Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Monday, December 29, 2014

Invest In Your Health

Good health - you either invest in it or you lose it!

Invest In Your Health

Good health - you either invest in it or you lose it!
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Saturday, December 20, 2014

3 Foods that will Curb Appetite

3 Foods that will Curb Appetite

1. Protein. Your body burns calories digesting protein. It digests slower, therefore keeps you feeling full longer. People who eat protein, such as egg at breakfast, eat fewer snacks at night compared to those who skip breakfast all together. 2. Whole grains absorb liquid during digestion and make you feel fuller, longer than processed grains. 3. Nuts and beans not only make you feel full but have been associated with a lower calorie intake for the meal eaten after consuming beans.
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Friday, December 19, 2014

Choose Wisely

Good health is a decision you make every day. Choose wisely!

Choose Wisely

Good health is a decision you make every day. Choose wisely! 
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Choose Wisely

Good health is a decision you make every day. Choose wisely!

Choose Wisely

Good health is a decision you make every day. Choose wisely! 
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Wednesday, December 17, 2014

The Message of Pain

The Message of Pain

When we feel pain, our first impulse is often to eradicate it with medication. This is an understandable response, but sometimes in our hurry to get rid of pain, we forget that it is the body’s way of letting us know that it needs our attention. A headache can inform us that we’re hungry or stressed just as a sore throat might be telling us that we need to rest our voice. If we override these messages instead of respond to them, we risk worsening our condition. In addition, we create a feeling of disconnectedness between our minds and our bodies. Just as we tend to a cut on our arm by cleaning and bandaging it, we should treat our bodies with regular chiropractic care. In both cases, if we listen to our pain we will know what to do to...Read More
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Thursday, December 11, 2014

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Eat Better, Feel Better

When you eat better, you naturally feel better. Give your body the healthy foods it needs.

Eat Better, Feel Better

When you eat better, you naturally feel better. Give your body the healthy foods it needs.
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Green Tea History & Nutrition - Superfoods

More popular than coffee, stronger than a coca-cola, able to start revolutions with a single drop. When we tell you what this week's superfood is, you might say something like: "that's not a food at all." And to some extent you'd be right. After water, it's the most popular beverage in the world—and it's also been used as a medicine for several millenia.

Green Tea History & Nutrition - Superfoods

More popular than coffee, stronger than a coca-cola, able to start revolutions with a single drop. When we tell you what this week's superfood is, you might say something like: "that's not a food at all." And to some extent you'd be right. After water, it's the most popular beverage in the world—and it's also been used as a medicine for several millenia.
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Monday, December 8, 2014

Health Starts With Diet

Give your body the good stuff.

Health Starts With Diet

Give your body the good stuff. Aim for at least 9 servings of fruits and vegetables every day.
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Sunday, December 7, 2014

Full of Possibilities

"Nothing is impossible, the word itself says 'I'm possible'!" - Audrey Hepburn

Full of Possibilities

"Nothing is impossible, the word itself says 'I'm possible'!" - Audrey Hepburn
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Saturday, December 6, 2014

Caribbean Super Fruit Worth Looking Into

Caribbean Super Fruit Worth Looking Into

Do you know the saying, “Make food your medicine and medicine your food”? Recently this has been my mantra. I have been seeking out super foods that are not only nutritious but also have medicinal properties. I am all about reversing some of the damages that may have been done to my organs and systems over the years because of my lack of knowledge about healthful eating, cellular nutrition, free radicals and detoxification. A super fruit which is very popular in the Jamaica and the rest of the Caribbean is soursop. It originated from the rain forests of Africa and South America. Today it can be found in Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America and other warm tropical climate. The fruit is long with a prickly skin and about the size of a...Read More
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Thursday, March 27, 2014

Zinc is great for the immune system, and shows major benefits to prostate health. http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/daily-dose-zinc

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Saturday, March 15, 2014

Been here 2 months and finally found a good country station in Boise Idaho. 100.7 thanks for playing real country!

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Friday, March 14, 2014

Sproles to the Eagles! It's actually a really good fit, although I would have liked to see him back in SD!

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Thursday, March 13, 2014

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

We HOF baseball player Ted Williams was asked what was the best team he played on, he replied without hesitation, "The Marine Corps."

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Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Great Article from Harvard Health Publications on Mediterranean Diet.
http://vohnwatts22.blogspot.com/2014/02/mediterranean-diet-reposted-by-dr-vohn.html

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Mediterranean Diet Reposted by Dr. Vohn Watts

Mediterranean-style diet linked to healthier arteries throughout the body

POSTED JANUARY 22, 2014, 10:41 AM Daniel Pendick, Executive Editor, 
Harvard Men's Health 

Watch Mediterranean food You’ve heard it a thousand times: The key to a healthy heart and brain is a healthy diet. For a growing number of people, a Mediterranean-style diet has been the stand-in for “healthy diet.” A landmark clinical trial done in Spain, known by the acronym PREDIMED, has been putting the Mediterranean eating plan on a more solid scientific foundation. Last year, PREDIMED researchers reported that Mediterranean-style eating—rich in fruits, vegetables, and healthy plant oils—prevents heart attacks, strokes, and death from heart disease. This week in The Journal of the American Medical Association, they report that a healthy Mediterranean-style diet can also help prevent peripheral artery disease (PAD), a form of “hardening of the arteries.” PAD happens when fatty deposits obstruct the arteries that supply blood to parts of the body beyond the heart and brain, like the legs, arms, and abdomen. “To our knowledge, this is the first randomized primary prevention trial to suggest an association between a dietary intervention and [reduced risk of] PAD,” the study authors wrote. It’s an important finding. As many as 12 million Americans, most of them older, have PAD. It can cause leg pain when walking that goes away with rest (called intermittent claudication); a weakening of the aorta, the main pipeline that delivers blood to the body; pain after eating; erectile dysfunction; and other problems. Though the findings were solid, keep in mind that they are preliminary. For one thing, PREDIMED was not designed to detect an effect of diet on the risk of developing PAD—although it’s not hard to imagine it being able to do so, given the diet’s effect on heart and artery health. To be scrupulously scientific, such incidental findings need to be confirmed with a study specifically targeted at PAD. Better evidence But taken as a whole, the PREDIMED trial has gone a long way to place healthy eating on par with medication as a way to prevent heart disease and stroke. Many previous studies observed that people who ate the Mediterranean way seemed to be healthier than others, but only a randomized clinical trial can pinpoint cause and effect. “PREDIMED is a randomized trial and, as such, it provides higher quality evidence in comparison to evidence from observational studies on the health benefits of the Mediterranean diet,” says Dr. Dimitrios Trichopoulos, an epidemiologist with the Harvard School of Public Health who has conducted some of those studies. In Spanish, PREDIMED stands for Prevención con Dieta Mediterránea, or “prevention with Mediterranean diet.” The Mediterranean diet is not a specific eating prescription, but rather a general style of eating that emphasizes certain healthy foods and minimizes other not-so-healthy ones. The basic mix is a variety of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds, along with moderate consumption of fish, poultry, dairy, eggs, and olive oil, and minimal red and processed meat. Some cultures that favor Mediterranean-style diets may include a glass of red wine with their meals, but it isn’t required. In PREDIMED, nearly 7,500 men and women were randomly assigned to adopt one of three diets: a reduced-fat diet or a Mediterranean diet supplemented with generous amounts of either nuts or extra virgin olive oil. Participants were 55 to 80 years old and at high risk of cardiovascular disease, but were still healthy at the time they entered the study. As reported earlier in The New England Journal of Medicine, the trial found that a Mediterranean diet reduced the risk of cardiovascular problems by around 30%. In a more recent report from PREDIMED, the olive oil-supplemented version of the Mediterranean diet reduced the risk of developing diabetes by 40%. How to go Mediterranean It’s not hard to get started on a Mediterranean style of eating. Here are some general cooking and meal-planning tips from the Harvard Health Letter to help you make the transition: Sauté food in olive oil, not butter. Make your own salad dressings with extra-virgin olive oil, which is pressed mechanically from ripe olives and processed without high heat or chemical solvents. This protects healthy substances in the oil. Eat more vegetables by having them as a snack, or adding them to other recipes. Include a portion of fruit with breakfast and desserts. Choose whole grains instead of refined breads and pastas. Incorporate kidney beans, lentils, and other legumes in salads and side dishes. Substitute fish for red meat at least twice per week. If you don’t like fish, use beans or poultry to get your protein. Limit high-fat dairy by switching to skim or 1% milk from 2% or whole milk. Add a modest portion of nuts to cooked grain and side dishes, and sprinkle nuts and seeds on
salads. Related Information: Healthy Eating for a Healthy Heart.

Reposted by: Dr. Vohn Watts

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Love sitting here with my three little girls watching Percy Jackson. #vohnwatts #babygirls

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How Avocado Can Help with Weight Management

How Avocado Can Help with Weight Management
By Dr. Mercola
Eliminating grain carbs is one of the best and easiest ways to normalize your weight and support your health, but when you cut down on non-vegetable carbs, you need to increase your intake of healthy fats.
Avocados are an excellent source. They're especially rich in heart-healthy monounsaturated fat that is easily burned for energy, which you need more of once you start to remove those carbs.
Improved weight management is in fact one of the health benefits of avocado consumption, according to recent research, and its high-fat, low-sugar content is part and parcel of this effect.
On most days, I will add a whole avocado to my salad, which I eat for lunch. This increases my healthy fat and calorie intake without seriously increasing my protein or carbohydrate intake. Since avocados are also high in potassium, they will also help balance your vitally important potassium to sodium ratio.

Avocado for Lunch May Help You Manage Your Weight

According to research published in the Nutrition Journal,1 eating just one-half of a fresh avocado with lunch may satiate you if you're overweight, which will help prevent unnecessary snacking later.2
The study also found that avocados appear helpful for regulating blood sugar levels, which is important for most people, considering that one in four American are either diabetic or pre-diabetic. As reported by the featured article in Medical News Today:3
"For their study, the researchers wanted to see how avocado consumption impacted a person's satiety, blood sugar and insulin response, and food consumption following a meal.
The investigators recruited 26 healthy, overweight adults. Over five sessions, participants were required to eat their normal breakfast followed by one of three lunch test meals. These were:
  • A standard lunch with no avocado
  • A lunch containing avocado (the avocado replaced other foods), or
  • A standard lunch with half of a fresh avocado added"
Over the next five hours, the participants were asked to rate their appetite using a visual analog scale. Blood glucose and insulin were also measured before lunch and at specific intervals over three hours following their meal.
Those in the latter group, who ate half an avocado with their standard lunch, reported being 40 percent less hungry three hours after their meal, and 28 percent less hungry at the five-hour mark, compared to those who did not eat avocado for lunch. They also reported feeling 26 percent more satiated after their meal compared to those who didn't eat avocado.

Why Majority of People Could Benefit from Eating Avocado

This is not very surprising when you consider that frequent hunger is oftentimes a major clue that you're not eating correctly. As a general rule, most people likely need upwards of 50-85 percent healthy fat in their diet, along with high amounts of vegetable carbs, moderate-to-low amounts of high-quality protein, and very little, if any, non-vegetable or grain carbs.
Fat is far more satiating than carbs, so if you have cut down on carbs and feel ravenous, thinking you "can't do without the carbs," remember this is a sign that you haven't replaced them with sufficient amounts of fat. You do want to make sure you're adding the correct types of fat though. Sources of healthy fats include:
Olives and olive oilCoconuts and coconut oil, as well as other unheated organic nut oils Butter made from raw grass-fed organic milk
Raw nuts, particularly macadamia nuts Organic pastured egg yolks Grass-fed and finished meats

The featured study also found that even though the addition of half an avocado increased the participants' calorie intake, it did not cause an increase in blood sugar levels, beyond what was observed in those eating the standard lunch. This is one of the major benefits of replacing non-vegetable carbs with healthy fats of all kinds, as fats in general do not negatively affect your blood sugar and insulin levels.

The Importance of Maintaining Optimal Sodium-Potassium Ratio

As mentioned earlier, avocados are also high in potassium, and may in fact be ideal for helping you balance your potassium to sodium ratio, which is critical for optimal health and disease prevention. Imbalance in this ratio can not only lead to hypertension (high blood pressure) but also contribute to a number of other diseases, including:
Heart disease and strokeMemory decline Osteoporosis Ulcers and stomach cancer
Kidney stones Cataracts Erectile dysfunction Rheumatoid arthritis

Heart disease, which is the second leading killer of Americans, is perhaps of particular concern. According to a 2011 federal study into sodium and potassium intake, those at greatest risk of cardiovascular disease were those who got a combination of too much sodium along with too little potassium.
The research, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, was one of the first and largest US studies to evaluate the relationship of salt, potassium and heart disease deaths.
According to Dr. Elena Kuklina, one of the lead authors of the study at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), potassium may actually neutralize the heart-damaging effects of salt. Tellingly, those who ate a lot of salt and very little potassium were more than twice as likely to die from a heart attack as those who ate about equal amounts of both nutrients.
According to a 1985 article in The New England Journal of Medicine, titled "Paleolithic Nutrition," our ancient ancestors got about 11,000 mg of potassium a day, and about 700 mg of sodium. This equates to nearly 16 times more potassium than sodium. Compare that to the Standard American Diet where daily potassium consumption averages about 2,500 mg (the RDA is 4,700 mg/day), along with 3,600 mg of sodium.
The easiest way to achieve this imbalance is by consuming a diet of processed foods, which are notoriously low in potassium, while being high in both sodium and fructose—another dietary factor that is clearly associated with chronic disease, including heart disease. Bananas are typically recommended for their high potassium content. But with twice the potassium of a banana, and a minimal amount of fructose, avocados are an obviously better choice. When you add in the heart-healthy fats found in avocado, it stands out as a near-perfect food all around.

Avocado May Also Help Preserve Your Heart Health

Previous research also suggests avocado may be among the healthiest foods you can eat to protect your heart and cardiovascular health. One such study, published in November, 2012,4 found that eating one-half of a fresh medium Hass avocado with a hamburger (made with 90 percent lean beef) significantly inhibited the production of the inflammatory compound Interleukin-6 (IL-6), compared to eating a burger without fresh avocado.
Also, just like avocado does not raise your blood sugar levels, fresh avocado did not increase triglyceride levels beyond what was observed when eating the burger alone, despite the avocado supplying extra fat and calories. According to lead author David Heber, MD, PhD, the findings offer "promising clues" about avocado's ability to benefit vascular function and heart health.
Researchers have also concluded that avocado can help improve lipid profiles in both healthy individuals and those with mild hypercholesterolemia (elevated cholesterol levels). In one such study,5 healthy individuals saw a 16 percent decrease of serum total cholesterol level following a one-week long diet high in monounsaturated fat from avocados. In those with elevated cholesterol levels, the avocado diet resulted in a 17 percent decrease of serum total cholesterol, and a 22 percent decrease of both LDL-cholesterol and triglycerides, along with an 11 percent increase of the so-called "good" HDL cholesterol.

Avocado—A Powerhouse of Good Nutrition

According to the California Avocado Commission, a medium Hass avocado contains about:
  • 22.5 grams of fat, two-thirds of which is monounsaturated
  • 3 grams of total carbohydrate
  • Less than one gram of fructose per one ounce serving
The fact that avocados are so low in fructose is another great boon of this fruit. They also provide close to 20 essential health-boosting nutrients, including:
  • Fiber (approximately eight percent of your daily recommended fiber intake)
  • Potassium (more than twice the amount found in a banana)
  • Vitamin E
  • B-vitamins
  • Folic acid
Due to its beneficial raw fat content, avocado also enables your body to more efficiently absorb fat-soluble nutrients (such as alpha- and beta-carotene, and lutein) from any other food eaten in conjunction with it. One 2005 study,6 found that adding avocado to salad allowed the volunteers to absorb three to five times more carotenoids antioxidant molecules, which help protect your body against free radical damage!

New Avocado Research

Dave Kekich is one of my good friends and he recently told me about an exciting phytonutrient called mannaheptulose, found in UNRIPENED avocados.  It seems to have many benefits that are ascribed to calorie restriction, but also seems to be really useful for increasing  strength and endurance. What I really like about it is that it’s not a supplement. What I have recently started doing is cutting up an unripe avocado into about 20 parts and freezing them. Then once a day I take out a piece and chew it.

Good News: Even Conventionally-Grown Avocados Are Free of Harmful Chemicals

Avocados are also one of the safest fruits in terms of chemical contamination,7 which means there's virtually no need to spend extra money on organic varieties. I even sent out more than six dozen samples of organic and conventionally-grown avocados for independent toxicology testing,8 and the results showed no detectable presence of herbicides or phenoxy herbicides in or on either variety .
The avocados I sent in were from a variety of growers in different countries, sold in several major grocery stores, including Whole Foods, and they all tested free and clear of harmful chemicals.  Moreover, should they have been exposed to some form pesticide, the thick skin will protect the inner fruit of the avocado from the chemicals. Either way, the extremely low risk of toxic contamination makes avocados a clear winner, and I strongly recommend making them a key part of your diet.

The Best Way to Peel an Avocado

Speaking of the skin, how you de-skin your avocado can affect how much of its valuable phytonutrients you get out of it. UCLA research has shown that the greatest concentration of beneficial carotenoids, for example, is located in the dark green fruit closest to the inside of the peel. In 2010, the California Avocado Commission issued guidelines for getting the most out of your avocado by peeling it the right way,9 To preserve the area with the greatest concentration of antioxidants, you're best off peeling the avocado with your hands, as you would a banana:
  • First, cut the avocado length-wise, around the seed
  • Holding each half, twist them in the opposite directions to separate them from the seed
  • Remove the seed
  • Cut each half, lengthwise
  • Next, using your thumb and index finger, simply peel the skin off each piece

Avocado Is a Great Staple Food

I typically have an avocado every day and harvest many of them from my avocado tree. The easiest way to eat an avocado is raw, either added to your salad, which is what I typically do, or you can eat them alone. A dash of Himalayan salt and some ground pepper will spice up the flavor, if you like. But there are many other ways to include avocado in your diet as well. For example, you can:
  • Use avocado as a fat replacement in baking. Simply replace the fat called for (such as oil, butter or shortening) with an equal amount of avocado
  • Use it as a first food for babies, in lieu of processed baby food
  • Add it to soups
For hundreds of unique recipes that include avocado—from salads to dessert whip and everything in between—check out the California Avocado Commission's Website.10 If optimal health and weight is your goal, there's no getting around your diet. And contrary to popular belief, it's the sugar and fructose in your diet that is packing on unwanted pounds—not the fat! So, if you want to lose weight, you really need to pay careful attention to avoid sugars, and that includes all grains, even organic ones, as all grains quickly break down into sugar in your body.
Replace them instead with healthful fats such as avocado, and you'll be off to a good start. Avocados also provide close to 20 essential health-boosting nutrients, and enable your body to more efficiently absorb fat-soluble nutrients in other foods eaten in conjunction with it, so it's an excellent choice as a fat replacement or addition to virtually any dish. All in all, avocado may be one of the most beneficial superfoods out there, and may be particularly valuable if you're struggling with insulin and leptin resistance, diabetes, or any other risk factors for heart disease.

reposted by: Dr. Vohn Watts

Saturday, February 22, 2014

KU Med study shows high doses of Vitamin C kills cancer cells

February 05, 2014
By C.J. Janovy
Qi Chen, Ph.D.
Scientists at the University of Kansas Medical Center have determined that high doses of vitamin C, administered intravenously with traditional chemotherapy, helped kill cancer cells while reducing the toxic effects of chemotherapy for some cancer patients.
By evaluating the therapy in cells, animals, and humans, the researchers found that a combination of infused vitamin C and the conventional chemotherapy drugs carboplatin and paclitaxel stopped ovarian cancer in the laboratory, and reduced chemotherapy-associated toxicity in patients with ovarian cancer. The results of their study have been published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
"In the 1970s, ascorbate, or vitamin C, was an unorthodox therapy for cancer. It was safe, and there were anecdotal reports of its clinical effectiveness when given intravenously. But after oral doses proved ineffective in two cancer clinical trials, conventional oncologists abandoned the idea. Physicians practicing complementary and alternative medicine continued to use it, so we felt further study was in order," explains the study's senior author, Qi Chen, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in KU Medical Center's Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Therapeutics and the Department of Integrative Medicine. "What we've discovered is that, because of its pharmacokinetic differences, intravenous vitamin C, as opposed to oral vitamin C, kills some cancer cells without harming normal tissues."
The researchers' clinical trial involved 27 patients with newly diagnosed Stage 3 or Stage 4 ovarian cancer. All of the participants received conventional therapy with paclitaxel or carboplatin, while some were also treated with high-dose intravenous vitamin C. Researchers monitored the participants for five years. Those patients who received vitamin C tended to experience fewer toxic effects from the chemotherapy drugs.
In laboratory rodents, the scientists observed that vitamin C was able to kill cancer cells at the concentrations achievable only by intravenous infusion, with no observable toxicity or pathological changes in the liver, kidney or spleen.
Collaborating on the study at KU Medical Center were postdoctoral fellow Yan Ma and graduate student Kishore Polireddy in the Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Therapeutics; Jeanne Drisko, M.D., director of the Integrative Medicine program; and Julia Chapman, M.D., associate professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Collaborating with the team was Mark Levine, M.D., at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases at the National Institutes of Health.
High-dose vitamin C is currently administered intravenously to thousands of patients by practitioners of complementary and alternative medicine. However, Drisko notes, conventional physicians remain skeptical about its therapeutic benefits. Given this current polarization of thought, the researchers sought to understand the cellular mechanisms by which pharmacologic vitamin C manifests its therapeutic benefit in cancer.
"We aimed to investigate the mechanisms of vitamin C-induced cell death in the laboratory. And in patients with ovarian cancer, we conducted an early phase clinical trial examining safety and toxicity of high dose intravenous vitamin C. We now have a better understanding of vitamin C's anti-cancer action, plus a clear safety profile, and biological and clinical plausibility with a firm foundation to proceed," Drisko says. "Taken together, our data provide strong evidence to justify larger and robust clinical trials to definitively examine the benefit of adding vitamin C to conventional chemotherapy."
 
reposted by Dr. Vohn Watts

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Vohn Watts getting connected

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Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Vohn Watts is loving how the snow makes everything look here in Boise, Idaho!

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