Learn To Love The Veggies You Hate

Spinach, broccoli and Brussels sprouts can help you drop pounds and improve your health and strengthen your immune system. President George H. W. Bush was so proud to say that, "I’m president so I don’t have to eat broccoli anymore." Well the parent inside of you would suggest that you should learn to love the veggies you hate. My father would always instruct his children to taste it before you decide not to eat it.
We can change our tastes. Unfortunately, over the past five decades, food manufacturers have upped the ante on the more dangerous ingredients in prepared food: Sugar and Sodium. You must have noticed how as years passed, you required more and more sugar and sodium to satisfy your palate. Craving sugar, sodium and fats began the problems associated with obesity and the improper dietary habits of the American culture.
When’s the last time you cooked cabbage for dinner? When’s the last time you served beets? If you are as scared of these vegetables as your kids are, blame Mother Nature.
Want to drop pounds? The great news is that we experimented with eating these vegetables for six months: beets, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, eggplant, and spinach — to trick your taste buds into liking (and maybe even loving) them. These fiber-packed dishes will help you lose weight — especially if you use them to replace junk food; volunteers at Pennsylvania State University who swapped some high-calorie, high-fat foods for veggies, lost 40 percent more than those who didn’t.
That is basically the approach I took in my "Nutrition Based Regimen" that led to a loss of 50 pounds and a drop in triglycerides, cholesterol and blood pressure. My physician was so astounded that he insisted I write the book, "Make Eating A Lifestyle Change." You won’t go hungry and you won’t eat less. You won’t have to count calories and you will be surprised to see the pounds come off as you feel lighter and full of energy. We further documented the results with quarterly blood tests and I revealed the results to show how eating healthy can eliminate the need for expensive pills and give you back ten years or more in your appearance.
Identify the enemy and you are half way towards solving the problems related to obesity.
BEETS: Just one cup of the super veggie packs 34 percent of your daily need for folate (which can help lower levels of heart-threatening homocysteine). 15 percent of potassium (which reduces blood pressure levels), and 27 percent of manganese (which helps maintain your bones). I like pickled beets and have always loved that vinegar taste on my vegetables. It sweetens the taste and improves the flavor.
BRUSSELS SPROUTS: The cruciferous vegetable is first cousin to broccoli and helps ward off cancer. In one Dutch study, men who ate Brussels sprouts daily for three weeks had 28 percent less genetic damage (a root cause of cancer) than those who didn’t.
SPINACH: Popeye had the right idea, but the kids just didn’t buy into it. Thanks to high levels of beta-carotene, vitamins B2, B6, C, and K — plus generous amounts of manganese, folate, and magnesium — spinach is possibly the healthiest vegetable in the world.
EGGPLANT: The bitter taste comes in part, from chlorogenic acid, which helps prevent cancer and can also keep heart-threatening plaque from building up. What’s more, the latest studies show that eating eggplant lowers cholesterol and helps artery walls relax, which can cut your risk for high blood pressure.
CABBAGE: Eating it a few times a week can cut your risk of breast, lung and colon cancers. In one study of 300 Chinese women, those with the highest levels of cancer-fighting isothiocyanate — found in cabbage — had a 45 percent lower risk of breast cancer than those with the lowest levels. Cabbage soup with green peppers, onions, tomato juice, carrots and some apple cider vinegar is the recipe for a "Super-Fat-Burning Soup." The more you eat, the more you lose.
BROCCOLI: A super source of Vitamin C and K (one cup has more than a day’s worth of each), broccoli also helps ward off cancer. Sulforaphane, one of its compounds, disarms cancer-causing substances. In lab studies, a different compound, called indole-3-carbonyl, prevented tumor growth in animals.
SOUP: I like to take the frozen Mediterranean vegetables and add them to a 99 percent fat free broth with diced chicken breast for a healthy meal in a bowl. Sysco carries a large package of these vegetables which include the above as well as cauliflower and green beans, and is so easy on the digestive system. It is a way to get as many as 12 vegetables and lubricate the digestive system to promote regularity.
Everybody has a little different taste for foods and some are even allergic to certain foods. Cafeterias in schools now have special tables for students allergic to peanuts, dairy and fish. My own father, as sturdy, strong and healthy as he was, would not eat eggplant. He told my mother, he would eat anything she prepared except eggplant. However, he ate chicken vegetable soup, all the fish he could catch, hot peppers and red wine. I turned out allergic to wine, but I do snack on seedless red grapes, pineapple, apples and pears.
The point is obvious. Fill up on good food and you won’t be hungry enough to eat the fried foods, French fries, Buffalo wings, hot dogs, pizza, cake and cookies! The war against obesity and diabetes, high blood pressure and stroke is best fought learning to love the vegetables you hate and eating venison, bison, chicken and red Pacific Sockeye Salmon. Talk to your doctor about the change in your eating habits and he will be shocked by the results of you blood tests as mine have. Frozen wild-blueberries with your "large flake oatmeal," diced apple and cinnamon, can increase the "lutein" to help with your eyes and you will notice a difference. Instead of wine, I have a shot of wild blueberry juice at each meal. I don’t smoke, consume alcohol or eat anything with trans fats. Limit your intake of lean beef to no more than 4 - 6 ounces rather than the "King Size," artery-clogging 12 - 16 ounce steaks.
You will find the energy, happiness, health and activities you enjoyed as a child, if you can adjust your tastes to those foods that are prescribed by Our Creator with the best combination of herbs, vitamins and minerals you need to keep you in the game.

Deep Brain Stimulation Can Help Parkinson's Disease

Parkinson’s Disease
Having been amongst seniors for many decades now, I have been able to observe and learn from the way they handled new and challenging health issues. I have been inspired by their courage and persistence. As an editorialist, I have championed the cause of getting all Americans Universal Health Care. If we can spend trillions of dollars on war and the greed of capitalism, we certainly can afford to address the needs of our citizens for a comprehensive health care system. We are the military might of the world and ranked 45th in longevity by the World Health Organization.
They say that one man can’t do much to bring about positive results in this government. Governor Howard Dean sent me a letter of recognition for my continued advocacy demanding Universal Health Care with more emphasis on prevention and a JFK approach to curing Cancer that would equal our commitment to put a man on the moon.
Now IS the time for Americans to get their tax dollar's worth in a positive way. They say that Canadians don’t like their system. Well, we are not Canada, but we do have over 45 million Americans without the resources to buy or obtain health care for them and their loved ones.
In the 90s I suggested to my stock broker that cures would not come from pills. The body begins to ignore the initial reaction to pills and eventually their effect wears off as it did in "Awakening" starring Robin Williams and Robert DeNiro.
The Mount Sinai School of Medicine has just released information (April 2009) on "Deep Brain Stimulation" and they claim that it can help Parkinson’s Disease.
For Parkinson’s disease patients, medications sometimes relieve symptoms such as tremors, rigidity, and impaired coordination. However, as the disease progresses, the medications often become ineffective, resulting in severe functional limitations and disability. For these patients, a surgical treatment called deep brain stimulation (DBS) may be the answer.
"The most important benefit of DBS is the consistency and predictability it provides," says Michele Tagliati, MD, director of the Parkinson’s Disease Center and an associate professor of neurology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. "In advanced Parkinson’s patients, the response to medications becomes unpredictable and bizarre," he explains. "DBS can give them back their quality of life."
How DBS works. Parkinson’s disease damages or kills nerve cells in the brain which produce dopamine, a chemical responsible for coordinated muscle movements. With DBS, an electrode is surgically implanted into the brain and then connected via a wire to a neurostimulator implanted under the skin near the collarbone. The neurostimulator acts much like a pacemaker, sending electrical impulses to the electrode and stimulating production of dopamine.
A common measure of Parkinson’s patient’s functional ability is called "time on"—the amount of time per day the patient is able to engage in activities of daily living such as walking, speaking, and dressing.
"With DBS, the average ‘time on’ for patients goes from two to three hours per day up to nine to 10 hours per day." says Dr. Tagliati. He explains that after the surgery, the majority of patients still take medications, but many are able to take less which reduces side effects as well as cost. Some patients continue to take the same number and dosage of medications but experience fewer complications. And about 5 percent have such good results they are able to stop taking medications altogether.
Best candidates for DBS. According to Dr. Tagliati, a patient is a good candidate for DBS if they have advanced idiopathic Parkinson’s (the classic type of the disease rather than Parkinson’s that results from events such as head trauma or drug toxicity), with severe symptoms that cannot be controlled by medications. They must be, or have been, responsive to the medication levodopa, and the must be free of cognitive decline or dementia, since brain surgery can aggravate these conditions.
Risks of DBS. DBS carries many of the same risks as any other surgery, including risk of infection and pain at the surgical sites. "During the surgery itself, the biggest risk is of hemorrhage and clotting, which can occur if the wire inserting the electrode nicks a vein," explains Dr. Tagliati. The incidence of hemorrhage during surgery is about one percent. Other risks are related to the malfunctions that can occur in the implanted devices. Dr. Tagliati estimates that there is a 10 to 20 percent risk of hardware-related problems but adds that these risks are not life-threatening. A third possibility is that the electrical stimulus can cause pain, double vision, or speech disturbances. In these cases, the electrode must be repositioned.
"Each patient must weigh, with their doctor, the risks against the benefits, depending on their level of disability," says Dr. Tagliati. "A patient who has become virtually immobilized by Parkinson’s is usually willing to take the surgery risks to get his or her life back."
WHAT YOU CAN DO
To slow progression and/or reduce symptom severity of Parkinson’s:
Get regular exercise, which Dr. Tagliati calls "the number one tool that results in slower progression of Parkinson’s."
Don’t take your medications at the same time you’re eating protein, as protein can interfere with the absorption of Parkinson’s drugs.
Get a good night’s sleep, as fatigue can worsen symptoms.