There are so many things I’m excited to share on this site! Because I’m still healing, I need to try to stay away from the computer until my physical therapy becomes habit. If not, it will hinder me from becoming strong again!

So I wanted to write down a few ideas that I’m eager to write about, as something I can look forward to, and hopefully you will too …

My experience with soy

• Soybean oil, soy lecithin in most processed foods Americans eat
• Only fermented soy is beneficial
• Becoming vegetarian
• Painful periods, hormones
• Uterus cyst
• Friend’s ovarian cyst story
• Acne
• Gas
• Friend’s nutritionist recommendation
• My nutritionist recomendation

My experience with dairy

• Being allergic to casein (milk protein) as a child
• “Out-growing” it
• Mucus
• Asthma
• Icecream makes gums hurt 30 minutes later
• Hormonal food
• Chronic bronchitis
• Home-made kefir
• Raw milk

My experience with processed sugar

• Acne
• Restless Leg
• Insomnia
• 100 years ago, the average American ate 20 grams of sugar a day, we eat 285 grams per day now
• Hormonal food
• Raw Honey

Probiotics

• Natural enzymes

Hormonal Foods

• List of foods (Soy, Dairy, Sugar, Almonds, Walnuts, etc.)
• Children reaching puberty sooner
• Thyroid

Polluted water

• Arsenic in a friend’s town supply
• Her leg pain
• Chlorine, Flouride, Ammonia, Chloramine in LA water
• Friend’s nutritionist recommended water filter company (www.santeforhealth.com)
• Anything touched by skin filters through liver
• Hot water advice from my acupuncturist to help digestion

Skincare products

• Sodium laurel sulfate
• Recommendations
• What I’m currently using
• DIY at home healthy stuff for cheap/ free

Complex Carbohydrates

• Germ, Bran, Endosperm
• Fiber makes sugar “slow-release”
• Enriched means they took the natural vitamins out and put synthetic ones in
• “Shelf life” is running our lives

Corn

• Watch King Corn
• GMO corn
• How to make high fructose corn syrup at home, with safety goggles

Organic Meat

• Episode of This American Life where they visit a pig factory
• Watch Food Inc. to see the difference between organic and non-organic meat
• List of differences between the two
• Best places to get affordable healthy meat

Good Fat vs. Bad Fat

• Scientific break down of fat molecules and how they work in the body

Fiber

• Soluble
• Insoluble
• Pectin removes bad cholesterol on the way out, takes longer to pass through system

Shopping Local

• The impact on the environment
• Cheaper (than Whole Foods in the short and long run)
• Local Honey Bee honey helps immunity
• Farmers Markets
• CSAs
• Becca’s blog and life (www.playfulnoshings.blogspot.com)
• Canning
• Growing your own food (in the city or the burbs)

Composting

• How to make a compost bin
• How to make a compost
• How to do it in the city or the burbs
• Reasons to compost

Portions

• Body’s natural hunger times
• Eat organic
• Shop the perimeter of the grocery store
• Eat six times a day (3 meals, 3 snacks)
• How to calculate how much water you need in a day: Cut how much you weigh in half, that is how many ounces of water you need to drink in a day
• How to calculate your Body Mass Index

Keep your Liver clean

• Drink a cup of warm or hot lemon water each morning
• Any food that is bitter (lemon, kale, greens, grapefruit) helps clean the liver

Chemical toxicity

• Phenylalanine, in diet soda and many “sugar-free” processed foods
• It is an amino acid
• Reasons not to eat it
• Splenda

Food Combining

• Food breaks down in intestines at different speeds (Meat vs. Fruit vs. Carbs, etc.)
• The combination of the food can help or detract from your bodies ability to process the food easily or bloatily
• Other countries know this and have been eating according to what they consider common sense, but we have never heard of!
• My experience with Suzanne Sommers

Absorption

• Food can have a huge amount of a vitamin in it, but it doesn’t mean it is absorbable by our bodies
• The story of Popeye and Spinach
• Certain vitamins need other vitamins, or to be heated, or to be raw, in order to be absorbed
• Heme vs. Non-Heme Iron and their sources
• Best absorbable Calcium sources

The History of Food Advertising

• Apples, Milk, Bread, Soy, Corn Syrup… etc.

My experience with Heavy Metal toxicity

• My friend’s story about weight loss through nutritionist who taught her about toxins. They are surrounded by fat in our bodies, in order to protect them from entering the blood stream, so cleaning them out lets our bodies let go of excess fat
• I have aluminum, mercury, arsenic, and lead in my system
• How metals negatively affect your health
• Heavy Metals replace the calcium in your body
• Mad Hatters
• The advice given to my mom about her bi-polar disease
• The story of the lady with an Oscar on the plane
• diet change, ionic baths, herbal drops, key drips, and other methods of detox
• Cilantro & Chorella
• The six things found in every person with cancer (one is a high level of mercury)
• Wheat storage
• List of where metals are found

Longetivity

• Remain alkaline through a sincere positive emotional state and what you intake
• Eat organic real foods
• Clean body of toxins
• Social time
• Okinawa Project
• Anti-Cancer book

My experience with Muscle Testing

• The story of the first time it was done to me
• A simple way to test your own body to see what foods it is lacking in or that it responds negatively to

Excretions, Discomfort, Abnormalities

• We should always be comfortable and any of the above title are signals that our bodies need a change of some sort
• My experience with heart burn in college

Exercise

My experience with Chiropractors

• Pittsburgh, Ohio, NYC, Los Angeles
• There are good and there are bad
• Once body is aligned, muscle exercises are need to keep in place
• Referred me to Egoscue physical therapy

My experience with Egoscue

My experience with Orthopedic Surgeons, Specialists, and Health Insurance

My experience with Acupuncture

• Went for tendon injuries
• Also addressed diarrhea (poop shape) and anxiety
• Girl in gym story
• Hot pink “Of course!” Master story about toe nerves
• Friend’s story about rib removed
• Third eye

My experience with Energy Healing

• Recommended by two family member doctors
• Story of healer by the lake
• Positive and negative energy in our hands
• Stories of homeless people and strangers and family (both negative and positive) while being hurt
• Chronic pain therapy
• Acupuncture
• Qi Gong
• Yoga

This list is very long. It also makes me very happy. And now I should sleep, considering it is morning, Easter morning!

A quick closing thought inspired by Easter…

Each day of my childhood, my mom would sing this in the morning: “This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it! He made today in a special way, so let’s all sing and be glad.” I think it’s really affected my outlook on life. Hope it brightens your day today and the many days to come!

Happy Easter, Happy Passover, and Happy Healing!

We got around to talking about destiny and free will and I felt like I was finally able to articulate how I feel about the two.

I think they are one in the same and we are walking in both through our lives. I think that we have a destiny and I think we have the free will to follow our heart and if we truly listen to our hearts, they will let us make the choices that lead us to our destiny.

I think I was supposed to get hurt so I could leave certain negative situations I was too weak to walk away from and because I knew there were answers I wanted to find about nutrition and health and if I hadn’t been pushed to find them, I would have ignored a piece of myself that is very real. I’ve learned so many other things since getting hurt that are invaluable. I’m still learning and even when I’m better, I’ll be learning. Each day is adventure! The days can seem negative or positive, but I think all the decisions I make lead me toward something so much bigger than I am, something beautiful, and so they, in turn, are party of the beauty as well.

I had prepped a salad in advance because I’m staying with some friends and it’s easier to eat in a way that makes my body happy if I have veggies ready for salad, or to toss into scrambled eggs, or rice, or whateves. Then I can still hang out with my friends, instead of bringing whole food and chopping the whole time .

All tossed together in the salad was organic:

• spinach
• cucumbers
• red bell peppers
• carrots
• broccoli
• thinly sliced zucchini
• avocado
• fresh squeezed lemon juice
• olive oil
• a little bit of raw apple cider vinegar
• thyme spice
• dill weed spice
• freshly ground black pepper

I’m here visiting friends in Burbank to be part of my first Seder Passover Dinner! It was last night and it was suuuper fun and I learned a lot! I learned that for 7 (or 8, depending on how Orthodox one is) days, the Jews won’t eat leavened bread after Passover. Passover is all about how the Jews were freed from slavery from the Egyptians and it is a time to remember to be grateful for freedom and to think of ways to help any human that is currently enslaved! Isn’t that beautiful?

The bread part comes in because when they were freed, it was in quite a hurry and they didn’t have time to pack bread that was ready for consumption. The bread had barely risen. So in eating matza (bread that has only been cooked for 18 minutes), it is a symbol to ourselves and to others to remind us of what the Jews went through so long ago and what many people are going through today.

I LOVE this idea! Although I have Spanish Jewish blood somewhere in my mutt mix, I am not actually Jewish, but I want to participate nonetheless. (Also, I haven’t eaten bread in about ten months anyway!!! I found I felt better with out it, so for a while I thought it was because of the gluten, now I realize it was probably the soybean oil in it! And a combo of things… But that’s a different blog.)

But rice is included in the list of foods not to eat during Seder! And I brought brown rice and wild rice as my carbs for the visit. I also brought a thrown together mix of Trader Joe’s non-organic Simmer Curry Sauce (all real ingredients though!), Trader Joe’s organic Butternut Squash Soup, and Trader Joe’s organic hummus, as a sauce for the rice.

Remember the salad from a few paragraphs back? Well, I put it in the back of my friend’s fridge, but it froze solid! So the combination of needing to thaw it out and the lack of rice made this happen…

I left the salad out to thaw for a few hours, then sauteed it in the weird soup/curry/hummus mixture and it came out like a DEEELECTABLE reeeeal almost coconutty vegetable curry!!!

Yay for Seder! Yay for fridges that are unequally temperatured! Yay for this Delicious Mistake!

by Tracie Hittman, MS www.itsyourplate.com 608-213-2021

Article from Dustin Maher’s Fitness website

Can you believe that as a nutritional consultant, I actually warn my clients about the potential heath dangers that the consumption of soy can cause?

You may be thinking to yourself, “What the heck? The media tells me that if I include a lot of soy into my diet, I will decrease the risks of cancer (especially breast and colon) and also reduce my chances of getting heart disease.”  Those sound like positive claims, right?  This is where the controversy begins: To soy or not to soy?

If you really read your food product and supplement labels, you will quickly discover that soy is everywhere.  Some examples of soy derivatives that you can run across while reading labels arehydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP), vegetable protein concentrate, vegetable oil, MSG (monosodium glutamate), soy protein isolate, soy lecithin, TVP (textured vegetable proteins) and, the most prominent of all, soy oil.  Other popular soy products include: soy milk, soy yogurt, soy cheese, soy protein powders, soy baby formula, tofu, soy sauce, vegetarian burgers and meat alternatives.  According to the media and some health experts, this would be a good thing, but I would encourage you to think again!

What you aren’t hearing about is the potential dangers of eating too much soy. The following are just a few dangers researchers have found:

• Soy contains high levels of phytic acid that can reduce absorption of calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and zinc.
• Soy contains trypsin inhibitors, which hinders protein digestion. Digestive upset, including bloating is a common reaction.
• Soy phytoestrogens disrupt endocrine function and have the potential to cause hormonal imbalances in both men and women.
• Soy has goitrogenic effects—it impairs the body’s ability to produce thyroid hormones.
• Soy foods increase the body need for Vitamin B12 and D.

So why is soy such a prominent part of our food supply? The answer to that is simple. The USA grows a lot of soybeans and the beans itself and the bi-products are cheap.  This equals big profits for companies that use soy as a filler in their products.  Therefore, we have been fed the story that soy is a miracle food that should be eaten in abundance.

I could go on for hours about this topic, but space and time are limited here, so if you’d like more information and a longer list the negative affects of soy click here.   There is also a great book that I recommend called the Whole Soy Story, by Kaayla Daniel, that is worth checking out.  I want to share this information with you because the media has only told half of the story when it comes to soy.

Before you think that I have totally dismissed the consumption of all soy products, I do agree with including small amounts of fermented soy products (tamari, tempeh, miso and natto) into your diet.  This is how Asians have traditionally used soy for centuries. However, I urge you to start to question the beliefs that you have about what is healthy and what isn’t.  Soy is just one example of a nutrition myth that needs more explanation. I am starting an 8-week seminar series called “Change your plate. Change your life,” on July 15 that will be busting other nutritional myths and helping you learn how to eat to look and feel better.  If you want more energy, weight loss or better athletic performance, please check out my website for more information on this seminar series and other upcoming events.    What’s on your plate?

Tracie Hittman, MS                            www.itsyourplate.com 608-213-2021

From an article by the Weston A. Price Foundation, click here for full article including references: Soy Alert

• High levels of phytic acid in soy reduce assimilation of calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and zinc. Phytic acid in soy is not neutralized by ordinary preparation methods such as soaking, sprouting and long, slow cooking. High phytate diets have caused growth problems in children.
• Trypsin inhibitors in soy interfere with protein digestion and may cause pancreatic disorders. In test animals soy containing trypsin inhibitors caused stunted growth.
• Soy phytoestrogens disrupt endocrine function and have the potential to cause infertility and to promote breast cancer in adult women.
• Soy phytoestrogens are potent antithyroid agents that cause hypothyroidism and may cause thyroid cancer. In infants, consumption of soy formula has been linked to autoimmune thyroid disease.
• Vitamin B₁₂ analogs in soy are not absorbed and actually increase the body’s requirement for B₁₂.
• Soy foods increase the body’s requirement for vitamin D.
• Fragile proteins are denatured during high temperature processing to make soy protein isolate and textured vegetable protein.
• Processing of soy protein results in the formation of toxic lysinoalanine and highly carcinogenic nitrosamines.
• Free glutamic acid or MSG, a potent neurotoxin, is formed during soy food processing and additional amounts are added to many soy foods.
• Soy foods contain high levels of aluminum which is toxic to the nervous system and the kidneys.

The above soy dangers and our Myths & Truths About Soy are available in our Soy Alert! trifold brochure for mass distribution.

Studies Showing Adverse Effects of Soy

1. 288 Studies Showing the Toxicity of Soy in the US Food & Drug Administration’s Poisonous Plant Database (7.5M PDF)
2. Studies Showing Adverse Effects of Dietary Soy, 1971-2003
3. Studies Showing Adverse Effects of Isoflavones, 1953-2003

For the author’s website, visit www.wholesoystory.com

Written by:

Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN, is THE WHOLE NUTRITIONIST®. She earned her PhD in Nutritional Sciences and AntiAging Therapies from the Union Institute and University in Cincinnati, is board certified as a clinical nutritionist (CCN) by the International and American Association of Clinical Nutritionists in Dallas and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Weston A. Price Foundation. As a clinical nutritionist, she specializes in digestive disorders, women’s reproductive health issues, infertility, and recovery from vegetarian and soybased diets.

Dr. Daniel is the author of The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food (New Trends, March 2005), which has been endorsed by leading health professionals, including Kilmer McCully MD, Doris J. Rapp MD, Jonathan V. Wright, MD, Russell Blaylock, MD, Larrian Gillespie, MD, Joseph Mercola, OD, Debra Lynn Dadd and Larry Dossey, MD, who called it “science writing at its best.”

Comfortable in front of radio, television and live audiences, Dr. Daniel has been “media trained” by Joel Roberts, formerly cohost of KABC, Los Angeles’ most highly rated talk radio program, who calls her a “class A entertainer” and a “naughty nutritionist” with the ability to outrageously and humorously debunk nutritional myths.” Dr. Daniel has been extensively quoted in major newspapers and magazines, including the San Francisco Chronicle, Washington Post, USA Today, Toronto Globe & Mail, Glamour, Utne Reade and Alternative Medicine, and has appeared as a guest on NPR’s People’s Pharmacy, the Discovery Channel’s Medical Hotseat and ABC’s View from the Bay. Online her book has been featured prominently on www.mercola.com , the world’s leading natural health and dietary website. She has also appeared as an expert witness before the California Public Safety Committee and the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences.

Soy Foods Lower Sperm Count

Soy Expert Links New Research to America’s Infertility Epidemic

Washington, DC – Estrogenlike compounds in soy foods can lower sperm count according a Harvard School of Public Health research presented at the 63rd Annual Meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. The report, by Jorge Chavarro, MD, ScD, bolsters concerns expressed by scientists, doctors and nutritionists who have warned that soy can adversely affect male fertility. America is in the midst of an epidemic of infertility, according to Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN, author of The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food. “Soy is heavily marketed as a health food, despite adverse effects on male fertility. Men who eat soy foods and drink soy milk are less likely to father children and more likely to experience loss of libido. This latest study shows lowered sperm concentration. Other researchers have linked soy consumption to poor sperm quality as well as lowered testosterone levels.”

Dr. Chavarro and colleagues studied 100 men who were members of couples having trouble getting pregnant. Semen analyses showed that the men with the highest levels of soy food intakeapproximately a half serving per day – had 41 million sperm per milliliter fewer than men who did not consume any soy. The researchers used a questionnaire listing 15 soybased foods to determine soy consumption over the preceding three months. “These men were eating – on average – only a half serving of soy foods per day,” says Dr. Daniel. “That is far less than the amount of soy foods and soy milk consumed by many vegetarians and other health conscious men. Yet it was enough to seriously lower their sperm count.”

According to reports in several respected scientific journals, including the Lancet, British Medical Journal, and Environmental Health Perspectives, sperm counts have been declining at the rate of two percent per year since the 1970s, and sperm quality has also suffered. “The most probable cause is a combined assault by the environmental estrogens in pesticides and plastics along with the plantestrogens from soy,” says Dr. Daniel. “I hope this study will put the spotlight on soy’s contribution to the estrogenization of our men.”

To read or to download the full article, click Soy’s Affect on Male Fertility

“As we go to higher info altitudes, where the information moves faster.. our eyes, ears, and cerebral cortexes have more to keep up with.  We do keep up, but in order to do so we habituate ourselves to shorter moments of concentration… and to a manic routine of ‘multitasking’ which so often leads to half-baked ideas and performance. We lose quiet moments, moments of reflection.”