Ingredients:

• 2 ripe avocados
• 1 very ripe banana (this is where the ‘sweet’ comes from, the riper the banana, the sweeter it is)
• 1 t. vanilla extract (optional)
• 2 T. coconut oil or Almond butter

Directions:

1. Dash of salt (also optional, but it ‘brings out’ the chocolate flavor)
2. ½ c. cocoa powder (I used Special Dark cocoa powder, as it is the lowest carb I could find, for a less intense dark chocolate flavor, I would use regular cocoa powder)
3. Place avocados (peeled and seeded, obviously) and banana in a food processor, pulse until smooth.
4. Add vanilla, coconut oil, salt and cocoa, continue processing until the mixture is very thick and smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides once or twice.
5. Spoon into bowls and enjoy.
6. According to the recipe I found, this pudding freezes well and tastes kind of like a fudge cycle when partially defrosted. (I haven’t tried that theory out yet) I do know that the banana flavor intensifies after it has been refrigerated for a day or two. The original recipe called for honey, but I try to stay away from any sweeteners other than fruit, so I subbed the banana, and I liked the combination of the strong chocolate flavor with the subtle banana undertones.

Ingredients:

• 2 ripe avacodos
• 1/2 Cup local honey
• 1/2 Cup cocoa powder
• 2 tsp. vanilla ( optinal)
• 2 TBS coconut oil or Almond butter

Directions:

1. Put all ingredients into a food processor
2. Blend until smooth
3. Chill and fridge and serve

Food allergies are divided into two major categories: immediate and delayed. When immediate food reaction occurs, sufferers experience symptoms within hours of having ingested the foods. Symptoms onset is rapid and may include tingling of the extremities, wheezing, coughing, tingling of the throat, nausea, abdominal cramps and diarrhea. Sometimes in cases where nuts, shellfish, fish and peanuts have been eaten anaphylaxis can occur.
Symptoms of delayed food allergies can take up t 72 hours to appear. This type of immune response is mediated by the IgG antibody, which is the largest circulating antibody in our immune system and can cross the placenta from the mother to the child. IgG antibodies are the most common form of immunologic mediated food responses. It can be difficult to identify the offending food since we eat so many foods that go through different processes and have many ingredients. Unidentified food sensitivities can contribute to many chronic health conditions: including Irritable bowel syndrome, Rheumatoid arthritis, headaches autism, ADD/ADHD, Eczema, Chronic ear infections and sinusitis, Malabsorption, Insomnia and many other. In order to get relief from allergies, early diagnosis and treatments are very important.

CLUES TO GLUTEN SENSITIVITY:

From the Health Journal MArch 14, 21011

Some people claim that eating gluten products can cause health problems like body aches and chronic fatigue — and even some behavioral problems in children. WSJ’s Melinda Beck talks with Kelsey Hubbard about a new study that sheds light on what may be going on.

All three tested negative for celiac disease, a severe intolerance to gluten, a protein found in wheat and other grains. But after their doctors ruled out other causes, all three adults did their own research and cut gluten—and saw the symptoms subside.

A new study in the journal BMC Medicine may shed some light on why. It shows gluten can set off a distinct reaction in the intestines and the immune system, even in people who don’t have celiac disease.

“For the first time, we have scientific evidence that indeed, gluten sensitivity not only exists, but is very different from celiac disease,” says lead author Alessio Fasano, medical director of the University of Maryland’s Center for Celiac Research.

The news will be welcome to people who have suspected a broad range of ailments may be linked to their gluten intake, but have failed to find doctors who agree.

“Patients have been told if it wasn’t celiac disease, it wasn’t anything. It was all in their heads,” says Cynthia Kupper, executive director of the nonprofit Gluten Intolerance Group of North America.

The growing market for gluten-free foods, with sales estimated at $2.6 billion last year, has made it even harder to distinguish a medical insight from a fad.

Although much remains unknown, it is clear that gluten—a staple of human diets for 10,000 years—triggers an immune response like an enemy invader in some modern humans.

The most basic negative response is an allergic reaction to wheat that quickly brings on hives, congestion, nausea or potentially fatal anaphylaxis. Less than 1% of children have the allergy and most outgrow it by age five. A small number of adults have similar symptoms if they exercise shortly after eating wheat.

At the other extreme is celiac disease, which causes the immune system to mistakenly attack the body’s own tissue. Antibodies triggered by gluten flatten the villi, the tiny fingers in the intestines needed to soak up nutrients from food. The initial symptoms are cramping, bloating and diarrhea, similar to irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS, but celiac disease can lead to malnutrition, osteoporosis and other more serious health problems that can result in early death. It can be diagnosed with a blood test, but an intestinal biopsy is needed to be sure.

The incidence of celiac disease is rising sharply—and not just due to greater awareness. Tests comparing old blood samples to recent ones show the rate has increased four-fold in the last 50 years, to at least 1 in 133 Americans. It’s also being diagnosed in people as old as 70 who have eaten gluten safely all their lives.

“People aren’t born with this. Something triggers it and with this dramatic rise in all ages, it must be something pervasive in the environment,” says Joseph A. Murray, a gastroenterologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. One possible culprit: agricultural changes to wheat that have boosted its protein content.

Gluten sensitivity, also known as gluten intolerance, is much more vague.

Some experts think as many as 1 in 20 Americans may have some form of it, but there is no test or defined set of symptoms. The most common are IBS-like stomach problems, headaches, fatigue, numbness and depression, but more than 100 symptoms have been loosely linked to gluten intake, which is why it has been so difficult to study. Peter Green, director of the Celiac Disease Center says that research into gluten sensitivity today is roughly where celiac disease was 30 years ago.

In the new study, researchers compared blood samples and intestinal biopsies from 42 subjects with confirmed celiac disease, 26 with suspected gluten sensitivity and 39 healthy controls. Those with gluten sensitivity didn’t have the flattened villi, or the “leaky” intestinal walls seen in the subjects with celiac disease.

Their immune reactions were different, too. In the gluten-sensitive group, the response came from innate immunity, a primitive system with which the body sets up barriers to repel invaders. The subjects with celiac disease rallied adaptive immunity, a more sophisticated system that develops specific cells to fight foreign bodies.

The findings still need to be replicated. How a reaction to gluten could cause such a wide range of symptoms also remains unproven. Dr. Fasano and other experts speculate that once immune cells are mistakenly primed to attack gluten, they can migrate and spread inflammation, even to the brain.

Indeed, Marios Hadjivassiliou, a neurologist in Sheffield, England, says he found deposits of antibodies to gluten in autopsies and brain scans of some patients with ataxia, a condition of impaired balance.

Could such findings help explain why some parents of autistic children say their symptoms have improved—sometimes dramatically—when gluten was eliminated from their diets? To date, no scientific studies have emerged to back up such reports.

Dr. Fasano hopes to eventually discover a biomarker specifically for gluten sensitivity. In the meantime, he and other experts recommend that anyone who thinks they have it be tested for celiac disease first.

For now, a gluten-free diet is the only treatment recommended for gluten sensitivity, though some may be able to tolerate small amounts, says Ms. Kupper.

“There’s a lot more that needs to be done for people with gluten sensitivity,” she says. “But at least we now recognize that it’s real and that these people aren’t crazy.”

Ingredients:

• 1 large Spaghettti Squash
• 1 roasted garlic
• Salt and pepper to take
• Butter or EVOO for the squash
• 1 large tomato, diced or chopped
• 1/2 cup of chopped fresh basil
• 1/2 tsp. EVOO
• 1/2 tsp. mined garlic

Marinara sauce:

• 2 TBS. EVOO
• 2-3 garlic cloves, sliced and minced
• 1 medium finely chopped onion
• 20 oz. stewed tomatoes
• 1 Cup fresh Italian flat leaf parsley, chopped
• 1/2 Cup fresh basil leaves
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat over to 350F.
2. Cut spaghetti squash in half length-wise.
3. Plcae on baking sheet and bake 25-30 minutes, until tender.
4. Remove from the oven and shred the squash with a fork. It will look like spaghetti.
5. Add some roasted garlic, butter/EVOO and/or salt and pepper to taste.
6. In a separate bowl mix the chopped tomato, fresh basil, EVOO and minced garlic. Mix thoroughly  and add to the cooked squash.
7. In a medium sauce pan heat on high. Add the olive oil, garlic chad onions for the marinara sauce.
8. Cook till soft and then add the remaining ingredients.
9. Stir the sauce occasionally and reduce to a simmer or 10-15 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.
10. Serve over the  spaghetti squash:)

They are a great substitue for your daily burger if you are wanting to eat more fish and less red meat. Try them, I know that you will like them:)

Ingredients:

• 1 (14.75 ounce) can canned salmon
• 1 egg or 2 Tbs ground flax
• 1/4 cup chopped onion (optional)
• 1/2 cup seasoned dry bread crumbs or corn meal
• 1 TBS EVOO

Directions

1. Drain and reserve liquid from salmon.
2. Mix egg/ground flax, onion, bread crumbs/corn meal and salmon together.
3. Make into patties.
4. If mixture is too dry to form into patties, add reserved liquid from salmon.
5. In a frying pan, heat olive oil. Place patties in pan. Brown on each side, turning gently.
6. Gently salt if desired.

Serving options :

• On a bed or fresh or steamed spinach.
• Topped off by 1 over easy egg
• Sliced tomato and lettuce

• 2-3 handfuls organic washed, dried spinach
• 1/2 chopped pear with peel
• 1 chopped apple with peel
• 1/2 c water
• 2 cups ice

Directions:

1. Place spinach, water, pear & apple in a blender or food processor.
2. Blend well 2-3 minutes.
3. Add in ice and blend 3-5 minutes until mixed well.
4. Serve immediately.
5. Makes 2-3 servings.

* can add 4-8 ounces of club soda or mineral water.

OPTIONS: You can add any fruit that you want. I like to substitute 3/4 cup frozen strawberries and mangos for the apple and pear. Anyway you mix it, you can’t go wrong!!!

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. washed dried , deveined kale and torn into pieces.
• 1 1/2 TBS EVOO
• 1-3 TSB Sea salt

Directions:

1. Place kale in a gallon size Baggie
2. Add the EVOO and sea salt
3. Seal bag and shake & mix for 3-5 minutes
4. Place seasoned kale on a baking sheet lined with parchment
5. Bake 10 min then toss and turn. Repeat every 3-5 min till crispy.
6. You may need to remove some of the chips as they get done.
7. Remove from the baking sheet as the kale gets crispy.
8. Store in an open container.

I do not usually promote services at my office, however……………. I feel so strongly and have  had soooo many patients and readers wanting clarification on purification and cleansing, I am offering two different  workshops ( no charge!)

Purify your body! Transform your life through whole food purification!

Monday February 6th 1:00-2:00 or

Wednesday February 15th 6:30-7:30

Cardin Wellness Center

9159 West 133rd Street. Overland Park, Kansas 66213

Call and reserve your spot today!

913-239-8501 or

info@cardinwellness.com

Ingredients

Directions

1. Get out the 8 quart pot.
2. Boil 1 quarts of water in a kettle.
3. Dice onions and garlic
4. Add celery, carrots and squash
5. Cover the bottom of the pot with olive or grape seed oil and stir-fry the above veggies. Add at least a tablespoon of sea salt and lots of black pepper. When hot, not tender, pour in the boiling water and boil another kettle of water.
6. Add to the soup and boil: tomatoes and puree,
7. Slice a whole cabbage as small as you’ll be comfortable eating, and to avoid really bad slurping noises. Put it in the pot as you go .
8. Add fresh parsley,basil and chives.
9. Cover the pot and boil the heck out of it. It’s done when the celery is no longer hard and the thick bits of cabbage are a bit translucent. The pot can cool overnight on the counter before you store it in the fridge.

EAT AND ENJOY:)

CAUSES of YOUTH SPORT INJURIES:
Participation in any sport, whether recreational or competitive can teach kids to stretch their limits and learn sportsmanship and discipline. But any sports carries the potential for injury.
By knowing the cause of sports injuries and how to prevent them, you can help make athletics a positive experience for your child.

• Kids, particularly those younger than 8 years old, are less coordinated and have a slower reaction time than adults because they are still growing and developing.
• Kids mature at different rates. Often there is a substantial difference in height and weight between kids of the same age. When kids of varying sizes play sports together, there may be a greater potential of injury.
• Lack of pre-season conditioning.
• Not warming up, cooling down or not stretching properly.
• Kids may not access the risk of certain activities as fully as adults might. So they unknowingly take risks that can result in injuries.
• Failure to provide reliable safety equipment (helmets, shin guards, etc) for all athletes.
• Overzealous practices schedules that do not allow proper rest or stretching.
• Failure to recognize and treat an injury promptly and competently.
• Playing while injured.
• Failure to ensure that young athletes have access to a health care professionals who is qualified to make medical assessments and decisions.
• Failure to educated family and players signs and symptoms of injuries.
• Allowing or even encouraging over aggressive or prohibited behavior.
• Denying athletes adequate water and rest during practices and game.s
• Poor nutrition and hydration.
• Unprepared for weather and temperature, too hot or too cold.
• More youths are specializing in one sport at an early age and training all year round.

PREVENTION OF YOUTH SPORTS INJURIES:
Review the Parent’s checklist for the sports. Ensure a safe and healthy playing environment for the children who participate in the sport.

• Use proper equipment and safety gear that is the correct size, fits well and is properly maintained.
• Make sure that all surfaces from courts to tracks to playing fields are in good condition, not full of holes and ruts.
• Warm up before exercising. This can minimize the chance of a muscle strain or other soft tissue injuries during sporting events. Warm up exercises make the body’s tissues warmer and more flexible, thus preventing injuries.
• Wear sunscreen and a hat to reduce the chance of a sunburn.
• Stay well hydrated before, during and after any physical activity.
• Know your coach. Any team sport or activity that kids participate in should be supervised by qualified adult. Select a team and league with the same commitment. The team coach should have training in first aid and CPR. The coach’s philosophy should promote player’s well being and development.
• Make sure that your child is matched for sports according to their skill level, size and physical and emotional maturity.
• Allow adequate rest between practices and games.
• Play a variety of sports. Playing multiple sports at different times of the year gives some muscles a chance to rest while other are being worked.

Common Types of Injuries:
1. Acute injuries occur suddenly and are usually associated with some form of trauma. Acute injuries can vary from minor bruises, stain, sprains to broken bones and torn ligaments. Acute injures often occur because of lack of proper equipment or the use of improper equipment. For example, no eyewear, no mouth guard, improper foot wear, loose cage of a helmet…….

2. Overuse Injuries occur from repetitive actions that put too much stress on bones and muscles. These account for more than 50% of all sports related injuries and are the most preventable. Overuse injuries also occur in adults but are more problematic in child athletes because of the effect they may have on bone growth.
Most common types of overuse injuries:

• Anterior knee pain
• Little league elbow
• Swimmer’s shoulder
• Shin splints
• Spondylolysis

Overuse injuries can be caused or aggravated by:

• Growth spurts or an imbalance between flexibility and strength
• Inadequate warm up
• Excessive activity, increased intensity, duration and frequency
• Playing the same sport year-round or multi sports during the same season
• Improper technique, whether throwing, catching, running, skating, jumping….
• Unsuitable equipment, from non supportive, improper fit…

3. Re-injuries occur from returning to the sport before the previous injury has sufficiently healed. Avoid a re-injury by allowing an injury to completely heal. A medically trained professional should be clear or approve the child to return to the sport.

TREATING YOUTH SPORTS INJURIES:
For acute injuries better to play it “safe than sorry”. Administer first aid immediately, then follow up with a doctor. If the injury seems more serious, it is important to take your child to the nearest hospital emergency room. Don’t trust the diagnosis to a parent or a fan in the stands.
For overuse injuries, the philosophy is similar. If a child begins complaining of pain, it’s the bodies way of saying there is a problem so do not wait to have it checked out.
Have the child examined by a qualified health care professional. It is important to get overused injuries diagnosed and treated as soon as possible to prevent them from developing into larger chronic problems.

Your doctor may recommend:

1. Continue to play but use protective device (ex. knee brace, wrist guard..).
2. Rest, Ice and recover to allow the healing process to begin and preventing further injury.
3. Undergo rehabilitation (physical therapy) to support tissues like muscles, tendons and ligaments.
4. See an orthopedist or sports medicine specialist for further diagnosis and imaging ( X-ray, CT, MRI…).
5. See a chiropractor to help restore normal mobility to the joints, muscles, spine and nervous system.
6. Receive acupuncture to decrease, pain, swelling and healing time.
7. Use proper nutritional support to decrease swelling and facilitate the repair process of the damaged muscles and connective tissues. Including an anti-inflammatory diet can also reduce the recovery time.

*ALWAYS have your treating physician determine when your recovery is complete and when you can return to your sporting activities.

My Thoughts:
When at least 60 percent of all injures sustained were in direct relation to training and overuse injuries…..have we gone too far? Are we putting too much emphasis on athletic participation and performance all consuming and causes injuries that can sometimes compromise a child’s future?
The most important thing to do when you suspect you your child is injured is STOP doing whatever sporting activity has caused the injury right away and seel medical advice.
In good health,
Dr. Heather