Rainbow Breakfast

A friend told me I need to start sharing some of my daily "secrets" of healthy/sustainable living in addition to the herbal medicine tips I share. So, I am starting that today.

I start by sharing my standard breakfast with you as it is the easiest way to eat well and get the nutrients your body needs.

I eat a rather unconventional breakfast.  However, it is a very healthy and yummy way to start the day. I call it my rainbow breakfast. I would like to share it with you, as everyone could benefit from eating one meal each day that is a rainbow meal. It is basically a big salad. However, many of them do not contain the conventional lettuce as it is not always available in my garden. As the seasons change, my rainbow breakfast changes. In the winter my body wants warm food for breakfast, so I eat my rainbow salad for lunch or I might make a rainbow savory hot oatmeal on occasion. I feel much better when I get one of these salads inside of me each day. Some days I even eat two. You might consider a rainbow salad each day as you can get a variety of healthy flavonoids, vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids etc to start your day off. Additionally, you get tons of prebiotics in these meals to feed your healthy gut bacteria.

The contents of the salad bowl are decided by the vegetables, herbs and fruit in season as well as the stored booty such as nuts, dried beans, grains, fruit, herbs, fermented veggies/vinegars, refrigerated fruit and vegetables, frozen vegetables, meat, oils, etc.

Today's breakfast in the photo contains raw orange and purple carrots, a raw yellow beet, cooked beans called Tongue of Fire, a few snap peas, hazel nuts and a salad dressing of raw garlic, balsamic vinegar, tamari and cod liver oil made by Nordic Naturals. (The fish oil tastes good.) I also added a few spoons of home made sauerkraut on the side.

Todays breakfast was super yummy and it contained dietary fiber - both insoluble and soluble (prebiotics), catechins, epicatechins, epigallocatechins, gallocatechins, apigenin, luteolin, kaempferol, myricetin, quercetin, protein, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin E, b vitamins, including folate, riboflavin, niacin, thiamin, pantothenic acid, b-6. It also contained minerals such as copper, manganese, potassium, phosphorus, calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc, (No selenium as it is not in our soil here, we have to supplement.) These are just a few of the nutritional elements I know are in here.  You can see having a rainbow meal provides you with a lot of health in one little bowl. 

For folks who eat meat, various meats can be included if you wish. I add a little chicken or fish to mine sometimes.  For those who don't eat meat they can make sure they are getting a variety of nuts, seeds, beans and grains that ensure they are getting all the necessary amino acids and don't forget B12 is often neglected. (If you are vegan or vegetarian and don't know what that means, please find out.) 

Make sure you change it up as new fresh vegetables, herbs and fruits come into season.

Dietary Supplement Study Siting Increased Mortality in Older Women Was Flawed

The recent study "Dietary Supplements and Mortality Rate in Older Women," published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, 2011, Volume 171(18):1625-1633, was fatally flawed and in my opinion can not be considered good research. They claim there is a slightly higher risk of all-cause mortality associated with the use of multivitamins, iron and copper in these women. I think it is interesting that this has been put fourth during a period of time that many countries (Phamaceutical companies are always behind this.) including ours is trying to make herbs and nutrients prescription only items.

The  study was data extracted from the on-going Iowas Women's Health Study. The information in this study is based on self administered questionnaires distributed in 1986, 1997 and 2004. The study asked about supplement intake but did not get specific and ask how much of any specific nutrients was consumed. They also did not ask about the chemical form of the supplement or quality. When the women were asked about taking a multivitamin, the study did not have them specify if it was a mineral multi-vitamin or had herbs in it. 

The study made no attempt to verify accuracy of the answers, or ask why the women were taking supplements or how those supplements might effect the health of that individual.

The most glaring error to me is that the health condition of the person was not taken into account. Many people with cancer, cardiovascular disease, or other health conditions will start taking supplements when they get the diagnosis. If that person subsequently dies of a serious ailment they began taking the supplements for, this study is blaming it on the supplements rather than on the disease. This glaring error should have been accounted for.

You can get a detailed analysis of this poorly executed study by clicking here:  

--> http://www.thorne.com/Then scroll down and click on  REBUTTAL: DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS AND MORTALITY IN OLDER WOMEN.
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Herb & Nutritional Supplements: What is That Capsule Made From?

Herbal and nutritional supplements are often consumed as capsules. Do you ever wonder what that capsule is made from? Here is the skinny on those used most often. At the end I tell you how I take powdered herbs and give you a link to a pdf the gives other choices of forms you can take herbs in.

Gelatin capsule: This is the capsule you see most often on the market. Derived from hydrolysis of collagen extracted from animal  connective tissue. It is mostly from bones and skin of cattle, and pigs. Usually capsules are made from beef gelatin. There are three main stages to making gelatin. They are pretreatment with an acid (usually acetic acid) or an alkali, extraction of the gelatin and purification and drying. They are of course not appropriate for vegetarians or for people concerned about eating byproducts of animals that have eaten genetically modified food or people concerned about Creutzfeld-Jakob Disease (human form of Bovine Spongiform Encephalitis (BSE) Mad Cow disease).

OceanCaps, Caplique: These capsules are being made from what they are calling fish gelatin (skin, bones and fins) . The capsugel website lists OceanCaps as being made from farmed fish. I called Douglas Labs and they said their Caplique is also made from farmed fish. Tilapia is the fish usually used. I am sure you realize that farmed fish flesh is not healthy for you. It usually contains a higher level of toxins than wild fish and they do not contain the healthy essential fatty acids found in the wild, cold water fish. I can't find research on the level of toxins in the fish gelatin but I am a bit concerned about it and I don't like supporting the farmed fish industry. That being said, there is  that concern about the BSE possibility in the standard gelatin. This concern might make a person choose a fish gelatin capsule over the standard bovine/porcine gelatin capsule. The processing to produce fish gelatin is similar to mammalian gelatin although there are often some differences to get similar gel properties. Sometimes additional enzymes are used or different salts to get a better gelatin.

This type of capsule is being used to encapsulate many of the fish oils now. I suggest you take your fish oil in liquid form, not capsule form. It should also be refrigerated. For more details on farmed fish and healthy types of fish oils go to this recent blog:
 http://dreamingabeautifulworld.blogspot.com/2011/01/fish-oil-capsules-are-being-encased-in.html

Vcaps, and other vegetarian caps are made from hypromellose.  (AKA hydroxy propyl methyl cellulose or HPMC) Hypromellose is made from wood pulp. Pulp can be manufactured using mechanical, semi-chemical or fully chemical methods.  I asked Capsugel which method was used to make their Vcaps.  After repetatively being told for three weeks they would get back to me soon, I gave up on them ever really telling me. From what I can see most wood pulp is usually manufactured in China. Knowing that makes me more concerned. Although hypromellose is considered non-toxic, in reality it has not been studied for ingestion.   These are starch-free, gluten-free and preservative-free, and meet the strict dietary needs of vegetarians. They are also Kosher and Halal certified.

Softgel type caps: These usually consist of  a gelatin or starch or carageenan. Carrageenan is the hydrocolloid obtained by extraction with water or aqueous alkali, from some members of the class Rhodophyceae(red seaweeds), and a plasticiser.  The plasticiser may be glycerin and or sorbitol.

Here is the problem I have always had with these sofgel types. The product inside is heated to some degree by the process of the outside shell being sealed around the ingredients and depending on the amount of heat and the product, this may damage the ingredients in the softgel.

Liquid capsules:  The capsule may be gelatin or hydroxypropyl methylcellulose. Methylcellulose is plant fiber and often from wood pulp like the Vcaps listed above. They require no binders, fillers, plasticisers used in  softgels tablets and some other capsules. They dissolve better than softgels.

How I take powdered herbs: I  simply put the dose of powder on a spoon and swallow followed by drinking water. Be careful not to inhale powders while swallowing. This bypasses the need for packaging of the herb. Powdered herb is less expensive than encapsulated herbs which is nice if you are trying to save money. You can do this with many nutritional products too if you can find the powders for sale. I realize not everyone can take powders. People with trouble swallowing would be bothered. Children will not like the taste and may not be able to do it. Elders may also have trouble. If you can take powders easily, the spoon and water methods works great. However, if you have some reason that capsules work better for you, choose products from companies that use capsules you feel OK ingesting. Many companies have new capsules in the wings waiting to be birthed. Perhaps something better will appear soon.


How I take oils: I only use liquid nutritional oils packaged in bottles. Not only do I bypass the packaging problem of capsules, but I can smell the oil to see if it is rancid this way. Many of the oils are rancid unless they used refrigeration, or chemicals to keep them from oxidizing in the bottle. The encapsulation process itself can heat up the oil and cause it to go rancid quicker. See this blog for details on fish oils.

http://dreamingabeautifulworld.blogspot.com/2011/01/fish-oil-capsules-are-being-encased-in.html

Here is information that explains the advantages and disadvantages of various forms of herbal products.

 Herbal Product Forms Compared

Some additional capsule info:

http://www.naturalproductsinsider.com/articles/2010/01/new-technologies-for-capsules.aspx

Farmed fishing data: http://www.suite101.com/content/the-dangers-of-fish-farms-a145175

Fish oil capsules are being encased in a capsule made from farmed fish!

Fish oil from wild fish is a healthy oil to consume but I am concerned about the capsules many fish oils are starting to be encased in. One such capsule is called OceanCaps.  The capsugel (A leading manufacture of capsules.) website lists them as being made from farmed fish. I am sure you realize that farmed fish is not healthy for you plus farmed fish are an environmental concern. Farmed fish, on average, showed a level of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, about seven times higher than that of wild fish. The average dioxin level in farm-raised salmon was 11 times higher than in wild salmon. This difference appears to be in what the fish eat. What they eat is also the reason farmed salmon meat is grey rather than reddish orange in color before they are artificially colored to look like wild salmon. The fish industry can change the fish food and in fact is planning to but guess what they plan to change it to. They plan to use genetically modified canola or soybean oils to include more omega-3 fatty acids and use that to replace at least some of the fish oil in the pellets fed to farmed fish. 

All I can say is you won't see me eating farmed fish or fish gelatin capsules made from farmed fish.

Although the "fish gelatin" used for these capsules has not been studied for contaminants that I know of, I am steering clear from any farmed fish product unless they really start feeding them healthy food. I suggest you don't get your fish oil in a capsule or gel cap anyway. It is more likely to be rancid.  Get your fish oil in a refrigerated bottled liquid form. It is best refrigerated to keep it from going rancid. Molecular distillation should be used on any fish oil you purchase to ensure it hase had impurities such as heavy metals, dioxides etc removed from the oil. (Even wild fish have pollutants. They are just in much less quantity than farmed fish. See below for links with more data.) Molecular distillation is a low heat method and should be done in a vacuum to further reduce the heat processing requirement so your oil does not go rancid due to the distillation processing. A couple companies I know of that use this process is Nordic Naturals and Carlson. I have no affiliation with either company.

I am working on a blog that compares capsule types to encase herbal and nutritional supplements and hope to have it to you soon.

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/155971_salmon09.html

http://www.suite101.com/content/the-dangers-of-fish-farms-a145175

http://www.nordicnaturals.com/en/FAQ%27s/FAQs/389

http://www.carlsonlabs.com/s-22-fish-oil-liquids.aspx

http://www.capsugel.com/products/oceancaps.php