Nutritionists often advocate more fruits and vegetables in the average person’s diet. This is good, albeit incomplete advice. It’s kind of like saying, “Walking is a great form of exercise”. However, walking in a lush park is far more advisable than walking alongside a polluted downtown street. Likewise, increased consumption of just any fruits and vegetables won’t necessarily promote better health. Rather, focusing on low-glycemic, nutrient dense produce is a much better strategy. In practical terms, this means opting for leafy green vegetables instead of potatoes and fruits like kiwis instead of bananas.

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There’s a lot more to cardiovascular health than just blindly following your doctor’s instructions about what to eat and what medications to take. In order to receive the highest quality of care, you need to ask informed questions and stay up-to-date on the latest scientific data – just in case your physicians are behind the times. A prime example of this recently made the news. A meta-analysis in the current edition of The Lancet recommends that blood pressure be taken using both arms rather than just one. The reason is explained in the authors’ concluding statement: “A difference in SBP (systolic blood pressure) of 10 mm Hg or more, or of 15 mm Hg or more, between arms might help to identify patients who need further vascular assessment. A difference of 15 mm Hg or more could be a useful indicator of risk of vascular disease and death.”

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Today not only marks the first day of February, but also the beginning of American Heart Month. I can’t think of a better way to address the important topic of cardiovascular health than to present a recent Q&A session with one of the leading figures in exercise and nutrition: Jonny Bowden, PhD, CNS.

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Heavy metal exposure has become an increasingly relevant topic in the modern age. The air we breathe, the food we eat and even the homes we live in are potential contributors to unsafe levels of toxic minerals including cadmium, lead and mercury. Although this is undeniably true, there’s no sense worrying ourselves sick about it. A far more constructive approach is to look for ways to minimize heavy metal exposure, such as the use of air purifiers, safer building materials and water filtration. And, while we’re at it, perhaps we should add a little more garlic to our diets for good measure.

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If you’re a consumer of natural hair and skin care products, you’ve probably noticed more and more creams, lotions and shampoos containing argan oil. And, while this may be a relatively new development in your part of the world, it’s actually old news in select Mediterranean countries such as Algeria and Morocco. There, argan oil has been used therapeutically for more than eight centuries. But, what does modern science have to say about this economically and historically important beauty aid and nutritional oil?

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A recent publication in the American Journal of Cardiology called into question the safety of high dose Vitamin D supplementation. In the paper, researchers from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine investigated a proposed link between Vitamin D levels and an inflammatory protein (CRP) which is considered a risk factor for heart disease. Their conclusions report that levels of D below 21 ng/ml are associated with higher CRP or C-reactive protein. This determination came as no surprise. However, participants with Vitamin D concentrations significantly above 21 ng/ml also demonstrated elevated or undesirable CRP readings. The lead author of the piece, Dr. Muhammad Amer, stated that “Clearly vitamin D is important for your heart health, especially if you have low blood levels of vitamin D. It reduces cardiovascular inflammation and atherosclerosis, and may reduce mortality, but it appears that at some point it can be too much of a good thing.”

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Avoid sugary foods. Cut back on carbohydrates. Skip dessert. If you’re at all interested in weight management and well being, you’ve probably been advised to follow one or all of these adages. But, how you apply this advice is as important as whether you follow it at all. For instance, if you avoid wholesome fruits such as strawberries you’re missing out on important health benefits that are frequently overlooked.

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Chocolate and peanut butter is a classic pairing of savory and sweet. The trouble is that most incarnations of this delectable combination aren’t very good for you. And, while an occasional treat is fine for most, eating such desserts regularly is clearly ill advised. That’s why I made it my mission to create a recipe that will please both your body and palate. Your taste buds will suspect they’re being treated to something naughty, but the rest of you will know you’re having something nice.

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Whether you know it or not, you’ve probably consumed astaxanthin at one point or another in your life. Arctic shrimp and wild salmon are among the most common dietary sources of this crimson colored carotenoid. But, these days you’re also likely to find astaxanthin in everything from multivitamins to sports drinks. In many instances, it’s included as a way of increasing the antioxidant content of functional foods and nutritional supplements. Other times, its primary purpose is to act as natural preservative for delicate fatty acids such as those contained in fish or krill oil.

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Peek inside the Healthy Fellow kitchen pantry and you’ll find an assortment of dried leaves and powders that are intended for brewing or mixing with hot water. And, now that Winter has finally taken hold, I’m putting them to use on a daily basis. But, my pantry selections aren’t just predicated upon preference and taste. I’m also factoring in the latest science about their relative health benefits.

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The “heart health” sections of most health foods stores are flush with supplements containing coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), a naturally occurring compound found in small quantities in fish and organ meats. There’s good justification for this strategic product placement. In fact, the most current studies using CoQ10 in patients with cardiovascular disease have turned up very positive findings. In particular, improvements in endothelial function, oxidative status and physical performance in those with coronary artery disease and chronic heart failure have been noted. But, there’s much more to the CoQ10 story than just that. Because this coenzyme possesses antioxidant properties and the ability to support cellular energy, it also has applications in other areas ranging from aging skin to migraine headaches.

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Back in the 1980′s, my childhood home came equipped with a sauna in the master bedroom. At the time, my parents didn’t consider sauna bathing to be a particularly healthful practice. In their minds, it was more of an elective activity from which some people derived pleasure and/or relaxation. As such, the wood lined sauna in our home was used exclusively as a make shift storage unit. However, over the past few decades a great deal of scientific research has been conducted on the health effects and risks associated with carefully controlled sauna exposure. A specific form, known as Waon Therapy, has recently been the subject of a considerable amount of positive attention.

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A cup of ice cold milk and freshly baked chocolate chip cookies is rarely, if ever, considered a healthy dessert or snack. According to most nutritional authorities, it’s a guilty pleasure at best. The recipe I’ll share with you today defies the conventional view of cookies and milk. If eaten in moderation, it can actually support healthier blood sugar and lipid levels and possibly even discourage obesity – when used in the context of a low carbohydrate diet. Did I mention that it’s also all natural and gluten free?

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Pilates is a gentle, yet demanding, form of body conditioning that promotes flexibility, stamina and strength. Proponents claim that regular practice also supports a more positive mindset. Although it was originally conceived to assist recovery from injury, it has recently become the exercise of choice of many athletes, celebrities and fitness gurus. More importantly, its current popularity has spawned an important collection of scientific data suitable for medical review and scrutiny. For the most part, the new batch of controlled trials demonstrate a broad array of health benefits including: a) an improvement in “functional capacity” in heart failure patients; b) a greater sense of “life satisfaction”, “perception of appreciation by other people”, “perception of physical appearance” and other measures of self esteem in adult women; c) reductions in pain and various physical and psychological symptoms associated with ankylosing spondylitis (joint inflammation in the pelvis and spine) and fibromyalgia; d) recovery of endurance and mental health in patients previously treated for breast cancer and; e) the promotion of “personal autonomy, static balance and quality of life” in elderly women. However, it must be said that Pilates is not a cure-all. A recent meta-analysis in the journal Clinical Rehabilitation reports that Pilates does not offer added benefits over standard care in those living with chronic low back pain. Still and all, the majority of research published during the past few years tends to support many of long held assertions made by Pilates aficionados. In the future, I hope that more investigations using different patient populations, such as men and younger volunteers who practice Pilates as a form of physical fitness, will emerge.

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A presentation given at last week’s national meeting of the American Chemical Society made headlines that you may have heard or read about. The claim made was that eating two daily servings of potatoes can lower blood pressure so that the “undeserved bad reputation” of potatoes ought to be reassessed. To that I say, not so fast. There are several key details that are important to note when considering this research and topic: 1) The variety of potatoes used in the current trial (purple potatoes) contain antioxidant pigments, similar to those found in blueberries and red wine, which may reduce blood pressure in and of themselves.  2) Some research suggests that purple potatoes contain higher potassium content than more popular varieties such as white Idaho potatoes. 3) Diets rich in foods containing potassium are capable of lowering hypertension whether they contain potatoes or not. 4) There are many other ways of managing high blood pressure naturally, such as switching from common table salt to any number of salt alternatives which feature essential minerals including magnesium and potassium. Finally, it’s vital to understand that many wholesome foods contain significant quantities of potassium. While bananas and potatoes are most frequently singled out, you should know that a 5 oz fillet of halibut contains approximately 817 mg of potassium, a cup of spinach offers up 838 mg, and an 8 ounce serving of unsweetened yogurt will provide upwards of 600 mg of this often deficient mineral.

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Black chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa) isn’t exactly a household name. A select group of researchers in Poland are trying to change that and with good reason. At least five studies conducted over the past decade suggest that A. melanocarpa extracts may be the medicine of the future for patients living with metabolic syndrome. Anthocyanins, a class of antioxidants found in black chokeberries, appear to counter various pre-diabetic and pre-heart disease related risk factors associated with metabolic syndrome. A daily dosage of 300 mg of black chokeberry anthocyanins (100 mg / thrice daily) has been shown to: improve circulation, increase antioxidant enzyme levels and reduce numerous cardiovascular and diabetic threats including high blood pressure, fasting glucose, LDL cholesterol and triglycerides. At the moment, the availability of black chokeberry extract is somewhat limited. However, the need to find effective and safe options for metabolic syndrome is growing at a fast clip. This may provide the perfect circumstance to introduce this obscure berry to a wider audience.

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