Motion is Life

Ok, so hopefully you got out, at least a few times last week (between rain showers) and walked briskly for 30 minutes or so.  This week we're gonna start getting ready to run.  Now, don't freak out and skip down to the recipe of the week.  Keep reading and you'll see that we're gonna start from the very beginning...as though you've never run a step in your life.  "Anyone can become a runner, nevermind the excuses, the weather, or the bag of chips calling your name."  We're gonna call this training plan the "YES YOU CAN" plan.  "If you can walk from the couch to the refrigerator, you are not too fat or too old or too slow to run."  If you can walk continuously for 30 minutes, you can begin a running program by gradually adding some running into your walking.  Start running at a very easy pace, and stop as soon as you're breathing hard.  Walk until you don't feel tired.  Then run again.  If you can only run 10 seconds at a time, that's great!  If you can run 10 minutes at a time, that's great too!  As you get fitter, you'll begin to run more and walk less.  But don't forget to slow down as soon as you're breathing hard. 

So here's the plan:

First month (weeks 1-4)

Three days per week:  Walk 10 minutes. Run-walk 15 minutes.  Walk 5 minutes.  

Two days per week:  walk for 30 minutes.

Second month (weeks 5-8)

Three days per week: Walk 5 minutes. Run-walk 20 minutes.  Walk 5 minutes.

Two days per week: Walk for 30 minutes.

Third month (weeks 9-12)

Three days per week:  Walk 2 minutes.  Run-walk 25 minutes.  Walk 3 minutes.  

Two days per week:  Walk for 30 minutes.

(This "first plan" was taken from the May 2009 Runner's World magazine.)  

There's a great article in May's edition of Runner's World, titled "My Non-running Brothers and Sisters."  Click on the Runner's World link to the right and search for this article by Marc Parent.  You'll be glad you did!

Soy Dangers

"Do you need to read The Whole Soy Story?  Yes, if you are one of the 200 million Americans who is eating soy foods whether you like it or not..."

The following is an excerpt from The Whole Soy Story website:

"Dear Kaayla, I cannot breast feed.  Our naturopathic doctor says dairy formulas cause a lot of allergies and we should put my daughter on soy formulas."

Jennifer

"Dear Jennifer, The Israeli Health Ministry has issued a health advisory warning that infants should not use soy formula.  So have the British Dietetic Association, the New Zealand Health Ministry, and the Swiss Federal Health Service.  Yet here in the U.S. soy formula now represents 25% of the bottle-fed market."

Is your baby "allergic" to dairy?  Have you tried, oh my goodness you may want to sit down for this one... drinking raw, unpasteurized cow's milk?  

Today’s Milk

"Modern feeding methods substitute high-protein, soy-based feeds for fresh green

grass and breeding methods to produce cows with abnormally large pituitary glands

so that they produce three times more milk than the old fashioned scrub cow.

These cows need antibiotics to keep them well. The pasteurization destroys many

valuable enzymes in the milk that are needed to aid digestion. The human pancreas

is not always able to produce these enzymes which will over-stress of the pancreas

can lead to diabetes and other diseases.

Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone

Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) is a genetically engineered, potent

variant of the natural growth hormone produced by cows. Injection of this hormone

forces cows to increase their milk production by about 10%. rBGH makes cows

sick. Monsanto has been forced to admit to about 20 toxic effects, including

mastitis, on its POSILAC label. rBGH milk is contaminated by abnormally high pus

levels, due to the mastitis commonly induced by rBGH, and antibiotics used to treat

the mastitis. rBGH milk is chemically and nutritionally different than natural milk.

rBGH milk is contaminated with rBGH, traces of which are absorbed through the gut.

rBGH milk is supercharged with high levels of a natural growth factor (IGF-1), which

is readily absorbed through the gut. Excess levels of IGF-1 have been incriminated

as a cause of breast, colon, and prostate cancers. IGF-1 blocks natural defense

mechanisms against early submicroscopic cancers.

Some researchers and “experts” suggest that IGF-1 from outside sources cannot be

absorbed because the digestive enzymes destroy it while it’s in the GI tract. In

1999, the ADA published research demonstrating that people who consumed 3

servings of milk daily had a 10% higher serum IGF-1 level and almost a 10% lower

level IGF Binding Protein 4 (IGBP-4) than those drinking less than 1-1/2 servings."

source:  Dr. Van Merkle -  www.bk2health.com

Overuse of antibiotics contributes to lactose intolerance.  "While our hunter-gatherer ancestors did not use milk products, there are many healthy nomadic and agricultural societies, that depend on milk of cattle, sheep, goats, horses, water buffalo and cames for their animal protein and fat."  Today drinking milk is blamed for everything from chronic ear infections in children to cancer and diabetes in adults.  "While some lucky people are genetically equipped to digest milk in all its forms, the milk sold in your suppermarket is bad for everybody."  Besides the practice of selective breeding and high-protein feeding, the FDA recently approved a genetically engineered growth hormone for cows.   "These hormones are identical to those produced by the pituitary gland in today's high-production cows."  The "freak-pituitary cow is prone to many diseases.  She almost always secretes pus into her milk and needs frequent doses of antibiotics"  

Another problem with today's dairying methods is the feed.  Cows are given a high-protein soybean meal.  This causes them to produce large quantities of milk but contributes to a high rate of mastitis and other problems that lead to "sterility, liver problems, and shortened lives."  What effect do these soy feeds have on the protein in cow's milk?  Could it be that the current high rate of milk-protein allergies is due to the use of inappropriate feed (soy) in our dairy herds?  Cows should be eating green plants.  "Milk from properly fed cows will contain the Price Factor (click on the Weston A. Price link for more info on the Price Factor and CLA) and the cancer-fighting CLA as well as a rich supply of vitamins and minerals.

Recipe of the Week

Spicy Meat Loaf

2 pounds ground beef or other red meat

1/2 pound ground heart (optional)

1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped

1 carrot, peeled and finely chopped

1 stalk celery, finely chopped

4 tblsp. butter

1/4 tsp. dried chile flakes or cayenne pepper

1 tsp. dried thyme

1 tsp. cracked pepper

1 tsp. sea salt

1 1/2 cups whole grain bread crumbs

1 cup cream 1 egg

4 tblsp. tomato paste or organic ketchup

Saute' onions, carrots, and celery in butter until soft.  Add chile flakes, thyme, pepper, and salt and stir around.  Meanwhile, soak bread crumbs in cream.  Have a 9-inch by 13-inch pyrex pan ready.  Using your hands, mix meat with sauteed vegetables, soaked bread, and egg.  Form into a loaf and set in the pan.  Ice with ketchup or tomato paste.  Add about 1 cup water to the pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 1 1/2 hours.  Serve with ketchup.

Name this Food

The answer to last week's Name this Food is:  Kellogs Strawberry Poptarts  

Why are these bad?  What is partially hydrogenated soybean oil?  What is corn syrup?  These oils (found in margarin and tub spreads) "are as refined as the gasoline in your car.  In the refinery they are treated with a caustic soda solution which removes the lecithin, an essential nutrient. Then the oil is steam-cleaned under a vacuum at tremendous temperature.  This second step should destroy any remaining food value in the oil, but, just in case, the oil is then bleached at a high temperature to remove any color.  The liquid oil is then chemically treated by being bombarded with hydrogen under pressure in the presence of the metal nickel.  

Corn syrup is a highly refined, artificial product.  A syrup made from glucose used in commercially-prepared foods as a thickener, sweetener, and for its humectant properties.    The process for making corn syrup is known as hydrolysis; discovered by the German-Russian chemist K. S. Kirchhof in 1811 when he heated potato starch in the presenc of sulfuric acid.

Are you kidding me???  Sulfuric acid!!!  Are you sure you want to eat that?

Source:  Nourishing Traditions

Name this food:  

Soybean oil, high fructose corn syrup, water, pickle relish, vinegar, tomato paste, salt, dehydrated egg yolk, algin derivative and xantham gum (for consistency), mustard flour, natural flavors, dehydrated onion, spice, calcium disodium EDTA (preservative)

*remember those ingredients listed first are what makes up the majority of the product

*What is "spice?"  stay tuned for next week's "name this food"....

How to get Sick

2.  Go to bed after midnight.  "From biblical times to just before the Industrial Revolution, people used to go to sleep and rise with the setting and rising of the sun.  This is the natural way to link your peak activity to the body's natural hormonal rhythms.  Dr. Joseph Mercola believes the timing of your sleep affects its quality.  He says, "The more hours that you can sleep before midnight, the better off you will be."  Chronic sleep loss produces serious symptoms mimicking the effects of aging and the early stages of diabetes (including age-related insulin resistance and memory loss)."

By the way...did you learn about sodium laureth sulfate? Here's some info that might be of interest:

Both Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLES) and its close relative Sodium Lauryl
Sulfate (SLS)
<http://www.natural-health-information-centre.com/sodium-lauryl-sulfate.html
>  arecommonly used in many soaps, shampoos, detergents, toothpastes and
other products that we expect to "foam up". Both chemicals are very
effective foaming agents, chemically known as surfactants.

Unfortunately, both sodium laureth sulfate and its cousin are also very
dangerous, highly irritating chemicals. Far from giving "healthy shining
hair" and "beautiful skin", soaps and shampoos containing sodium laureth
sulfate can lead to direct damage to the hair follicle, skin damage,
permanent eye damage in children and even liver toxicity.

Although sodium laureth sulfate is somewhat less irritating than SLS, it
cannot be metabolised by the liver and its effects are therefore much
longer-lasting. This not only means it stays in the body tissues for longer,
but much more precious energy is used getting rid of it.

A report
<http://www.natural-health-information-centre.com/sls-JACT-report.html>
published in the Journal of The American College of Toxicology in 1983
showed that concentrations of  SLS as low as 0.5% could cause irritation and
concentrations of 10-30% caused skin corrosion and severe irritation.
National Institutes of Health "Household Products Directory"
<http://hpd.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/household/brands?tbl=chem&id=98&query=sodium
%2Blauryl%2Bsulfate>  of chemical ingredients lists over 80 products that
contain SLS and SLES. Some soaps have concentrations of up to 30%, which the
ACT report called "highly irritating and dangerous".

Shampoos are among the most frequently reported products to the FDA. Reports
include eye irritation, scalp irritation, tangled hair, swelling of the
hands, face and arms and split and fuzzy hair. This is highly characteristic
of sodium laureth sulfate and almost definitely directly related to its use.

Click here to learn of the possible health effects of sodium laureth sulfate
<http://www.natural-health-information-centre.com/sls-health-implications.ht
ml> 

So why is a dangerous chemical like sodium laureth sulfate used in our soaps
and shampoos?

The answer is simple - it is cheap. The sodium laureth sulfate found in our
soaps is exactly the same as you would find in a car wash or even a garage,
where it is used to degrease car engines.

In the same way as it dissolves the grease on car engines, SLES also
dissolves the oils on your skin, which can cause a drying effect. It is also
well documented that itdenatures skin proteins, which causes not only
irritation, but also allows environmental contaminants easier access to the
lower, sensitive layers of the skin.

This denaturing of skin proteins may even be implicated in skin and other
cancers.

Perhaps most worryingly, sodium laureth sulfate is also absorbed into the
body from skin application. Once it has been absorbed, one of the main
effects of SLS is to mimic the activity of the hormone Oestrogen. This has
many health implications
<http://www.natural-health-information-centre.com/sls-health-implications.ht
ml>  and may be responsible for a variety of health problems from PMS and
Menopausal symptoms todropping male fertility and increasing female cancers
such as breast cancer, where oestrogen levels are known to be involved.

Products commonly found to contains SLS or Sodium Laureth Sulfate

Soaps
Shampoos
Bubble-baths
Tooth paste
Washing-up liquid / dish soap
Laundry detergent
Childrens soaps / shampoos
Stain Remover
Carpet Cleaner
Fabric glue
Body wash
Shave cream
Mascara
Mouthwash
Skin cleanser
Moisture lotion / Moisturiser
Sun Cream

To find hair, personal and household products without ANY SLS or other
harmful chemicals, please click this link - SLS-free products
<http://www.ineways.com/usa/index.asp?Site=totally-natural> .

The use of sodium laureth sulfate in childrens products is particularly
worrying. It is known that, whether it gets in the eyes or not, skin
application DOES lead to measurable concentrations in the eyes of children.
This is known to affect eye development, and the damage caused in this
manner is irreversible. If you have children DO NOT USE products containing
sodium laureth sulfate or SLS - they will thank you for it one day.

Do not believe that just because a product is labeled as "natural" it is
free from SLS or sodium laureth sulfate. Most common brands of "Natural" or
"Herbal" shampoos and cleansers still use these harmful chemicals as their
main active ingredient - check your labels!

That is not to say that you can't get sodium laureth sulfate-free shampoos,
soaps, detergents and toothpastes. Some highly reputable companies have been
producing such products for years. These products not only contains no
sodium laureth sulfate, they are also free of other harmful chemical
colorings, preservatives and even flavourings.