Bringing Naturopathic Medicine to your Door

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has done studies indicating that indoor air pollution is more of an issue than many of us think. We all know and understand that there are pollutants outside, but we often forget about all the indoor pollutants. The indoor pollution comes primarily from volatile organic chemicals (VOC) like formaldehyde that are present in building materials such as carpeting, paneling, cabinets, fabrics, etc. We can reduce the amount of indoor pollution with proper air filtration by an electronic air filter, by certain plants, or both.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has spent two decades researching plants that remove toxic chemicals from the air for use in space stations. The following five plants have been found to be particularly effective in clearing the air of formaldehyde, benzene, and trichloroethylene.

Plants Effective at Clearing the Air of Volatile Organic Chemicals:
• Mass cane (Dracaena massangeana)
• Pot mum (Chrysanthemum morifolium)
• Gerbera daisy (Gerbera jamesonii)
• Warnecki (Dracaena deremensis "Warneckei")

• Ficus (Ficus benjamina)

Other plants that are effective at general air purification are as follows:
• English ivy (Hedera helix)
• Marginata (Dracaena marginata)
• Mother-in-laws tongue (Sansevieria laurentii)
• Peace lily (Spathiphyllum "Mauna Loa")
• Chinese Evergreen (Algona "silver queen")
• Banana (Musa oriana)
• Bamboo palm (Chamaedorea seifrizii)
• Heart leaf philodendron (Philodendron oxycardium)
• Green spider plant (Chlorophytum elatum)

• Janet Craig (Dracaena deremensis)

Please know that not all plants are created equal. Some of these plants are poisonous when eaten, so please give special consideration to placement of these plants in your household.

Anita M. Larrow, ND

Nutrition is a foundation of naturopathic medicine. The food we put into our bodies either supports or hinders life processes. The more processed, refined and chemical filled the food the more damage it does to the body. Whole foods contain a beautiful balance of macronutrients and micronutrients, which help to fuel the body and support healthy functions.

Below is a wonderful list of guidelines for eating. As a culture, many of us have lost the importance of meal time. I know in the midst of a busy day, I will shove food into myself at lunch time, but do not take the time to allow it to nourish me. And I have seen it become all too common to sit in front of the TV with dinners. We need to remember that as important as the food is to the body, so is the process of eating. Many, if not all of us need to slow down, savor and enjoy the food we are eating.

Look at your own eating habits and see how you can implement these simple nutritional guidelines into your daily life.

• Appreciate the nourishment process.
• Recognize the essentialilty of food and make room for it in your life.
• Take a moment to relax before eating. Let the tension of the day go. Open yourself to receiving nourishment from the food you are eating. Just as you prepare your food, so must you prepare yourself for eating.
• Chew. Eat slowly. Take smaller bites. Put your eating utensil down after taking a bite.
• Choose the freshest, least processed foods.
• Choose seasonal foods which are locally grown. This choice will support your community.
• Recognize the relationship between food and the world around you. Assume responsibility for your environment by choosing organically-grown foods which promote sustainability. Also choose non-packaged products and products with recyclable packaging.
• Make the preponderance of your foods plant foods.
• Choose whole foods, including whole grains and whole grain products.
• Choose fresh, unprocessed vegetables and fruits on a daily basis.
• Balance your food choices. Don't allow your diet to focus too exclusively on a single food or food category.
• Explore the world of cuisine: spices, seasoning, food traditions in other countries rich in understanding and nourishment.

Allow yourself to experience and experiment in the kitchen. Some of the best foods I have had were not recipes found in a cookbook, but were made of a combination of foods, seasoning and love that I had in the kitchen. Get your kids involved with cooking; make it a family time of sharing and laughing.

I wish you all a very safe and Happy 4th of July.

Anita M. Larrow, ND

This weekend we celebrate our fathers, without them we would not be here. They have taught us life lessons from the day we entered the world. I know relationships with our fathers might not have been the best every day, but I would like to honor the father's in all of our lives, biological or not. I have put together the top 6 power foods to maintain health for all the fathers. I have also included a recipe for Salmon Tacos that you can make for your father on Sunday.

1. Pumpkin seeds - contain protein, essential minerals (including iron, zinc, manganese, magnesium, phosphorus, copper and potassium) along with omega 3 and omega 6. The pumpkin seed contains key phyotonutrients for the prostate.
2. Lycopene - found in tomatoes is a powerful antioxidant and is a wonderful food for the prostate.
3. Lean proteins - make sure you are getting organic, grass feed, grass finished meats. Our bodies need 1.2g of protein per kilogram of body weight per day. Lean proteins are a good source of essential amino acids.
4. Dark green leafy veggies - are rich in fiber, vitamins and minerals. Having regular bowel movements help to lower our risk of colon cancer.
5. Omegas - Omega 3 found in cold water fish help with cell membrane fluidity, decrease inflammation, help with brain function, and helps with cardiovascular disease prevention and cancer prevention.
6. Water - our bodies are 70-75% water, water helps clean out toxins, move nutrients into and out of cells and keeps us hydrated. I recommend that you drink ½ your body weight in oz of water per day.

Salmon Taco
Ingredients
- 12 ounce wild salmon fillet, cut into 4 pieces
- Coarse-grained sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 8 corn tortilla

Garnish
- Organic cherry Tomatoes quartered
- Organic purple and green cabbage thinly sliced
- Thinly sliced organic red and green onion
- Chopped organic cilantro leaves
- 2 organic limes quartered
- Shredded organic cheese
- Avocado peeled, halved and sliced

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
Season salmon with salt and pepper. Place salmon, skin side down, on a glass oven-proof dish. Bake until salmon is cooked through, about 12 to 15 minutes.
Allow people to make their own tacos with the salmon and the garnishes.

Happy Father's Day Dad!
Anita M. Larrow, ND

Summer, I hope, is right around the corner which means we will be spending more time outside and in the sun. When it comes to the sun we need to respect it because it can be both beneficial and harmful. I want to give you a few helpful tips that you can use to protect yourself and your family as you increase your time outside.

1. Remember the sun's rays are the strongest between 10am and 3 pm. If you are outside during this time find shade and if there is no shade then apply sunscreen repeatedly.
2. Monitor the amount of time you are out in the sun. Sun burns will not show up until several hours after they have happened. You might not be a lobster now, but later in the day you may show signs.
3. Wear sun glasses as our eyes need protection from the sun. When buying sunglasses style should not be as important as UV protection.
4. Before buying sunscreen check out the Environmental Workers Groups list of safe sunscreens. And do not forget to read the ingredients, look for products that contain zinc, titanium dioxide and avobenzone or mexoryl SX.
5. Use sunscreen creams rather than sprays as you and your children might inhale some of the spray.
6. Do not forget to protect your lips while out in the sun. Apply lip balms that contain UV protection.
7. Keep yourself hydrated by drinking at least half your body weight in ounces of water per day. If your kids are playing sports in the sun make sure you keep them hydrated to help keep their electrolytes in balance.

Now if a sun burn should happen it is important to remember not to put any oil based products on the burn as the oil will cover the burn and not allow it to give off its heat. Rather the heat will be directed back down towards the skin making the burn worse. An easy trick to help take the sting out of a sun burn is to apply white vinegar onto the burn. To help soothe a burn apply 100% aloe vera to it.

I hope you all enjoy a safe and fun Memorial Day weekend out in the sun!

Anita M. Larrow, ND

Since I enjoying working with women, I get to spend time talking with them about their periods. There are countless times when I ask them when their last period was and they do not know, because they don't keep track of it. You HAVE to keep track of your periods, ladies. Our monthly cycle can vary in so many ways from month to month that it is important to track what is happening with you. I recommend that you not only mark the starting date of your period, but also the ending date. Knowing your cycle is very important for understanding your fertility, you status in peri-menopause/menopause transition and the overall health of your body. For younger women knowing when your fertile time is vital if you do not want to or if you do want to get pregnant. It is just as important for peri-menopausal/menopausal women to know how many cycles they have skipped, as you are not considered post menopausal until you have gone an entire month without a period. Once you are considered post menopausal it is still important to bring it to a doctor's attention if you bleed.

I track my periods on Google Calendar, I often recommend that patients find the easiest way for them to track them, either using their "crack-berries", online somewhere, or even an "old fashion" wall calendar. It is vital to write down the beginning and the end of your period, equally important is to write down color, clots, number of tampons/pads you are using along with any discharges you have throughout the month. This information, allows the doctor to better understand your cycle and help with any issues. Ladies please, please start to track your periods, if you already are, make sure you are writing down as much information as you can. We need to know our bodies, so that when things start changing we know what is going on.

Anita M. Larrow, ND

Darya Pino, a health blogger, posted on The Huffington Post on April 8th, 2010 talking about the amount of sugar in common food products. Sugar comes in many different shapes; sugar cane, high fructose sugar, white sugar, artificial sweeteners, honey, fruits and so on. We as American tend to want our foods sweeter and sweeter. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey of 2001 to 2004 found that the average American is enjoying 22.2 teaspoons of sugar per day, while children ages 14-18 have the highest intake of sugar per day at 34.3 teaspoons per day. One thing that I learned while I was in Naturopathic Medical School was that a single teaspoon of sugar can knock your immune system out for 4 hours. This makes me worried that every single American is going around day to day without a fully function immune system. Ms. Pino's blog goes on to list 19 common foods and the amount of sugar in them; I have listed them below for you and she tried to list as close to normal serving sizes as possible.

1. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut .........................................................10 g

2. Luna Bar berry almond ....................................................................................11 g
3. Froot Loops breakfast cereal 3/4 cup ............................................................12 g
4. Ben & Jerry's vanilla ice cream .....................................................................16 g
5. Starbucks caffè latte grande 16 oz ..................................................................17 g
6. Godiva 2 truffles ..............................................................................................17 g
7. Subway 6? sweet onion teriyaki chicken sandwich ......................................17 g
8. Ms. Field's chocolate chip cookie ...................................................................19 g
9. Tropicana 100% orange juice 8 oz ..................................................................25 g
10. Yoplait original yogurt .................................................................................27 g
11. Craisins dried cranberries 1/3 cup ................................................................29 g
12. Vitamin Water 20 oz bottle ............................................................................33 g
13. Oscar Mayer Lunchables crackers, turkey & American cheese ...................36 g
14. Coca-Cola Classic 12 oz can .............................................................................39 g
15. Sprinkles Cupcake red velvet ..........................................................................45 g
16. California Pizza Kitchen Thai chicken salad ...................................................45 g
17. Jamba Juice blackberry bliss 16 oz ................................................................49 g
18. Odwalla SuperFood 450 ml bottle ..................................................................50 g
19. Starbucks caffe vanilla frappuccino grande 16 oz .........................................58 g

Take a good look at the list, this list only includes 19 foods, but consider what you eat on an everyday bases. Sugar has many negative side effects; I thought I would list 19 of them since we just looked at 19 foods with high levels. Negative effects include, but are not limited to:

1. Reduces tissue elasticity and contributes to saggy skin
2. Contributes to breast cancer, rectal cancer, gastric cancer and ovarian cancer
3. Causes premature aging
4. Exacerbates adrenal dysfunction
5. Impairs the structure of DNA
6. Increases blood pressure
7. Increases allergies
8. Increases eczema
9. Contributes to cataracts
10. Increases fluid retention and bloating
11. Causes constipation
12. Causes migraines
13. Contributes to depression symptoms
14. Contributes to Alzheimer's Disease
15. Feeds cancer cells
16. Increases the risk of Low Birth Weight Infants
17. Increases Estrogen in Men
18. Makes PMS worse
19. Increases antisocial behavior in children

As the consumers of these sugary foods it is our job to educate ourselves on better alternatives. Not all foods are created equal. From Ms. Pino's list we see that some of the "healthier" marketed foods have some of the highest amounts of sugar. Consider switching your diet from the processed/packaged food diet to one of a more whole foods rich diet; rich in naturally sweeten fruits and veggies. It can and will take the body a while to realize that foods we no longer consider sweet, such as fruits, are sweet again.

Anita M. Larrow, ND

For further information - Please read Darya Pino Article at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/darya-pino/shocking-sugar-content-of_b_514879.html

For further information on The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey please see the Circulation at http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/reprint/CIRCULATIONAHA.109.192627