Archived News of the Week

Sleep, Autism, the Flu, Meditation, Seven Super foods and a Good Healthy Recipe

Sleep: Quantity not Quality: A study on sleep was published in the March 13, 2010 issue of Science News and I found this new study not only interesting but reassuring for those of us that toss and turn most nights in that muddled state of wake-sleep. When I have this occasional night from hell, my mind races, I worry about how I will rally for patients the next day, (Will I be bleary eyed and slack-jawed?) then I take the inevitable journey into the dark places where no one should ever go. One of the dangerous gang members in the bad neighborhood of my mind in the middle of the night is that tattooed and pierced Crip who swaggers up to me and hisses, "If you don't go to sleep I will kill all your brain cells and you will become incontinent and they will put you in a Home and you will sit in your wheel chair all slumped over and die lonely and unloved." You know the scenario?

Well, not to worry. While it is important for the younguns to have undisturbed, quality sleep, it's not so important for the older brains. "Sleep efficiency," as the experts like to call it, automatically changes in older adults (All older people tend to toss and turn or lie awake). I guess sleep efficiency diminishes with every older adult, but what really matters is how many hours we log in on a regular basis, interrupted or not. "Older adults need to get a certain amount of sleep... [and] tuning sleep quantity may help prevent cognitive decline with age." I think between 7 and 8 hours of sleep is reasonable, at least for me, but everyone seems to be different on that count. I, for one, will no longer worry about the occasional night of interrupted sleep and will send that nasty Crip back to East L.A. post haste.

Autism: It seems to me that the Big Pharma folk and its minions are desperately trying to convince us doltish commoners that vaccinations have absolutely nothing-nada-zip to do with the horrifyingly exponential rise in autism spectrum disorders in children. Nicholas Kristof wrote an OpEd piece in the New York Times last Feb 25th entitled Do Toxins Cause Autism? He says vaccinations do not cause ASD, but I say disagreeably, yes, ma'am, they do. "If babies are exposed in the womb or shortly after birth to chemicals that interfere with brain development, the consequences last a lifetime." (Dr. Phillip Landrigan, Professor of Pediatrics at Mt. Sinai/NYC).

Now, this really bothers me. Mom drinks out of her phthalate-laden Nalgene bottle thinking she is getting healthily hydrated but instead, the nasty gene-disrupting chemicals go through the placenta into baby. FYI: The most harmful plastics are those which are marked as 3, 6, and 9. Moreover, Mom still uses toxic cosmetics, fragrances, nail polishes and shampoos and cleans her house with Mr. Clean; then baby gets that ridiculous hep B shot in the hospital when it is hours old; she then goes home all tenderly swaddled and lovely and almost immediately starts down the yellow brick road of repeated vaccinations while her immune system is delicate and new and unable to handle these toxins. "... of the 80,000 chemicals registered in the U.S., the EPA has required safety testing of only 200. Our children have become test subjects." (Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey).

So, yes, I think that vaccinations, for some children, are that proverbial straw in the haystack of toxic chemicals that can create the brain disruption. Then there is all the pre-natal and immediate post-natal toxic exposure, plus the 80,000 chemicals running around the streets, plus mercury, ubiquitous cadmium, lead, tobacco and asbestos added to the toxic stew of our environment. Most of our children - amazingly! - can withstand the repeated vaccinations of toxic substances, but some sensitive children just can't for whatever reason. So, yes - again - my opinion is that vaccinations CAN indeed tip the scales into autism spectrum disorder in certain children, but only because of the toxic environment in which we all exist.

The Flu: How about that dreadful and dangerous H1N1? That was a big bowl of nothing, wasn't it? But we knew that, didn't we? I would like you to keep up the heat preventatively, however. Spring is just around the corner, we just set our clocks up an hour so we have more sunlight now and we (I) tend to think that the worst is behind us, but it really isn't. I am encouraging all of us to keep up the Teflon Mix, astragalus, Immune Tonic, wash your hands a lot and stay out of any and all sneeze radii. We could still come down with a cold or the flu so stay on your toes.

And here are 7 Super Foods to keep you well and youthful to boot: Go shopping today and keep these in your fridge. 1) Whey, with its glutathione which helps your telomeres (aging thingies) stay healthy. 2) Organic eggs: Try to find your nice personal farmer with chickens. 3) Leafy greens for their anti-oxidants. 4) Broccoli and other isothiocyanate veggies (see recipe at end of newsletter). 5) Blueberries. 6) Chlorella, goodness from green and lastly 7) garlic, nature's antibiotic.

Meditation and Health: Many studies report benefits from regular sitting meditation. 1) Patients with heart disease who meditate have an almost 50% lower incidence of heart attack stroke and death. 2) Meditation reduces blood pressure, anxiety, depression and anger and 3) a group of 50 diabetic African-American women had greatly improved HDL and triglyceride numbers compared to a control group of non-meditators who focused only on diet and exercise and didn't meditate. When you start meditating, don't stress out about trying to quiet the chattering monkey mind. Let it do its job of thinking - you can't stop it anyway - and just sit and be quiet. It will all happen.

Your wonderful Isothiocyanate Recipe for the Week
(AKA Brussels sprouts)
Even Brussels sprouts haters like this recipe

Get one of those net bags of Brussels sprouts at Whole foods - about $3.49 last time I bought it. Clean and wash the sprouts, then cut them into rough halves. Put them in your food processor and pulse until shredded.

Saute in EVOO with chopped garlic cloves, then add the shredded Brussels sprouts. You will need a large skillet for this.

When you add the sprouts to the sautéed garlic, also add a splash of agave. (1T?) Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently until the greens are nicely browned.

Then add about 1-1/2 C water and cook over medium heat with the lid off until all the water is evaporated. Your Brussels sprouts should be nice and tender now. Then stir in about 1T of apple cider vinegar. Serve. (Use leftovers in scrambled eggs like I did this morning.)

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