Integrative Health Blog

The Definition of GMO

I want to talk today about a topic that can be difficult to understand because of the complexity of the issue: GMO, which is the acronym for Genetically Modified Organisms.

This is an issue which may affect not just human health, but soil microbes, crops and livestock as well.

When a plant or a food crop has had it’s DNA biochemically altered - it is considered to be a genetically modified organism,  or GMO.

Eve Colantoni CHC

Real dairy is healthy and can be enjoyed by most people, but modern dairy practices have altered the type of product we now consume.

Do you enjoy dairy products but are concerned whether they are actually good for you?

Have you experienced lactose intolerance or other unpleasant side effects when eating dairy?

What if I told you, it’s not the cow’s fault- it’s the processing methods used today that may be affecting you, and that there is healthy digestible dairy out there?

The Problem with Industrialized Dairy

Dairy has received such a bad rap over the years and rightly so if we’re talking about milk, ice cream, butter and other products that you buy off the grocery shelf. These products have been so altered from the type of dairy that was enjoyed straight from the farm for many, many years and by many societies. The dairy our ancestors drank gave them great health, strong bones, vitality and longevity.

So, What Happened?

Eve Colantoni CHC

Bob Johnson DMD

Anita's Healthy Tips

If you live in the Washington metro area then you are all too familiar with the recent heat explosion we have had, no to mention the power outages due to last week’s storm. We were without power for 5 days at my house and so naturally we lost all the contents of our refrigerator and freezer.

Fermented Foods Are an Old Tradition

It got me to thinking that prior to the advent of refrigeration people routinely preserved their fruits and vegetables not just so that they could eat them out of season, but because they understood that fermented foods also made them healthy. Ancient Greek and Roman civilizations knew this, Europeans understand it and Asian cultures continue to ferment foods. Here in the U.S., sauerkraut is probably the most popular fermented food but most commercial preparations have been pasteurized and therefore all the beneficial bacteria have been killed off! Some have said that the relishes we use, like pickle and cucumber relish were probably originally fermented. This lost art is surely making a come back with many articles and books written on the subject like the most recent Real Food Fermentation by Alex Lewin.

Healthy Tips

Dr. Mark Hyman has coined the term “diabesity”. It refers to the journey from a normal blood sugar level to pre-diabetes and finally to full blown Type II diabetes, often accompanied by obesity.

Sugar, Sugar, Sugar

Refined foods, sugary drinks and fast foods all turn to sugar very quickly in the body. After a high carbohydrate meal or snack, insulin is secreted by the pancreas so that the sugar can be transported from the blood into the cells where it can be used for energy. An abundance of sugar in the system (aka a normal American diet) causes a lot of insulin to be produced. Over time the cells no longer respond to the insulin and the body needs more of it to keep blood sugar in balance. This is called insulin resistance.

The brain, the liver and the muscles are the primary users of sugar or glucose. After that, all the excess gets stored as fat!  A common side effect of insulin resistance is weight gain.

Hidden Calories

Anita Capizzi RN, CHC

Eve Colantoni CHC

If you’ve tried to kick the sugar habit and failed, you could be facing a larger problem than you may have realized; you may be facing an actual addiction.  Sadly, sugar addiction is greatly misunderstood by most people; parents, teachers, even doctors and the medical community at large. In this article, you’ll learn why sugar is so addictive, how to tell if you’ve become addicted, and what steps you can take to break away from the grips of sugar addiction.

“Sugar and spice and everything nice!” The old saying takes us back to happy memories from childhood, but not all that we remember nostalgically is necessarily good for us.  In fact, one of the problems with sugar is that since it’s always been a part of our lives, from birthday parties, to holidays like Valentine’s day or Halloween, we think consuming it is all very normal.  A little in moderation never hurt anyone, right?  Well, when you see the history of sugar, and how it’s become woven into the fabric of our lives, and what it’s actually doing to your body, you may think differently.

Long before you or I were ever born, the first sugar refinery in the United Sates was constructed in 1689.  Many historians have now documented that much of the slave trade was initiated to find free labor to grow and harvest the plants from which sugar is derived; sugar cane or sugar beets.  In my opinion, it makes the scar that slavery left on humanity even deeper knowing that much of the atrocity was committed in the name of producing a drug that would further enslave us--sugar.