Sweet Tooth

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Sugar isn't good for you, but do you know what's worse? Artificial Sweetners. Aspartame (a common  artificial sweetner) is used in “sugar-free” products such as diet soft drinks and chewing gum. Since its discovery is 1965 it has been shown to cause several serious diseases such as: brain tumors, headaches, memory loss, seizures, liver disease, hearing loss, dizziness and cancer. It also worsens or mimics the symptoms of diseases and conditions such as fibromyalgia, MS, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, chronic fatigue and depression. Such a dangerous chemical, yet it is found in so many processed foods on our shelves today. Yet another reason to read those ingredient lists carefully.

Light hearted look

I love this Japanese ad, just gives you yet another reason not to skip that all important Chiropractic appointment.

Heart Health

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In case you didn't get the memo, I'm not a big fan of carbs. And guess who else back me up on this? The Italians. Yep those spaghetti eating, pizza inventing, cannoli lovers have done some research that showed women who have a diet high in refined white carbohydrate rich foods such as bread, rice and pasta are 2.25 times more likely to develop heart disease than their carb dodging counterparts. Good news for men though, the study found that men don't appear to have the same like between carbs and heart disease, bad news is men still have a higher rate or heart disease and death resulting from it than women. Still, heart health, yet another reason to put down that slice of toast.

Catch the happiness bug

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Did you know that happiness is contagious?
Yep, those guys at Harvard have done it again by showing that if one person is happy, it creates a ripple effect in the people around them, even if those people are complete strangers. It's a concept called "Emotional contagion" and has been studied and documented since 1994. Until this study, emotional contagion research dealt mainly with negative emotions, showing how contagious destructive emotions such as fear, sadness and anger are.

Cave men can cook

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What's not to love about prehistoric man? He's ruggedly handsome, a burly protector and he can prepare you the freshest, healthiest meal ever. An American study has shown that consuming a  paleolithic type diet similar to our preagricultural hunter-gatherer ancestors is good for us. A paleolithic diet is made up of lean meat, fruits, vegetables and nuts, and excludes nonpaleolithic foods, such as cereal grains, dairy and legumes. After just 10 days of this diet, researches found subjects had decrease blood pressure, improved glucose tolerance, decreased insulin secretion, increased insulin sensitivity and large and significant decreases in cholesterol, lipoprotiens and triglycerides. Who knew Early Man was sexy and smart! 

Salmon with egg and lemon sauce

Not my best picture, but you get the idea

I'm always looking for new ways to cook fish and salmon is my favourite. I found this recipe while flicking through an old greek cookbook of my mum's. It was a hit with Mr. Ox, although next time I may substitute the onions for leeks since we both found the onions a little strong. I opted for salmon but any firm fish would work well. The sauce is tangy and creamy (good for you too) and would work well with asparagus too. Serve it with a simple green salad and its a perfect summer meal.

Dairy and Calcium

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"If I don't eat dairy, how will I get Calcium for my bones?"
A common question I get asked.
Now a small amount of organic dairy is not too bad for you, for example I would choose real butter over margarine any day (I trust cows more than I trust scientists) but too much of anything (other than green vegetables) is not good for you.
But lets look at dairy and its claims to being so benificial to health.

Carbohydrates

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Now that I have explained the problems behind the modern day food pyramid, I wanted to answer some of the questions I get asked about the food "pie" I advocate to my patients.
First up is Carbohydrates. Or more correctly, Complex/Produced/Starchy Carbohydrates. Lots of vegetables such as carrots have a decent amount of carbohydrates as well, but I'm not so concerned about them.

Tales of the misunderstood: Low Fat Diets

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Low Fat, is there any other word combination I hate more? I think not. The idea of decreasing your fat intake is based on the lipid hypothesis which states that a high fat diet is the major contributor to cardiovascular disease. This idea was based on poor scientific evidence from the start and in recent years has been heavily criticized (for an informative and funny look at the situation, watch the documentary Fat Head).