Natural Health Newsletter
Issue # 483, September 11-12, 2008

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Natural Health and Alternative Medicine Newsletter
Issue #483, September 11-12, 2008
Publisher: David Riklan - http://www.naturalhealthweb.com

In this issue:
-- Top Natural Health News Story of the Week
-- Recommended Product of the Week
-- Other Health News from Around the World
-- Brain Health Item of the Week
-- Health/Safety Tips & Articles for the Week (Alternative Medicine; Natural Remedies; Weight Loss)
-- Book Review: Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating - By M.D. Walter C. Willett and P.J. Skerrett
-- Healthy Recipes: Sesame Braised Chicken & Cabbage
-- How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe from this Newsletter

Current Subscribers – 126,653 subscribers.
Removal instructions are listed at the end of the newsletter.

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*** Top Natural Health News Story of the Week ***
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* Food for Thought: Thinking Makes Us Pig Out *

Food for thought: Intellectual activities make people eat more than when just resting, according to a study that sheds new light on brain food.

This finding might also help explain the obesity epidemic of an increasingly sedentary society in which people still have to think now and then.

Go here for the complete news story.

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*** Recommended Product of the Week ***
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*** Other Health News from Around the World ***
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* Fighting the Fat Gene Takes 3-4 Hours a Day *

Maybe you CAN blame being fat on your genes. But there's a way to overcome that family history -- just get three to four hours of moderate activity a day.

Sound pretty daunting?

Not for the Amish of Lancaster County, PA, who were the focus of a new study on a common genetic variation that makes people more likely to gain weight. It turns out the variant's effects can be blocked with physical activity -- lots of it.

Go here for the complete news story.

* Heart Patients, Bypass Traffic Pollution *

After a heart attack, it might be best to steer clear of traffic for a while. New research shows that traffic pollution can be dangerous for people with heart disease.

In people with serious coronary artery disease, tiny particles of air pollution and black carbon from traffic exhaust fumes may cause ST-segment depression, an EKG finding that usually signals an inadequate supply of oxygen and nutrients to the heart muscle, according to a report in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Go here for the complete news story.

* Study: Sexual Satisfaction More Mental Than Physical *

It appears that mind over matter may be the key to achieving sexual satisfaction, according to one study.

Researchers from the University of Southern California and Yale University reached this conclusion after studying the "satisfying" sex lives of cervical cancer survivors who had both ovaries removed.

Removing the ovaries, according to background offered in a study published in the July issue of the Journal of Women's Health, reduces or eliminates circulation of the hormone testosterone, which plays a factor in both male and female sexuality.

Go here for the complete news story.

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*** Brain Health Item of the Week ***
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* Vitamin B12 Boasts Brain Benefits *

Vitamin B12 may help protect against brain volume loss in the elderly.

That's according to researchers from the University of Oxford in England.

The scientists studied 107 people between the ages of 61 and 87 without memory or thinking problems. The average age of participants was 73, and 54% were women.

The researchers collected blood samples to check the levels of vitamin B12, a nutrient found in meat, fish, and milk. Participants underwent yearly brain scans using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), memory testing, and physical exams.

To read the complete article, go here.

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*** Health/Safety Tips & Articles for the Week ***
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* Alternative Medicine *

I recently returned from an international conference on shamanism and alternative healing. This particular conference has been going long and strong for 25 years. As with most things these days, it made me think.

I wondered why we, and I include myself in that "we," are so resistant to other ways of doing things. We get so ingrained in the one way that everything else feels almost heathen.

That makes me think of James Michener's book, Hawaii, or was it his Tales of the South Pacific, that tells of the fervent missionaries coming to convert the local islanders with their better ways. Sometimes, allopathic medicine, what we know as Western medicine, seems like those hell-bent-for-Christianity missionaries. They have the right way, the only way.

To read the complete article, entitled "Let's Talk Alternative Healing" - By Adele Ryan McDowell, Ph.D, go here.

* Natural Remedies *

I see many individuals in my practice who have been impacted by chronic pain and have a tried western medical solutions to manage their pain with varying results.

Some of these solutions are successful but few address the root causes of pain or offer a more holistic approach to healing.

To complement western medical approaches or to use a purely eastern holistic approach, try the following ideas.

To read the complete article, entitled "Heal Chronic Pain Naturally: Five Effective Solutions" - By Kay Hutchinson, go here.

* Weight Loss *

For many people, losing weight and keeping it off is an ongoing struggle.

Traditional diets have taught us that to lose weight, we must count calories, fat grams, points or exchanges. Some require that you eat pre-packaged foods or meal replacements. There may be strict meal plans or complicated food combinations. Some methods even eliminate entire food groups. That is no way to live!

Diets often tell you that there are "forbidden foods" or magical food combinations, and they often impose food rules that most people do not, cannot, or should not follow for very long. Dieting is so unnatural and so unrealistic that it can never become a lifestyle that we can live with, let alone enjoy!

To read the complete article, entitled "Why Diets Don't Work" - By Dinneen Diette, go here.

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*** Book Review: Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating - By M.D. Walter C. Willett and P.J. Skerrett ***
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Aimed at nothing less than totally restructuring the diets of Americans, Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy may well accomplish its goal. Dr. Walter C. Willett gets off to a roaring start by totally dismantling one of the largest icons in health today: the USDA Food Pyramid that we all learn in elementary school. He blames many of the pyramid's recommendations -- 6 to 11 servings of carbohydrates, all fats used sparingly -- for much of the current wave of obesity. At first this may read differently than any diet book, but Willett also makes a crucial, rarely mentioned point about this icon: "The thing to keep in mind about the USDA Pyramid is that it comes from the Department of Agriculture, the agency responsible for promoting American agriculture, not from the agencies established to monitor and protect our health." It's no wonder that dairy products and American-grown grains such as wheat and corn figure so prominently in the USDA's recommendations.

Willett's own simple pyramid has several benefits over the traditional format. His information is up-to-date, and you won't find recommendations that come from special-interest groups. His ideas are nothing radical l -- if we eat more vegetables and complex carbohydrates (no, potatoes are not complex), emphasize healthy fats, and enjoy small amounts of a tremendous variety of food, we will be healthier. You'll find some surprises as well, such as doubts about the overall benefits of soy (unless you're willing to eat a pound and a half of tofu a day), and that nuts, with their "good" fat content, are a terrific snack. Relying on research rather than anecdotes, this is a solidly written nutritional guide that will show you the real story behind how food is digested, from the glycemic index for carbs to the wisdom of adding a multivitamin to your diet. Willett combines research with matter-of-fact language and a no-nonsense tone that turns academic studies into easily understandable suggestions for living.--Jill Lightner

*****
The list price of this book is $15.99. To purchase it from Amazon.com at a price of $10.20, a 36% discount, go here.

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*** Healthy Recipes ***
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This highly nutritious cabbage and kale dish is easily made and is very fresh tasting. It is a meal in one dish that is very satisfying and delicious. By using our healthy sauté and stovetop braising techniques, you get a healthier dish that is still full of flavor without heated oils.

Prep and Cook Time: 30 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into 1 inch pieces
• 4 cups green cabbage, sliced thin
• 4 cups finely chopped kale, stems removed
• 1 medium sized onion cut in half & sliced thin
• 1 TBS minced fresh ginger
• 2 medium cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup + 1 TBS chicken broth
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 15-oz can diced tomatoes, drained
• 2 TBS rice vinegar
• 1 TBS extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup chopped scallion tops
• 1 TBS sesame seeds
• Salt and white pepper to taste

Directions:

1.  Prepare ingredients as listed above.
2.  Heat 1 TBS broth in a stainless steel wok or large skillet. Healthy sauté onion in broth over medium heat for about 5 minutes stirring frequently, until translucent. Add garlic, ginger, and continue to sauté for another minute.
3.  Add chicken pieces and cook for a couple of minutes. Add turmeric, coriander, and mix with chicken. Add kale. Sauté for another couple of minutes, stirring constantly.
4.  Add 1/2 cup broth and bring to a boil on high heat. Reduce heat and simmer over low heat covered for about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5.  Add cabbage, diced tomatoes, vinegar, and simmer for another 4 minutes. Remove from heat, toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper.
6.  Serve sprinkled with minced scallion and sesame seeds.

Healthy Cooking Tips:
Make sure the cabbage does not cook more than about 4 minutes. If it cooks beyond that, it will start releasing liquid and dilute the flavor of your dish. By slicing it thin, it allows it to cook in a short amount of time, ending with a fresh tasting dish with a lot of flavor.

Recipes are from the www.whfoods.org website, a very popular website which comes up #1 on a "Google" search for "healthiest foods" and "healthiest recipes." The website provides unbiased information with no commercial interests by the not-for-profit George Mateljan Foundation. George Mateljan is the founder of Health Valley Foods and author of six best-selling books on the Healthiest Way of Eating.

** Do you have a healthy recipe? Email editors@naturalhealthweb.com

  
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