Eat Your Pain Away

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Bonnie Minsky's

Nutritional Concepts

May Email Update

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Quick Hits

-- Eat Your Pain Away.

-- Family Health Matters.

-- May Sale - 20% OFF

-- Quality of Life Progress Report.

-- Recipes du Jour

-- May Announcements.

-- Salty, Sweet, Sour, Bitter and...Umami?

-- If you missed it: April Highlights.

-- There will be no mid-May Special Report.

Dear Valued Client

At the beginning of each month, we like to keep you informed about what's new with Bonnie Minsky & Nutritional Concepts. As always, have a happy, healthy day! Nutritional Concepts is a 2007 Working Mother Best Small Company.

Eat Your Pain Away.

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Upon learning that Americans are going back on COX-2 inhibitors such as Celebrex in droves, despite the greatly increased health risks, we feel compelled to remind you of the often ignored, but most effective pain reliever...diet.

A perfect example of what we are talking about is a two-part series on chronic pain that recently appeared in the Chicago Tribune. The first story discussed physical therapy, which is wonderful for treating chronic pain. However, by the time you need physical therapy, in many instances, the damage has already been done. The second story discussed pharmaceuticals for pain relief, which we all know are simply band-aids for the symptoms. Both articles never mentioned prevention through diet.

Read our take on pain.

Family Health Matters.

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May is Family Wellness Month.

Implementing family lifestyle change requires a multi-faceted approach. It also takes planning and coaching. We, of course, are always available to assist. Here are several tips for increasing your odds of instilling a stable family health philosophy:

Create a mission statement. Just like with any successful business, you are only as good as your mission. Have a family meeting and hammer out your goals.
Lifestyle change MUST be a family affair. A child anti-obesity initiative in the UK was so successful that they are now implementing it throughout the country. The key to its success? It held parents and siblings accountable, not just the child with the weight issue. Here's a hint: if you are trying to get your children to eat right, do it with them. Lead by example!
Exercise. Whether it is walking, doing push-ups, sit-ups, or Nintendo Wii, get involved and exercise with your kids.
Instill self-esteem. Don't browbeat. Treat those how you would want to be treated.
Eat dinner together. There are numerous documented reasons why it is important. If you do eat together, do not do it in front of the television. Talk to each other.
Make an imprint on your child's diet at school. Pack them healthy lunches. If your kids eat at school and you are not happy with the choices available, voice your displeasure with the powers-that-be.
Flex your muscle with your hard-earned dollars. When money talks, food companies listen. Invest in healthier fare and see how your options will expand. You need look no further than what has happened with the explosion of the organic food industry.
Flex your political muscle. For example, the Farm Bill is up for renewal in 2007. Of the billions in farmer subsidies, a paltry sum goes to fruit and vegetable growers. Most of the budget subsidizes five crops: milk, soy, corn, wheat, and cotton. How can we let the USDA speak out of both sides of its mouth? While they implore you to eat more fruits and veggies, prices remain high and options are limited because growers have no motivation to abandon the big five. Alert your congressman/woman of this injustice.
If your pediatricians do not discuss or emphasize enough positive lifestyle change, urge them to do so. If not with you, maybe they will discuss it with future patients. A recent New York Times article entitled, "Teaching Doctors to Teach Patients About Lifestyle" (4/17/07) covered this very issue.
When implementing dietary change, do not over-emphasize "losing weight" and "dieting." Diets are notoriously set up to fail. Changing dietary habits to prevent disease and improve lifestyle is much more positive.

School-Age Child, Optimized Action Plan.

May Sale - 20% OFF

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New & Improved Metagenics Kaprex
Modulates kinases associated with joint inflammation and pain. New easy-to-swallow softgel. Only one softgel twice daily. Lower cost!

Twinlab Allergy Multicaps
An "oldie but goodie" hypoallergenic multivitamin/mineral.

Metagenics Biopure Protein Powder
Organic whey protein from pristine, hormone-free, antibiotic-free, grass-fed New Zealand herd. 100% bioavailable. 95% lactose-free. Easily dispersed in liquid. Contains naturally-occurring immunoglobulins that enhance immune function.

Metagenics Ultra Flora Plus DF 60 cap
One of the most well-researched acidophilus/bifidus probiotic combinations available. Extremely high potency at a great value.

Order here

Quality of Life Progress Report.

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If you missed January's newsletter, we discussed the importance of quality of life. Please read this first if you have not done so already.

For those of you who answered our seven questions in January, answer them once again and see how you have improved.

In addition, how were you able to improve upon the three main categories that encompass quality of life: Being, Belonging, and Becoming?

What is your quality of life?

Recipes du Jour

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Once a month, we highlight a recipe from our database or from you. We welcome entries by email to nutrocon@aol.com.

Warm Snow Pea & Chicken Salad

-1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast, trimmed
-14 oz. organic/free-range chicken broth
-3 T. rice vinegar
-3 T. San-J Tamari soy sauce
-3 T. toasted sesame oil, divided
-2 T. tahini or cashew butter
-1 T. minced fresh ginger
-2 cloves garlic, minced
-1 lb. snow peas, trimmed and thinly slivered lengthwise
-2 T. chopped cashews
Instructions: place chicken in a medium skillet or saucepan and add broth; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer gently until cooked through and no longer pink in the middle, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a cutting board to cool. Shred into bite-size pieces. (Cool and refrigerate the broth, reserving it for another use).

Meanwhile, whisk vinegar, soy sauce, 2 T. sesame oil and tahini/cashew butter in a large bowl until smooth.

Heat the remaining 1 T. oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add ginger and garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about one minute. Stir in slivered peas and cook, stirring, until bright green, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer to the bowl with the dressing.

Add the chicken to the bowl with the peas; toss to combine. Serve sprinkled with cashews.

Note: any like ingredient can be replaced if allergic or intolerant.

For more delectable recipes, view our Spa Recipes.

May Announcements.

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-Dairy linked to Parkinson's Disease in men. Read Bonnie's comment.

-Two major governmental issues warrant your participation. The FDA is seeking public comment on two issues regarding our food supply: Use of Cloned Animals as Food and Easing the Restriction on Irradiated Food. After reading more about them, contact the FDA and make your voice heard!

-We wanted to address a March study that appeared in JAMA saying that antioxidants are relatively ineffective and potentially harmful. While the study received an avalanche of criticism for its flawed structure (another "meta-analysis") from researchers all over the globe (including those from Harvard and Ohio State), we thought you would be interested in this study that appeared in Archives of Ophthalmology regarding macular degeneration. Another study released by the American Association for Cancer Research revealed a 23% lower pancreatic cancer risk in 183, 518 subjects who consumed the most antioxidants (in the form flavanols), compared with those with the lowest consumption.

-If you missed this report issued by The Substance and Mental Health Services Administration, data showed that abuse or misuse of prescription and over-the-counter drugs are sending more people than ever to emergency rooms (598,542 visits in 2005). That was a 21 percent jump from 2004. Unintentional deaths from medications were officially 20,000 per year in 2004 (some experts believe it is closer to 100,000). Deaths from dietary supplements (intentional and unintentional) averaged less than two per year over the last 23 years.

-In mind-boggling fashion, the FDA added corn oil to the list of foods they say might reduce the risk of heart disease. This is one of the most egregious displays of coddling to special interest that we have seen in a while. Folks, corn oil is an omega-6 fatty acid, a major promoter of inflammation. Tell us how this reduces risk of heart disease. Public health experts are flooding us with information about how there is an overabundance of omega 6 fatty acids in the American diet, yet not enough omega 3. Read for further info.

Salty, Sweet, Sour, Bitter and...Umami?

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Did you know that we have a fifth taste? Umami enhances the flavors of the foods they are served with, especially fatty foods. Umami can highlight sweetness, lessen bitterness and counterbalance saltiness. Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) and bouillon have been used for many years as umami enhancers.

Umami flavor is the reason aged beef and cheeses are more savory than fresh, cooked tomatoes are richer than raw, and mature wines are fuller tasting than younger varieties.

When a protein found in our taste buds comes in contact with certain flavors on the tongue, it triggers the release of stomach juices and amplifies the taste.

Single or multiple amino acid combinations are predominately used for umami flavors. Unfortunately, many of us do not react well to them (i.e., MSG).

You will see new umami enhancers, such as SavorCrave, appearing on labels. Be wary because many ingredients are "proprietary" and may contain chemicals with questionable safety.

The recent groundswell of support for umami will undoubtedly bring more opportunity for intolerance and allergic reaction. Additionally, there is a renewed fervor to declare MSG safe, as highlighted in a recent European Journal of Clinical Nutrition article, which states, "This panel of experts agrees that general use of MSG as food additive, can, thus, be regarded as harmless for the whole population." The "experts" even go so far as to recommend MSG to elderly in situations with decreased appetite.

Here we go again! We will keep you posted on any new developments with regard to umami exploitation and its affect on our health.

Read the following blog entry from 2005.

What makes fatty foods so enticing?

If you missed it: April Highlights.

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Please read this fascinating two-part series on Using Epigenetics to Prevent Chronic Disease.

Part I: "New Research" Offers Upper Hand

Talk show host Charlie Rose recently had a panel of top US Aging Researchers discussing their revolutionary studies on chronic disease prevention and slowing down the aging process.

All we were thinking while watching was, what's all the fuss about? This isn't exactly groundbreaking. However, it is exciting to see that conventional medicine may finally be turning the corner. Read the following to see how many of you are already ahead of the game!

Part II: First Priority in Preventing

"Chronic illness may be postponed by changes in lifestyle, and it has been shown that the physiologic and psychologic markers of aging may be modified. Thus, the average age at first infirmity can be raised, thereby making the morbidity curve more rectangular." New England Journal of Medicine, 1980.

How prophetic. Unfortunately, chronic illness has become more prevalent since 1980 as our lifestyle choices have worsened. Now that the medical community is making a concerted effort to advocate lifestyle management as the first line therapy for chronic illness, insulin/blood sugar prevention should be priority number one.

Read about our 5 preventative steps.