Countdown to Fitness

Escarole or any endive lettuce is a great addition as a salad veggie, but it has a slightly bitter flavor.  I like to add a little sweetness to offset it.  I’ve rarely seen this beautiful purple escarole while the green variety is quite common.  Add a bit of both purple and green color to this salad to obtain a healthy mix of phytonutrients and a beautiful mix of color.

This recipe makes 4 large salads.  I made it with pineapple and mango salsa, but any sweet fruit, like a peach, would work just fine. (more…)

Photo courtesy of Jenny Downing

We’ve all been led to believe that fluoride is good and that it prevents cavities.  However, I’ve recently read quite a few studies that exposed the dangers of fluoride.  It is actually an industrial pollutant, and sodium fluoride, which is used in drinking water and toothpaste, is used as a rat poison.  So how did an industrial pollutant and rat poison make it’s way to our drinking water?  Journalist Christopher Bryson wrote a book The Fluoride Deception that talks about how this nuclear waste by-product became a standard additive to drinking water across the U.S. (more…)

Weight issues, heart disease, arthritis, diabetes, allergies of various types — including food, asthma, some cancers, and many other diseases have a common tie.  Inflammation.  Which is triggered by inflammatory foods in one’s diet.  The Inflammation Syndrome — “the cumulative effect of low-grade inflammation–including the aches and pains that we all experience–that grows into chronic, debilitating disease” — is a must-read book to create long-term good health.

I highly recommend The Inflammation Syndrome: The Complete Nutritional Program to Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease, Arthritis, Diabetes, Allergies, and Asthma, a well-written book, to prevent or reverse these health issues.  It’s imperative to learn what causes inflammation and how to reduce it, and author, Jack Challem, does a fantastic job of describing the issues and laying out a fifteen-step diet to reduce inflammation.  He is a leading health and medical writer with articles published in several journals, and he’s also a contributing editor for two magazines, as well as consumer health publications. (more…)

Gwen Olsen, according to her video and website spent 15 years as a sales rep in the pharmaceutical industry working for several different well-known companies.  She is now speaking out about the dangers of this industry and the dangers of some of the prescription medications.

I bought some baby bok choy (Chinese cabbage), along with shitake mushrooms, at an Asian market, so I created a recipe to use them up along with a leek.  The mushrooms add a nice texture that is similar to meat.

This recipe makes a nice side dish, although you can add some beef or chicken and serve as a main dish.

The photo shows one of my baby bok choy.  Mature bok choy have long, white stems.

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