Nutrition. Vitamins. You.
Prozyme Digest Dr. Claire Arcidiacono, ND As a Naturopathic doctor I find myself often recommending that people use a probiotic and a digestive enzyme. These each have many benefits for our health. That is why I have chosen to highlight a product that contains …
Gallbladder: What is it? And what does it do? Dr. Claire Arcidiacono, ND In this current series we have mostly focused on liver and kidney health. In this blog we will be taking a left turn and focusing on the gallbladder since the overall health …
PRIMARY FOOD, LIFESTYLE AND OUR HEALTH~HOME COOKING
by: Allie Might, FMC, INHC, ATT
What if I told you that there is a secret to reducing calories, eating better and even reducing the risk of heart disease, obesity, and diabetes? Well, the secret is simple, and proven…. It is HOME COOKING. Knowing the importance of home cooking and introducing easy recipes each day can set you up for a lifetime of success.
The health benefits of home cooking are undeniable and even supported in articles from both Harvard Medical School and Johns Hopkins. Those that incorporate home cooking eat better and consume less calories than those that frequent restaurants, consume fast food or use prepackaged convenience foods. Home cooking allows us to also reduce sugar and fat, which can help to lower the risk of such health-related issues like type-2 diabetes and heart disease.
It can be quite easy to incorporate healthy home cooking into each day. Whether you start with a few meals a week or most of the week, as you can see by the sample full day menu below, it is easy, healthy and quite delicious.
PUMPKIN PIE SMOOTHIE (breakfast)
1 cup water
1 cup ice
1/2 cup Pure Pumpkin Puree
1/2 Banana
1 Tablespoon Heavy Cream
2 scoops Whey Protein Powder or 1 scoop Plant Protein
2 scoops Collagen Hx
1 Probiotic Hx (contents of capsule)
1/2 teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice
1/4 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until well combined and smooth. Pour into a glass and enjoy!
Serves 1
THANKSGIVING SALAD (lunch)
1 cup chopped Kale.
1 cup Arugula
1/2 cup Roasted Turkey Breast (fresh, not deli meat)
1/2 cup Roasted Butternut Squash (diced)
1/2 cup Sauteed or Roasted Brussell Sprouts (quartered or shredded)
1/4 cup Roasted Corn
1/4 cup Diced Apple
1 oz Goat Cheese (break up into small bite-sized pieces)
DRESSING
2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Tablespoon Red Wine Vinegar
1 scoop Beets Hx
1/2 teaspoon Rosemary
Sea Salt and Fresh Cracked Pepper to taste
In a large bowl, toss the kale and arugula together. Add remaining salad ingredients and set aside.
Now, in a small bowl or cup, add all dressing ingredients. Mix until well combined. Pour onto salad and toss until salad is mixed and coated with dressing. Eat and enjoy!
Serves 1
MASTERFUL COD AND VEGGIES (dinner)
2- 4oz pieces of Cod Fish (cleaned and deboned)
1 Lemon
¼ cup + 2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 cup Grape Tomatoes halved long way.
2 scoops Greens Hx
1 container Cauliflower Rice
4 capsules Aged Garlic (contents only)
1 cup Shiitake Mushrooms, sliced.
1 cup Maitake Mushrooms, sliced.
2 Tablespoons Heavy Cream, Milk or Milk Alternative
2 capsules Mushroom Hx (contents only)
Sea Salt
Fresh cracked Black Pepper
Pre-heat oven to 375′. Rinse off fish and place each filet on a piece of parchment paper. Lightly season with salt and pepper. Set it aside. In a small bowl combine the juice and zest of the lemon, ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil and Greens Hx and mix until well combined. Spread mixture evenly over each piece of fish and top each with half the tomatoes. Wrap in the parchment to make a package as a cooking vessel. Place on to cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes.
While fish is cooking, heat 1 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil over medium-high heat in a large pan. Add the cauliflower rice and season with sea salt, fresh black pepper, and the contents of 4 Aged Garlic capsules. Sauté and stir occasionally until tender.
Once you have started the cauliflower, heat 1 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil over medium-high heat in a medium pan. Add the mushrooms and sauté for 2 minutes. Add cream/milk, contents of Mushroom Hx capsules and a pinch of sea salt and black pepper. Stir until well combined and reduce to medium heat.
Once the fish is cooked and vegetables are tender, split the cauliflower rice and creamy mushrooms between two plates. Add the fish and spoon the tomatoes and sauce over the fish. Eat and enjoy!
Serves 2
Incorporating easy home cooked meals can be simple. How will you plan to include home cooked meals in your weekly wellness plan? Happy Cooking!!
www.health.harvard.edu/blog/home-cooking-good-for-your-health-2018081514449
clf.jhsph.edu/about-us/news/news-2014/study-suggests-home-cooking-main-ingredient-healthier-diet.
Hepatitis Part 2 Dr. Claire Arcidiacono, ND In our last blog on this topic, we began with some background information such as just what is hepatitis? What causes hepatitis? And what are the symptoms you might experience with hepatitis? If you haven’t read the first …
Hepatitis Part 1
Dr. Claire Arcidiacono, ND
When I first began to even just think about a series on our liver and kidney health, I knew it was important to to write about hepatitis. Viral hepatitis is a huge problem worldwide. In fact, according to the World health organization viral hepatitis is the second leading infectious cause of death globally. (1) But just what is hepatitis? What causes it? What are the long-term complications? And just what if anything can we do to reduce our risk factors? As you can guess there is an awful lot to cover so to keep it from becoming overwhelming, I will be splitting this topic into two parts. So, let us get into it, shall we?
Let us start with the simple question of just what is hepatitis? Hepatitis is when there is inflammation in your liver. Just like with cirrhosis anything that can cause injury to your liver can trigger inflammation or hepatitis. Depending on what is triggering the hepatitis it can be short term (acute) or long term (chronic). (2) Please look at the attached picture so you can compare an inflamed liver to a healthy liver. (3)
While there is more than one type of hepatitis I will be focusing on viral hepatitis and alcohol induced hepatitis because these are the types that I get the most questions about. Just so your familiar with the other types I will list them here. These include toxic hepatitis, metabolic dysfunction associated steatohepatitis and autoimmune hepatitis.
One of the differences between viral hepatitis and alcoholic induced hepatitis is that viral hepatitis is contagious, and alcohol induce hepatitis is not. Let us look at the types of viral hepatitis? Well, there is hepatitis A, B, C, D, and E. Other viral infections linked to viral help include Epstein Barr virus and cytomegalovirus. Regarding alcohol use and hepatitis everyone has a different tolerance, and this tolerance changes what levels will trigger inflammation and thus lead to alcohol induced hepatitis. (2) One of the concerns in those that have alcohol induced hepatitis or inflammation is that it can leave them at a higher risk of contracting viral hepatitis. So, to answer the question of can you get more than just one type of hepatitis a time the answer is that in a roundabout way yes you can. To put this in simple terms – Alcohol induced hepatitis or even just overall excessive alcohol intake can and does increase the risk of viral hepatitis. (4)
What are the signs and symptoms of hepatitis? In the initial stages of hepatitis, you may notice few if any symptoms. As the disease progresses you will start to see more severe symptoms. This is because the liver is less able to do all its jobs correctly. In general, you may notice nausea, loss of appetite and even fatigue. You may have upper abdominal pain and even a fever. Eventually you may notice jaundice and even changes to the color of your urine and stool. You may notice pruritus, or itchy skin. Over time you may develop something called hepatic encephalopathy, which presents as confusion, disorientation or even drowsiness. (2)
Our next blog on this topic will talk about how viral and alcohol induced hepatitis present. I will also be talking about important risk factors for hepatitis as well as any complications that can occur. Finally, I will be reviewing supplements that that can help to reduce risk factors for hepatitis as well as things to help our overall liver health. As a preview I will just say that this will include classics such as NAC, Milk Thistle and even Glutathione!
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