Monday, May 31, 2010

Sample Day of Healthy Eating

Here's a sample day of healthy eating from my new meal plans.  Note - you can even have meat and potatoes! (Well, at least on this day!) All the meal plans come with a complete shopping list for the week and contain recipes.  I have a variety of special plans available including: a two week sugar detox/weight loss diet, a gluten free diet, a dairy free diet, and a gluten and dairy free diet.  All plans are customizeable as well. For more information give me a call at 262-389-9907 or send an e-mail to bernie@brwellness.com.


Before Breakfast

-8 oz. water with juice of ½ of a lemon
-8 oz water

Breakfast
-2 eggs scrambled with mushrooms and peppers
-8 oz water

Snack Around 10:00
1 apple

Before Lunch

-8 oz. water

Lunch

Large mixed greens salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers topped with leftover turkey and vinaigrette dressing

Between Lunch & Snack

2 8 oz glasses water

Snack Around 3:30
1 orange or 2 Clementines

Between Snack and Dinner

8 oz glass water

Dinner

Grilled sirloin steaks with sautéed garlic, onions, and peppers with a small baked potato with real butter and a salad with vinaigrette dressing.

Evening

8 oz water

NOTES: For breakfast, sauté the veggies first in a little olive oil, set them aside. Then scramble your eggs. When your eggs are done, add the veggies back in. Use sea salt and pepper if you want.


A serving of sirloin steak for you is 4 oz. (about the size of the palm of your hand).

Feel free to top your potato with butter. DO not use margarine.

Saturday, May 29, 2010

The Versatile Vegetable

As the cover page says, "More than just a cookbook - a comprehensive guide for nourishing your life."  This is a top seller when I give my nutrition talks.  What is lacking from most diets?  Vegetables.  Why?  We don't know what to do with them.  That problem is solved with Miranda's book.  It provides simple and tasty recipes with many variations.  Not only does it contain many great recipes, the first part of the book is chock full of information to guide you to healthy eating.  My personal favorite is the Vegetable Curry on page 82 that I make into a yummy soup.  Bon appetit!

Thursday, May 27, 2010

The 150 Most Effective Ways to Boost Your Energy

Back to Dr. Jonny today.  This is my second favorite book of his because not only does it cover food, but it also has great tips on exercise, supplements, and even spiritual ways to boost energy.  A couple of my favorites - why are most people tired?  They don't sleep enough!! That's the bottom line truth.  The jist of this book is that stress is one of the major energy sappers.  So, the book is loaded with stress reduction ideas.  Another favorite - remove clutter as it sucks out energy.  This is a great read, fun, easy, and best of all informative!

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Good Calories Bad Calories

Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes clearly explains one of the key points I make with all my clients.  You need to understand, despite what we are told (unless of course you are with me), all calories are not created equal.  The type of food the calories are from is critical.  Taubes provides the scientific evidence linking refined carbohydrates and particularly sugar not only diabetes, but heart disease as well.  He also shows the lack of any true evidence that saturated fat and cholesterol cause heart disease. The book gives the history, the "science", and the poltics behind these food "controversies".  This book will be eye-opening to many, and should be required reading in our medical schools!

Thursday, May 20, 2010

The Case for Real Milk

On Wednesday, May 19, 2010, Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle vetoed the “Raw Milk” Bill which had passed both the State Assembly and Senate with bi-partisan support. Over the past two years as I’ve written my Blogs, I’ve often thought about writing about the benefits of what I’ll call “real milk”. That is milk that is unprocessed, full-fat, and from pasture-fed cows. I never did, until today. I thought it “controversial” and perhaps more information than people wanted to know. I was wrong and wish I had written this earlier. The fact that in today’s world a bill passed with the support of both parties indicates it is something that the people want and their representatives were responding to.


So, where to start? With all these controversies there is always some truth, some fiction, and of course some biased reporting. I’ll try to present the logical facts. Much of the following information comes from the Weston Price Foundation’s pamphlet “A Campaign for Real Milk”. You can read more about this on their web site – www.westonaprice.org.

First off, and I think most people would agree with this – in order to have healthy milk to drink, you need to have a healthy cow to produce it. That makes sense, right? Much of the original push to pasteurize milk occurred in the 1920’s when dairies located in major cities were producing milk that was not safe. They were feeding the cows the leftovers from the alcohol industry. They became known as “swill dairies”. To keep the story short: this was milk coming from diseased cows and it was making those who drank it sick and many children were dying from the diseased milk. In order to kill the bacteria and other pathogens present in the milk, pasteurization was introduced. From there politics and the “big” dairy industry takes over and we get where we are today. This whole story is nicely chronicled in Ron Schmid’s The Untold Story of Milk. The bottom line – pasteurization was introduced to kill the disease in the milk from the sick cows. Where the cows were healthy and those getting milk from country farms, none of this was occurring.

Real milk comes from real cows that eat real feed. Cows are supposed to eat green grass, green feed, silage, hay, and root vegetables. This produces healthy milk (and meat). Cows are not supposed to eat grains, corn, soy meal, cottonseed meal, bakery waste, chicken manure, or the other foods that they are being fed as part of the industrial process of making milk. If you eat foods that you weren’t designed for, what happens to you? You get sick. The same with cows. To keep the cows from getting too sick that they die they are given a host of antibiotics and to keep the cows producing milk they are given excess hormones. Where does this wind up? In your milk and meat. I could go on about the hormones, antibiotics, and pesticide residues found in the milk and meat, but I think you get the point.

Real milk is not pasteurized. Pasteurization destroys enzymes, diminishes vitamin content, denatures milk proteins, destroys vitamins, kills beneficial bacteria, promotes pathogens, and is associated with allergies and a host of other problems. So, yes pasteurization was very effective and needed for the “milk” from the swill dairies of the 1920’s, but that is no longer the case today. I’m sure you are familiar with lactose intolerance. Well, real milk still contains active lactase – the enzyme required to digest lactose. Many people who are “lactose intolerant” have no issues drinking real milk. And some people who are “allergic” to milk are able to drink real milk with no problems.

Real milk is full fat. Despite what you hear in the media – we do need fat, and milk is full of the Vitamins A and D that we need. The butterfat in milk is rich in short and medium chain fatty acids, which protect against disease and stimulate the immune system.

What about the stories that we see in the paper about people getting sick from raw milk. Well, guess what, those are just stories. Once the full reporting and investigation is done, it is not the raw milk as the culprit. Here’s the bottom line – 20 states allow the sale of raw milk. In Europe there are now public raw milk dispensing machines. And, if it was so deadly, why are thousands of families here in Wisconsin, and who knows how many throughout the country, drinking raw milk and nobody is getting sick?



Bernard Rosen, PhD is a Nutrition Consultant and Educator. He works with individuals, groups, and at corporations to create individualized nutrition and wellness programs. His office is in Thiensville. To learn more or to schedule an appointment, e-mail at bernie@brwellness.com, call (262) 389-9907 or go to www.brwellness.com.

Fat Flush For Life

As I mentioned the other day, I have many favorite nutrition authors, but there is a reason Ann Louise Gittleman is known as the "First Lady of Nutrition".  She's written over 30 books and has been featured in many national media outlets.  But, best of all - she is right!!! She's been doing nutrition for a long time and has always been out at the forefront.  She was one of the first to recognize the need for fat, yes the right fats, in our diets, and how low-fat diets, high carbohydrate diets were leading to the chronic diseases that are so prevalent today.

In Fat Flush For Life, she expands on her successful Fat Flush Plan (another definite read) to a year round plan for healthy eating and living. It is very much a capstone book, as much of the great information from previous books is included here.  It is truly 'the year-round super detox plan to boost your metabolism and keep the weight off permanently."  It includes recipes, shopping lists, and lots of great stuff!

For more information you can follow either of the links below.  One goes to amazon.com and the other to the UniKey Health home page, as UniKey is the official distributor of her books and products.


     Uni Key Health Systems

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth

As I start my series of book reviews it is difficult to know where to start. Naturally, I want to tell you everything at once and list all the books, but that is not practical. I have a couple of favorite authors who you will see several books referenced, those being Ann Louise Gittleman and Jonny Bowden. The nod for today's review goes to Jonny's The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth: The Surprising Unbiased Truth About What You Should Eat and Why

Why this one first?  Well, when I first read it I said to myself, "That's the book I wish I had written."  As Jonny reveals what these 150 healthiest foods are, he hits the proverbial nail on the head with the hammer.  I can not agree more strongly with what he says in the book.  He describes how soy is not the health food we've been lead to believe, how raw milk is good for you, but not pasteurized milk, how grass fed beef is the way nature intended it, etc. etc.

You can pick the book up at any time and read sections and get valuable information.

Monday, May 17, 2010

My Favorite Nutrition and Wellness Books

One of the reasons I got into this whole nutrition and wellness area was my desire to share my knowledge with others to help them become more healthy and to learn how to live a healthier lifestyle.

We don't have to go very far to find the latest nutritional advice and everyone has and is entitled to their opinion. Unfortunately, not all of the advice we see or hear is necessarily true. One of my main goals is to educate people on nutrition. To cut through the hype!

Often times we seek books to tell us the truth. But, as I like to say, "Just because it is in a book doesn't mean it is true. It just means it is in a book." (Yes, you can also now substitute the word "Internet" for "book.")

I'm often asked what are good books to read. To get this information out to as wide an audience as possible, I've decided to start writing brief book reviews of my favorite nutrition and wellness books on my Blog. I'll be writing 2-3 per week, so check the blog and my posts to Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn which will direct to the Blog. Feel free to pass them along to your friends and family and hopefully it will help them as well.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Rosen Wellness News and Events

Rosen Wellness Nutrition and Yoga Workshops:


Glendale, WI - GreenSquare Center for the Healing Arts
6789 N. Green Bay Road

All programs from 7:30-9:00 PM

May 2, 2012 - Secrets for Healthy Aging
June 6, 2012 - Principles of a Healthy Diet
See Program Description below. To register call (262) 389-9907
http://www.greensquarecenter.com/




Program Descriptions:

Nutrition Boot Camp 1/Fundamentals of Nutrition/Nutrition for Yogis
Learn the basics of nutrition - what to eat and why. Discover the core nutrients - protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and water - and why they are important. This information will aid you in making better choices. You'll leave with food shopping lists, ideas for healthy meals, a step by step transition to a healthier diet, and a sample week of healthy eating.

Nutrition Boot Camp 2/Nutrition Roundtable/Nutritional Anatomy for Yogis
Learn how to use nutrition to address common ailments and symptoms that people suffer from. Includes: digestive problems (acid reflux, gas, bloating, constipation, diarrhea), aches & pains, inflammation, blood sugar, high cholesterol, fatigue, stress, emotional issues (anxiety, depression, mood swings, PMS), and hormones.

The Joy of Relaxation... Simple Stress Management Techniques
Stress is the most widespread affliction in our fast paced world. It affects people of all ages. It comes from a wide variety of sources and is at the root of many common cardiovascular, digestive, energy, and weight complaints. Learn the impact of stress on your body, but more importantly learn techniques to reduce its effects.

Rejuvenation... The Five Tibetan Rites of Rejuvenation
Come learn these simple techniques to improve your physical and mental vitality. Practiced by a remote sect of Tibetan monks, these rites were brought to the West by a British Army colonel fascinated by stories of monks that had discovered the secret to longevity. The Five Tibetans are a great way to start the day. The complete practice requires only 10-15 minutes.

Yoga Nidra
Yoga Nidra is a technique for deep relaxation and restoration. The intent of the practice is to systematically relax all physical and mental stress, and on a deeper level relieve all negative subconscious tendencies. When combined with “sankalpa” (resolution), Yoga Nidra offers the ultimate means to access vitality and at the same time establish new and inspiring life directions. During the workshop you’ll create your “sankalpa” and experience Yoga Nidra. Please bring a pillow and light blanket or other body covering to this workshop.

Strategies for Successful Weight Loss
Many of us want to know – what is going on? I watch what I eat, I exercise regularly, but I am not losing weight. Others of us have tried a variety of diet programs with varying degrees of success, but often once the diet is over, we gain the weight back. There are many factors that influence our ability to lose weight. Among these are certainly the foods we eat and what we drink, how often and how long we exercise, and often overlooked – how we manage the stress in our daily life.

Healthy Aging
Tired of hearing from your doctor, “That’s just a sign of age, there’s nothing you can do about it?” Learn how to age in a healthy manner and reduce the effects of aging. We’ll look at all the lifestyle factors that influence how you age and discuss how to create a healthier lifestyle. Learn about supplements to specifically support the body.

Eat Fat, Lose Fat
Ever notice how everyone on a “low fat” diet is gaining weight? We often hear warnings about eating foods that contain fat because they will lead to cardiovascular disease and heart attacks. From this we conclude fat is bad for us. Yet, the truth is we need it. In this workshop you’ll learn why we need fat, the different types of fat, and suggestions for consuming healthy fats to nourish your body.

The Pioneers of Nutrition
Did you know that back in the 1930's and 1940's several nutrition researchers had made connections that our Western diet based on refined and processed food was contributing to increasing rates of chronic disease? Yet, no one believed them, and worse yet termed them as "quacks". Who are they and what did they discover? Come meet the pioneers of nutrition - Dr. Weston Price, Dr. Frances Pottenger, and Dr. Royal Lee.

Good Supplements, Bad Supplements
One day you hear Vitamin X is good for you; the next day you hear it has no benefits.  Why is this?  Let me ask you this question: Have you ever seen a Vitamin C tree?  Despite what most vitamin companies tell you, vitamins made in a laboratory and those made in nature work differently in your body.  In this workshop you’ll learn the difference between investing in your health and flushing your money down the toilet.

Know Your Nutrients
Your intake of vitamins and minerals are major keys to your health.  They fuel your metabolism; essentially they make things happen in your body.  Come learn about the most important vitamins and minerals, what they do, and what foods you should eat to get them.

Get the Sugar and Salt Out
We are all told to eat less sugar. Excess sugar consumption has been linked to more than sixty different ailments. But we all like it very much. Just like sugar, we’re also told to watch our sodium (salt) consumption. But there’s more to the story. We do need sodium for optimal performance. This workshop will review why sugar is dangerous to our health, true facts about sodium and salt, but more importantly offer practical tips on how to reduce our sugar consumption.

Ten Foods to Have in Your Healthy Diet

We are often told what not to eat. In this class learn the ten foods that should be included in your diet that will have an immediate healthful impact. Learn what the foods are, why you need them, and suggestions for how to incorporate them into your diet.

Ten More Foods to Have in Your Healthy Diet
We are often told what not to eat. In this class learn about an additional ten foods that should be included in your diet that will have an immediate healthful impact. Learn what the foods are, why you need them, and suggestions for how to incorporate them into your diet.

My Tummy Hurts: Natural Ways to Improve Your Digestion
We’ve all heard the old saying - we are what we eat. Yet, there is much more to the story. We are what we digest. Much of the U.S. population experiences some form of digestive problems – gas, bloating, heartburn, constipation, and/or diarrhea. In this workshop we’ll learn the role of food, enzymes, and beneficial bacteria in improving our digestion.

The Joy of Relaxation: Relaxing Through the Hectic Holiday Season
Stress is the most widespread affliction in our fast paced world. It affects people of all ages. It comes from a wide variety of sources and is at the root of many common cardiovascular, digestive, energy, and weight complaints. Learn the impact of stress on your body, but more importantly learn techniques to reduce its effects.

Strategies for Successful and Permanent Weight Loss
Many of us want to know – what is going on? I watch what I eat, I exercise regularly, but I am not losing weight. Others of us have tried a variety of diet programs with varying degrees of success, but often once the diet is over, we gain the weight back. There are many factors that influence our ability to lose weight. Among these are certainly the foods we eat and what we drink, how often and how long we exercise, and often overlooked – how we manage the stress in our daily life.

Energize Your Life: 30 Ways to Increase Your Energy
Are you looking for more energy and vitality? There are many ways to boost energy in a natural way. Learn how to invigorate your body and mind through diet, relaxation, sleep, and exercise.

Ladies, Meet Your Hormones
What's controlling all aspects of your life and you may not even know it? Your hormones - they control, manage, direct, and define every aspect of your daily life. Learn the key hormones and what they do for you.

Eat Fat, Lose Fat: The Truth About Fat and Cholesterol
Ever notice how everyone on a “low fat” diet is gaining weight? We often hear warnings about eating foods that contain fat and cholesterol because they will lead to cardiovascular disease and heart attacks. From this we conclude these are bad for us. Yet, the truth is both are required and continuously used by our body and is made in our liver. If we did not need cholesterol, our body would not make it. In this workshop you’ll learn why we need fat, the different types of fat, why we need cholesterol, and suggestions for consuming healthy fats to nourish your body.

Secrets for Healthy Aging
Tired of hearing from your doctor, “That’s just a sign of age, there’s nothing you can do about it?” Learn how to age in a healthy manner and reduce the effects of aging. We’ll look at all the lifestyle factors that influence how you age and discuss how to create a healthier lifestyle. Learn about supplements to specifically support the body.

Principles of a Healthy Diet
Learn the nuts and bolts of nutrition – protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals. There are all kinds of diets being marketed to the American public: low carbohydrate, high carbohydrate, low fat, high fat, low protein, and high protein. How do we know what is good for us? The truth is that we need carbohydrates, fats and proteins for our bodies to operate. However, all carbohydrates, fats and proteins are not created equal. Learn why we need these in our diet and how to make healthy choices. For each of these nutrients you’ll learn what they are, what they do in the body, why we need them, and dietary sources.

Monday, May 3, 2010

Natural Energy Boosters – Part 2

In my last post I introduced you to six natural ways to boost your energy through healthy eating behaviors. As a quick reminder those were:

1. Eat protein with each meal.
2. Eat a diet balanced with protein, fat, and carbohydrate.
3. Don’t fear fat.
4. Reduce your sugar intake.
5. Eat breakfast.
6. Don’t skip meals.

Now, here are six more, to give you a healthy dozen ideas.

Get more sleep. Well this one may be rather obvious, but guess the number one reason people are tired and lack energy. They don’t get enough sleep! In fact 50 million of us suffer from chronic, long term sleep disorders while another 20 million experience occasional sleep problems. Why do we need sleep? It allows our body to recover from the stress and activity of the day and to prepare for the next day. How much sleep do we need? For most people it is about eight hours. Not getting enough sleep creates havoc for our endocrine, immune, and metabolic systems. As a result we can become tired and gain weight. Some helpful hints – go to bed earlier (perhaps even one hour), exercise in the morning (evening exercise revs you up), and do not drink for several hours before going to bed (water, and particularly alcohol). An interesting note on alcohol – while it may help you fall asleep, after several hours it may actually enliven you!

Snack on nuts. Nuts make a great snack. They have fiber, protein, healthy fat and minerals. They are a great energy food. The protein and fat fills you up and stabilizes blood sugar. The minerals fuel your enzymes and metabolism. A couple of side notes. They are a snack, not a meal, so limit yourself to a handful at a time. And, most important – raw nuts are best. Avoid highly salted roasted nuts due to the salt content and also because the fragile unsaturated fats oxidize during the roasting process.

Drink green tea. Studies have shown a variety of health benefits from drinking green tea including reducing the risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, infection, and rheumatoid arthritis while also lowering cholesterol. It also helps in weight loss – human studies have shown green tea to increase the rate of calorie and fat burn over a 24 hour period. Yes, there is caffeine, but one-third as much in coffee.

Drink water, not soda. Our bodies are approximately 60% water. It is needed for optimal health - for our bodies to function most efficiently and effectively. It is essential for flushing waste and toxins from our system, preventing constipation, and optimizing kidney and liver function. A clogged up body will contribute to fatigue and low energy. A simple formula is to divide your weight by two and drink that many ounces of pure water a day. As an added bonus, water has no calories. Why not soda? Well, the sugary sodas are loaded with empty calories and the diet sodas are full of chemical sweeteners which disrupt your body. Neither is filling. In fact, they put you on the sugar roller coaster and make you hungry.

CoQ10 for Cellular Energy. The “Co” stands for coenzyme – a substance that enhances the action of an enzyme. Why is this important? We need enzymes to fuel the metabolic processes taking place continuously in our body. CoQ10 is particularly important because it works in the mitochondria of the cell – the place where cellular energy is produced. So here’s the link – the more energy in the cell, the more energy in the body. There’s a lot more to CoQ10, so I’d definitely encourage you to do some additional research about this all important nutrient. Hint – it is good for the heart!

For more detail and many more ideas I refer you to best-selling nutrition author Jonny Bowden’s The 150 Most Effective Ways to Boost Your Energy: The Surprising, Unbiased Truth about Using Nutrition, Exercise, Supplements, Stress Relief, and Personal Empowerment to Stay Energized All Day.

Bernard Rosen, PhD is a Nutrition Consultant and Educator. He works with individuals, groups, and at corporations to create individualized nutrition and wellness programs. His office is in Thiensville. To learn more or to schedule an appointment, e-mail at bernie@brwellness.com, call (262) 389-9907 or go to www.brwellness.com.