Salads: Are All Greens Good Greens

For those who know me - especially those who knew me before attending chiropractic school, may be surprised to read a post on anything vegetable oriented (my mom would be so proud). Don't worry, I'm not brain washed.  However, when attempting a raw diet about a year ago I have gained a great appreciation for the raw and natural foods we are blessed with. When I began to realize that bell peppers are actually sweet and tasty rather than being "yucky", my health choices have changed.  I began to be more aware of what I ate and the choices I was making.  I encourage all to do the same.  Salads have become one of my favorite meals - but I have been on both ends.  I once had the idea that a salad = healthy.  I was in the mindset that all greens are good greens, I mean, all veggies are equal right?

I remember several months ago seeing man at a salad bar at a certain pizza place.  I saw his plate and to my surprise it was completely full of lettuce, piled quite high too. In a flash, that pile of lettuce was soon drenched in ranch dressing to where I couldn't see anymore green on his plate. I was shocked, but truthfully at that point I wasn't too far off when it came to my salad choices.

Salads are a great healthy choice, but a salad is truly what we make it.  Not all salads are the same, not all veggies are equal and certainly not all greens are good greens. I just wanted to take a few minutes and share some hints and advice to make a salad a healthier choice - and hopefully make all our choices a little healthier.  Much of what I will share comes from a magazine, Nutrition Action

1. Go Deep For The Greens - The greens are the basics of a salad, and is most vital we don't go stingy.  Most prepared salads or restaurant salads are filled with romaine or iceberg lettuce.  This is a marketing decision more than a health choice.  Romaine and iceberg lettuce along with its little or no nutritional value are also very cheap to supply.  The rule to go by with lettuce is the darker the better.  Dark greens are full of nutritional value.  These are items such as spinach, chard, collard greens, broccoli or kale.  Dark green leafy vegetables should be the staple and corner stone of a healthy diet.  They vary in nutritional value, but not by much.  In general, they are filled with Vitamin A, E, and K along with Calcium, Magnesium, Iron, Folate, and the necessary Fiber which are vital to our building blocks of life.  I enjoy and prefer spinach and kale, but it is better to have a variety instead of one type if possible.
2. Add Color To Your Plate - This is a rule for all meals.  The more (naturally) colorful your plate is, generally the better.  This is where we add in the extra veggies.  This is the best part of the salad, to create it the way you want.  This is where we add in bell peppers, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes (I know its not a true veggie), chickpeas, and any other toppings you would like to try.  Be creative and add some color
3. Add Some Fruits - I never thought of adding fruit until I got married and my wife got creative and added apples or strawberries.  This was something to get used to, but adding fresh fruit is a great addition to a healthy meal.  Other choices are mandarin oranges, berries, grapes or mangoes.  Dried fruits like raisins and cranberries are a popular choice, but should be limited
4. Add In The Protein - Protein should only by about 5-10% of our calorie intake, but a salad is a great way to add in protein.  The most popular choices are nuts, egg whites, or grilled chicken.  Limit nuts if they are high in Sodium content.  Limit grilled chicken or other meats, animal protein should only be half  of our protein intake.  There are some other options we can choose from like sprouts and edamame and even beans.
5. Cut The Cheese - Literally - cut the cheese out.  Beyond my views of dairy products, cheese is low in nutritional content and high in calories, fat, and sodium - is it worth it?
6. Hold The Croutons - Croutons and crispy wontons are not only tasty, but are also refined flour which has no nutritional value and often high in fat content
7. Reconsider Ordering A Wrap Or Panini - Wraps and paninis make creative options, but white flour only adds empty calories
8. Consider Pre-Made Salads - Just a heads up, already made salads are more often filled with high calorie, low nutritional options.  They are also higher in sodium content.  Remember, most restaurants don't have health as a priority in their food choices. It is my belief with any meal that is made at home is the healthier option than eating out
9. Cut The Dressing In Half - Please, not the dressing, anything but the dressing. It is my personal view that Ranch was made by the gods and should be eaten with everything.  I have limited myself, but the thought of limiting ranch on my salad is hard to bare.  This is one I am going to have to consciously follow.  As a general rule cutting the dressing in half is a helpful advice.  A better advice is to make better dressing choices.  I have recently discovered Balsamic Vinaigrette.  If used by this rule, vinaigrette dressings are a healthy option with a great taste

I hope you enjoyed the list.  I thought there were some great advice and reminders.  Salads are such a great option, because they are your creation.  Have fun with it and try new things.  They can be a creative healthy choice, but can also just as easily be harmful.  Just go with the Greens and top it off with the good stuff - Enjoy!

The Germ Theory Is Just A Theory

For centuries, the idea of disease was widely accepted and understood as something that spontaneously happened.  In some parts of the world, disease was often associated with curses, sin and ungodly living.  This idea has come to be known as the spontaneous generation theory.  However, this theory was disproven by Louis Pasteur through his famous boiled broth experiment in the mid 1800's.  Even though he was not the first to propose the Germ Theory, he played a vital role to help it become widely accepted, in so much that he is now known as the father of microbiology.  He explained that broth sealed from exposure to air will not spoil while broth left open to the air would.  Through the birth of the Germ Theory - we now have the advancement of modern medicine that revolves around this very theory.  We have discovered countless of bacteria and viruses - understanding their individual roles and how they create disease.  Modern medicine has been created to fight these known agents, creating pill after pill after pill. Billions of dollars are spent every year on this theory.  Vaccines are produced to protect individuals against such dangers.  Everything we know now stems from this Germ Theory - I sure hope it's correct . . . I mean, it is just a theory after all -

We all have placed our lives in the hands of modern medicine.  We have blindly put our faith in a widely accepted theory.  Have you ever driven down a road you thought was the right one, and soon realized the possibility that it may be the wrong road?  There's a point in which we ponder in doubt whether we should stop now and turn around, or to just keep driving and hope to see something familiar.  Modern medicine is beginning to get to that point now where they may have realized they are down a wrong path, but are at the point of mixed doubt and pride.  They can't turn back now, so they keep going hoping they begin to see something familiar.

I hate to say it - but the germ theory seemed like the good road that we are having doubts about now.  New theories are being proposed in it's place and research is disproving the widely accepted theory.  I'm not saying there is an answer, and possibly that is why there hasn't been any change in direction so far - however, it is vital to really sit down and make the decision of turning around, or just keep going.  Should we continue with a failing health care or should we make the effort to turn back and rethink everything we have known to get back on the right road.  It's a paradigm shift - but that's what its going to have to take.

When we get sick and start running a fever - there are two sides to look at it.  There is the medical model in which states that an agent has invaded the body and is attacking the body.  In this model - it is accepted to take fever reducing medicine, antibiotics, or even pain killers until our body is relieved from this agent.  There is also the holistic model.  The fever is the body's own design to increase internal body temperature in defense to kill off that invading agent.  Most agents are heat sensitive and become inactive in high temperatures. - So then why in the world would we want to take fever reducing medicine which would ultimately help the agent and interfere with our own body's mechanism?  Why in the world would we take an antibiotic which suppresses our own immune system to actually fight the agent?  Why in the world would we take pain killers to rid of pain which is the body's response to telling us that something is wrong - so that we can be relieved of the pain while the cause is still within us?  Why in the world are we still following the medical model?

The germ theory states that for someone to get sick, there must be a causative agent present and in return implies that if there is a causative agent, then that person will get sick - but I question, is it the agent that makes us "sick"?  Let's take a look at one common bacteria - Staph Aureus.  This bacteria is a causative agent for many illnesses ranging from mild infections to very serious and fatal outcomes such as endocarditis, sepsis, or toxic shock - However, if I were to take a swab of your face and put it into a culture - there will be guaranteed Staph Aureus present in the culture.  This very bacteria is all over our body and face. We have billions of bacteria on and inside us - more than there are people in the world or sands on the beach.  We live with these bacteria all around us every second of every day - and yet we aren't "sick" every second of every day - so the question really is - What is making us sick?

The answer surprisingly comes from the medical profession itself which is overlooked - "If a microbe is in or around us all the time and yet causes no disease until we are exposed to stress, what is the cause of our illness, the microbe or the stress?" - Hans Selye - a pioneering endocrinologist who demonstrated the existence of biological stress (He is one with a brilliant and understanding mind which I would recommend looking up and researching).
When Selye poses stress as a major factor, I think we can simplify that as a biological imbalance.  We need to live in balance in several forms.  One major balance is stress - but it can be physiological balance, nervous system balance, nutritional balance, and even a balance between all of these.  Stress when it becomes overwhelming for our body to adapt can be crucial in our health.  Stress effects the nervous system which in turn effects every molecule within and around our body.  It lowers our immune system specifically and creates an imbalance within us - thus making us susceptible for disease.

There is another medical doctor among a few others who understands this model of disease which would be worthwhile to look up - drpalevsky.com - I recommend reading the section - "If Your Child Is Sick" - I may need to just make this it's own post, but this provides a detailed and effective explanation of what happens when we are sick.  Which brings up my next point - Are we really sick when we are "sick"

You often hear the phrases "I caught a cold," or "I got food poisoning."  We say these things with the idea in mind that we caught a "bug" which is making us "sick" - How do we know that we are sick? Our first clue is by the presence of symptoms such as a runny nose, a fever, diarrhea, vomiting, or a cough.  However we are misled by the phrase "Symptoms" when in reality these are biological mechanisms.  All these "symptoms" are not caused by an agent, but rather they are our own body's defense mechanism to destroy and rid of the agent.  We cough, sneeze, vomit, and run a fever as a natural part of our immune defense.  It is our own body creating these mechanisms - and yet we take pills and medicine to reduce these symptoms that our body needs and depends on. Are we now seeing how the modern model of medicine is failing?

Sure, there are some medical treatments that may rid of the agent that our body is fighting, however, it has failed to treat the cause which is the imbalance we have in our very own biology - and thus we continue to get sick over and over and over.  The Germ Theory is an accurate model when it comes to a population of boiled broth, however, when applied to human biology and physiology it fails. A medical treatment toxic enough to destroy an agent, is simply a toxin to our own body.  In order to destroy an agent, sadly we destroy our own body with it.  Instead of building up the body naturally and in harmony with our biology, we continue to destroy it one pill at a time.

Through advanced technology and research - the medical field has done some incredible things.  I don't doubt some of the amazing things that can be done medically.  But among the many medical marvels, we must also be aware of the many medical failures.  Over 106,000 people die each year in the US due to adverse drug effects (these are deaths due to accurate protocol and proper administrations, and do not reflect deaths by errors or overdose) - Iatrogenic death rate.  All medically induced deaths properly administered due to protocol totals itself just under 800,000 a year costing nearly $300 Billion every year. Iatrogenic deaths are among the top five causes of deaths in the US.  The other 4 causes of death are heart disease, cancer, stroke, and lower respiratory diseases - all preventable and lifestyle diseases in which the medical field is failing to treat - because they fail to treat the body.  With all their knowledge and technology and advanced medicine - they cannot stop the growing numbers of these diseases and conditions.  They have come to the point where they know they can't do anything about it, and yet thousands are dying and billions are spent on a Theory.  The Germ Theory, as much as it has provided us, has led us down the wrong road.  It is about time we stop and make the changes necessary to get on the right path.

Having symptoms is a good thing - it means our body has the ability to adapt and fight off infections.  We should acknowledge this understanding and do what we can to help our body in its proper and normal actions.  This means to build our immune system by filling ourselves with natural and healthy nutritional support, and bringing ourselves back into balance in every aspect.  We need to understand the body and it's capabilities in order to regain long lasting health and freedom.  We need to stop - and get back on track, back to health and happiness