Alcohol and Your Health

Alcohol can be a touchy subject for folks, even more so than sugar for some.  Check in with yourself on how this topic resonates for you – how difficult is it to think about reducing or eliminating alcohol for the benefit of your health right now?  Hopefully, it’s not a difficult choice but I want to honor and make space for the fact that it can be for some.  If you feel like this topic hits a nerve for you, consider listening to the Chris Beat Cancer podcast interview with Annie Grace back in Jan 2020. It’s a raw & very honest conversation about alcohol and the role it plays in your life.

 

So what’s all the fuss about alcohol and cancer risk?  Let’s unpack this topic by

  • Statistics/facts about alcohol & disease
  • understanding how the body processes alcohol
  • Understanding alcohol’s effects on the body
  • Looking at how alcohol causes cancer
  • How alcohol depletes essential nutrients & impairs absorption of others
  • How alcohol damages the microbiome — Alcohol & Gut inflammation 2017

It has been estimated that approximately 2 billion people worldwide drink alcohol on a daily basis, with more than 70 million people having a diagnosed alcohol use disorder (World Health Organization 2004). GI Microbiome 2015

Alcohol damages nearly every organ in the human body and is responsible for causing more than 60 different diseases.  Alcohol consumption is responsible for 5% of all death annually, but of those, 13% are due to cancer.  For obvious reasons, alcohol is causally linked to cancers of the digestive tract — all the way from mouth to rectum — as well as liver cancer and breast cancer in women.

The risk of these cancers is increased even in people who have only one alcoholic drink per day. (Essay – Lazaro).

Light alcohol drinking (up to one drink per day) increases the risk of cancer of the oral cavity, pharynx, esophagus and breast, but not of the liver, larynx, colon and rectum.

Click here to listen to our latest webinar where we cover all the information above.

Read more

Strawberry-Balsamic Arugula Salad

Strawberry-Balsamic Arugula Salad

•2 cups baby arugula, organic
•½ cup shredded cooked chicken breast, organic
•½ cup fresh strawberries, sliced, organic
•½ cup chopped Granny Smith apple, organic
•2 tablespoons light balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing
•2 tablespoons toasted walnut pieces
•Half Avocado

In a medium bowl combine arugula, chicken, strawberries and apple. Drizzle with dressing. Sprinkle with walnuts and top with Avocado.

Read more

7 Health Benefits of Antioxidant-Rich Tart Cherries

The Montmorency cherry (or tart cherry) is the most popular sour cherry in the United States and Canada, and is extensively used in cherry pies, jams, preserves and as a juice, among other uses. Montmorency cherries are less sweet than regular cherries, but they have better health benefits than sweet varieties like Marasca cherries.

While both cherries have a variety of phytochemicals contributing both color and antioxidant activity to the fruit, tart cherries contain more. For instance, both sweet and tart cherries are a good source of fiber, vitamin C, and potassium. Tart cherries also contain vitamin A. Here are some of the properties of these tart cherries.

  1. Strong antioxidants: Montmorency cherries’ anthocyanins and other antioxidant compounds provide the consumer with up to 5000 – 8000 ORAC units per one-ounce serving, depending on the concentration. ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) is a method of measuring antioxidant capacities in food, and 5000 – 8000 ORAC units equals the entire day’s recommendation of antioxidants for an average adult.
  2. Pain relief: The antioxidants in Montmorency cherries may help ease the pain of arthritis and osteoarthritis. In fact, anthocyanins specifically have been compared to ibuprofen, aspirin, and naproxen for their anti-inflammatory properties. They may also reduce the uric acid and the pain related to gout.
  3. Post-exercise recovery: Recent studies have shown that Montmorency cherry consumption effectively reduces inflammation, muscle damage, and muscle soreness following bouts of exercise. It also accelerates exercise recovery.
  4. Improved sleep: Tart cherries are a natural source of melatonin, a hormone that helps regulate the sleep-wake cycle. Tart cherry juice may also increase the availability of tryptophan, an essential amino acid and a precursor to serotonin, which helps with sleep. According to studies, consuming tart cherry juice twice a day for two weeks helps increase sleep time by about 84 minutes among older adults with insomnia compared to the placebo. Their sleep tended to be more restful, too.

The following are potential benefits of tart cherries that need further support outside of the laboratory.

  1. On cardiovascular disease risk: Tart cherries may reduce cardiovascular disease risk due to its strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Animal studies have shown a reduction in unhealthy triglyceride levels, but more research in humans is needed. 
  2. Possible anti-cancer properties: The antioxidant compounds found in tart cherries have been shown to reduce cancer growth and proliferation in cell cultures in laboratory studies. This has been demonstrated in human colon cancer cell lines, but more research is needed to establish effectiveness in humans outside of the lab.  
  3. On diabetes: Studies in animals have shown that cherries lower body weight and abdominal fat, which is the type of fat linked with increased heart disease risk, metabolic syndrome, and type 2 diabetes. For now, we are waiting for the outcomes in human studies.


    Cherries are a seasonal product, available in June and July, but in order to get all the benefits from tart cherries year round, you can purchase cherry juice and dried cherries, which have similar properties to fresh cherries. When purchasing tart cherry juice, aim for 100% juice and avoid juice from concentrate. Frozen cherries’ antioxidant content is somewhat lower than that of fresh cherries; canned cherries’ antioxidant content is lower still, but remains significant.

SOURCE: https://ackermancancercenter.com/blog/7-health-benefits-of-antioxidant-rich-tart-cherries

The recipe of the week is a delicious way to get your daily quota of antioxidants by the end of breakfast. Enjoy!

Cherry Smoothie

Ingredients

  • 1 cup Montmorency tart cherries
  • 1/2 cup Montmorency tart cherry juice (100% juice)
  • 1 cup fresh or partially frozen strawberries
  • 3 Tbsp. orange juice concentrate
  • 1/2 cup plain, non-fat Greek yogurt (or vanilla nonfat Greek yogurt)
  • 2 Tbsp. honey
  • Ground nutmeg, to taste

Directions

  1. Combine all ingredients, except nutmeg, in a blender and whip until smooth.
  2. Pour into glasses and sprinkle with nutmeg.
Read more

Learn More About Natural Medicine!

A Step-By-Step Approach to Healing & Preventing Cancer

 

Chris Wark’s Square One Healing Cancer Coaching Program is a wonderful resource! The course is inspiring, incredibly well put together, and covers everything you need to know about choosing a natural healing path to battle cancer. The modules are educational and full of hope!

 

 

The first Coaching Module goes went LIVE on September 12th!
Read more

Try this Healthy Citrus Green Smoothie!

Looking for a new addition to your smoothie recipe collection?

Citrus Green Smoothie

Yields 4 cups

  • 1 peeled lemon

  • 1 peeled orange

  • 3 cups dino kale/rainbow chard

  • 1 frozen banana

  • 2 cups water

  • Pinch of Stevia

  • Half a cucumber

  • Handful of cilantro

  • Chunk of peeled ginger

Blend and enjoy!

Read more

Apple “Cookies”, A Healthy Seasonal Treat

These seasonal treats are a great snack for healthy, delicious eating! Try them with your favorite apples for tasty variations.
Ingredients: 
Crisp apples
Organic, all natural nut-butter of your choice
Raisins
Shredded coconut
Dark chocolate pieces
Directions:
1) Cut the apples into thin slices
2) Smear nut-butter onto each apple slice
3) Sprinkle with raisins, coconut shreds, and dark chocolate, and enjoy!
*Recipe adapted from Fit2Order Maryland 

Learn more about nutritional therapy: www.believebig.org/nutrition-therapy/

Read more

Integrative Medicine Meeting in Germany

In September we had the opportunity to travel to Stuttgart, Germany to attend the Integrated Medicine Meeting. The Integrated Medicine Meeting was a gathering of over 250 professionals hosted at the headquarters of Helixor, a producer of Mistletoe. Our team met with experts in the fields of integrated medicine from all over the world to learn of new research and case studies in oncology. We toured the Helixor mistletoe extract production facility and learned how the plant is harvested, stored, and how the extract obtained from the plant. Our team toured the Helixor arboretum and learned about each specific species of mistletoe and the growth and maturation process. We also participated in a poster session and presented on the upcoming Mistletoe Clinical Trial at the Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Read more

Thank You Friends!!

Dear Friends,

Thank you for coming to our first Cook & Kiss Cancer Goodbye Fundraiser!  Because of you, we raised $20,000 and nearly met our goal of $25,000!  We are so very grateful for your support!  We work with patients each day that depend on the financial assistance we offer and the support of our patient advocates and staff.

The night of the cooking class we received this email and wanted to share it with you.

“From the bottom of our hearts, my husband and I would like to thank you for your graciousness and guidance toward the Namaste Health Center. As I wind down my last week here (and although very tired but satisfied and grateful) I realize how very different my life would be had I not found Believe Big and this path. God is so good and I’ve learned a lot about healing in many areas. Thank you so much for the grant you have given us. Your work is blessed and we will continue to pray for Believe Big’s endeavors moving forward.”

As Jimmy shared, generous donors like you enable Believe Big to do BIG things!  Currently, we are very low on wellness grant funds and we are $68,000 away from fully funding the mistletoe clinical trial with the Johns Hopkins Hospital that is due to begin THIS December!  Both of these are critical needs for us to continue to provide hope, help, and healing to patients and their families.

We are standing at a ground breaking moment in the medical world and it’s exciting to see this all beginning in Baltimore.  As we approach the end of the year and the holiday season, please keep Believe Big in mind for your end of year giving!

Believing Big!
Ivelisse

PS- If you would like to view all photos from the evening please check out our photo album HERE.

Read more

SNEAK PEAK at what we’ll make! Join us at the Cook & Kiss Cancer Goodbye fundraiser dinner.

COok & Kiss Cancer Goodbye
Here is a sneak peak at recipes that you will get to try: Seared Halibut with a Fuji Apple and Watermelon Relish, Saffron Risotto mini tower with a delicious lime zest glaze, boneless Jerk Chicken thighs topped with crispy plantains, and more!  Yum!
You will have an incredible evening learning from one of the top chefs in the country AND allproceeds from the event will give patients and their families access to life-saving treatments and free resources. It’s a win-win!
Reserve Your Seat Today!
September 29, 2016
  6:00 PM – 9:00 PM
The Home of Frank & Gayle Kelly
Lutherville, MD
Read more
Archives