and 1.5 cups of vegetables a day. Big deal! What does that equal? 1 banana, 1 cup of mashed potatoes and 6 baby carrots, that’s it. Raw fruits and vegetables are the key. Bottled fruit juices and canned veggies don’t count! Raw fruits and vegetables are the most nutritionally dense. When the CDC was asked if fruit juices counted as a serving, they said yes, and no? What? The phytonutrients, minerals, vitamins and fiber are not in fruit juice like they are in the actual fruit itself. Dr Fuhrman in his book Eat To Live recommends eating 1 pound of raw veggies and 1 pound of cooked veggies a day. Yes, he recommends 2 pounds of vegetables a day. We discuss our typical diet for the day. We need to get Jean a larger salad bowl. Make raw fruits and vegetables the main part of your meal, not a side dish. Visit our healthy diet web site. Next week: TBA Alan LeStourgeon Tags: fruits, vegetables, fruits and vegetables, cdc, eat to live

On today’s Healthy Diet Podcast we talk about OJ, orange juice, not the football player, vitamin c and the myths surrounding this nutrient. Show notes: What do you think of when you think of orange juice? Do you want to keep from getting a cold? You should drink OJ to get your vitamin c right? How did the need for vitamin c get discovered? During the days of explorers sailing the world sailors would get scurvy, a pretty nasty disease. It was discovered by James Lind that they were vitamin c deficient. Sailors were then fed lemon juice and scurvy was under control, until they started boiling the lemon juice to purify it. Scurvy returned because the vitamin c was being destroyed by boiling. What do you think happens to orange juice you buy in the store since it has been pasteurized? Does this have any ramifications for eating cooked food? Pediatricians in the late 1800’s told mothers to boil milk for their babies and children started getting scurvy. Great sources of vitamin c are green leafy vegetables such as brussels sprouts, broccoli, green peppers, tomatoes, asparagus, etc. Raw fruits and veggies offer the greatest protection against cancer that any other food. There are more than 1,000 phytonutrient components in a tomato, isolating one factor and taking it won’t make you healthy. They key to healthy living is eating a wide variety of raw fruits and vegetables. Now Available! – FREE Sample Download Of The Mostly Raw Vegan Meal Planner. Next week: TBA Alan LeStourgeon Tags: vitamin c, orange juice, oj, scurvy, james lind, phytonutrients

This week’s Healthy Diet Podcast is about being a good steward of your body and developing a personal eating and health philosophy. Show notes: We hear a lot about saving the Earth and animals with Earth Day and we should be good stewards of the Earth, but what about being a good steward of our bodies. We don’t have a second chance with our bodies. We only have one and we need to take care of it. What does it mean to be a good steward? What is your personal philosophy on health and eating? What are you going to do when someone offers you a huge doughnut and coffee? How do we show ourselves and God we value what we’ve been given. Without a philosophy on eating and health we will not feed our bodies properly. Most foods are not nutrient dense enough to really be of any benefit to us. Some people who eat healthy often face ridicule. We should encourage people to eat healthy, not make fun of them. It’s hard enough to eat healthy with all the junk for sale and the propaganda promoting it. Eating right from an early age gives us the benefit of growing up healthy and that will obviously help us later in life. Make a decision how you will eat when at church dinners, parties or during holiday times. Will you or will you not eat the junk. Offer to bring a healthy salad to the next pot luck or church dinner. At least you will have something healthy to eat. You body is a gift, treat it right by feeding it good, nutritionally dense food. The Table of Contents, Introduction and Table Of Recipes to The Mostly Raw Vegan Meal Planner will be available soon as a free download. Next week: TBA Alan LeStourgeon Tags: health philosophy, earth day, God, meal planner, healthy salad

This week’s Healthy Diet Podcast is all about drinking water, filtered water and even water intoxication. With all the bottled water on the market today, what should we be drinking? Show notes: Less than 1 percent of the water available on Earth is drinkable. We now have all kinds of processed water available on the market today. Water is the elixir of life. Sixty to seventy percent of the body is made up of water. How much waster should we drink? Our body contains some 45 quarts of water and we can lose around 2 quarts per day. A good guide is to drink half of your body weight in ounces of water each day. You can actually drink too much water. Water intoxication killed a girl recently in California in a radio station contest. Tap water has many impurities and the EPA allows certain levels of contaminants. Some water filters remove too many minerals in water making it acidic. Distilled water, because it is free of minerals, isn’t the best to drink because it creates acidity in the body. Some claim that mineralized water creates deposits in the body. I don’t think mineral water creates as many deposits as all the sodas and junk people drink. There are over 700 brands of bottled water. It is now being processed just as are food has been. We no longer eat real food, soon we won’t be drinking real water. Some waters contain fructose, caffeine, guarana, vitamins, whey protein isolate, citric acid, phosphoric acid, natural flavor (contains soy), calcium lactate, calcium gluconate, sucralose, acesulfame potassium, yellow dye #5. Yuck! You don’t need Kellogg’s Special K 2O water. You’ve heard of junk food, it’s junk water. Next week: TBA Alan LeStourgeon Tags: drinking water, water filters, water intoxication, distilled water, bottled water

This week’s Healthy Diet Podcast is about soy and soy products. Is soy all it’s cracked up to be or are there any dangers associated with soy? We spill the beans on soy today. Show notes: In 1999 the FDA approved soy containing products as heart healthy. Edible soy bean products range from bean sprouts to highly processed foods. Soy beans come in four colors, yellow, white, black and green (edamame) or young soy beans. Textured vegetable protein, TVP, is made exclusively from soy. TVP is used as a meat substitute. Mike Adams at HealthRanger.org observed that wild animals wouldn’t even eat TVP. Soy lecithin is an emulsifying agent that is a by product or waste material left over from the production of soy bean oil. Asian cultures eat a lot of soy products. Soy sauce, tofu, miso, tempah are all products eaten by Asians. They however, eat these soy products in small amounts, not as a meat substitute. Soy protein approved by the FDA in 1999 as being heart healthy and FDA states soy may help reduce cholesterol . The problem with soy products is that they are devoid of nutrition because they are highly processed. Unprocessed soy contains some toxins and there are dangers associated with eating a high soy diet. Visit Mercola.com or WestonAPrice.org for more info. Eat nutrient dense food, that’s what it’s all about. The Mostly Raw Vegan Meal Planner will be out February 28th. Next week: TBA Alan LeStourgeon Tags: soy dangers, soy products, heart healthy, fda, tvp