Naturopathic Doctor, Mana Morstein, says that “Gastrointestinal problems are a huge source of regular misery for millions of patients–for example, more than 60 million Americans experience heartburn once a month, and 15 million have daily problems with it. More than 1 million people in the US suffer from inflammatory bowel disease. While the digestive system is a miraculous set of organs which enable us to digest and absorb food it can become unhealthy in many different ways.”

An enzyme is usually a protein molecule that is a biological catalyst. First, enzymes create a safe and favorable environment for the substrate (the reactant that is being used) thus, allowing the breaking down of the substrate to occur with lower energy input. Secondly, enzymes work with one and only one substrate. This makes it substrate-specific. Think of it as an assembly line; one person on an assembly line building cars may put the breaks on the car while another person may install the steering wheel. Though both work on a car, they perform different tasks that are in no way interchangeable. Without these enzymes working, our bodies would be in terrible disarray!

According to Dr. Edward Howell, we are given a limited supply of enzymes at birth. It is our job to give our body as many live enzymes as possible, in order to replenish our body’s enzyme supply. When we are born, most of us are like a brand-new car battery… fully charged and ready to go. The automobile has an alternator that puts energy back into the battery to extend the life of the battery. Enzymes are the human body’s alternator.

Unfortunately, cooking foods at virtually all standard cooking temperatures denatures enzymes, destroying their functionality. An enzyme is simply a biological catalyst; it speeds up the rates of reaction for a specific chemical reaction in a cell. It does this by attaching a substrate (molecule it acts upon) into its highly specific active site. In this active site, certain environmental factors such as high temperature will significantly lower activation energy of the reaction, this will therefore speed up the reaction. All enzymes are deactivated at a wet-heat temperature 118 degrees Fahrenheit and a dry-heat temperature of about 150- degrees.

The worst offenders of all, whether heated or not, are processed foods which have been refined (such as white flour and white rice), or pasteurized (a process in which milk is flash-heated to high temperatures to kill bacteria), or homogenized (also seen in milk where the fat in milk is subjected to artificial suspension), or preserved (chemicals are added to food to delay spoilage or to enhance texture or taste).

So nutritional experts encourage people to consume at least 50% of your food  uncooked. A good vegetable juicing program will easily put you over that volume.  If you do cook your food, the best way to cook food is to lightly steam. Also fermentation, soaking, and sprouting are great way to obtain enzymes. The Eskimo diet, for example is comprised of a large portion of raw fish that has been allowed to ‘autolate” or “predigest, “ that is, become putrefied or semi rancid; to this predigested food they ascribe their stamina. Ethnic groups that consume large amounts of cooked meat usually include fermented vegetables or condiments, such as sauerkraut and pickled carrots, cucumbers, beets and kimchi with their meals. Cultured soybean products such as natto, miso and tempe, are other good source sof food enzymes if these foods are eaten unheated.

Other examples are:

Essene bread (a sprouted grain bread baked at a low temperature)
Raw honey
Naturally fermented salsa
Kefir
Kombucha
Raw bean and seed sprouts, added to salads or eaten as a snack
Sprouted flour crackers (dried, not baked)
Raw granola

Sprouted seeds, nuts and beans added to a salad

A high dietary intake of enzymes may play a role in the prevention and/or treatment of the following health conditions:

• Maldigestion and malabsorption
• Pancreatic insufficiency
• Steatorrhea (diarrhea due to fat malabsorption)
• Celiac disease
• Lactose intolerance
• Thrombotic disease
• Acute sinusitis
• Post-operative recovery
• Sports injuries
• Adverse food reactions

Please give your body live food enzymes or live digestive enzymes to help conserve and replenish your body’s enzyme supply.

We are exposed to toxins in the environment all day, 24/7, stress, sunlight, pesticides, pollution, medications, food additives and more. These create free radicals which are chemically active atoms or molecular fragments that have a charge due to an excess or deficient number of electrons. When free radicals are produced, oxidative stress occurs. The simple examples of oxidative stress are oils becomeing rancid, peeled apples turning brown, and iron rusting. You can tell from these examples that oxidative stress is like aging, not vibrant, dying. So, the same thing is happening to your body when you are exposed to environmental toxins.  It weakens your healthy cells. In effect, your body loses its defense against diseases and becomes more vulnerable to damage.  One of the most serious diseases caused by free radicals is Cancer.  Free radials attacks the cells and eventually damage the DNA. The cell becomes a cancer cell and begins many forms of cancer. Therefore, we really need to protect ourselves from oxidative stress (oxidation).

Date: Saturday, February 11 2012

Time: 10:00 AM

Cost $10

Place: New Body Boot Camp & Wellness

552 Union Street (at 3^rd Avenue)

Brooklyn, NY 11215

]]> http://kaorukashima.com/2012/02/03/antioxidant-reset-workshop-protect-yourself-from-oxidation/feed/ 0 krlllc nuskin-dr-oz1 http://kaorukashima.com/2012/01/22/why-do-i-need-medication/ http://kaorukashima.com/2012/01/22/why-do-i-need-medication/#comments Mon, 23 Jan 2012 01:26:10 +0000 Kaoru Kashima http://krlllc.wordpress.com/?p=355 ]]> Here is a shocking story I would like to share with you. A good friend of mine was trying to find a psychologist to have some therapy sessions with. He called every single doctor in his insurance’s network to setup an appointment but couldn’t get one. Do you know why? Every single doctor’s office he called asked him if he is willing take a medication. He is calling PSYCHOLOGISTS, not PSYCHIATRISTS! Psychologists don’t write prescriptions but somehow they work with psychiatrists. My friend isn’t interested in taking medication so he said “NO”. The doctor’s office response was either, “Ok, our next available appointment is sometime about a year and half from now” or “Sorry, we don’t take a patient who doesn’t take medication.” CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT??? Psychologists are not medically trained and not allowed to prescribe medications (except New Mexico and Louisiana – Hopefully will never happen in NY or anywhere on the East Coast!). According to PsychCentral website, “By switching to a heavily prescription-based practice, a psychologist will be able to nearly double their salary”. Can you imagine any other field where you can double your salary with an additional 2 years’ worth of training?” So, it is all about money… Even though there is NO quantitative evidence that medication works (it doesn’t show in your blood test or Xray!), those psychologists want to give medication because it is quick and makes more money. How sad it is!!!  I wonder why they decided to become psychologists in the first place…

However, a recent study has found that nearly all plastic, even that which claims to be BPA-free releases chemicals that have estrogenic activity (EA) and cause hormone disruption.  They tested nearly 500 products which are almost all commercially available plastic products. The study also found that “in some cases, BPA-free products released chemicals having more EA than BPA-containing products.” They noted that “Chemicals having EA reportedly cause many adverse health effects, especially at low (picomolar to nanomolar) doses in fetal and juvenile mammals.”

We use a lot of plastics for food storage and take-out meals, even cooking for some people… The study states that molecules from plastic and additives used to make plastic leach into food at an accelerated rate when the plastic is exposed to common stress like the UC radiation from sunlight, microwave radiation, and boiling or dishwashing. This leaching even happens in the BPA-free plastics. Most of plastic products are made of undisclosed combinations of compounds and resins. Baby bottle, for example, may contain 5-30 different chemicals! And these chemicals can leach into food from the product when it’s stressed. So, we are eating those chemicals when you heat up food with plastic containers!!! Scary… When I think about a baby drinking warmed up milk with plastic bottle, I imagine the baby is toxicaing! The scientists in the study believe that public health practice shouldn’t ignore these findings.

Fortunately, the industry does have access to additives that have no detectable EA and have similar costs. They are antioxidants, clarifiers, colorants, inks, etc. They can be used to make flexible non-transparent or LDPE (#4) plastic items that are EA-free even after exposure to the stressors. But, we don’t know when plastic manufacturers will start changing their formulas. So, we need to think what WE can do now. We can choose to use glass, metal, wood, paper and fabrics instead of plastics for food.  Here is one company that sells great non-plastic products.

I hope this type of products become our social trend and eliminate plastics as much as possible!

Thank you for a great year of 2011, and I am happily looking forward to the process of growing with you in 2012.

Unhealthy bowel movements are an indication of unhealthy digestion. As they say, “You are what you eat”, but you are also what you don’t digest.

First, we definitely should know what healthy poop is

• Soft, but formed
• Medium-light brown in color
• Consistent shape and color throughout
• Easy to pass
• Natural smell, not repulsive
• 12 inches per day (whether in one big 12-inch poop, two 6-inch poops or three 4-inch poops) 2 to 3 the size of a small banana is perfect!!!
• Floating is the best (but if you are not vegan, you might not see one)

(Type 4 is the ideal one)

How long the transit time takes?

Normally, digested food should move through the colon in approximately 18 hours, from start to finish. However, Dr. Oz says,  “A steak dinner can take you two, maybe three days to get out of your intestine. What that means is the way you digest it is basically to rot it in your intestines. On the other hand, if you eat vegetables and fruits, they’re out of your system in less than 12 hours.”

To check your bowel transit time, a Certified Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Counselor, Alison Anton gives you a tip. “Drink 8 ounces of beet juice or take 2 tablespoons of sesame seeds. Note the time, and check your poops consistently for the next day or two. You should be able to see a reddish hue if you drank the beet juice, or see the little seeds. If you see the evidence well before 18 hours, your transit time may be too quick. If two days have passed before seeing any evidence, you transit time may be too long.”

Also, you need to make sure your BM is consistent.                               Naturopathic Doctor, Sorai Susanne S. Stuart, PhD ND says,  “It may be said that almost every chronic disease known is directly or indirectly due to the influence of bacterial poisons absorbed from the intestines. The colon is a sewage system, your personal garbage disposal, by neglect and abuse it transforms into a cesspool. When it is clean and normal we feel healthy and balanced; allow it to stagnate, and it will distill the poisons of decay, fermentation and purification into the blood thus poisoning the brain and nervous system so that one becomes mentally depressed and irritable; it will poison the heart so that one is weak and listless; poisons the lungs so that the breath is foul; poisons the digestive organs so that one is distressed and bloated; and poisons the blood so that the skin is sallow and unhealthy. In short, every organ of the body becomes poisoned, we age prematurely, look and feel old, joints are stiff and painful; neuritis, dull eyes and a sluggish brain overtakes one’s health, thus the pleasure of living and thoroughly enjoying life is gone.”

A distended abdomen is a definite sign of a more serious large intestinal problem. Obvious symptoms are halitosis, foul-smelling stools, acne, skin rashes and irritations, lower back pain, knee pains, flatulence (gas), diarrhea, headaches, sinus infections, excess mucus, constipation, fatigue, painful joints, insomnia, bladder infections, prostate discomfort, depression, mood swings, low-sex
drive, abdominal bloat, nausea, and anxiety. Autointoxication plays a large role in the development of diseases in the female genito-urinary apparatus; this may be regarded as intestinal stasis. Potential misdiagnosed gallbladder ailments are possibly severe blockages within the large intestinal hepatic flexure. Stuart who specialized in colonics says many symptoms or problems are reduced or possibly eliminated once intestines are cleaned.

So, as I said in the beginning, you can’t ignore unhealthy digestion. Please check your poop every time you have and exam that:

• If Your Stool Looks BLACK, TARRY, AND STICKY It Could Mean:
  Bleeding in your upper digestive tract. The black color comes from digested blood cells.
• If Your Stool Looks VERY DARK BROWN It Could Mean:
  You drank red wine last night or have too much salt or not enough vegetables in your diet.
• If Your Stool Looks GLOWING RED OR MAGENTA It Could Mean:
  You’ve eaten a lot of reddish foods such as beets.
• If Your Stool Looks LIGHT GREEN It Could Mean:
  You’re consuming too much sugar, or too many fruits and vegetables with not enough grains or salt.
• If Your Stool Looks PALE OR CLAY-COLORED It Could Mean:
  Minimal amounts of bile are being excreted, perhaps because of problems with the gallbladder or liver.
• If Your Stool Looks BLOODY OR MUCUS-COVERED It Could Mean:
  Hemorrhoids, an overgrowth of certain bacteria in your gastrointestinal tract, colitis (inflammation of the colon), Crohn’s disease (also known as inflammatory bowel disease), or colon cancer. Red blood usually means the ailment is located near the end of your digestive tract, whereas black blood signals partially digested blood coming from an ailment higher up the tract. Seek medical advice promptly.
• If Your Stool Looks PENCIL-THIN AND RIBBON-LIKE It Could Mean:
  A polyp or growth in your colon that narrows the passage for stool. Or spastic colon. It can also be from a prolapse at either side of the transverse colon constricting the colon and lack of fiber.
• If Your Stool Looks LARGE AND FLOATING, WITH GREASY FILM ON TOILET WATER It Could Mean:
  Malabsorption — your digestive system isn’t getting full nutritional use of food.
• If Your Stool Looks LOOSE AND WATERY, SOMETIMES DIARRHEA WITH UNDIGESTED FOODSTUFFS It Could Mean:
  Possible causes are food poisoning, lactose intolerance, antibiotics, antacids, dietary intolerance, dietary changes, travel, anxiety, stress, inflammatory bowel disease, or irritable bowel syndrome.
• If Your Stool Looks SMALL, HARD, ROUND PELLETS It Could Mean:
  Constipation-even if you’re defecating frequently. Possible causes are eating too much dry food, including protein, and not enough vegetables and raw foods; laxative abuse; worries; or irritable bowel syndrome.
• If Your Stool (Has) ALTERNATING BOUTS OF DIARRHEA & CONSTIPATION It Could Mean:
  Irritable bowel syndrome. This chronic condition can be aggravated by red meat, spices, sugar, alcohol, LACK of fiber, allergy-causing foods, irregular hours, and chaotic relationships.
• If Your Stool (Is) REALLY BAD SMELLING It Could Mean:
  An imbalance of intestinal bacteria or eating too much animal protein, which can putrefy in your digestive tract.

If your stool-watching isn’t winning any awards, you might want to try a Colon Cleanse before joining the ISWA (International Stool-Watchers Association

Have you guys heard or read about The New York Times article, “Bad Food? Tax It and Subsidize Vegetables”? It was in the July 24 Sunday paper. The article is about an idea that the writher, Mark Bittman came up with.  The idea is to link taxes on unhealthy “hyper processed” foods like soda, French fries, and doughnuts, directly to healthy food subsidies — i.e. one pays for the other. Isn’t it a great idea?? Bittman analyzed that a 20 % increase in the price of sugary drinks nationally, could result in about a 20% decrease in consumption, which in the next decade could prevent about 1,500,000 Americans from becoming obese, and 400,000 cases of diabetes, which would save about $30 billion!

Last year, Mayor Bloomberg tried to push the Soda Tax (it wasn’t a perfect package but it was a great start) but couldn’t make it. There are many corporations who do not want to lose their market share from the soda tax. They are only concerned with their own profit. Everything is about them, not us. The concept of protecting large corporations and/or top executives should end soon. Please think globally, as a whole. I am hoping  that the “Bad Food Tax” will become reality in the near future!

Infertility is big business. According to data released in 2008 by Marketdata, an independent market research publisher, the “Baby Business” is worth $4 billion.

Many women (including me) have delayed childbirth to pursue careers and are in need of assisted reproductive technology (ART) procedures such as IVF to get pregnant. However, it is not easy to afford. Each IVF cycle can cost around $12,000 and many women require several cycles in order to be successful. Since only 14 states mandate insurance coverage (2008 report), this is paid out of pocket…” according to Research Director, John LaRosa. I went to see 4 different doctors and 3 out of 4 insisted on IVF without asking my lifestyles and/or diet. The last doctor was a Holistic gynecologist, so she did a lot of blood test on me. Very fortunately, I got pregnant without any treatment.

In December 2007, Newsweek issued an article “Fat, Carbs and the Science of Conception” which  referred to a book, “The Fertility Diet” by Jorge Chavarro MD, Walter Willett MD, and Patrick Skettett. It talked about the importance of eating slow carbs, plant based protein, and full fat dairy instead of low or nonfat one. I totally believe that diet, and eating habits contributes to your fertility.

Moreover, last week, a joint American and Spanish study reported that junk food can make healthy men infertile by damaging their sperm. All the men were assessed to ensure they were in optimum shape and had no other problems that may affect their reproductive system. The sperm of men with poor diets were found to be less likely to survive the journey to fertilize an egg, even if the men were a healthy weight and exercised.

So those men who were tested were not obese (the Newsweek article mentioned that some studies indicate that overweight men aren’t as fertile as their healthy weight counterparts). Even though you are in shape, as long as you are eating “Junk Food”, the success rate is low. I’ve heard often that men don’t want to do sperm test and believe that their partner has the problem. If you are trying to have a baby, the first thing you might need to look into may not be those famous IVF doctors, but your diet.

Cacao is now treated as one of the very healthy food items. It is high in polyphenol and iron. In fact, pure cocoa powder without any cocoa fat, milk, or sugar, provides the most iron with 36mg in a 100g serving, or 200% of the RDA. That is 1.8mg of iron per tablespoon of cocao powder, or 10% of the RDA. Unsweetened baking chocolate provides 17.4mg per 100g (97% RDA), or 23mg (128% RDA) per grated cup. Most sweetened milk chocolates will provide around 2.4mg per 100g (13% RDA), or 1mg (6% RDA) of iron in an average 1.5 ounce bar.

However, Katherine Zeratsky, R.D., L.D. wrote an article on the Mayo Clinic website saying that, “Chocolate contains oxalate — a naturally occurring compound in cocoa beans — which can inhibit the absorption of calcium. Calcium binds to oxalate in your intestines, limiting its absorption into your bloodstream. People with oxalate kidney stones, which could occur when there is too much oxalate in the urine, should limit the amount of oxalate in their diets.

A 2008 study found that elderly women who ate one or more servings of chocolate a day had lower bone density and strength than did women who ate fewer servings of chocolate. Researchers believe this may be due to oxalate inhibiting calcium absorption — but it could also be due to the chocolate’s sugar content, which may increase calcium excretion.”

Oxalates are also found in spinach, kale, beets, nuts, chocolate, tea, wheat bran, rhubarb, strawberries and herbs such as oregano, basil, and parsley. They are inhibitor foods for iron absorption too. The presence of oxalates in spinach explains why the iron in spinach is not absorbed. In fact, it is reported that the iron from spinach that does get absorbed is probably from the minute particles of sand or dirt clinging to the plant rather than the iron contained in the plant.

The polyphenol in cacao is also a major inhibitor of iron absorption. The Iron Disorder Institution says on their website: “Polyphenols are major inhibitors of iron absorption. Polyphenols or phenolic compounds include chlorogenic acid found in cocoa, coffee and some herbs. Phenolic acid found in apples, peppermint and some herbal teas, and tannins found in black teas, coffee, cocoa, spices, walnuts, fruits such as apples, blackberries, raspberries and blueberries all have the ability to inhibit iron absorption. Of the polyphenols, Swedish cocoa and certain teas demonstrate the most powerful iron absorption inhibiting capabilities, in some cases up to 90%. Coffee is high in tannin and chlorogenic acid; one cup of certain types of coffee can inhibit iron absorption by as much as 60%.   These foods or substance should not be consumed within two hours prior to and following your main iron-rich meal”

So, you can indulge yourself with Chocolate but think about the timing and quantity. Select high quality organic one if you want.

The favorite phrase in Japan for autumn is”minori no aki”, meaning ‘the season of harvest’, andAindeed it is!  It is the season tables are laden with a wide variety of delicious things to eat, when rice matures and is harvested, fruit ripens, and fish taste their best. Autumn, the season of harvest that yields the rich variety of nature’s abundance, is indeed the shokuyoku no aki, a season of hearty appetites.  The autumn food from Japan that I miss most is fish, especially sanma (saury). Sanma is a long slender fishshaped like a short sword.  The characters used to write the name are: (literally, ” autumn sword fish “)  Between October and November, sanma put on fat, rising from 8 to 20 percent, making it more attractive to diners. Sanma is usually eaten salt-grilled and eaten with grated daikon and shoyu as condiments. I only see Sanma at the Japanese Grocery Store and is imported from Japan. It seems that Sanma is only found in the Pacific Ocean… (Please correct me if I am wrong!)

Anyway, when you buy fish, make sure you know what you re getting. Asking a few questions can help ensure you get the fish you want.

1. Where does this fish come from? – local is better
2. Has it been previously frozen? – frozen is OK as long as it is frozen on the boat.
3. Was the fish farmed or caught in the wild? – Always Wild
4. Is the coloring of the fish natural? – Of course non-coloring
5. Can I freeze this fish? – better not to