American VISTA Magazine Issue #1 by Chris Hart

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Contents

Issue 1 | March / April 2008

44 22

12 7 Editor’s Healthlines By Carol Crenna Are you deficient?

Strong Bones: Part 1

By Dr. Michael Colgan Get the hard facts about your bones

By Michelle Kwon Clear up breathing problems

18 Benefits of Fish Oils

By Jolie Martin Root Why fish is a diet fundamental

Grow a Younger Body with Plant Foods

20 Sports Nutrition Update

How The Biggest Loser Trainers Train Themselves

22 15 Reasons to Become a Vegetarian

By Brendan Brazier Help your body’s cell with the right food

16 Your Nose Knows: A Natural Form of Healing

By Lara McGlashan Hollywood’s fittest trio reveal personal training secrets

American VISTA Issue 1

By Cory Holly Vitamin B5 and fat loss

By John Austen

24 Healthy Q & A

By Shelly Nellis How do I get rid of cellulite?

www.vistamagonline.com

Publisher’s Publisher:

Trent Nellis

Editor:

Carol Crenna

Marketing Director & Associate Editor:

Shelly Nellis

Art Director:

Cindy Hughes

Graphic Design:

Chris Hart

Vice-President, Sales:

Paul Airut tel (778) 222-7775 e-mail paulairut@telus.net

Cover photo:

NBC

word

am pleased and proud to welcome you to the premier issue of American VISTA Magazine. We are dedicated to the preservation of health for the human race. American VISTA was created with you the reader in mind. My team has spent the last 11 years publishing Canada’s favorite health magazine and now we want to share our passion with the American public. We are a group of healthconscious people who live the healthy lifestyle we promote. Our point of view is very straightforward: prevention is the key to quality of life. We promote a well-balanced lifestyle that incorporates proper nutrition, exercise and dietary supplementation. We are not extremists but rather we are a group of practical individuals who realize that the fundamentals of longevity and quality of life are quite basic and totally within the realm of possibility for all who pick up this magazine. We will encourage you to get up off the couch and take control of every aspect of your life that will affect your future. We believe that education is the cornerstone to a healthy lifestyle. Within the pages of American VISTA you will find nutritional tips and recipes that are easy to make, tasty and, of course, full of healthy ingredients. You will discover lifestyle tips with easy to remember and even easier to follow instructions on how to better your future by using mostly your own common sense. We will introduce you to many ways to get up and move your body to the beat of your own drummer. Our methods are proven, our content is useful and very educational and we are here to share with you the vast knowledge of our team and our supporters. We invite you explore our existing website, which has a wealth of information contained in over 1000 articles on health and wellness that we have published over the past decade at www.vistamagonline.com. We encourage you to give us your feedback either through our reader’s survey located on page 34, or contact us via e-mail at vistamag@gmail.com. We value your input and would love to hear what you think. I would like to leave you with this simple thought: nothing is more important in this life than the state of your health. It affects all aspects of every day of our lives. It determines how we approach the daily battles we face and affect every decision we make. Our inner health often determines our feelings and our attitude towards our families and our co-workers. I encourage you to take charge of your own life. Absorb as much knowledge as possible in regards to preserving your longevity and maintaining an optimal state of health. Approach every day with as much zeal and enthusiasm as is possible and strive to be as mentally and physically healthy as you possibly can.

Contributing Writers:

Brendan Brazier, Bruce Schennum, Carol Crenna, Cory Holly, Dr. Michael Colgan, Francois DeJong, Jolie Martin Root, John Austen, Lara McGlashan, Michelle Kwon, Shelly Nellis VISTA Magazine publishes bi-monthly issues and is distributed through the health food retailers. Send all questions, comments, and inquiries to: American VISTA Magazine PMB 211 250 H Street Blaine WA 98230 Tel (877) 905-7771 e-mail vistamag@gmail.com www.vistamagonline.com AMERICAN VISTA assumes no responsibility for unsolicited material. Opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and advertisers and do not necessarily reflect those of the AMERICAN VISTA publisher, editors or staff. Readers are encouraged to consult with their health professional before embarking upon any exercise, medical or nutritional changes. Contents of AMERICAN VISTA are copyright 2008, all rights reserved. AMERICAN VISTA may not be reproduced in whole or in part by any means without written permission of the publisher. To subscribe to AMERICAN VISTA and receive delivery to your home or office bimonthly, send $39.95. Include your address and we’ll ship you our next issue. Single copies are also available for $6.95.

Trent E. Nellis, Publisher To contact Trent Nellis via e‑mail, write to thepub@shaw.ca

american VISTA Magazine Issue 1

30 26

Integral Nourishment

By Francois de Jong A chef ’s look at meal preparation

28 Cold Sore No More

By Bruce Schennum Natural ways to reduce outbreaks

At War With Your Weight?

Recipe for Health

By Carol Crenna

By Tracy Holly Colorful penne primavera

46 Paperback Heroes

By Michelle Kwon Books that inspire healthy living

39 How Much Damage Does Your Footprint Make?

By Carol Crenna An interview with eco-impact expert Dr. Bill Rees

42 What’s the Message in a Bottle?

By Michelle Kwon Think twice before buying another bottle of water

Eco-Tips: What You Can Do Now By John Austen Help save the planet in 15 minutes a day

American VISTA Issue 1

Editor’s Healthlines

board o f adviso r s

Carol Crenna, rhn

Are you deficient?

I Dr. Michael Colgan, PhD, CCN

Dr. Gloria Gilbère

f you’re taking any type of medication, whether it’s a pain reliever for headaches or oral birth control, you probably are. Did you know that if you take aspirin regularly it depletes your body of vitamin C, zinc and folic acid? Did you know that if you’re using Paxil, you shouldn’t be eating turkey or other foods containing tryptophan? Did you know that oral contraception pills such as Alesse and Climara can cause deficiencies in folic acid, iron, magnesium, zinc, B vitamins and vitamin C? Did you know that when you use Viagra, common herbs including devil’s claw and fenugreek may increase its negative heart-related side effects? Before you swallow that pill, be sure that you’re aware of all health risks that you’re exposing yourself to. You may have heard reports about dangerous drug-herbal cocktail combinations, but little has been said about pharmaceuticals that leach vital nutrients from your body.We’re only just beginning to understand the powerful effect of drugs and their relationship to our bodies, which go far beyond their original applications. The fact is that all prescription drugs have unintended side effects that may disrupt your body’s delicate balance. Most people aren’t aware of drug-induced vitamin and mineral deficiencies because doctors don’t know about them or don’t tell patients about them. So you continue taking medicine – even over-the-counter brands – without knowing that it may be leaving your body malnourished. Used regularly, these deficiencies may even lead to immune system illnesses and chronic disease. There’s a free online information source for drug-related nutritional deficiencies caused by over 540 brand-name prescription drugs. It’s called News Target Drug Watch and is located at www.NewsTarget.com/DrugWatch_ Home.html. Although it gives scientific references for each of its claims (with data from www.appliedhealth.com), the non-profit organization’s website states that it doesn’t represent a comprehensive list of considerations.

Here’s a sampling of what it offers:

Dr. Christian uenette, DC G

Cory Holly, DN

Dr. Stefan Kuprowsky, BSc, MA, ND

Tomás Nimmo

Dr. Terry Willard, ClH, PhD

Dr. Zoltan Rona, MD

Many of us have occasionally grabbed a Motrin or Advil for pain relief, which are brands of ibuprofen. But ibuprofen may make it difficult for your body to absorb folic acid, an important vitamin for women. There is an increased risk of internal bleeding if you take vitamin E supplements along with it (the same applies to ginkgo biloba). Long term use of ibuprofen can cause damage to the gastrointestinal tract and lead to iron loss. If you take Premarin to relieve menopausal symptoms, it may affect your body’s ability to absorb B6, B12, folic acid, magnesium and zinc. And if you take high doses of vitamin C, you may increase the estrogen effects of the hormonal drug. Avoid caffeine – tea, cola, guarana, herbe mate – and herbs that may affect hormone levels like black cohosh, dong quai and saw palmetto when taking Premarin. Have you taken antibiotics? They indiscriminately kill both good and bad bacteria, so you should take probiotic supplements to rebalance your intestinal environment. In addition, you should also be aware that common antibiotics including Ampicillin and Amoxicillin may make it difficult for your body to produce important B vitamins and vitamin K. If you take Tylenol or other acetaminophen, eating broccoli or Brussel sprouts (cruciferous veggies) or high-carb foods can interfere with the drug’s absorption so it doesn’t work as well. If you take acetaminophen, don’t do a cleansing fast at the same time, because it greatly increases the chance of liver damage. Acetaminophen is toxic to the liver, and puts stress on kidneys. Vitamin C supplements affect the function of this drug, too. Do you have low thyroid function? If you take an iron supplement, it might reduce the absorption and therefore the effectiveness of Synthroid, the hypothyroidism drug. The same goes for eating soy, so wait a few hours before eating it after taking the medication. You should also avoid calcium and magnesium supplements within several hours of taking it.Does your facial product use retin-A? Since retin-A is a derivative of vitamin A, do not also supplement with vitamin A or beta carotene. And if you use creams containing herbs along with retin-A such as evening primrose oil, nettle, rose hips, comfrey and St. John’s wort, it may harm the skin.Tamoxifen, a chemotherapy drug for cancer, may cause deficiencies in beta-carotene and CoQ-10 and cause calcium levels in the blood to increase, which can be harmful. Herbs with hormonal properties including black cohosh and dong quai should be avoided. Don’t just take this website’s word for it; do your own research and seek out other references, too. That includes reading all of the literature that you’re given by the pharmacist or doctor with the medication! Tell your doctor about other supplements that you’re taking before beginning a new medication. Be proactive: it’s up to you to ask about nutritional side effects.

american VISTA Magazine Issue 1

Strong Bones: Part 1 By Dr. Michael Colgan

At Blennerhassett Equestrian, I’m watching one of our young riders jumping a speedy geld‑ ing. Oops! The rider mis-times a jump and whack! She takes a sliding fall. A bit winded, she scrambles up immediately and remounts the horse, with pride hurt more than body. Young bones are strong and supple, and highly resistant to breaking, so lasting injuries are rare.

ut, for a rider in their 50s, a fall from a horse can be serious business, because old bones are likely to be weak and brittle, and prone to snap like twigs. Women are especially at risk. Despite myriad drugs that purport to keep bones strong, and 60 years of promotion of milk and similar malarkey, one in every two American women over 50 now shows osteopenia or bone weakening. By age 80, three-quarters of all American women have osteoporosis. Their bones are no longer strong enough to safely support the weight of the body. Between the two diseases – osteopenia and osteoporosis – that adds up to more than 30 million women, and the rate is rising fast. If these people suffer a fall, well…North America has one of the highest rates of hip fracture in the world. If anyone tells you that this loss of bone is inevitable, don’t believe them. If you want to ride horses, ski, skate, cycle, hike, dance, or do any vigorous activity lifelong, you should learn how to grow strong bones. The major reason that most people lose their bones as they age is not that medical professionals don’t know how to save bone. It is rather that dissemination of this knowledge to the public is poor to nonexistent. Family doctors often try, but their efforts are buried by the huge forces of the pharmaceutical lobby and the drug marketplace. In a nutshell, these pharmaceutical forces work against public knowledge because they are driven solely by profit. Medicine, despite all of the caring folk that work in it, is controlled by profit. I know because I own pharmaceutical shares and have been to the shareholder meetings, and have also been a consultant to the US governments’ health sector. There is no profit in showing people how to save their bones themselves by making small changes in lifestyle and supplementating with natural products. Consequently, neither our lobby-driven medical policy nor commercial enterprise is going to help you. Unless you acquire the right knowledge, medical statistics over the last 60 years show that you will likely join the majority of North Americans who become progressively spineless, hipless and legless as you age.

Illustration: dr. michael colgan

American VISTA Issue 1

www.vistamagonline.com Manmade drugs (not occurring in nature) are the only chemicals that can be easily patented, and thus the only chemicals that offer the protected profit margins required to snare the investments necessary for their development. Why are there almost no effective manmade drugs to grow new bone? Simply because the chemistry is very difficult. Thousands of substances have been expensively tried, but we are no further ahead than we were in the 1960s. The success rate is less than one in one thousand. And even those successes either turn out to cause unwanted growth elsewhere in the body, including cancers, or are expensive and questionably patentable variations of natural substances, such as carnitine and parathyroid hormone. Any new drug that fails to win both FDA approval and an ironclad patent results in multi-millions of dollars in development losses. Inventing drugs to grow new bone has become a route to pharmaceutical bankruptcy. Understandably, most companies ditched it decades ago. At the crux of the problem is the general challenge of human chemistry. We have become very good at inhibiting or destroying processes of nature. Because we can blow up the largest tree with a handful of plastic explosives, we tend to forget that we still have a very long way to go before we are able to create even one living manmade leaf. Bones are far more complicated than leaves. Bones are constantly being rebuilt every day by specialized cells called osteoblasts. They pull minerals in and organize them to grow new bone in strict accordance with

Illustration: dr. michael colgan

Why are there almost no effective manmade drugs to grow new bone? Simply because the chemistry is very difficult. Thousands of substances have been expensively tried, but we are no further ahead than we were in the 1960s. The success rate is less than one in one thousand. And even those successes either turn out to cause unwanted growth elsewhere in the body, including cancers, or are expensive and questionably patentable variations of natural substances, such as carnitine and parathyroid hormone.

DNA codes that we are only just beginning to decipher. In beautiful synchrony with osteoblasts, other specialized cells called osteoclasts, are constantly dismantling old, damaged, and wornout bone. They are the demolition crew, the bone garbage disposal. It is a much easier chemical task to develop drugs that destroy the action of osteoclasts, meaning drugs which keep the bone that should have been broken down as garbage around longer. Drug companies have developed a slew of chemicals called biphosphonates and estrogen receptor modulators that stop osteoclasts. They also use expensive variations on the natural hormone called calcitonin to stop bone breakdown. About 99 percent of the approved drugs used today to treat osteopenia and osteoporosis do just that, stockpile the garbage bone right in your skeleton. Consequently, even though treatment with these drugs increases the scores shown on bone density tests, thus are highly touted as successful, the bones themselves get steadily weaker. Meanwhile the patients believe

the problem is taken care of and pay only scant attention to supplying the structural nutrients that are absolutely essential every day for the body to grow new bone. Even if we allow generously for the loss of bone caused by the aging of our population, it is the pharmaceutical conservation of garbage bone and the almost total lack of public knowledge of the nutrients required to grow bone that are the dominant causes of the osteoporosis epidemic. At my clinic, we have worked for 33 years to successfully increase real bone strength in thousands of individuals, many of whom are at or near what is termed the “fracture line” when they first come to see us. Because of the deplorable and worsening state of America’s bones, I am going to share our program for free within American VISTA’s next issues. Excerpted from Dr Colgan’s forthcoming book, Strong Bones, published in spring 2008. This is Part 1 of four parts. If you have questions, please visit www. colganinstitute.com or e-mail askdrk@colganinstitute.com (1 866) 302-3032 References available from American VISTA.

American VISTA Issue 1

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Grow a Younger Body with Plant Foods By Brendan Brazier

elieve it or not, it is actually possible for you to “grow” a younger body. Simply put, a younger body is one that has regenerated its cells more quickly and efficiently. The key to maintaining (or developing) a vital, active younger body is to encourage it to be in a constant state of regeneration. Before the body can regenerate, however, it must be given a “reason” to do so. The best reason it’s given to rebuild its cells is through the resulting affects of regular exercise. Exercise breaks down body tissue. But the body’s ability to grow stronger comes as a result of the regeneration process as it develops more resilient cells (and more muscle) after exercise. Once these cells are broken down, the body must grow new cells to replace the old. The more old cells are broken down, the more new cells are created to replace them; it is an ongoing process. Activity level is largely responsible for the rate at which regeneration occurs, provided that the body is supplied with premium fuel. The process is most efficient when it has the resources (nutrient-rich whole foods) to support it; and the quality of the newly-fabricated cells is highly dependant upon these foods.

When rebuilding cells, the body can go one of two ways: if it has the right resources, the new cells will be healthy and strong. On the flip side, however, if the only available “building blocks” are from poor quality (processed and refined) foods, the body has no choice but to fabricate weaker “filler” cells. This is called degeneration, more commonly known as premature aging. Your current body has been constructed from the food you’ve consumed over the past year. The result of what you now biologically possess has been determined by four key factors: diet, activity level, ability to cope with stress and genetic blueprint. How would you like your new body to look and perform? It’s largely up to you. The food you eat, your activity level and how you deal with stress (three of the four determining factors) are directly under your control and yours for the altering. The more diligent your exercise program and the better your diet, the sooner your new younger-looking and younger-feeling body will be created. The first step towards eating your way to a younger body is to consume primarily whole, natural foods, fresh from the field or tree. As a general rule, the less that has been done to food, the better it is for you. Whole foods provide nutrition in perfect balance – all of the vitamins, minerals, fiber, protein, carbohydrates and fats that your body needs to function and regenerate optimally. Once it has been provided with the nutrition it desires, your body’s hunger mechanism shuts off, reducing cravings and the tendency to overeat. Instead of feasting on common refined foods, I now consume whole foods almost exclusively. Raw, alkalizing, living foods with their enzymes intact have become the foundation of my diet. Switching my main carbohydrate source away from refined starches (breads, crackers, pasta) to whole fruits, vegetables and grains was my starting point. Raw nuts and seeds, with an emphasis on hemp and flax seeds, and legumes (beans, lentils, chickpeas, peas) supply me with protein and essential fatty acids. The majority of

American VISTA Issue 1

vitamins and minerals I require come from fresh, raw vegetables – dark leafy green ones in particular. I’ll admit that one thing many processed and refined foods have in their favor is the convenience factor. Traditionally, whole foods have been time consuming to prepare – but they don’t have to be. An easy and convenient way to incorporate more plant-based whole foods into your diet is through a daily shake or smoothie that is made by you at home. It’s easy to pack nutrients into liquid form, which improves absorption (of the nutrients) and requires less energy to digest. I have one or more nutrient-packed shakes daily to ensure that I get all the nutrients I need to support my activity level and induce a quick recovery from exercise. High quality liquid nutrition is also the best possible form of nourishment after exercise since it’s very easy for the fatigued body to digest and utilize. My favorite shake always starts with four main ingredients: Hemp protein, ground whole flax seeds, chlorella and maca. After that I’ll often mix in a banana and usually a pear. Berries are excellent, too, because of their high level of antioxidants. Sometimes I’ll blend in raw pumpkin seeds for iron and ground raw sesame seeds for calcium. You can experiment with different fruits, vegetables, seeds and nuts to suit your own taste. So when it comes to turning back the clock, the main things to remember are: exercise regularly to give your body a reason to regenerate, and then supply it with premium whole foods to enable it to do so. Whole foods provide the body with premium fuel to perform at its peak and supply superior “building blocks” to reconstruct new cells after exercise. Your body will be in a constant state of regeneration; and that is anti-aging the natural and healthy way. Brendan Brazier is one of only a few professional athletes in the world who is vegan. The 31-year-old from BC, Canada, was the 2006 Canadian 50km Ultra Marathon Champion and best-selling author. His new diet and lifestyle book The Thrive Diet (www.thrivediet.com) is available at all major bookstores. www.brendanbrazier.com

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How The Biggest Loser Trainers Train Themselves By Lara McGlashan

You see them inspire, exhaust and transform their contestants each week on NBC’s The Biggest Loser, putting their teams through grueling workouts to get incredible results. But how do Kim Lyons, Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels train off camera? Are they as hard on themselves as they are on their clients? American VISTA caught up with this fit trio to find out if they truly practice what they preach.

Kim Lyons: Red Team Trainer Her philosophy: Make it fun, but get the work done. “Being on TV in a sports bra is great motivation to stay in shape,” laughs Kim Lyons when asked how she keeps on top of her fitness program. “All kidding aside, being fit and healthy is a lifestyle, and I can’t imagine living any other way.” However, she wasn’t always so fit. Lyons was an active kid, participating in track and field, softball and cheerleading, but after college she struggled with her weight. “I was about 30 pounds heavier than I am now,” she recalls. “Even though I was teaching four aerobics classes a day, I was only ingesting about 800 calories a day, and my metabolism was at a standstill.” With the help of a trainer at her gym, Lyons began lifting weights and eating correctly and saw such dramatic changes in her physique that she decided to follow a career path in fitness. “If I can inspire people like I was inspired, then I have accomplished my goal,” she says. Although she’s experienced in motivating others, Lyons oftentimes finds herself uninspired to work out. “I need lots of stimulation to keep from getting bored by exercise! Although I always have a definite plan when training clients, I’m totally ADD when I train myself, and will do anything from spinning classes and running to rollerblading and circuit training to keep my

workouts fun and fresh.” Lyons also participates in activities that push her beyond her comfort zone. “I realize that I don’t know everything, and while I am a fast-moving person, I still do things like pilates to slow down a little, and reach outside my immediate realm of knowledge to work my body and mind in a different way,” she says. She also signed up for a boot camp class that meets three days a week before sunrise for a radical change of pace. “People in the class look at me funny, because here’s this TV workout guru taking a class,” she laughs. “But it gets tiring to always tell people what to do and plan workouts for myself. With this class, someone else tells me what to do for an hour. I love that!” Lyons also follows the nutrition plan she advocates on television, eating 5 to 6 small meals a day, each with a balance of lean protein, whole grain carbs, healthy fat and plenty of fresh vegetables. And yes, she does eat French fries and hamburgers, too. “I eat 80 percent healthy food 100 percent of the time,” she explains. “Every week I eat something I know I shouldn’t, but I make up for it in the gym later.” She also loves to cook, and does a lot of experimenting with recipes. “I love to mix up a bunch of things and see what comes of it. Most of the time the healthy low-fat recipes are awesome, but sometimes they’re a mess! I either chuck it or feed it to the dogs, who think everything is terrific.”

American VISTA Issue 1

Bob Harper: Blue Team Trainer His philosophy: Be healthy on the inside and you’ll look healthy on the outside. “I want to defy age!” laughs Bob Harper. “I turn 42 this year, and am not as interested in having the six-pack or the big arms anymore, but I’d rather be the healthiest me I can be.” To look at him, he’s doing a good job at being defiant. Lean, athletic and fit, Harper definitely walks the walk of a fitness aficionado, and has been for over 20 years. “I didn’t play sports when I was younger, but I grew up on a cattle farm, which demands a very active lifestyle,” he says. “After high school I lived next to a gym, and one day it beckoned me inside and hasn’t let me go since.” Harper began teaching group fitness classes and moved to LA to work with Karen Voigt. He soon became one of the most sought-after trainers in the city, known for his “inside-out” approach to wellness — in order to look great on the outside, you have to feel great on the inside. This philosophy extends to his contestants and to himself. To keep his mental compass on track, Harper hikes in the canyons near his home and does a lot of yoga. “I’m really into this class called Yoga Hop, which is like urbanized, trendy yoga with loud music and difficult poses,” he

Bob’s Anti-Aging Meal Plan Breakfast: Oatmeal Snack: Quinoa and black beans, or Greek yogurt and granola Lunch: Large salad with broccoli, lettuce, beets, cauliflower and beans, and a piece of fruit Snack: Fruit Dinner: Pasta with marinara sauce and salad, or fish with Brussels sprouts

Kim’s Luscious Lasagna key 1 pound lean ground tur on oni 1 cup chopped s 3 lean Italian sausage link 2 cloves garlic, crushed 2 cups sliced mushrooms ing 4 tablespoons Italian season oz) fat-free cottage cheese 8 nd, pou (1 er tain 1 large con ara sauce rin ma 1 jar (26 ounces) low-fat led coo and led boi s, 6 lasagna noodle d ppe cho , ves lea h nac spi 1 bag e ricotta cheese 1 container (15 oz) fat-fre ese che san me par e fre 1 cup fatk turkey, rees. In a large pan, coo Preheat oven to 375 deg key is tur il and mushrooms unt onions, sausage, garlic, bine com l, bow all sm soft. In a browned and veggies are gna pan lasa a ay Spr . ese che e tag Italian seasoning and cot ingrediay. Layer with lasagna with nonfat cooking spr dles, ½ noo 2 ce, sau ara rin ma ents in this order: 1/3 jar , 1/3 ese che tta ½ container rico bag of chopped spinach, dles, noo 2 re, xtu mi ese tage che jar marinara sauce, ½ cot tta rico ing pped spinach, remain meat mixture, ½ bag cho ese che e tag cot ing ain sauce, rem cheese, 1/3 jar marinara minsan cheese. Bake 50 to 60 me par s, dle noo 2 re, mixtu g. before servin utes. Let stand 15 minutes Makes: 12 servings tein; 33 grams fat; 28 grams pro Per serving: 300 cal; 6 r grams carbs; 3 grams fibe Your ns’ new book, Your Body, Recipe courtesy of Kim Lyo om n.c aramcglasha Life, Sterling (2008), www.l

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says. To keep his external body fit and healthy, Harper trains up to six days a week doing hardcore circuit workouts. He does one day of push/ pull training, one day of shoulders and arms, and works legs nearly every day. “Leg training gets your heart rate high, and is an incredible fat incinerator,” he says. Lately, Harper has also changed his diet to improve his inner workings. “I used to be a hardcore animal protein devotee, and used to laugh at vegetarians, but now I’m steering my own eating habits in that direction,” he says. Harper gets most of his protein from quinoa and beans, and has fish a few times a week to ensure he gets in his omega-3s. He eats tons of fresh fruit and vegetables, Greek yogurt, and carbs like brown rice and granola. Harper admits, however, that he has a sweet tooth. “One of these days I need to find out which one it is and have the dentist pull it out!” he quips. His Achilles heel is chocolate chip cookies. “And I can never resist a birthday cake – turning down birthday cake is unholy!” But when he does indulge, he burns off the excess calories immediately. “The other week I went to a birthday party and had a big piece of cake and a slice of pizza,” he recounts. “And even though I had already worked out before the party, I went back to the gym afterwards and ran six miles.” Bob Harper’s new book, Are You Ready? (Random House Doubleday) will be released April, 2008.

Jillian Michaels: Black Team trainer Her philosophy: Fitness is a necessary evil.

Love her or hate her, Jillian Michaels stays true to herself. With a hardcore attitude and a nononsense approach to wellness, Michaels is direct with both her contestants and herself. “I consider myself the anti-fitness guru because I don’t like working out – in fact, I hate it,” states Michaels. “And I struggle with my weight all the

Eating Organic with Jillian Michaels

six days a week, channeling the discipline she learned through martial arts to motivate her to Breakfast: nonfat organic yogurt work out at a gym. “I several 1 cup Nature’s Path Synergy 8-grain cereal things to stay in shape,” she 1 cup fresh organic mixed berries says. “I take spin classes, hike Lunch: Ocean caught salmon, organic rice, vegetables the mountains, and go to the Snack: 2 tablespoons fresh ground organic peanut butter gym.” She also works regularly and an organic apple or dry roasted organic almonds and with a personal trainer. “I try an organic nectarine to be as hard on myself as I am Dinner: free range organic chicken breast on my contestants, but it’s difGenerous portion salad or steamed vegetables ficult. I am busy and tired, and I cup organic black beans with organic corn tortillas a lot of times I’m not in the mood. But if I buy a training session and don’t show up, I’m out 100 bucks! That gets me to the gym.” time, so exercise is a tool that I use to build a life, Michaels’ intensity extends to her healthy and I appreciate it as a necessary evil in improv- diet. “The quantity of the calories you take in ing self-confidence and enhancing self-image.” matters in terms of weight and fat loss, but their Michaels began her love/hate relationship quality matters, too, and these days, I am very sewith fitness at an early age. She grew up a heavy rious about organics,” she states. “I don’t eat prokid, and her mother enrolled her in martial arts cessed foods at all, and stay away from foods that to help her release some anxiety and to lose may contain growth hormones (such as convenweight. “My folks were going through a divorce tional meat and dairy products), trans fats, sugar and my mother was trying to help me find an alcohols, and diet sodas.” outlet for my emotions that would also build Unlike many trainers, Michaels does not self-esteem,” she says. “And martial arts did ex- believe in “cheat meals.” “You should always actly that. It changed my life for the better.” Over have boundaries. People who are allowed to the years, Michaels achieved her black belt in cheat end up eating 5,000 calories, which can akarui-do (a hybrid of kung fu and Thai boxing), blow four days of workouts!” Instead, Michaels and, realizing how it had improved her, adopted advises working a few treats into your daily fitness as a lifestyle. calories so you don’t feel deprived. “I don’t go Though Michaels does not have time these a day without eating chocolate and peanut butdays to practice akarui-do, she works out up to ter,” she admits. “I love organic, dark choco-

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late and Paul Newman’s organic peanut butter cups.” For more on Jillian Michaels, visit: www.jillianmichaels.com Lara McGlashan has been involved in sports most of her life. She is a certified ski instructor, group fitness instructor and certified personal trainer with her own fitness business. She has worked within the field in Colorado, Utah, Florida and California. Lara has a Masters degree in communications and writes fitness articles for national magazines including Shape, Marie Claire and Self.

www.vistamagonline.com

Your Nose Knows: A Natural Form of Healing We take our nose, and our sense of smell, for granted until we have a cold. Yet the importance of our most acute sense – able to retrieve memories faster than any other of our senses, and found to be closely connected to depression and weight gain in those lacking it – is, well, as plain as the nose on your face. By Michelle Kwon

esides being used to smell with, the nose serves as an organ to filter, moisten, and warm the air that we breathe. The mucus membranes inside the nose’s cavities have a very large surface area of approximately 28 square inches. They are filled with cilia, or tiny finger-like hairs that pulsate as they transport mucus and particles into the throat where they are swallowed (and eventually eliminated). When infections are present such as during colds, sinus infections, hay fever, and when you have nasal polyps, this process is severely hindered. The nasal cavities, or passages, become congested, swollen, and filled with excess mucus and unwanted particles. To combat this, a time-honored therapy called nasal irrigation using a saline, or salt, solution is recommended by practitioners throughout the world. Nasal irrigation is simply the use of a mixture of sodium chloride (salt) and water to wash out the nose’s cavities – eliminating pollen, excessive mucus, crusty secretions, dust and other unwanted substances that often accompany a cold, the flu, allergies or sinus related infections. It is important to note that saline irrigation is completely natural and drug-free. Wound irrigation with salt water, to clean and help speed the healing process of all types of injuries, is one of medicine’s earliest and most important basic treatments. At the end of the 19th century, irrigation of the nasal cavities, in particular, took a central role in treating various nose-related ailments and diseases.

When should you consider it?

Most adults are affected by three or four colds per year, and the yearly number of diagnosed sinus infections in the US is in the millions. Allergies are also on the rise — 40 percent of the population in industrialized countries suffers from some type of allergy. Many asthmatics have problems with nasal congestion, and improved breathing (through the nose) tends to reduce other asthma symptoms. Other conditions that can be improved with this therapy include pregnancy congestion, chronic malfunction of the mucous membranes, nasal dryness, excessive use of cold medicines and nasal sprays which cause negative side effects, and nasal

polyps. For those who prefer not to use medications that cover symptoms (and pregnant women who should not medicate), clearing passageways with irrigation is a good alternative.

Clinical studies

Since 1970, nasal decongestive and cortisone sprays (intended to reduce swelling) have been introduced, and continue to grow in popularity. As a result, irrigation has taken a backseat in treating nasal ailments in spite of its benefits. Very few good clinical studies have used nasal irrigation due to: 1) pharmaceutical companies’ general non-interest in saline irrigation which doesn’t use a drug 2) difficulty in performing controlled studies because saline solution is often used as the placebo in studies with nasal sprays. However, there are a few studies worth mentioning. In a study with 211 patients suffering from nasal inflammation, US researchers found that daily nasal irrigation with saline solution significantly relieved many symptoms, and they concluded that this treatment has enormous potential to raise the quality of life for millions of patients. A Swedish study concluded that nasal irrigation improved symptoms and nose function of tree pulp workers subjected to tree dust. A Canadian review using data from the past 20 years concluded that nasal irrigation reduces the need for surgery and/or hospitalization, can lessen the use of antibiotics, and is an inexpensive and effective way to combat symptoms.

Techniques

There are several techniques used in nasal irrigation. They include simply snorting salt water up into the nostrils, or the use of a syringe with a silicone tip, or more complicated pump machines. Flushing only takes three to seven seconds per nostril depending on the level of congestion or narrowness of the nasal passages. Any remaining fluid or mucus in the nostril is then gently blown into a tissue.

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Why Use Nasaline? The Nasaline saline nasal rinsing system has provided thousands of allergy sufferers and people with breathing problems with much needed drug-free relief.

Saline solution recipe

Heat tap water or distilled water to a temperature that feels comfortable to the touch. Mix one teaspoon of salt into two cups of water. Stir to dissolve the salt. The saline solution now has the same salt content as the human body (0.9 percent) â&#x20AC;&#x201D; this is a called physiological or isotonic saline solution. Salt that is free of iodine and preservatives should be used, and sea salt should be avoided since it may contain pollen or algae, which can cause allergic reactions. Most people can safely irrigate with saline solution; children can irrigate under the advice of a physician and parental supervision. Individuals suffering from ear conditions should consult a physician before irrigating. References available from American VISTA.

One of Nasalineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s unique features is its silicon tip that provides the most comfortable and effective way to selfirrigate the nasal cavities. In addition, this Swedish product is remarkably notable for its simplicity and ease of use and the fact that the user controls the flow for a more effective wash.

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Benefits of Fish Oils By Jolie Martin Root

s you may already know, the omega-3 fatty acids from fish support the health of your heart, eyes, skin, digestive system, immune system, joints, and especially your brain.The cardiovascular benefits of fish oils first became known when nutritionists studied the Inuit Indians living in the arctic regions of Greenland. The Inuits consumed a diet rich in omega-3 fats from fish and had a significantly reduced risk of heart disease. The many benefits of omega-3 fatty acids, which include the effects of it components docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), in cardiovascular disease are so well accepted that even the American Heart Association recommends eating more fish and/or using fish oil supplements. You might be surprised to learn just how many ways fish oils protect your heart. They lower triglycerides, which are fats that increase risk of heart attack, stroke and dementia. They normalize your blood pressure and relax your arteries, allowing for better circulation. They reduce dangerous inflammation, which will also help your arthritis. They help to support a healthy heart rhythm and they promote normal platelet activity, which means your blood won’t be filled with dangerous clots. One study showed that the omega-3 fats in fish oils cut your risk of sudden death from heart disease in half! Still, the benefits of fish oil do not stop with heart health. Omega-3 fatty acids (including DHA and EPA) from fish oil are a great choice during pregnancy, not only for fetal development, but for the mother. This is because DHA is a major component of the brain and other neural tissue including the light-sensitive cells in the retina of the eye. Although all essential fatty acids (including omega-3, omega-6 and omega-9) are important for normal fetal development, DHA is particularly important because the fetus and/or premature infants cannot produce DHA efficiently. Infants rely on their mother’s supply of DHA for their developing brain and eyes in the womb and via breast milk. DHA is the most abundant omega-3 fatty acid in breast milk, and studies show that breast-fed babies have IQ advantages over babies fed formula lacking DHA. Clearly increasing DHA levels is important for all pregnant or lactating women. Postpartum depression, or baby blues, can be a major concern during and after pregnancy. By adding the omega-3 fatty acid DHA to your diet, you can significantly decrease these symptoms. Current research shows a link between a mother’s DHA intake and postpartum depression: the lower the DHA intake the higher her risk. In adults, low levels of DHA have been associated with depression, memory loss, dementia and visual problems. High levels of DHA are found in the more active areas of the brain including the cerebral cortex, mitochondria, synaptosomes and synaptic vesicles. At least one study has shown that patients with Alzheimer’s disease have significantly lower levels of omega-3 fatty acids when compared to healthy seniors. Older people can reduce their risk of developing Alzheimer’s by increasing their intake

of fish and fish oil. In one study researchers found that participants who consumed fish just once a week had a 60 percent lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s than did those who rarely or never ate fish. They also observed that participants whose daily intake of DHA was at least 100 milligrams per day had an incidence of Alzheimer’s that was 70 percent lower than those with a DHA intake of 30 milligrams per day or less. One of the most important reasons to take fish oil is to improve our balance of fatty acids. Our changing Western diet has drastically changed the natural omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acid ratio found in whole fresh foods. Trying to reduce cholesterol levels and lead healthier lifestyles, many Americans have substituted vegetable oils, which are high in omega6 fatty acids, in place of saturated fat from animals. This and the use of vegetable oils in processed foods caused an enormous increase in omega-6 fatty acid consumption, and these have elevated the typical omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acid ratio of 1:1 to 25-50:1. Increased consumption of omega-6 has detrimental effects on an individual’s health because it upsets our body’s natural balance and because omega-6 fatty acids do not provide the health benefits that omega-3 fatty acids do. For example, omega-3 fatty acids reduce inflammation while omega-6 fatty acids increase inflammation. Omega-3 fatty acids decrease unhealthy blood clotting, while omega-6 fatty acids promote clotting. Omega-3 fatty acids inhibit immune system reactions while omega-6 fatty acids often make immune reactions more severe. Inflammation, clotting and exaggerated immune responses are seen in heart disease, cancer, arthritis, allergies, asthma, psoriasis and other chronic diseases. The scientific consensus is that the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids should be less than 5:1. It is easy to boost your omega-3 fatty acid intake by adding fish to your meal or with dietary supplements. To choose a supplement, you should first understand the difference between fish oil, marine algae (another source of omega-3), and flaxseed oil. Though it’s very healthy, flaxseed oil contains the omega-3 called alpha-linolenic acid but no EPA and DHA. The cardiovascular and cognitive benefits of fish oils can not be derived from alpha-linolenic acid. Marine algae sources produce only small amounts of DHA and no EPA. Cold-water marine fish oil contains the highest concentration of DHA and EPA available. When you are selecting a supplement, choose a product that delivers a high concentration of DHA and EPA per serving, and look for oils that are “clean.” The label should state that the oils are tested and found to be free of heavy metals, PCB’s and contaminants. Jolie Martin Root, NC, is a licensed practical nurse, a licensed nutritionist and a medical journalist in private practice in Denver, Colorado. She counsels and educates about the role of nutrition in integrative medicine. She has been interviewed on dozens of television and radio programs and is one of the natural product industry’s most vibrant public speakers.

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Take It Easy Carlson Fish Oils–A Perfect Fit for Your Family’s Lifestyle and Tastes Cold Norwegian waters provide the high potency fish oils needed to support flexible joints and arteries, nervous system functioning, smooth skin, healthy hearts and vision. Few things surpass these benefits. Fish oil straight from the source. Since 1981, Carlson has delivered soft gels and great tasting liquids bottled fresh in Norway. These products are regularly tested for potency and purity by an independent FDA registered laboratory. Take charge with America’s leading fish oil brand!

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Sports Nutrition Update

Vitamin B5 and Fat Metabolism By Cory Holly

Vitamin B5 or pantothenic acid is known as the “anti-stress” vitamin. It’s got a great reputation for treating fatigue, adrenal ex‑ haustion and allergies. B5 was discovered by Dr. Roger Williams, the father of “bio‑ chemical individuality.” While studying the nutrition of yeast cells, Dr. Williams discov‑ ered, isolated and was able to make panto‑ thenic acid, a universal B-vitamin needed by every cell in the human body. Later he concentrated folic acid, another B-vitamin, and gave it its name. At the University of Texas he founded and directed the Clay‑ ton Foundation Biochemical Institute (now called the Biochemical Institute). More vi‑ tamins and their variants were discovered in this laboratory than in any other labora‑ tory in the world. 20

s a structural component of coenzyme A, vitamin B5 is vital for the proper functioning of the adrenal glands and aids the body in cell building, maintaining normal growth and developing the central nervous system. It supports the production of cortisol and other adrenal hormones in response to stress, thereby protecting the adrenal gland’s pool of hormones from devastation and massive depletion. This vitamin promotes healthy skin and strong nerves. In essence, it helps the body withstand stress, especially weight training-related stress and exercise-related over-reaching syndromes. Vitamin B5 aids in the body’s creation of cholesterol, steroids and fatty acids and protects against premature aging due to cellular damage. Combined with calcium, it can help those who grind their teeth at night (bruxism). It’s found mainly in organ meats, whole grains, green vegetables, brewer’s yeast, nuts, chicken and crude molasses. In Natural Alternatives to Over-the-Counter and Prescription Drugs (1994), Dr. Michael Murray states that this particular form of vitamin B5 (pantethine) has been shown to reduce blood fats and accelerate the use of fat as an energy source (burning fat quicker). Distance runners may find added vitamin B5 a bonus for reducing lactate. As lactate builds up in muscle cells, further activity, especially intense physical activity, becomes increasingly difficult. Dieters can also benefit with high doses during a lowcarb diet approach to fat reduction. Vitamin B5, being an essential vitamin, must be obtained in adequate amounts from outside sources (in foods and supplements) because we can’t produce it. Research in the field of weight management and obesity by LH Leung, MD, suggests that adding 10 grams of pantothenic acid (four divided doses on an empty stomach between meals) to a healthy calorie-restricted diet eliminates hunger, physical weakness, cravings, and prevents the formation of ketone bodies (a negative side effect of dieting) without any side effects. Fat catabolism is also significantly enhanced, which in the context of this article, is what the point is all about. Dr. Leung has discovered that the ability to burn fat stores efficiently decreases over time and that depriving the body of food and energy leads to the depletion of glycogen (blood sugar) stores. As the body continues to burn fat for fuel, ketone bodies begin to appear in the bloodstream and urine. Over time, the ability to metabolize stored fat weakens and the individual starts to feel hungry, with symptoms of weakness, dizziness and sweating. If you have ever tried eliminating carbs completely to lose fat then you know exactly what I’m talking about. You feel like what dog owners routinely pick up. As fat burning, forced by reducing your calorie intake, begins to fail, ketone bodies will appear. Dr. Leung believes that the presence of ketone bodies reflects a nutrient deficiency, namely, pantothenic acid. As acetone

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www.vistamagonline.com (a type of ketone body) accumulates, the blood becomes too acidic, forcing its excretion via the urine and the lungs. Processing fat, especially if you have a lot to burn, depletes the body’s pool of coenzyme A. By providing the body with a higher concentration of coenzyme A indirectly by taking vitamin B5, excretion of it in the urine won’t occur as easily, resulting in a more complete metabolism of stored fat. The best way to ensure adequate quantities of coenzyme A, according to Leung, is to provide the body with vitamin B5, or pantothenic acid. Pantothenic acid is non-toxic. Dr. Leung has observed no toxicity in any of his patients with doses of 10 to 20 grams a day for periods of more than one year. His patients lost fat continuously, felt good during the process, and in most cases, their health and ability to cope

Processing fat, especially if you have a lot to burn, depletes the body’s pool of coenzyme A. By providing the body with a higher concentration of coenzyme A indirectly by taking vitamin B5, excretion of it in the urine won’t occur as easily, resulting in a more complete metabolism of stored fat.

with stress dramatically increased. He also feels that because of the drain on pantothenic acid pools caused by monthly menstrual cycles (vitamin B5 is crucial creating hormones including estrogen and progesterone) and pregnancy, women especially benefit from taking vitamin B5. In addition, the lower the calorie intake, the larger the amount of vitamin B5 is required. A maintenance dose of 2 to 3 grams a day keeps the fatburning drive active, and the individual remains robust and full of energy. This is one of my secrets to fat loss required before I compete in body building championships. It also helps explain why I feel somewhat normal while training and dieting like a madman. Vitamin B5 has been around for ages but for some reason hardly anyone knows about its effect on enhanc-

ing fat loss. I use the powder form and add 2 grams to both my pre-workout and post-workout shake. Next time you blow up, freak out or start crying for no good reason while dieting, reach for some vitamin B5. It may save your marriage, or at least protect you from the effects of stress. Cory Holly DN is Canada’s Ambassador of Sports Nutrition Health & Fitness and the recipient of the 2003 CHFA Sports Nutrition Hall of Fame award. His career objective is to strengthen sports nutrition awareness and bridge the gap that exists between nutrition and fitness. Cory competes as a Masters athlete. For more information visit www.coryholly.com

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15 Reasons to Become a Vegetarian By John Austen 1. It’s a tough riding trail, cowboy. Meat-eaters are 10 times more likely than vegetarians to suffer from heart disease, and a low-fat vegetarian diet has been proven to reverse heart disease. The consumption of meat, eggs and dairy products has also been strongly linked to osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s, asthma and male impotence. (PETA) Non-vegetarians have 54 percent more prostate cancer and 88 percent more colon cancer than vegetarians. People eating meat four or more times per week have more than a two-fold increase in bladder cancer and 66 percent higher mortality from ovarian cancer than vegetarians. (Brenda Davis, Becoming Vegan) 2. The good news. Scientists have found that vegetarians have stronger immune systems and live, on average, six to 10 years longer than meateaters. Studies show that older people who switch to a vegetarian or vegan diet can prevent and even reverse chronic ailments. An 11-year-long German study involving more than 800 vegetarian men found cancer rates were less than half those of the general public. The lowest rates were found in those who’d avoided meat for 20 years. (PETA) 3. You’ll eat fewer chemicals lower on the food chain. The more chemicals an animal eats, the more you’ll eat. A typical beef and pork hotdog contains seven cancer-causing pesticides, and a quarter pound burger contains three cancer-causing substances in every bite. The primary source of nuclear radiation contamination in humans is from beef and dairy products. (David Steinman, Living Healthy in a Toxic World) Pesticides, industrial pollutants and sex hormones are stored in animal fat which are known to cause breast cancer and to have estrogen-like effects. These contaminants tend to accumulate in human breast fat, reaching levels thousands of times greater than in food. (Dr. Samuel Epstein, The Breast Cancer Prevention Program)

4. What is “meat”? Meat in animal products can, by US standards, include the tail, head, feet, rectum, spinal cord and intestines of an animal, most of which have very little quality protein. Sausages, wieners, bologna and other processed and prepared meat products, and canned foods may contain these parts. 5. Veggie kids. Vegetarian children grow taller and have higher IQs than their classmates. (PETA) “Children who grow up eating plant food nutrition rather than meats have a tremendous health advantage. They are less likely to develop weight problems, diabetes, high blood pressure and some forms of cancer,” states the renowned Dr. Benjamin Spock. 6. You’re in good company. Vegetarian actors include Brad Pitt, Natalie Portman, Dustin Hoffman, Alec Baldwin, Brooke Shields, Carrie Underwood, Kristen Bell, Joaquin Phoenix, Alicia Silverstone, Pamela Anderson, Vanessa Williams, Casey Affleck, Forest Whitaker, Tobey Maguire, Jerry Seinfeld, Rosanna Arquette, Richard Gere, Candace Bergen, Woody Harrelson and Drew Barrymore. Vegetarian musicians include Michael Bolton, Moby, Prince, Sarah McLachlan, Shania Twain, Bryan Adams, Seal, Lenny Kravitz, Paul McCartney, Billy Idol, Ozzy Osborne, Indigo Girls, and Bob Dylan. 7. You might lose weight. Avoiding meat is one of the simplest ways to cut down your fat–today’s farm animals are deliberately fattened up to increase profits; animal flesh is designed to store calories, which makes it one of the worst things that a dieter can eat. According to Dr. Deborah Wilson, the only weight-loss plan that has been scientifically proven to reduce weight (and keep it off for more than a year) is a vegetarian diet. Adult vegans are, on average, 10 to 20 pounds lighter than meat-eaters; and meat-eaters are nine times more likely to be obese than vegans. (PETA)

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8. Antacid? Flesh foods are acid-forming in the body (which has been linked to all diseases including cancer). They have no fiber, contain cholesterol, have naturally occurring toxic waste and cause unhealthy putrefactive bacteria in our intestines that may contribute to indigestion, and illness. Plant foods are alkali-forming in the body, which is health enhancing. They contain abundant amounts of fiber and have no naturally occurring toxic waste, little or no cholesterol and they don’t putrefy as readily because they are much easier to digest. 9. We’re not built for beef. Meat-eaters have claws, no pores on the skin so they perspire through the tongue, and pointed front teeth to tear raw flesh. Plant-eaters perspire through pores on skin (since they are searching for food during hot hours, not hunting at sunrise/sunset or under cover of darkness as meat eaters do) and flat back molars to grind food. Meat-eaters have very strong hydrochloric acid in the stomach to digest animal muscle whereas plant-eaters have well developed salivary glands needed to digest plants and grains and stomach acid 20 times weaker than meat-eaters. Meat-eaters have an intestinal tract only three times body length so rapidly decaying meat in the stomach can pass out of the body quickly. Plant-eaters’ intestinal tract is several times longer since plant foods don’t decay as quickly. (Living Vegetarian: jtcwd. com/vegie) 10. Historically it’s intelligent. Vegetarians throughout history include Plato, Socrates, Pythagoras, Sir Isaac Newton, Thomas Edison, Mark Twain, Albert Einstein, Leonardo Da Vinci, Charles Darwin, Albert Schweitzer, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Ford, William Wordsworth, George Bernard Shaw, Martin Luther. 11. Save water, save people. If everyone in North America reduced their animal food con-

www.vistamagonline.com sumption by just 10 percent, the grain we would save from animal feed could be used to feed all of the hungry throughout the world. (EarthSave International) One hundred acres of land will produce enough beef for 20 people but enough wheat to feed 240 people. Poultry operations alone use 96.5 billion gallons of water annually in the US, enough to meet all water needs of 4.5 million North Americans. It takes 2,500 gallons of water to produce one pound of meat. If the US meat industry wasn’t supported by the taxpayer paying a large proportion of its water costs, then hamburger meat would cost $35 a pound. 12. You’ll avoid germs. Lethal microscopic organisms feed on animal waste. One such microorganism called Pfiesteria piscicida is a powerful nerve poison causing lesions, fatigue and asthma. At a Chesapeake Bay estuary in summer 2001, Pfiesteria killed tens of thousands of fish and sickened dozens of people. Scientists believe the 658,000 tons of manure from 600 million chickens raised around the Bay is the culprit. (EarthSave). Approximately 30 percent of slaughtered chicken and fish is contaminated with salmonella. It sickens between 6.5 and 8 million people each year in the US. (EarthSave) 13. Hogs cause havoc. Ten years ago, in Milford, Utah, population 1,164, Circle Four Farms raised over 600,000 hogs. The operation generated as much waste as a city of 1.8 million people. There were 2 million residents in all of Utah then. In 1996 this farm waited six weeks to notify the state of a spill of 80,000 gallons of hog waste and chemicals. What is that farm’s impact a decade later? (EarthSave) A Pulitzer Prize winning expose stated, ”Imagine a city as big as New York on North Carolina’s Coastal Plain. Double it. Imagine the city has no sewage treatment plant and all of the waste is flushed into open pits and sprayed onto fields. Turn the humans into hogs and it has already happened.”(Raleigh’s News and Observer) 14. Inhumanity of man. Farm animals are considered “units” genetically manipulated to accelerate maximum yield. In the US, 500,000 animals are killed for meat every hour in slaughterhouses. Factory farms put thousands of animals in one building with no fresh air and sunshine. During heat waves severe trauma and death are widespread when barn temperatures soar. Factory farm turkeys are now so top heavy that they can hardly stand, and pigs are too long to support their own weight. Dairy cows are continuously impregnated to keep milk flowing; they spend most of their lives chained to milk stalls, reduced to milking machines. (US Humane Society) On average, four laying hens are confined

to a cage 16 by 18 inches, unable to walk, forge or nest. Resulting stress leads to aggression so beaks are amputated, causing long-term pain. Every day, tens of millions of one-day-old male chicks are killed because they can’t lay eggs; they are crushed or suffocated to death, and used for fertilizer or fed to other animals. Overcrowding on trucks causes thousands of crippled animals that are often dragged alive from the truck by rope; the final hours for many animals are unspeakably painful.

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15. We’re making animals into drug addicts. In America, 55 percent of all antibiotics are fed to animals and the percentage of staphylococci infections resistant to penicillin went up from 14 percent in 1960 to 91 percent in 1988. (PETA) Controversial drugs include rBST, a bovine growth hormone that enhances cows’ milk production, carbadox, a drug used to promote growth in pigs, and baytril, which promotes growth in cows and chickens.

Healthy Q & A By Shelly Nellis

Dear Shelly, I’m tired of having cellulite! I walk on the treadmill almost every day and it’s still there! How can I get rid of this stubborn, ugly stuff?

Dear C.L., I hear this complaint often from women all over the country! So you’re not alone. We women are at a disadvantage because we store more fat than men, usually on our legs, butt and thighs. The dimpled appearance of this fat comes from an overabundance of the stuff pressing through the layers of connective tissues beneath your skin. This is not a physical deformity — it’s simply an issue of having too much fat in certain areas of our bodies. In the 1970s, Vogue Magazine dubbed this unsightly fat “cellulite,” a term which stuck like glue, but is not recognized by doctors or medical associations anywhere, mostly because the rippled, orange peel-like skin that we call “cellulite” is just plain old fat. Of course, marketing companies feed on this fearful fat-frenzy by inventing miracle products to “rid” your body of cellulite. In fact, I found 186,000 websites for such products in a quick Internet search. But in the real world, there’s no miracle drug, cream, gel, wrap, vibrating machine, or quick fix that will banish fat forever, as some companies would have you believe. The optimal way to combat cellulite is through strength training, cardiovascular work and nutrition. First let’s look at strength training. As we age, our bodies slow down metabolically, and women typically gain 15 pounds of fat per decade, while simultaneously losing about five pounds of muscle. Not only does this corporeal change increase your pants size, it also increases your chance of heart attack, high blood pressure and atherosclerosis. Strength training will help combat this detrimental muscle loss while simultaneously helping fight the fat gain. Building muscle tissue will also increase your metabolic rate since muscle cells require energy just to exist, thus burning more calories per hour than other tissue, even when your body is at rest. Fat cells require no energy to exist (and don’t burn calories), and therefore just hang out and look bad. So what exercises should you do? Logic would dictate that you should work the area where you’d like to be rid of the fat, but, unfortunately, our bodies aren’t that simple. We burn and utilize body fat at an even rate throughout the body, so the places you store

C.L., Anaheim, CA

the most fat, where you see your cellulite, will likely be the last places you’ll notice it coming off. So, first and foremost, be patient. Now the good news: you can increase tone of the muscles underneath the fat, so you’ll have nice, shapely limbs to show for your efforts, once you’ve decreased your overall body fat level. Concentrate on incorporating exercises that hit your glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps, adductors and abductors to effectively train these often-troublesome areas. Try performing lunges, walking lunges, squats, step-ups, leg curls and leg extensions, starting with one set of 15 repetitions for each exercise twice a week. Once your muscles, tendons and ligaments become stronger and you feel comfortable with the program, work your way up to three sets of 8 to 10 repetitions, using a weight level that challenges you but still allows you to maintain proper form. I also recommend performing an upper body program twice a week to further boost your metabolism, increase your bone density and give you great arms for those summertime tank tops. Be sure to work the chest, back, shoulders, biceps, triceps and abdominal muscles equally to balance out the leg program. No matter which body part you decide to train, always warm up thoroughly by walking or cycling for 10 minutes and stretching both before and after your training session. You’ll recover more quickly, decrease your chance of injuries, and become a little more flexible in the process. Now for your cardio program: it sounds like you’re doing plenty of walking, but perhaps it’s time to challenge yourself a bit more. Your body has the amazing ability to adapt to a repeated stimulus, and a walking program that you began three months ago is probably not giving you the same results it did initially. Try playing with your speed, duration, and intensity level during your session. If you’re married to the treadmill, try walking at an incline or test out one of the pre-programmed courses that take you through hills at varying speeds. Try using different machines or engaging in new activities. If your gym offers group classes, try kickboxing, spinning or power yoga to get in some variety and kick-start your body into a fat burning mode.

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Invest in a heart rate monitor (HRM). They are inexpensive and can give you an accurate reading of how hard you’re working. The heart needs to be trained like any other muscle in the body, and must be challenged in order to improve. An HRM can also help you reduce your body fat level. By training in your target heart rate zone, you can actually increase the potential of the body to utilize fat as fuel. Any activity performed below this zone is not challenging enough, and any activity above this zone becomes anaerobic — in other words, you’ll no longer be burning fat, but will be using muscle and carbohydrate stores for fuel instead. Wearing your HRM will keep you aware of your zone, and will better enable you to maintain your fat-burning state for the duration of your cardio session. I recommend doing at least 40 to 55 minutes of cardio in this zone three to five times a week for maximum fat-burning potential. And we must visit the issue of nutrition. If you’re on a quest for a lean, cellulite-free physique, take a look at your eating habits and evaluate your food choices. Steer away from white flour, white rice, fatty proteins, commercial fruit juices and fruit in the afternoon or evenings. Eat five to six small, balanced meals a day, rich in low-glycemic carbohydrates such as yams or oatmeal, and lean proteins such as fish and chicken. Water is also vital for fat loss because it aids in the process of digestion and fat metabolism. Drink at least eight glasses of water a day. If you’re a coffee drinker, be sure to replace the water lost from the diuretic effects of the caffeine with an extra cup of water. Caffeine-free herbal teas also count as part of your water intake for the day, so drink up! Just watch the added sugar or honey in your beverage since they add significant empty calories to an otherwise healthful beverage. For more information on nutrition, go to www.vistamagonline.com and check out “Cory’s Ultimate Food Guide.” So C.L., try not to waste time on worrying about cellulite. It can and will disappear with diligent hard work and meticulous attention to your exercise and diet plan. Don’t get hung up about what society determines as beautiful, and instead focus on living healthy in body, mind and spirit. Be true to thy self, and love your body, cellulite and all!

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Integral Nourishment By Francois DeJong

As a chef, I find myself looking at a larger picture beyond the fast-paced restaurant setting. The philosophy of the words “integral nourishment” compels me to take a closer look at connections and relationships, from how the food we consume is grown (be it organically or conventionally) to the way it is digested. I must also consider how the fresh fruits and vegetables.

use in each recipe are transported and stored, and whether my conviction to “buy locally” should be made an unbroken rule. But that isn’t all. I must examine the cook who is orchestrating the meal; the type of energy that they put into preparing the food is also an important aspect of its relationship to the one who eats it. And then there is the importance of the food itself, actually ingesting the nourishing meal with family and friends, and even being conscious of my own presence of mind, body and soul as I eat it. As I scratch the surface of the idea of integral nourishment, it becomes clearer to me that there are many different aspects to a meal that work together to bring a more complete picture.

We should consider:

The farm: This includes everything from the quality and care of the soil to the selection of organic, non-GMO seeds to the mindfulness of the farmer. It can even include the time of day the crop is picked (but that’s a whole other biodynamic-can of worms I dare not open in this article). Storage and transportation: For how long and under what conditions have the fruits and vegetables been stored? A long trip in a cargo ship can’t help to promote the life-giving benefits of a beautifully rich avocado or succulent mango, despite the fact that, without it, we would have to give up these exotic foods. Long cargo trips also promote the practice of premature picking. Radiation must also be a consideration. Yes, that’s right. Conventional fruits and vegetables are now being subjected to radiation, a drastic and questionable process that is supposed to kill all that nasty bacteria that comes off with a scrub. The cook: Has she been working a 13-hour shift in a heated kitchen and under extreme pressure? Or does she have the time to consciously put all of her love and energy into the food that is being created and that you will eventually be nourished by? The server: Is it really important how friendly the staff is? Dialogue and communication are always important. It can inform you, enlighten you and simply set your mood, relaxing you for the entire experience.

The customer: You are just as responsible for preparing yourself for the meal as the person who is serving you. What have you bought to the table? You should physically, mentally and spiritually prepare yourself for the nourishment you are about to consume and savor. Eating on the run may fill our bellies, but it isn’t enough to fill our souls. Digestion and absorption are words that you may not often associate with a social dining experience, yet, they are key to enjoying a meal and feeling satisfied…truly satisfied. How often do you open yourself up to the nourishment found in the food you eat? For myself, the simplest way to put this knowledge into practice as a chef is to get to know the local farmers that are growing organic produce by visiting the farms and supporting the amazing work that these people do. Saying “no” to the stress-filled power lunch, the drive-through and fast food dinner and saying “yes” to actively participating in a whole meal with other members of my community is also a large step in the process. There are places in every city where you can find like-minded people sharing their knowledge of whole, healthy meals. They’re not only involved in producing, buying and selling a healthier product, but are consciously playing a role in nourishing body, soul, friends and community. It takes more than just buying health food and integrating local and organic products into our own lives and our own personal wellbeing. It should also be for the health of our farmers, farmlands and planet. By spending the time to visit one of your local farms, stopping to enjoy a fresh organic apple, or even hugging the cook! you begin to actively participate in integral nourishment, which is more then just a belly full of food.

Roasted Barley Carrot Risotto

Barley has been cultivated for thousands of years in the East and West. It is rich in fiber, particularly soluble fiber – the type that can help to lower high cholesterol. Pearl barley, which is ground into small pellets, has less fiber, calcium, iron and protein than the whole grain, but I choose to use it in this recipe because it has much less cooking time than the whole grain. But with more time, whole barley works great; simply add more liquid. I love this dish. It is comfort food suited for all seasons. Roast the barley first to give the dish a deep rich taste. Alternatively, don’t roast it, but use chives, chervil, and finish the dish with lemon juice to give it a lighter and fresher flavor. Serves six to eight: 2 cups pearl barley 8 cups vegetable stock (add more if needed) 1 onion (clean and finely dice) 1 leek (finely dice the white of the leek and use the green for stock) 2 garlic cloves (clean and mince) 5 carrots (clean and roughly chop) 1 lemon (zest and juice) ½ cup parsley (wash and chop finely) 3 thyme sprigs (take leaves off of the stem and chop) 1 bay leaf 3 tbsp olive oil ½ cup white wine 2 tbsp nutritional yeast Salt and pepper

American VISTA Issue 1

www.vistamagonline.com Roast the barley at 350 degrees Fahrenheit with oil until light brown. Toss carrots with olive oil, salt and pepper, place in a roasting pan, cover and place in oven until carrots are soft. Puree the carrots in a food processor, adding vegetable stock (or water) if the puree is too thick, and place to the side until later. Heat the oil in a heavy saucepan at a moderate temperature. Add the onions, leek, garlic, bay leaf and sauté until translucent. Add the roasted barley, cover with vegetable stock, stirring occasionally, adding more stock when the barley is dry. Continue until the barley is cooked. Stir in carrot puree, herbs, lemon juice and zest. I prefer live fresh herbs over dried herbs. From earth to hand to mouth with love, Francois de Jong. Fine dining chef and nutritionist Francois de Jong worked at several award-winning restaurants including a Relais and Chateaux French restaurant in Connecticut, and assisted in the Bocuse d’Or Cuisine Competition in France, one of the most prestigious cooking contests in the world. He opened Hong Kong’s first organic vegetarian restaurant and, living in the Bahamas, was a chef for the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. He currently lives in Canada, where he just launched a health café. He can be reached at f_de_jong_ca@yahoo.com

Foodie photography

American VISTA Issue 1

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Cold Sore No More By Bruce Schennum

The war on herpes has raged for centuries. In the first century AD, Tiberius, Emperor of Rome, actually banned kissing to combat a herpes epidemic. Thankfully, new research is providing successful treatment alternatives! What is herpes?

Although many think of herpes as a skin infection, it is actually an inflammation of the sensory nerves. In between outbreaks, the herpes DNA survives in nerve centers at the base of the brain called ganglia. During outbreaks, the DNA replicates, forming a virus. The virus passes down the nerve to the skin, where it causes lesions. HSV-1 (Herpes simplex 1, usually symptomatic as cold sores) and HSV-2 (symptomatic as genital herpes) are transmitted by contact – usually kissing or sexual contact. They tend to occur orally or genitally because our skin provides sufficient protection against transmission except where it is very thin and sensitive, like on the lips or genitals. Our immune system is able to combat the virus, but the catch is that the virus retreats from our immune defenses and “hides”, lying dormant in the ganglia and in nerves along the spinal cord. Periodically, the virus retraces its way to the lips or genitals and causes another outbreak.

Treatment

Both cold sores and genital herpes have reached epidemic proportions in the US. Since the late 1970s, the number of people with genital herpes has increased by 30 percent. Currently, the over-the-counter pharmacy product called Abreva (for cold sores) sells to the tune of $50 million in the US, and Zovirax (a prescription drug for herpes) logged over $60 million in sales last year. However, there are natural, drug-free remedies for herpes which are just as effective and far less costly. One alternative is the natural amino acid (which makes up a part of protein) called l-lysine. Studies show that l-lysine can be effective for treatment when it’s used as a dietary supplement or applied topically to the affected area. In 1981, Christopher Kagan, MD discovered that if he isolated herpes viruses in a petri dish, and added the amino acid called arginine (which is also a “building block” of protein), the viruses would multiply. However, when he added another amino acid, lysine, the virus’s ability to multiply was reduced. According to Kagan, lysine blocks the bioavailability (ability to be absorbed by the body) of arginine, to prevent the virus from replicating.

Lysine-rich foods (eat): meats, milk, cheese, yeast, beans, eggs Arginine-rich foods (to avoid): nuts, chocolate, grains, fish, jello

Lysine – the herpes preventative

Kagan’s preliminary research was supported by a study published in 1984. According to researchers Thein and Hurt, oral supplementation of l-lysine raised the lysine levels in volunteers, and reduced the frequency of cold sore outbreaks. A double-blind placebo study conducted by Dr. Mark McCune confirmed the results. McCune’s study recommended a dose of 1,284 milligrams of lysine a day, but some experts suggest higher doses. The government just approved lysine as a treatment for oral herpes at a dosage level of 3 grams a day.

Topical lysine

A new study published in the July, 2005 issue of Alternative Medicine Review found that when participants applied lysine topically, their healing time for cold sores was four days. This compares to an average healing time of 10 to14 days for untreated cold sores, according to Dr. Betsy Singh of SCU. “Topical lysine showed remarkable efficacy in shortening the duration of cold sores, compared to untreated cold sores,” said Dr. Singh, co-author of the study. In fact, median healing time for those using the topical ointment was quicker than it was for those using the leading over-the-counter cold sore treatment and prescription drugs. And while drug treatments are expensive, this clinically tested natural treatment is only one tenth of the price. Some lysine creams now available combine lysine with other natural, healing ingredients to increase effectiveness. One of these ingredients is propolis, a sticky resin that seeps from the buds of certain trees. Honeybees gather the resin in their pollen baskets and then use it to narrow the entrances of their hives, keeping intruders at bay. In a study published in Phytomedicine (2000), bee propolis applied topically to genital herpes sores healed the sores more quickly than either acyclovir (which uses the brandname Zovirax) or a placebo. On day 10 of the study, 24 of the 30 genital herpes sufferers in the propolis group were completely healed, compared to 14 of 30 in the acyclovir group, and 12 out of 30 in the placebo group. The centuries-old war on herpes continues. Fortunately, new natural weapons have entered the fray. Lysine supplements and lysine creams offer inexpensive, natural alternatives to drug treatments. According to the research, they also work better. Bruce Schennum was educated at Oberlin College (BA) and Arizona State University (MA in anthropology). He has published articles on Native American religion and healing techniques. Schennum lectures on natural healing and nutrition throughout the US and Canada and writes articles for a number of nutritionally oriented magazines. He is based in Eugene, Oregon.

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At War With Your Weight? By Carol Crenna

eyond all the hype and hysteria around liposuction and liquid lunches, barium operations and bulge-reducing pills, there are safe, simple and effective ways to lose weight You don’t need to play the losing game. Convincing yourself that getting the body you want is just a matter of will power and self-control only confuses the real issue. Surviving the slimming battle takes a change in attitude. It means working from the inside out – focusing less on outer appearance and more on rebuilding what is beneath to produce outward results. It is less about pounds and inches and more about getting your inner body to work like a finely tuned machine. And if you’re overweight, it ain’t! Weight gain is only a symptom. Your body is telling you that your insides aren’t working properly; its hundreds of daily functions are malfunctioning because of a few simple factors that can be fixed. They include poor digestion, since bloating and constipation cause weight gain; starving your body of the nutrients that it needs by strict dieting and eating processed anti-food, which slows metabolism; sluggish muscles (including your heart and lungs) due to lack of exercise; and an emotional issue which causes you to eat for comfort or to relieve stress. Sure, losing weight will make you look great, but it will also make a profound difference in your energy level, moods, performance at work, sleep quality, and the length of your life. We know the risks. Government surveys show that the average US adult woman aged 20 to 74 weighs 164 pounds and the average man weighs 191 pounds, both up 24 pounds from the 1960s. Our population is the world’s most obese, costing $93 billion in annual medical costs. We’ve all read about the consequences of being overweight – cardiovascular problems, diabetes and cancer, and even an extra 10 pounds increases stress on the heart. A study in the Ar‑ chives of Internal Medicine (October 07) found that in 100,000 postmenopausal women, those who weren’t obese at age 18 but were obese between 35 and 50 were 150 percent more likely

to develop breast cancer than those who maintained their weight. But women who lost weight had the same risk as for those who maintained a stable weight. Dieting demystified. If most Americans have tried dieting, but only 5 percent keep the weight off after a diet, and 64 percent are still overweight, it’s obvious that we’ve got this dieting thing wrong. Whether diets use a finicky formula: “eat two grapefruits three times a day except on Tuesday when you eat three twice”; a monotonous meal replacement: “eat this chemical-filled, sugary, non-food powder instead of real food”; or a taste bud teaser: “eat this minuscule portion of everything you like, including chocolate cake, so as soon as your will power wanes, you can go back to eating your addictions, full throttle,” most diets fail because they are unhealthy, unnatural and unnecessarily restrictive. Dieting is no piece of cake…or low fat chips, or diet drinks, or meal replacement bar. The only food that will make you slim is real food – whole, fresh-from-the-farm food that your grandmother ate, and that doesn’t come in box, bag or can. Diet products make you fat. They say that sugar is the bad guy, right? It’s no worse than a chemical sugar substitute that puts stress on your system. A recent study in the American Psychologi‑ cal Association’s Behavioral Neuroscience Journal found that consuming artificial sweeteners of any kind may make it harder to keep weight off. Researchers at Purdue University found that rats fed a zero-calorie sweetener ate more and gained more weight than those that ate the same food containing sugar. Researchers said that artificial sweeteners may confuse the body’s natural attempt to keep track of calories based on the sweetness of the food. This suggests that diet foods may actually produce the opposite effect than they’re supposed to, and may apply to all artificial sweeteners. Saturated fat is the bad guy, right? It’s no worse than the artificial thickeners and unnaturally manipulated oils replacing it. Trans fats, emulsifiers, and overload from chemical ingre-

American VISTA Issue 1

dients has been linked to clogged arteries, wacky hormones, allergies, fatigue, heart troubles, and weight gain. Saboteurs to slimming. Diet products are often laden with addictive chemicals to make you eat more of them, like MSG that makes food “taste better.” In hundreds of studies around the world, scientists who need obese rats for diabetes testing make these creatures morbidly obese by injecting them with mono-sodium glutamate when they’re first born. The MSG triples the amount of insulin the pancreas creates, causing these rats (and perhaps humans) to become obese. MSG, also listed on labels as hydrolyzed vegetable protein or Accent, is in soups, potato chips, ramen noodles, hamburger helper, frozen prepared dinners, salad dressings, and most “low-fat” foods. In his book The Slow Poisoning of America, John Erb said that MSG is added to food only for the addictive effect it has on the human body. Forget dissection-dieting. Reprogram your mind away from calories, carbs, fat and glycemic load. Think about whole food (left intact) that will help your body to work better so that your metabolism is running at full speed. If that low cal frozen pasta dinner is made with processed, white flour noodles, salty, sugar-filled sauce, and chemical-filled low fat pepperoni, it doesn’t matter if its calorie count is low, it is going to help make you fat. Why? Because it doesn’t have the dozens of vitamins, minerals, fiber, carbs, protein and good fats that your body’s 60 trillion cells need to keep it going every single day. Quiz: If you eat exactly 500 calories in a slice of pizza or exactly 500 calories in a hearty salad, which one will help you to lose weight? The one with fresh, natural plant foods that are close to the way our ancient ancestors ate (since we have the same biological makeup as they did) – the salad. Size matters. You may know what foods should be in your diet – fresh vegetables, fruits, legumes (beans, peas, lentils), whole unprocessed grains like spelt, quinoa, rye and oats, and lean protein – but do you know how much? If you’re overweight, you’ve been eating more than

www.vistamagonline.com your body needs. Period. But serving sizes can trip up even the healthiest eaters. Test yourself: According to the USDA’s Food Pyramid, which of the following is not considered one serving? A. One cup of pasta. B. One cup cooked vegetables C. A 6-ounce steak D. All of the above. An‑ swer: D. Cut all of those servings in half and that amount is officially one serving. An easy way to remember — one serving (an ounce) of cheese is the size of your thumb, or two dice; one serving of meat (three ounces) is the size of a deck of playing cards; one serving (one cup) of yogurt is the size of a small fist; a serving of grains is a CD-sized pancake or half a bagel. What causes portion distortion? Our bowls, spoons and glasses are made much larger than 15 years ago, and Americans consume at least 300 more calories a day as a result. Compared to 20 years ago, a typical portion of orange juice has grown by 40 percent (translating into 50 extra calories per serving and extra five pounds per year if consumed daily), and cereal, soup and pasta have grown by 30 per cent. (Associated Press June 2, 2006). In the 1970s: Burger King opened and introduced its burger which was 3.9 ounces — now it offers a double whopper that’s 12.6 ounces; 7-11 sold 12 and 20 ounce cups for soda — now there’s a 64 ounce cup; takeout pizzas were 10 inches — now 16 or 18 inch “regular pizzas” are offered; the original Kitkat was (and still is) 1.5 ounces and 220 calories — now theatre concessions sell only a 440-calorie king size. (Nutrition Action Healthletter, June 2008) Put down that fork! Relearn what it feels like for your body to be full. The trick is to know when you’re just becoming full and contented, not stuffed. Eat small meals three or four times a day and take time to savor every morsel (like the French do). At each meal, try filling your plate with what you normally do, and then taking one half off and packing it away for the next meal. (Use a small side plate instead of a dinner plate if it helps to throw off your this-isn’t-a-completeportion mindset.) Wait 30 minutes after eating to allow your body to send the message to your brain that it is full. At that point, your “red light” should come on, telling you to stop. If you are still feeling starved, eat one half of what you originally took away. But don’t go through your “red light!” Losing weight means nourishing your body with what humans have needed to maintain peak form for over 100,000 years – fresh foods, left intact, right from the tree or field. They make you feel contented because your body no longer needs to cry out for nutrients that you may now be vastly deficient in. To become your ideal weight, consider eating to live rather than living to eat, and learning what your particular body needs to become healthy, vibrant and lean.

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American VISTA Issue 1

Editor Selects ❶

❸

Super Lysine+ FizzSticks

Green Baby

Super Lysine+ FizzSticks contain an effervescent powder. Just add a packet to water or your favorite juice. It’s delicious, easy, and it tastes great. Each FizzStick contains lysine, Vitamin C, and elderberry. Kids love the natural berry flavor and the stevia sweetness. So do grown-ups.

Take baby steps toward being green. Green Baby is an inspirational DVD created by a Vancouver company for toddlers to encourage an appreciation for Mother Nature. It features babies playing in nature while interacting with colourful animation. The soundtrack is composed of world music from different cultures with toddler’s voices delivering positive messages about peace, love and harmony ($20). Available at 1-866-515-BABY(2229) or www.greenbaby.ca

1 800 448 1448 www.quantumhealth.

❷ Toast the world’s health.

❹

Monaco champagne flutes, in Mediterranean Sea blue, are made from 100 percent recycled glass bottles. Elegant goblets, 9.5 inches tall by 2.25 inches wide are made by Green Glass; its products have been purchased by King Carlos of Spain and several film celebrities ($125 for a set of four). No hazardous byproducts are produced from the manufacturing process. www.comondi.com.

Cal-a-vie’s private label mission variety, winter harvest, extra virgin olive oil. Bottled exclusively for Cal-a-vie, this quality olive oil is made from mission olives, that were planted by the Franciscans at the California missions in the 1780’s. www.cal-a-vie.com

These products have been selected by the AMERICAN VISTA staff. This is not paid advertising. If you have a product you would like considered for “Editor Selects”, please contact AMERICAN VISTA at (877) 905-7771 or by e-mail at vistamag@gmail.com.

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a) Skilled trade b) Professional c) Retailer/sales d) Government job e) Teacher f) Student/Homemaker g) Self-employed h) Other__________________________ 2. Male/Female _____ 3. Age _____ 4. Total Household income: M $0 - $49,999 M $50,000 - $74,999 M $75,000 - $99,999 M More than $100,000 5. Homeowner? M yes M no 6. What is your level of education? M high school M college M university M degree 7. Do you have children living at home? M yes M no 8. Do you: M buy organic M use natural remedies/herbs M take vitamins and supplements regularly 9. What are some of the brands of health products that you use? ___________________________________________________________ 10. Where do you buy the majority of health products? M supermarket M health store M pharmacy M online M MLM 11. How often do you shop a health store per week/month?__________ 12. Do you cook at home a lot or eat out?_________ Are you are vegetarian or semi-vegetarian?______ How do you normally get your exercise?___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 13. Have you had a fairly substantial or chronic health issue for which you: M used complementary treatments/therapies M supplements M herbs and other remedies? 14. How often do you research health or food or fitness information online? ________________________________________________ 15. Do you enjoy outdoor travel/or travel with an exercise or spa focus? M yes M no 16. Do you intend to make health changes/improvements within the next year? M slight M fairly substantial M dramatic 17. Will you make eco-friendly improvements to your home and lifestyle within the next three years? M yes M no

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Let Dr. William Sears, often referred to as America’s Pediatrician help make your life a little easier by providing a name you can trust. “Dr. Bill,” as his little patients call him, is a pediatrician and noted author of over 30 books on child care, nutrition, and development. For the first time, Dr. Sears has developed a line of supplements, specifically designed for your child’s needs. Dr. Sears helps you Created by the noted author of: THE BABY BOOK eliminate the guess work with these great tasting, all-natural, and convenient supplements especially formulated based on 30 years of medical experience to support your child’s growth, focus, behavior, learning capacity and brain development. With his new line of Dr. Sears Family Approved supplements, Dr. Sears guarantees, “Good Things for Kids, Making Life Easier for Parents.” *This statement has not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. 35 American VISTA Issue 1

Recipe for Health

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Colorful Penne Primavera By Tracy Holly Penne primavera is a colorful, tasty and satisfying dish that everyone will enjoy. You can add a green salad and any meat, fish or chicken as a side dish for a full course meal, or it can be served as a meal by itself.

se a wholegrain penne or other pasta for this dish. You can buy whole grain pastas at a health food store. Read the cooking directions, because different varieties of whole grain require different cooking times. Whole grains are valuable contributors to good health. Numerous studies have linked whole grains with prevention from heart disease, diabetes, cancer and obesity. They contain many nutrients that are not found in refined grains, including dietary fibre, minerals and vitamins. They are also low in fat and sodium and cholesterol-free. A whole grain is essentially a grain that has been hulled but not further processed, and then cracked as grits, coarsely ground as meal, or finely ground as flour. The most nutritious parts of the grain are the bran and germ, which remain intact in whole grains. When a whole grain is combined with vegetables, legumes, nuts or seeds, the vitamin and protein content is improved. There are endless possibilities when using whole grains in cooking.

Colorful Penne Primavera 1 lb whole grain penne 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 6 cloves garlic, minced 1 medium red onion, chopped 2 carrots, coarsely shredded Half of each of a red, yellow and green pepper, chopped 1 small bunch broccoli, cut into small florets Fresh ground black pepper to taste Freshly grated parmesan or Romano cheese Begin cooking penne. Meanwhile, in a large skillet heat two tablespoons olive oil; add garlic and sautĂŠ until soft. Add onion and sautĂŠ for one additional minute. Add carrots, peppers and broccoli. Cover and steam, stirring occasionally until vegetables are crisp tender. Add pepper to taste. Toss the vegetable mixture and cooked penne together with the two remaining tablespoons of olive oil and sprinkle with cheese. Serve hot with large green salad.

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Tracy Holly is general manager of the Cory Holly Institute, as well as a coach, lecturer, emcee and writer for national magazines. She is a health and fitness activist and believes in natural medicine. Tracy is the author of The Athletes Cookbook, teaches Latin and ballroom dancing and competes in Mastersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; level Ms. Fitness and natural bodybuilding. Email tracyholly@shaw.ca.

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How Much Damage Does Your Footprint Make? Dr. Rees: Pick a population, examine it for a period of time, and then calculate the total land and water ecosystems needed to produce all of the goods and services that the population consumes, and to absorb all of the waste that it produces. This method has no overlap so calculations are fairly accurate; for example, we don’t count leather goods because they’re a by-product of the meat industry. For a typical American, the total is 4 to 6 hectares. There are only 1.8 hectares per person available on Earth of productive land and water. To bring everyone up to the West’s standard of living would take four planet Earths. AV: What about using the oceans to grow food? Dr. Rees: Though it’s enormous, only about 10 percent of the ocean is productive. Most of it is a biological desert. AV: Should we try to bring others up to standard, or lower ours?

CINDY Hughes PHoto

By Carol Crenna

e all know what a footprint is, and how its impression, if left without disturbance, can last millions of years on the land, like prehistoric fossils on a rock. But what type of mark, or footprint, are modern humans leaving for our future descendants to discover? It’s a sobering thought – one that conjures images of Godzilla’s foot crushing everything in its path – but it’s particularly alarming for people like Dr. William Rees who study our destructive impact on the Earth’s fragile ecosystems. William Rees, PhD, is the internationally renowned bioecologist and university professor who originated “ecological footprint,” an awardwinning concept for measuring a community’s environmental impact. He wanted to find out exactly how much energy, material consumption and waste each of us should take responsibility for when he helped devise this tool that’s now used globally by governments, universities, and environmentally-concerned organizations. He co-wrote the book Our Ecological Footprint: Reducing Human Impact on the Earth with PhD student Mathis Wackernagel, outlining how it works, now available in nine languages. Dr. Rees offers American VISTA his insights on the state of the planet. AV: How does the “ecological footprint” calculator work?

Dr. Rees: We’re stuck in a perpetual growth machine. No one is willing to recognize that sustainability may mean shrinkage. Most of us intellectually realize what has to be done, especially after hearing data from the international climate change panel stating that an absolute 80 percent reduction of fossil fuel use is required, for example. But we would prefer to buy “carbon credits” so that we can continue using the same amount and try buying our way out. We tell lies to make ourselves feel better: We make new “environmental” technology such as bio-ethanol or bio-diesel fuel, which are catastrophic steps backward rather than steps forward, actually doing more damage to the planet, but allowing us to keep driving our SUVs. AV: Could you explain? Dr. Rees: The rationale for bio-diesel is to reduce CO2 emissions. But where do we grow bio-diesel? In tropical forests that have been burned to produce oil palm plantations — the carbon that has been released into the atmosphere by burning those forests, and then not having that rainforest there to absorb CO2, is vastly larger than whatever would be saved by using bio-diesel. AV: What about ethanol? Dr. Rees:Ethanol fuel – the biggest bio-crop in North America right now, produced in the billions of gallons – uses one fifth of the US’s corn. Corn is the most ecologically damaging crop – producing 10 to 20 times the rate of soil erosion of other crops due to pesticides, ground water contamina-

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troversial because the World Bank, United Nations, and most governments assume that the world can “grow its way to sustainability.” What do you mean?

CINDY Hughes PHoto

tion, and machinery required. The argument is that this is replacing fossil fuel, but scientific studies show that the fossil fuel used to get the bio-fuel from corn – the heavy equipment, fossil fuel-based fertilizer and pesticides, shipping it to factories, and very intensive manufacturing – is more to create it than the ethanol that is produced to replace it. You would be better off driving your car using fossil fuel than ethanol. In the past five years, due to ethanol, corn prices have gone up 300 percent, which has caused food riots in impoverished Mexico because they can no longer afford corn to make basics like tortillas. So it becomes a moral issue. We’re growing more corn, not to feed people, but taking it away from people to feed SUVs. This translates into more land taken away from grains and other basic food crops around the world to produce fuel, which raises food costs over 100 percent in poorer countries.

Dr. Rees: Economists believe that as a country develops, in early stages there will be pollution so the environment will deteriorate. But as it gets richer, it can afford to put catalytic converters on cars, pollution controllers on smoke stacks, and force environmental regulations on cities so the environment gets better. Therefore the best way to improve your environment is to become rich. This is a rationale for economic growth as the means to “buy” ecological sustainability. Economists recognize that poverty is a problem. But since we wouldn’t consider sharing our wealth with other people, the best way to deal with poverty is to grow their economy, which results in the “trickle down” effect: once there’s enough money circulating in the country all will benefit. But ecological footprint says, “Wait a minute; growing the economy in North America is destroying what it’s based on – our environment.” The world is in a state of “over-shoot,” exceeding the capacity of the planet, and if we continue, it will lead to economic collapse, whether it’s climate change or loss of biodiversity. The “get richer” argument says that if we continue a little longer on the same path we’ll get rich enough to substitute all the lost resources with something else. In other words, whereas ecological footprint says we’re destroying our soil and fish, for example, that grow the economy, economists say that we will simply replace them with fertilizer and fish farms. We then end up with two even more unsustainable practices that replace originally unsustainable practices. But the point will come, perhaps even in my lifetime, that we won’t have the resources to be able to buy any more time using short-term stopgaps. AV: Why won’t improved technology and energy efficiency help solve the problem?

Dr. Rees: It isn’t about no longer driving. I drive an Echo which is three times more efficient than most cars. If everyone shifted from a 290horsepower ego-gratifying SUV to a compact Smart Car, covering 90 percent of needs, we’d save far more energy than all ethanol produced.

Dr. Rees: In other words, we can continue to grow to satisfy the needs of everyone if we simply get more efficient use of energy and material? Research proves that in the world’s most technological, economically-efficient countries such as the US, Japan and West Germany, as technology has improved, and as efficiencies have increased over the last decades, so has per capita consumption of materials and per capita production of wastes.

AV: You said “ecological footprint” is very con-

AV: You’ve found that the environment doesn’t

AV: Should we no longer drive?

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actually improve in wealthy countries. Dr. Rees: There are two reasons. The US seems cleaner than Mexico or China because we only look at our localized obvious pollutants – car and factory toxins, for example. We don’t look at increased carbon dioxide, or think of it as a waste product, yet the richer a country gets, the more CO2 is produced. And it is the biggest waste product of every industrial economy on the planet, and the most important factor in global warming. We also don’t look at the fact that our dirty industries – manufacturing, cutting trees, waste disposal – haven’t disappeared; we’ve simply shipped them to China, the Philippines, Malaysia and other countries in the developing world. China is an ecological disaster, but it is our consumption that demands they manufacture our endless need for cars, technology, household goods and therefore our “ecological footprint” in China. What we import from China may have a worse impact, globally, because China’s environmental regulations are not as well enforced as ours (not to mention the long-distance shipping). AV: So you ask, “Where are those catalytic converters for our less polluting cars made, and what impact did they have on the environment to make them?” Dr. Rees: Right. The resulting toxic chemicals end up in China, not here. If you continue the “rich” argument, you’ll realize that when China gets richer, there is nowhere that it can dump its dirty industries into because there are no more Chinas. So that China, which used to be foodself sufficient, is now a huge importer of food because its farmland is being used for industry. But this assumes that the rest of the world will be able to provide food to feed China – a massive demand that, again, it was able to support until increased industry. For example, if every Chinese person gets a little bit richer and is able to afford to eat one additional chicken each year, that totals 1.3 billion chickens. If you calculate the amount of grain required to raise that many chickens it equals over 200 million tons. This equals half of Canada’s entire annual grain output. The US is Canada’s second largest importer of wheat after China; if China takes it, where will our grain come from? A small increase in richness results in a huge global impact. AV: Why don’t you like the term “environment,” and prefer “ecosphere”?

Dr. Rees: The environment is something we made up; before the 17th century there was no such thing. It underlines Western thinking which separates humans from their surroundings. The only place humans are separate from the “environment” is in their mind. The reality is there is no “environment” around us because we are the environment; as animals deeply embedded within this ecosystem (and the sum of all ecosystems called the ecosphere). As long as you consider an “environment” that is outside you then you’ll have a place to dump your waste because you think that by throwing it away, it will no longer be a part of you, and you can do damage without hurting yourself. Because the scale of the world’s human economy is now so large, it almost coincides with the total ecosphere, so the concept of environment as a separate entity becomes positively dangerous. AV: Why do we act like aliens or parasites in our own land? Dr. Rees: Throughout university I searched for what I thought should have been obvious – the study of human beings as species, organisms reliant on the planet for survival, but there was none. In our Western techno-mechanical world, we have become so psychologically alienated from nature that we do stupid things. Humans have a natural tendency to think more about immediate pleasure, short-term gratification, than to consider future costs. It had survival advantages 50,000 years ago, but it doesn’t any longer. So we tell ourselves that we are “sustainable” if we carry fabric grocery bags while driving our gas-guzzling cars to the supermarket, and take farmland to develop 4,000 square foot “ecologically designed homes.” If we didn’t lie to ourselves, we couldn’t face these deplorable acts and would have to do something about them; they prevent us from looking at the truth. Politicians, for example, make decisions not based on future planning, or costs to society in 40 years when they’re dead, but on what’s not going to get them thrown out of office. An American senator was once quoted saying, “What’s the future ever done for me?” AV: You said that creating compact, urban cities isn’t a sustainable way to house our population, and that they’re the human equivalent of “cattle feedlots.” Why? Dr. Rees: Governments think that by living in a city we are less dependent on nature because

we don’t make our incomes from it, but it actually makes people more dependent on it. A city occupies not only the area within its physical boundary but neighboring regions – several hundred times larger than it – used for its consumption. The city is the feedlot, but the area the “cattle” need for food supply, manufacturing and minerals far exceeds it because as a city’s wealth increases, its need for material assets increases. And if I think that I can always import my needs from somewhere else, there is no incentive to conserve local agricultural land. There is enormous pressure in cities from developers for agricultural land, but the assumption is being made that California and Mexico will always be able to provide the food we need. That was valid 50 years ago, but it’s no longer true. Two years ago, California reported that, at current rates of water use and with climate changes, it won’t be able to sustain its production beyond 2050; and it currently produces 70 percent of North America’s table vegetables. Where are we going to get it from? AV: But you also said there are ecological advantages of dense concentrations of people. Dr. Rees: There are many, but we’re not taking advantage of them. Rapid transit, and walking and cycling to work would drastically reduce emissions compared to two cars per household. If each family that drove an SUV in the city had it heavily taxed to provide public transit, the available money could enable individualized transit service with immediate pick-up at the door when ever they needed it. Right now we don’t want to give tax money to “transit” because most of us feel we don’t use it. Meanwhile, we give millions of dollars for building roads, parking, traffic police, and car insurance. Within cities, the many combined industries provide real opportunities to reduce energy and materials — the waste output of one kind of activity can be a resource for another; cities make treatment of industrial wastes and recycling possible because of the economies of scale. But we have to use these fully. AV: Why do we continue to seek wealth if indicators of human welfare – longevity, health, happiness – don’t increase after wages improve beyond $10,000 international dollars? Dr. Rees: One of the ways humans get gratification is to appear better than our neighbors,

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to be able to feel superior to someone else. If I’m relatively poor but doing better than my neighbor I get a certain amount of gratification. If I’m extremely rich and doing a little better than my neighbor I get the same amount of gratification. It’s completely relative. But what if the costs of getting rich outweigh overall economic gains, and gains to my health, happiness, environment? A rational species would stop growing if, in doing so, it was going backward. But the problem is that the rich and powerful are getting the benefits and the poor and weak are getting the costs. We keep making decisions to grow to serve the pseudo benefits of those in power (“pseudo” because they’re not even happier, healthier or feeling more secure). A good income gives a positive effect, but only to a point. In fact, some of the happiest people on the planet live in places like Kerala, India. For the first time in the history of the industrial world, we have the capacity to give people more leisure time with family, but we’re working more rather than fewer hours, and sacrificing safety, a sense of community, healthy bodies and minds, and healthy environment – the very things that should improve people’s welfare with rising incomes. We’re a conflicted species because we know on one level that what we’re doing is insane, but we’re so addicted to it that we don’t change, so keep driving toward our unsustainable, fatal collapse. AV: What can we do? Dr. Rees: One of the greatest environmental think tanks, The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, concluded that the Western world must reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 80 percent, and reduce our consumption of goods by 50 percent; and we can do both without damaging our quality of life. In practical terms, that means: 1. Reduce what ever you currently buy by half – buying what you need, not what you want (Do you really need another pair of shoes or new techno-gadget?) 2. Consider your habits – walk to the store; take the bus to work; drive a small, fuel efficient car; change to superefficient heating, lighting, appliances; stop using destructive chemical cleaners. 3. Reduce your intake of meat 4. Support local organic food suppliers and small eco-companies 5. Push governments to change their policies to reflect the needs of average people, not just help the rich get richer at the expense of the poor.

What’s the Message in a Bottle? By Michelle Kwon

ottled water has become a must-have accessory, toted to every meeting, gym treadmill, work cubicle and soccer match. It shows up on TV shows, on high-priced restaurant “water menus,” and in hotel rooms. An expensive chilled bottle of water is symbolic of our demand for instant gratification, need for image-enhancement, and our trend-swayed concern for health. Though raised on tap water, Americans now drink 18 half-liter bottles of water a month, and are raising children that view free water with disapproval and suspicion. Thirty years ago bottled water hardly existed and it’s now a $16 billion industry in the US alone. And we don’t hesitate to pay three times the cost of gasoline for it. An average quart of tap water costs you less than one-tenth of a cent. The same amount bottled has been marked up 3,000 percent. And what about the environmental impact? Your buying decisions directly impact how products are packaged, and in the end, contribute to our planet’s fate. Sure, you’re just buying water; you’re not spilling millions of gallons of tanker oil into the sea. But since it comes in a plastic container, it may be why the tanker was there. Is bottled water really better? Macleans Mag‑ azine reports that the extent to which bottled water is tested is barely known and varies greatly, and compared to filtered tap water, bottled water hasn’t been found to be any safer or better for you. As we worry about incidentals, one out of six people worldwide has no safe drinking water; 3,000 children a day die from diseases caught from tainted water. (In Fiji, where the celebrityhip Fiji Water factory makes a million bottles a day, over half of Fijians don’t have reliable drinking water.) At upscale hotels and health stores, water outsells soda pop, which is great because, of course, it’s far healthier. (At US mega-giant Whole Foods, bottled water is the number-one store item sold.) But we live in one of the few countries that have really good water (except for rare cases). And water isn’t any healthier when it’s served in a bottle. Reporter Helen Vanderburg

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states in The Vancouver Sun (August, 2007) that the bottles are made of PET and DEHR plastic which are leached from the bottle to the water, especially if reused. (BPA is one of many manmade chemicals which mimic and disrupt the body’s hormones, particularly estrogen). They leach into water even more if your bottle gets heated, like when sitting in the sun. The reusable harder plastic ones, made out of BPA plastic, are also now suspected to leach into the water. Most people don’t wash them, though illness-causing bacteria grow in bottles that aren’t cleaned after use. The fake bubbles in most brands of carbonated water are made by carbon dioxide (which forms carbonic acid) added as either dry ice or in liquid form under pressure – the same stuff added to Coke. The higher the concentration of CO2 dissolved, the more acidity is created. Since acidity in the body is now thought to cause disease, what are long-term health effects of guzzling a quart or two a day? “What about the taste?” you protest. In blind taste tests, with waters at the same temperatures, people can rarely distinguish between tap and bottled water. (Perrier’s head was asked on live radio to pick Perrier from a lineup of seven carbonated waters and it took him five tries.) One quarter of bottled water sold is made by Pepsi (its number-one-seller Aquafina) and Coke (its Dasani, number two). Both purify already perfectly clean water. They put tap water through an energy-intensive reverse-osmosis filtration process more potent than that used to turn seawater into drinking water so they can brag about purity and provide consistency. Then there’s water that isn’t really water; Aquafina and others have sugary flavored and colored “waters” that are soda pop. (Charles Fishman, Fast Company Magazine, July 2007) Who bottle-fed us? When we buy bottled water, we’re buying the marketing, the convenience, and the bottle as much as the water. How did we start paying for water when most of America’s tap water is basically the same quality as it was 30 years ago? We learned to want it. Charles Fishman also reports that Perrier, launched in North America in 1976, was marketed to us as not just water, but a “beverage.” The multimillion dollar marketing campaign connected it to exclusivity (journalists were flown to France to visit the water’s source), to healthy lifestyle (Perrier sponsored the New York Marathon just as running became really popular), and to celeb-

rity (it was launched with commercials featuring movie stars), and it worked. In its first year in the US, Perrier sold $20 million of water, and the next year, sales were $60 million. Evian then sold still water in a plastic bottle so you could see the clean water and carry it anywhere. When Madonna drank Evian onstage the message sent was that if you were hip, you drank water from a bottle. Then there’s the bottle. About 88 percent of water bottles are not recycled. According to the Environmental and Plastics Industry Council, Americans went through 50 billion water bottles last year, sending 38 billion to landfills/incinerators (unrecycled), which is over $1 billion worth of PET plastic. About 80 percent of the PET produced in the US is used in Coca Cola, Pepsi or Nestlé beverage containers. The two raw materials used for bottles are derived from crude oil from companies including Chevron Phillips and ExxonMobil — suppliers to PET plastic and its manufacturers (the country’s largest chemical and plastic corporations) are regularly ranked as the US’s top polluters. (Oil in My Water? January, 2008 www.polarisinstitute.org. Creating PET bottles also requires massive amounts of water and creates pollution from several chemicals including terephthalic acid, monoethylene glycol and ethylene. Even if we recycle it (which creates more chemical toxins, uses more manufacturing power, and uses more water) its transport to stores depends on fuel. Millions of bottles per month are driven across North America in trucks, and water is very heavy so takes more fuel and trucks to ship. Half the cost of Fiji Water is transportation. Plastic bottles get shipped there and then full bottles are shipped to North America – from an island close to Australia. The massive Fiji factory runs 24 hours a day, needing overwhelming amounts of electricity that the island’s utilities can’t support, so the factory supplies its own with big generators running on diesel fuel in, as the label says, “one of the last pristine ecosystems on earth.” (Charles Fishman, Fast Company Magazine, July 2007) It was reported that San Pellegrino’s glass bottles are washed and rinsed before being filled, using two quarts of clean water to prepare the bottle for the one quart that’s sold in it. Some springs aren’t large enough to support the massive demand now required by popular spring water labels so companies have to continuously collect water from other states’ springs (draining their reserves) to truck back to factories in the original

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state to truck back out again to national retailers. Why should San Francisco be the only city in North America to ban bottled water in offices, and encourage residents to drink from the tap? When you add up how much your family spends on water bottles each year, consider buying a quality water filter for your taps at home. These filters will remove chlorination and fluoridation in addition to lead and other contaminants. It’s only slightly more trouble to have nonplastic reusable water containers cleaned, filled and in your fridge (reusing a glass bottle is fine). Remember: refill not landfill. How long will it take a plastic bottle to break down in a landfill? One answer is that it depends how emotionally stable it is, and if it has other plastic bottles for support. But the serious answer, despite claims that it takes 1,000 years to degrade, is that it probably never will. Landfills are designed air and sunlight tight, so that nothing, not even your dinner leftovers, break down. References available from American VISTA.

Eco-Tips: What You Can Do Now Caring for the planet is easier than you think. Making a small difference at home can have an effect on the world if we all take little daily steps. How can you save the environment in just 15 minutes a day? By making more conscious decisions and using more human energy and less polluting energy, you can reduce your impact…and save money! By John Austen

reener green thumbs. Gardening and yard work done by hand is far more rewarding, and is a healthy way to burn calories and build muscles. Forget the power tools; weed whackers, hedge trimmers, leaf blowers and lawn mowers are notoriously hazardous to the environment. One lawn mower can produce more pollution than 73 new cars. In one day, southern California’s lawn tools do more to pollute the air than every airplane in LA. Grab a rake, trowel, pruning shears and a push mower, which are all designed to be far easier to operate and more effective now than they were 20 years ago. You’ll enjoy peace and quiet, fresh air, and a health-enhancing workout. Time it takes to dig out the “old-fashioned” tools in your garage: 5 minutes. Invest in a bright idea.You’ve heard it before — replace incandescent (regular) light bulbs with energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs. Compact fluorescents produce the same amount of light, but use about a quarter of the electricity

and last seven to 10 times longer. Start with those bulbs which are turned on the longest, such as exterior porch lights and kitchen lights. The bonus: You won’t have to replace them for several years, and you’ll save money on your electricity bill (10 to 15 percent of your electricity bill is lighting). Time it takes to change a light bulb: 1 minute. Flip the switch. Rethink your use of “hot” water, “full load”, “extra rinse”, and “pots/pans cycle” settings on your dishwasher and clothing washer. Wash clothes using lukewarm or cold water. Many detergents clean just as well in cold water. Don’t keep the water running when you brush your teeth, shave, wash dishes by hand, or clean vegetables. Time it takes to switch the control or tap: 5 seconds. Turn down your thermostat. For every 1 degrees Fahrenheit you lower your thermostat you can save 2 percent on your heating bill. A reduction of 3 degrees Fahrenheit at night and

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when you are away during the day provides optimal savings and can reduce your GHGs by half a ton. Pull your blinds each evening when the sun sets and raise them each day (unless it’s hot), to use your window coverings to help warm or cool your house. Time it takes to change your thermostat and pull down your blinds: 30 seconds. Plant power offers protection. There’s danger lurking inside your home: newer buildings’ walls, carpets and sealants give off eco-unfriendly, health-depleting toxins (reported to be linked to cancer) like benzene and formaldehyde, and these practically air-tight structures don’t let fresh air in or stale air out. To combat it, buy a shade-loving houseplant, that adds oxygen, keeps your house cooler, and filters out gases in just a few hours (a spider plant is thought to absorb 85 percent of a room’s formaldehyde in six hours). Consider common plants like an indoor fern, spider plant, bamboo palm, mother-inlaw’s tongue, or pygmy date palm. Time it takes

to put one in your shopping cart: 30 seconds Don’t waste water to feed your plants. Collect and use your rainwater for the lawn and plants in your backyard. It’s free and better for your plants. At least fix that leaking hose and dripping nozzle to save escaping water; it will keep your shoes drier, too. If you don’t have a backyard, collect the water used to wash vegetables in your sink (without soap) to water your house and balcony plants. Time it takes to carry collected water to plants and water them: 3 minutes. Be a conscious commuter. If you must take the car, make sure that your tires are at the right pressure to ensure optimal fuel efficiency. And consider being kind to a neighbor or coworker by offering a ride — carpool! Put a map up in the office to make it easier for commuters to connect with drivers. Time it takes to check your air pressure and refill tires: 3 minutes Don’t bring home more than your purchases. Take your own bags to the store to carry home your groceries and other items. Keep them at your front door and in the front seat of your car to remind you. Use the bulk food sections at health food stores and big box supermarkets to greatly reduce packaging. Time it takes to grab your fabric bag, and to give it to the checkout clerk: 10 seconds Save trees. The average person in the US consumes about 700 pounds of paper, but recycles only about half of it. Producing paper from recycled materials saves 40 percent of the energy and 75 percent of the pollution, including CO2, which would result if the product came from virgin wood. Recycle every piece of paper you get; recycling a stack of newspapers 4 feet high will save a good-sized tree. Buy 100 percent recycled products, including stationary and computer paper, and send e-greetings instead of paper cards. Time it takes to put your paper waste into a recycling container five times a day: 1 minute Don’t stand by while the world collapses. That little red light “stand-by” button telling you that the TV, DVD player, stereo, iron, coffee maker, and computer are ready to turn back on is slowly but surely sapping the planet’s energy. Save energy and money by turning these electronic devices completely off when you’ve finished using them, even if it means pulling the plug from the wall. Time it takes to switch off after each use, and turn back on when you need them: 5 seconds.

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PAPERBACK HEROES

Books That Inspire Healthy Living By Michelle Kwon

Pink Ribbons, Inc.: Breast Cancer and the Politics of Philanthropy, by Samantha King, published by University of Minnesota Press, $24.95 Millions of people “race for the cure,” buy products ranging from food to cars promoted to contribute to finding a cure, and hundreds of companies support Breast Cancer Awareness Month, founded by a pharmaceutical company and recognized annually by the US President. What could be wrong with that? Plenty, says author Samantha King. In this book, King discusses how breast cancer has become big business. With an outpouring of public support, corporations are turning their PR machines toward “curing” the disease while dwarfing prevention efforts (since lifestyle choices are proven to be a cause) and stifling calls to investigate why the disease is affecting so many. King questions the effectiveness and legitimacy of privately funded efforts and offers shocking insights about this commercialized movement. Breast cancer is fashionable. Upbeat breast cancer campaigns by Avon, BMW, Estee Lauder, Ford, GE, GM, Kellog’s, J.C. Penny and the National Football League have proven profitable strategies to launch new products. We no longer refer to cancer victims, but to cancer survivors, which empowers women with the disease. But what has it done to silence issues such as access to healthcare – a critical problem in this country, environmental factors, and agendas of political and medical institutions? The breast cancer experience dominating popular culture in books, Oprah interviews, and chatrooms focuses on “the good side to having the disease,” the benefits – from salvaging relationships to rethinking priorities to making new survivor-friends. Surviving cancer becomes a rite of passage. There’s established lore in “Cancerland” that “chemotherapy smoothes and tightens skin, helps you lose weight, and makes hair grow back fuller and softer.” While this promotion has profoundly affected the image of breast can-

cer – no longer the shameful, seldom discussed disease it was 20 years ago – it is also obscuring realities: What are the causes and long term effects? What about the depression, isolation, fear and even death caused by or surrounding it? Cinderella Was a Liar: The Real Reason You Can’t Find (or Keep) a Prince, by Brenda Della Casa, published by McGraw Hill, $21.95 This book is a non-nonsense self-help dating guide written by a casting agent for some of TV’s top dating and reality shows. She gets right to the point in her first chapter’s list of “12 stepsisters no prince wants to date” that include the dramatic sister who acts out, the jaded sister with way too much baggage, and the martyr sister “who’s been to hell and back, and that’s just while she’s been at work.” They also include the self-important sister who yaps endlessly about herself, the superficiality sister (forget your stock portfolio or your hair color and get to your values), and the all too common “queen of control.” There’s practical advice like, “Don’t shove your feet into slippers that don’t fit” (you know he’s not right for you but he’ll be good for a while); “The size may be right but the timing isn’t” (the guy who’s “not ready to commit” but then gets married six months after your breakup); and “Make sure he wants to give his slipper away;” which cautions against trying to break a free man’s will. What are common mistakes that maidens make? They might be addicted to romance and the intoxicating thrill of a new suitor, and as a result they break up with stale partners. They hold on to silly ideals and believe in “the one.” They think they can change a toad into a prince, and keep putting up with disrespectful behavior. They “campaign for the crown” by continuously discussing all of their good points and looking incredibly insecure. And they act as if they already know a guy within months of dating, and not only tell all, but trust everything

American VISTA Issue 1

he says. Author Brenda Della Casa will help you find and appreciate a man, but the rest is up to you. And by the way, the New York based author has found her prince. Kim Lyons’ Your Body, Your Life, by Kim Lyons and Lara McGlashan, published by Sterling Publishing, $17.95 Kim Lyons knows how to lose weight. She knows how to set realistic goals, alleviate fears about food, and incorporate everything she needs into a workout to get into great shape. She knows about nutrition and how to plan meals that won’t make you feel deprived or hungry but get the (dieting) job done. She knows how to survive parties with free drinks, and special dinner dates, and handle life’s curve ball moments when you want to feed your grief. She knows because she has witnessed weight loss hundreds of times as team trainer on NBC’s The Biggest Loser.Her book, co-written by Lara McGlashan, is designed as a weight loss manual with homework, tips, easy to understand nutrition and training information, and lots of photos illustrating her exercise routine and stretches. It talks about your particular body, considering genetics, body type, and where your body tends to deposit fat — can’t get rid of that tummy or those heavy legs? It has a section on your posture, and tells how building weak muscles commonly associated with certain posture pitfalls will help you stand straighter and look slimmer. It helps calculate your body fat percentage and discusses a slow metabolism. It illustrates weight training using hand-weights that you can do at home, and circuit training for optimum calorie burning. It’s got a section on easy and light recipes that includes a Breakfast Pizza with a whole wheat tortilla topped with marinara sauce, four cooked egg whites and a little shredded cheese; and Mom’s Chicken Bits that coats skinless chicken breast pieces with a crunchy blend of crushed reduced-fat Ritz crackers and spices.

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