60 Day Turnaround

Maximized Living Group Meal – Next Monday November 12th at 7pm (arrive up to 7:30pm).

This is an announcement of a new opportunity to eat Maximized Living Advanced Plan meals out at a fantastic restaurant.  Hammocks Chef, William Sigley, is the chef responsible for the menu that won the hearts of so many at Firestone Grill, and now his new project has an incredibly nice menu, and a bent towards health!

So come out and join the Total Food Makeover participants from past and present, this is a little effort for a Monday night, but I’ll make sure it is worth your while!  This is my celebration meal coming off of 80 miles on the Appalachian Trail, and ready to kick back for a night.

Here is the deal:

$15 = Dinner Salad with Salmon or Chicken on top (nicely prepared) with hummus appetizer

$25 = Salad or Soup, hummus appetizer with 1/2 roasted chicken or salmon with rapini (this is broccoli rabe – super nutrient rich).

$35 = Salad or Soup, hummus appetizer with rib eye and rapini.

Must pay here or at the office by Saturday November 10th at midnight!

Here are the ingredients of the menu items:

Herb Compound butter:
butter, shallots, lemon juice, white wine, parsley, chives, dill, tarragon, salt, pepper

Hollandaise Sauce:
butter, eggs, tabasco, white wine, lemon, salt, pepper

Lentil Hummus:
red lentils, water, paprika, cumin, coriander, cayenne pepper, salt, black pepper, olive oil, roasted garlic, bell peppers

Pumpkin Soup:
butternut squash, Kabocha squash, rosemary, sage, butter, cinnamon sticks, nutmeg, orange, white onion, water, cream, salt & pepper, veggie stock

Caesar Dressing:
garlic, dijon mustard, anchovies, red wine vinegar, parmesan cheese, lemon juice, oil, worchestershire sauce, tabasco, pepper, eggs, capers

creme fraiche:
cream, buttermilk

roasted garlic aioli:
egg, garlic, lemon juice, white wine vinegar, oil, roasted garlic oil, salt

Mustard vinaigrette:
dijon mustard, whole grain mustard, red wine vinegar, oil, salt pepper

In addition, they are working on a dessert that can be added on site as well.  It might end up being a creme brulee if we can figure out how to sweeten it (don’t think that I am a “we” with anything else, just trying to find a solution for getting creme brulee to taste like it is supposed to)!

That is overcoming your sorrow over the election.  I know most of you are Republicans, that you were praying for a Romney victory, and that you were hopeful for change.  I know some of you are strong Obama supporters too, and for you I am happy.  It always feels good when you feel like your hopes are coming true.

Personally (this is an aside), I think the electoral college needs to go.  In a country that was once hinged upon state government, and where state decisions had the greatest impact on your life, I think the electoral college made sense.  But as the federal government has taken a much larger piece of the pie, it really makes no sense for state by state decisions to win a presidency, but rather popular vote.  Of course, It is easy to say this when you support the loser, and at this hour where the popular vote and electoral vote don’t match (might change by the AM), ok… back on track…

Regardless, just like I wrote four years ago, following the election, there is no room for anger, depression, blues, etc. I don’t like Obama.  I don’t think he has our country’s best interests at heart, and with him in power, I don’t expect anything positive to come from the next four years from the FEDERAL LEVEL.  But you know what… come on… do you really expect anything positive to come from the federal level anyways?

I am a patriotic American.  Before that, I am one who wants to show love to everyone around me.  Before that, I am a God loving believer in a Messiah.  I am a Christian, and though I have a bunch of patients and friends who would point out to me that we’ll be judged as a nation… I would point back that I think we already are.  But judged as a nation how?

When Christ came, he didn’t judge anyone, and didn’t impose a law to limit their actions.  So as a nation do we need a president who will lead us to new laws that follow Biblical principles?  Or would judgement of a nation be more likened to the actions of the individual?  Do we love?  You know I like this topic, I have written on love almost as often as every other topic besides nutrition.  But I do because it is the place where you may reside, and in doing so, will avoid so much stress.

But why the title, “it starts with work?”  Because love starts with work.  Right now, are you loving the person driving in the car in front of you with an Obama bumper sticker?  See, if we are to be the people that we claim to be, then we need to act like the people that we are to be.  I plan on making more of an impact on my life than a president ever could over the next four years.  I plan on having a greater impact on the lives of those around me, than any president ever could have.

I wasn’t counting on Romney to save me, just to align me with more decisions that I support.  But what would I do if I lived in Nazi Germany?  I am sure I wouldn’t be deluded by the hopes of overthrowing a dictator.  I would do what I needed to do, and now that is what I will do here, simply be set in my ways and focus.  I think that if more of us did that, and if more of us, chose to live exactly how we are called to live, then the more likely we would have a life that we can both be proud of, and have complete enjoyment of.

The truth that I believe, is that our country will never be a financially powerful country in the world community again.  We have fallen too far from that, and our current leadership plays strongly to balancing power with other countries, vs retaining our own.  So with that belief, and resolution, it no longer concerns me.  I hate that so many people are out of work, and I hate that we are stuck in an escalating fuel price economy, and I hate, I hate, I hate…

But if I focus on what I hate, then how will I have room to love?

Listen, to this part please.  There are many people who support Obama, and perhaps many whom you love, like, care about, trust.  Don’t discount their feelings so fast.  It is my pride that makes me want to lash out and call names.  I need to kill my pride, as it is so often the thing that gets the best of me.  Don’t think you know the most, or the best for our country.  God wasn’t shocked by this.

Regardless of what happens.  If I am forced to vaccinate (as the verbiage in Obamacare says), I will still NOT vaccinate, and I will love the person trying to force me to.  I the words “In God We Trust” are pulled from the printed money, I will scrawl it on every piece of green paper I get, and I will love.  In the end my actions, are my choice, and so are yours.  Be well, be blessed, and be joyful.  I am about to head out to accomplish 81 miles of some of the hilliest terrain you can encounter on the Eastern side of the country.  How could I not be caught up in creation with that on the horizon?  Maybe its time you did something similar.

– Dr. E

He will be hiking the AT, please pray that he comes back in one piece.

If you aren’t familiar with the Fish Atlanta’s Random Acts Of Kindness, but this local radio stations (104.7), has this cool program where people call in with a need.  Something that is simply important in their lives, that they are not able to meet (usually due to hardship brought on by something).  Then someone who can fill that need calls up and offers to help.

It simply pairs those in need, with those who have a servant heart willing to give.  Now this term, Random Acts of Kindness has grown all over the country, and a google search reveals a ton of action (especially now with hurricane Sandy’s devastation).  So we have a desire, and that desire is to help create a network of need… especially during this time of year, as we are approaching Christmas, and a generally good time to serve.

I am also prompted to do this, as my small group is actively looking for ways to serve, so our discussion tonight, is what brought about this Daily Sprout.  Couple that with the likelihood that many of my patients are in small groups that are probably thinking the same way, and suddenly I see a need that we can fill.  The need of connecting needs with solutions.

So here is what I propose.  For all of you reading this, those who are in need, those who know of someone in need, those who are connected with a charity or organization that has ongoing need.  During the next month to six weeks, I would like for you to help US (the collective us is anyone who wants to serve in the coming months), by referring these people, organizations, entities, groups, associations, etc. to our needs list.

My plan will be to get a cork board to post opportunities on, and we’ll ask you to use your phone to take a picture of pertinent information (or we’ll photocopy it for you), and when the need is filled, we’ll ask that person to let us know so that we can remove the need from the board.  There will be TWO ways to submit a need.  Option 1 will be to simply send an email to DrEric@HealthSprout.com – I’ll turn around and print whatever you tell is could be public information.  Option 2 will be to bring in a request, handwritten, or printed, whatever suites you best.  If you need to provide something anonymously, then you can drop it in a box that we’ll place in the back “walk through” hallway.

So what types of needs are we looking for?  Anything that would allow an individual, or a group of individuals an opportunity to serve.  Charities are obviously easy… organizations that provide food, shelter, clothes… those that provide support to those in need, such as fostering children, or rescuing individuals with addiction problems, etc.  In addition, and I know much harder to find, would be that random individual with a need.  The divorced single mom with two kids, and a hole in a roof.

Perhaps the family with no breadwinner, fighting for a job, and something has pressed into their situation even further, and now they are left with a serious need.  It might be that person with a small need, but it simply has to be filled for them to move forward.  A family with car troubles, in need of both transportation, and a vehicle.  The list goes on and on and on.  And we want it all.  I don’t know if we will be able to fill the needs, but I would like to get a large list of possibilities, and in turn prod you to help me fill these needs.

Looking forward to an incredible holiday season!

P.S. – For all of you Maximized Living Advanced Plan Eaters (now or in the past).  We have a dinner planned next Monday night (November 12th) at Hammocks Trading Company in Sandy Springs.  We are shooting for a 7pm-7:30pm start time.  If you cannot be there at the exact time, that is OK.  They are providing us with a great opportunity to have a Maximized Living Advanced Plan dinner, at a  good price.  You can come in between $15 for a dinner salad with chicken or salmon on it, to $25 for a salad with separate entree of  chicken or salmon, and lastly $35 for a full on Rib-eye dinner.  The full details of the menu will be released separately, so don’t miss out!

Located at Natural News  , this article written by the founder and chief editor, Mike Adams, it has some great value for you to understand, and consider crossover concerns for those without children on the way.

We have a great movie in our lending library, Generation RX that you should review if you want any more info on this topic.  When we had our first showing of this movie, we had a ton of people come out and following we had tears and pain, and shortly after we had a dozen people free of antidepressants, and fighting their way to health naturally.  I hope we can continue to strive for that reality every day.

The Article:

(NaturalNews) Big Pharma wants pregnant women to take prescription drugs, vaccine shots and even chemotherapy. It’s the latest insanity from an industry that kills more Americans ever year than died in the entire Vietnam War. And the latest science reveals that antidepressant use during pregnancy is causing babies to be born with physical defects — or sometimes not born at all because they’re miscarried.
This disturbing new science published in the journal Human Reproduction was authored by Dr. Adam Urato, obstetrician and chairman of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at MetroWest Medical Center in Framingham, Mass., and Dr. Alice Domar, a psychologist and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School.
The study shows drastically increased rates of birth defects in children who are exposed to SSRI drugs (antidepressants) while in the womb. The risk of miscarriages also skyrockets with antidepressant drug use during pregnancy.
Study author Dr. Urato is also warning that at least 40 studies now link SSRI use during pregnancy with pre-term births.
The abstract of the study lays out the findings in clear language:
Antidepressant use during pregnancy is associated with increased risks of miscarriage, birth defects, preterm birth, newborn behavioral syndrome, persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn and possible longer term neurobehavioral effects.
As The Telegraph reports:
The situation amounts to “a large scale human experiment”, according to Dr Adam Urato, assistant professor of maternal-fetal medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, Massachusetts. Drugs firms were overstating the benefits and underplaying the risks for the sake of profit, he claimed. Family doctors were failing to grasp the true dangers and tell pregnant patients of them, he argued.
Antidepressants double risk of babies being born with autism”A recent study has further documented some doctors’ concerns that the use of SSRIs increases the risk of babies being born with autism. This particular research indicates the antidepressants double the risk,” reports DrugWatch.comIn addition, antidepressants offer no benefit to pregnancy outcomes! As stated by the study authors:
“There is no evidence of improved pregnancy outcomes with antidepressant use.”
In other words, antidepressants deliver all sorts of risks, but virtually no benefits, especially considering that even the psychological “benefits” of SSRI drugs are completely fabricated by the corrupt pharmaceutical industry which routinely fabricates clinical trial data.

Mainstream media tries to downplay risk

The mainstream media is, of course, incessantly running cover for the toxic pharmaceutical industry. That’s why instead of seeing headlines that warn about “birth defects” from SSRIs, you get headlines like this one from a local Fox affiliate:
“Antidepressants during pregnancy can be tricky”
(http://fox13now.com/2012/11/01/antidepressants-during-pregnancy-can-b…)
Tricky? The story then goes on to push the warped psychiatric “view” of these drugs, which is essentially that everybody needs to be medicated in order to be normal. And that includes pregnant women.
The entire charade is so sick and even criminal that it’s hard to even watch. If an herbal supplement were causing birth defects, you wouldn’t see the media reporting that decision about the herbal supplement are “tricky.” Instead, you would see the media SCREAMING about how dangerous and deadly the supplement was, demanding the FDA to take immediate action to ban the substance and pull it from store shelves.
But somehow, when prescription drugs cause miscarriages and birth defects, it’s all okay because the drug companies are involved.
Murdering babies is perfectly fine, you see, as long as Big Pharma and the psychiatric industry and pocketing some cash at the same time.
And don’t forget: Vaccines are also being pushed on pregnant women now, even though throughout the history of medicine pregnant women were always warned to avoid vaccines due to mercury toxicity. But suddenly, the authorities and the drug companies want to inject pregnant women with as much mercury as possible.
It’s not just mercury, either: As Natural News has just exposed in a shocking new article, even the CDC openly admits that today’s vaccines are made with MSG, mercury, formaldehyde and aluminum — on purpose!
And what’s one of the most common side effects of all these toxic metals and chemicals in vaccines? Spontaneous abortions, of course.
Sources for this story include:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9632588/Thousands-of-pre…
http://humrep.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2012/10/31/humrep.des3…

Read it online: http://www.naturalnews.com/037789_antidepressants_pregnancy_birth_defects.html#ixzz2Azm2YUGR

Over the last seven years, my wife and I have taken a tour down the lane of Organic and nearly organic products in the world.  Food, water, household cleaning products, and personal care.  The one area that we have felt both the most committed, and the most disappointed is the area of personal care.

We have tried everything.  Some of you are familiar with the Miessence bug spray that we keep around every spring.  Completely organic (you could eat it), pretty effective, and an all around good product.  But there was a time that I carried all of their products in the office.  Shampoo, conditioner, makeup, lip balm, everything.  But after using it for a few years, we both just realized we didn’t like it… at all.  Felt like the shampoo was too harsh, the conditioner took way too much to do anything, so with our daughters growing older and their hair longer, it became ridiculous to continue down that path.

So we have looked for other answers.  We have used natural, and close to organic products.  In the shampoo and conditioner world we have used organix products (shampoo and conditioner) and though we like them, we would prefer something completely organic.

Pause.

So why do I care if the stuff I put on my skin is organic?  Well, it is the largest organ in your body, and it absorbs everything that it comes in contact with to some extent, but more so anything that is fat or oil based.  Every chemical introduced into your skin is an opportunity for cellular irritation leading to cancer.  This is simple, and proven, and yet ignored by the people in positions to make change, due to the protection of industry profits.

OK, back to it…

When my wife was over trying the organic products, she investigated other products that market their healthier potential.  So she heard that Arbonne was a better option, thus we looked into it.  Sadly, this company markets like they are healthy, yet the reality is they have every ingredient that we would want you to avoid.  Parabens being the most simple ingredient to avoid.

One really cool resource (that is currently being updated, so this link won’t give you the awesome database that exists, but check back soon), is the EWG.org – skin deep.  It is a cosmetic database that takes all the guess work out for you.  When we looked at the price of Arbonne, and the fact that there was no healthier benefit to it, we were shocked.  But that began a process of searching.

Well, I am writing about this now, because my wife has found incredible success with the Beyond Organic Skin Care line.  She has never been so excited about a healthy skin product ever.  They make a completely organic product, so we are back to edible again, but this time it works.  We have beEn using the shampoo, soap, conditioner, and lotion, and all of it has satisfied our desire for what we would want out of those products.

But the biggest shock, has been their cleansing line (toner, balancer, stuff that guys like me don’t understand).  She has loved it so much, that she has actually talked about hosting a small workshop and testing environment.  This took me completely by surprise, and so I write.

I know the expense is a serious barrier for many people, but as I continue to lead you in the decision to re-work your spending habits to find the greatest health possible, I would tell you to consider the healthy option for anything that comes in contact with you all the time.  If you use a lotion everyday, make it organic… If not lotion, than something else. The point is to move clean with the products you use every day.

It is a simple rule, more contact = more clean. Every time I hear a story of someone young getting cancer, I think of all the most recent research saying… Preventable.

Be well, be blessed, Dr. E

I was recently telling our Total Food Makeover participants about the difference in omega 3 vs omega 6 fatty acids.  Along the way, I mentioned that I don’t take a fish oil anymore.  Why, because I eat so much Omega 3 fatty acid, that it would make no sense to take it.  Now, I will say, that I try to track my consumption in a day, and supplement when I need to (today for example is a supplement day).  Point being, there are ways to get a ton of healthy fat in your diet.

Beef is bad fat!

Well, that is true of the beef that has been eaten almost exclusively by Americans in the last thirty years.  But now as we turn the clock back to a time of a pasture raised cow, with no hormones, antibiotics or corn feed… the cow is producing healthy fat in their body.  In grass FINISHED cows (explain this in a minute), there have been some amounts of beef that have been tested and found to have an equal amount of Omega 3 fat as Omega 6 fat.  A 1:1 ratio is a very impressive number.

Compare that to 1:4 ratios found in grass fed, grain finished beef (this would be the typical grass fed beef used in grass fed processed meats like applegate farms hot dogs, or in grass fed ground beef sold in Publix or Harry’s for that matter).  The law allows producers to finish their cattle with grain for 90 days before slaughter, and they can still call that a grass fed cow.  So you might ask, who cares about O-6 fat levels?

Omega 6 fat is the fat that at high levels will cause serious inflammation, and sadly, that inflammation occurs in the blood vessels for most people.  So when a patient comes in brand new off the streets, and says, “I avoid red meat”.  I usually say “good, now its time to change that”.  But the good is important, because if you don’t know beef, or fats, then I would rather you eat very little to none of what is out there.  But we want to change that once you understand the value of grass fed.  Oh, did I mention that pack of grain fed beef that you are buying (even if it is organic) has a 1:20 ratio of O-3 to O-6?  And that burger from McDonalds might just be closer to 1:30!

So why don’t you buy farm raised fish?  Because they don’t have the healthy fat in them like a sea caught fish.  But why?  What is it that makes these fish so special in the wild?  Well, this little plant called phytoplankton is eaten up by krill (remember Will and Bill Krill in the Happy Feet sequel?)  Thus these krill are now the intermediary causing Omega 3 fatty acid synthesis.  And much the way krill cause the start of omega 3 in the food chain, beef does the same by eating grass, which is very close in status to the phyto plankton.  This is a quick transition up the food chain in grazing animals, as we have them feed on grass, then we feed on them.  This makes it more difficult for the O-3 levels to be high, because we eat the grazing animal, thus there is no time for bio accumulation.

Which is what makes the 1-1 ratio that much more profound.  See the krill are eaten by whales, but also by many other fish and marine mammals.  This passes the O-3 fats on to those other animals, who are eaten by other animals, etc.  Allowing bio accumulation to occur, keeping you alive many many years thanks to that increase in O-3 fats!

So the next time someone tells you they are limiting red meat, you might want to tell them they shouldn’t do that, as long as they are eating the right type of red meat!  Which is a perfect time to segway into this…. we are ordering beef from indian creek angus right now.  So if you have yet to get your hands on locally raised clean grass fed beef, now is our time. Just let Loree know, Loree@HealthSprout.com!

Remember – O-3 saves lives, so consume it more than in supplement form!  Be well, be blessed!  – Dr. E