Health and Nutrition*

You know what annoys me more than probably anything else? People that gripe about this and that diet not working, yet they don't exercise and they continually pile in processed foods. Ever look at the ingredients of SlimFast or Weight Watchers? Yeah, it's much easier to point the finger at fats and sugars. However, fat and sugar is necessary in some form or another, chemicals certainly are not!

I firmly believe that the single most effective diet anyone could embark on is one that is void of processed foods, plain and simple. I realize this is difficult. Thus, the goal of this page is to simplify the task of treating your body kindly. A simple, and pretty effective, rule of thumb that I try to follow is, "if you can't pronounce something in the ingredients, don't eat it."

Things to Avoid (in my non-medical opinion):

 Anything with Partially Hydrogenated ingredients.
 Pesticides, i.e. buy Organic! (I need to follow my own advice on this one.)
 Fat Free packaged foods. Many fat free items are simply modified forms of fat with researchers unsure how this will affect the body. You're better off eating the fat, generally.
 Excessive Dairy. Even if you do not have allergic reactions to dairy, chances are your body would be better off without it. Ever wonder why we are told that human milk is so healthy for babies, yet we drink cow's milk as we get older?
 "Just One Calorie!" type of foods. Calories equal Energy. Eat too little and your metabolism slows down. Exercise more and burn off any surplus.
 Processed Foods! I can't stress this enough. Processed foods tend to have little or no nutritional value. Don't be fooled by the "healthy" labels or the vitamin content. Not all vitamins are created equal; get them from natural foods or quality brand supplements. Why bleach flower, then enrich it? Makes no sense to me.
 Alcohol and cigarettes. Although I don't believe in limiting calories, I am opposed to calories with no health benefit. Thus, alcohol (with the possible exception of red wine) is out. I also dislike it for responsibility reasons, but that does not belong on this page. As far as cigarettes, I would be quite happy if I never smelled another one again!

General Health

Beyond the food we eat and the water we drink, it is scary to think the degree to which we face toxins on a regular basis. Granted, it does no good to live life in fear of pollutants, but by being aware of the dangers you can definitely reduce the damage to your health. This can be as simple as filtering your water (I quite like the PUR Ultimate) or checking for allergies.

 Our Stolen Future - Alarming evidence that chemicals are quietly threatening reproduction. Interested enough to buy the book? Go here to do so.
 Healing Back Pain - A very good peronal account of John E. Sarno's revolutionary methods of curing chronic pain, including back pain. I've also made use of Sarno's methods many times with great success. I was rather skeptical at first, but trust me, it works! Do yourself a huge favor and buy this book: Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection. Or check out his more recent book, The Mind Body Prescription: Healing the Body, Healing the Pain.
 HugNet - Learn how toxic dental materials such as mercury are causing health problems.
 Eat sweets, live longer - Studies show that chocolate consumption (within limits, of course) can actually raise your life expectancy!
 Food and Health Communications - Numerous resources for healthy living, as well as links to a variety of food and nutrition sites.
 MetaMetrix Medical Laboratory - Food Allergy Testing and nutrition resource. Food allergies can manifest themselves as any variety of problems throughout the body, making them hard to track down without testing.

Food Allergies & Healthy Food

Having recently been diagnosed as allergic to wheat (gluten), dairy, egg, and several other minor players, I appreciate the availability of alternate foods. I imagine others do, as well. Here's a list I've begun putting together of some good resources.

 Alpineaire Foods - Freeze-dried foods for camping with complete ingredient list available.
 Celestial Harvest - Extensive Product listing.
 Ener-G Foods - Quality Foods for Special Diets. Definitely check here for health food products! Many offerings such as Egg Replacer.
 Galaxy Foods - Nature's Dairy Alternatives. See SOYCO FOODS below.
 Imagine Foods - Makers of Rice/Soy desserts, drinks, and other products.
 Mori-Nu - Making naturally low-fat tofu products palatable (excellent non-dairy pudding), practical (year-long shelf life for sealed tofu packages), and affordable. Stock up now!
 Newman's Own - Paul Newman offers up great ingredients, great taste, and a great cause.
 Newman's Own Organics - It doesn't get any better than organic.
 Pacific Foods - Makers of Rice/Soy drinks and other products.
 SOYCO FOODS - Finally, a company offering dairy free soy cheese with no milk products (casein), as well as many other products. A division of Galaxy Foods.
 The Healthy Gourmet - Vegan, Gluten Free, Dairy Free, nutritional bars made with organic ingredients -- impressively tasty, especially the Raisin & Spice.

Gluten Free (GF)

 Gluten Free Recipes - A nice list of recipes.
 Liv-N-Well - Lots of GF cookbooks and products/ingredients available.
 The Kitchen Link - More GF recipes, including Pizza Crust!!! Also has cookbooks, coupons, and more.
 AKiN's Natural Foods Market - Very nicely laid out GF shopping site.

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*Please note: All exercise, training, health, and nutritional information on this page and throughout Run-Down should be treated as educational in nature. Unless explicitly stated as otherwise, all advice contained within Run-Down's pages is non-medical opinion. Please consult a doctor before embarking on any exercise or training regimen. Run-Down and Dan Kaplan do not assume responsibility for any physical harm that may be caused as a result of advice given on these pages.