Kids are very visual when it comes to eating. This makes feeding them easy if you create a rainbow of food. However, this can be challenging if you’re not the visually creative type. Here are some tips on putting together healthy, nutritious, and colorful meals for kids. The most important aspect of feeding your child is to add as many whole foods as possible and avoid anything overly processed. Unfortunately, processed foods and their fabulous colorful boxes and bags can persuade children to gravitate towards them. Do your best not to have these types of things in the house.

Talk to your kids about whole and processed foods. Ask them where they came from: store, tree, bush, or vine? These questions can lead to very lively talks at the supper table.

Why color?

Colorful foods are packed with many nutrients that allow us to function optimally everyday.

• Red: Folate, lycopene, and flavonoids. Lycopene has been shown to fight cancer cells. Folate helps to prevent birth defects, depression, and irritability. Certain types of flavonoids (or bioflavonoids) are known for their active and powerful antioxidant activity. Your heart will appreciate red colored foods as they may help to fight heart disease.
• Green: Lutein is an antioxidant found in the eye, therefore associated with sight. Eating lutein-rich foods will decrease risk of blindness. Green foods are packed full of nutrients and fiber. There are many green fruits and vegetables to choose from: avocados, spinach, broccoli, kale, kiwis, and many more.
• Yellow/Orange: Vitamin A and beta-carotene. Yellow foods are packed with beta-carotene, which the body converts into vitamin A. Vitamin A keeps the respiratory, urinary, and intestinal tracts healthy. This is a great help for the immune system.
• Purple/Blue: The flavonoids found in purple/blue foods aid in maintaining strong blood vessel walls. Eating blueberries may also help memory.

Next time you’re at the market, think about filling your cart with as much color as possible. This is easier if you keep to the edge of the store. With each meal you prepare, think of ways to color it up, perhaps by adding vibrantly colored peppers to your salad or blueberries to your morning cereal. Have the kids help you with this — they love to be creative and have a great imagination.

Introducing these colorful foods at every meal will set your child up for optimal health now and in their future. It will also allow for fewer sick days, which all parents appreciate!

Dr. Heather Manley received her medical degree from the National College of Naturopathic Medicine in Portland, Oregon in 2001. She is a practicing physician whose primary interest is preventative healthcare for families. She is the author of Human Body Detectives, her children’s educational series of story-telling books, ebooks, and iPhone/iPad apps. She also promotes wellness and naturopathic healthcare on her website drheathernd.com. She lives on the Big Island of Hawaii with her husband and two daughters. She is currently at work on the next Human Body Detectives adventure and is very excited for her upcoming launch of HBDs Go to School elementary curriculum. Follow Dr. Heather on Twitter and Facebook!

Photo by Yourdon.

I recently caught up with one of my favorite Los Angeles chefs, Andrew Kirschner, of the hip and always delicious Wilshire Restaurant. Andrew shared his love of slow food, what he’s tossing around in his kitchen and how to make the most of the farmer’s market.

WW: Food critics complement your palate and your eye. How can newbie farmer’s market shoppers begin to train their eyes for the right goods?

Andrew Kirschner: You are obviously at the market to get the best, freshest, highest quality ingredients available. But this is not automatically the case just because you are at the market. Look for ingredients that are vibrant in color, have terrific aromas and are free of blemishes. Also, don’t be afraid to talk to the farmers! Ask when the fruit or vegetable was picked. Often it was yesterday, which is great, but it also could have been last week, in which case ask another farmers about the same product. You want something picked as close to today as possible.

WW: When shopping, how do you decide on organic over locally raised (or vice versa)?

AK: Most of the product at the farmers market is grown locally and 90 percent of the time, it is also grown organically. It is also worth noting that many farmers have been practicing organics for a long time but their farms are not necessarily “certified” organic. This could be for financial reasons (it’s quite expensive to go through the certification process), or because they have not been practicing organics long enough. If I had to choose between organic and locally raised the answer is simple, organic every time! Hopefully, as a society we’re coming to a point where we realize we should not be putting fertilizers and nonorganic compounds into our bodies (often these chemicals don’t show any negative physiological effects for years to come). Not only does organic produce taste way better, we can also rest easy knowing that our children and the world they live in will be safe! Sustainability is the last word–and key!

WW: When making their shopping lists I always suggest patients add two or three new veggies and fruits to try each season. What are your favorite Spring time produce?

AK: Spring is the culinary new year! All my favorite ingredients start showing up at the markets during springtime. Right now at the restaurant I am playing around with ramps, fava beans, morel mushrooms, asparagus, and the list goes on!

WW: I love that you embrace the “farm to table” concept. Can you explain how this brings out the natural energy in food?

AK: The farm to table concept is an integral part of what I do here at the restaurant and encapsulates my philosophy on food. Only by shopping at the farmer’s market and selecting fresh, seasonal organic produce is the end result of my vision accomplished. By sourcing ingredients in this manner the freshness and quality of the ingredients are allowed to shine. This results in outstanding flavor and of course, healthy benefits!

Chef Andrew.

WW: It’s amazing that a high volume restaurant like yours can still prepare exceptionally healthy entrees. Would you credit this ability to the creation of seasonal menus and local ingredients?

AK: Absolutely yes! By serving seasonally we are letting the quality of the ingredients speak for themselves without over- manipulating them. This in turn means less prep time therefore allowing us to serve the quantity of food that we do and at the same time keeping things fresh and delicious!

WW: What advice do you have for cooks that are serious about aligning their style and methods as environmental influences on food continue to shift?

AK: Eat local. Eat fresh. Eat sustainable. Eat organic! When you do this you can let the ingredients speak for themselves and have a wonderfully delicious and healthy meal.

Christine M. Dionese L.Ac. specializes in integrative medicine, medical journalism and was the VP of marketing at WellWire LLC. Visit her wellness and lifestyle blog, Reaching Beyond Now.

Photo by franganillo.

Your hormones make deep, meaningful music on a daily basis, each one playing over the other. Together, every 24 hours they cover a number of topics including your metabolism, temperature regulation, growth, cellular repair and regeneration, reproductive organ control, sleep, mood, energy and appetite, to name a few. Your brain and nervous system are the main conductors of this well-orchestrated “hormonic” orchestra (nice, eh?), also known as the endocrine system.

The endocrine system is made up of eight individual glands, including the pineal body, hypothalamus, pituitary, thyroid, parathyroids, adrenals, the reproductive organs (ovaries and testes), and the pancreas. All of the glands produce and secrete hormones, which act as chemical messengers on all of the organs in the body. Hormone levels are directly affected by stress, immune system changes, fluid changes and nutrient-content in the blood.

When it comes to women, there are three key players: the adrenals, the thyroid and the ovaries. Here’s how they work: the adrenal glands are responsible for our ‘flight or fight responses’ in situations of stress. They produce cortisol (also known as the stress-hormone) and epinephrine. After menopause, they also produce estrogen and progesterone. Interestingly, cortisol has the capacity to directly affect progesterone levels, so in cases of prolonged stress or increased activity of adrenal glands an estrogen-dominant state occurs. At the same time, progesterone is used to make cortisol so as the need for cortisol arises more often, progesterone levels decrease. Excess amounts of cortisol can suppress your cell’s ability to respond to thyroid, which can compromise the function of the thyroid gland.

Both estrogen and progesterone can directly affect the thyroid gland. Estrogen tends to block thyroid hormone production, while progesterone facilitates it. As high levels of estrogen suppress the thyroid gland, it often results in increased rates of hypothyroidism amongst post-partum and peri-menopausal women. That’s why working on rebalancing the estrogen and the progesterone levels will often restore the normal function of the thyroid. If the female hormones are ignored entirely, the thyroid function will not restore. Similarly, if the thyroid is completely left out in an attempt to balance out the female hormones, both estrogen and progesterone levels will continue to vary in the blood.

Got it? Either way, the orchestra continues to play! It is a finely-tuned system, and when one of its members plays out of tune, everything is thrown off balance. So, to help maintain your hormone-balance:

• Eat organic foods. You are more likely to avoid hormone-disrupting pesticides
• Eat more fats. Good fats include olive oil, coconut, avocados, wild-salmon, flax seeds
• Avoid sugar and sweeteners. They raise blood sugars and insulin levels, contributing to PCOS and diabetes
• Avoid milk and dairy. This is often a source of high levels of exogenous estrogens
• Avoid methyl-xanthines. That’s caffeine, theophylline, theobromine found in coffee, black tea, chocolate and cola.
• Limit or avoid alcohol. That’s pretty self-explanatory.

Dr. Igor Schwartzman practices naturopathic medicine with a strong emphasis in women's health, hormone imbalances, and thyroid disorders at Whole Family Wellness Center in Portland, Oregon. He is a co-founder of WellWire.com.

Photo by Debbie Schiel.

My favorite seed catalog came in today’s mail: organic Floriani red flint corn, green meat radish, Bolivian rainbow pepper, purple bac choy, ruby streaks mustard. These are the reasons I started gardening–I was awed by the incredible diversity of life I could sustain on my little corner of earth.

There were other reasons too. After my urban upbringing, I longed for the pastoral and bucolic ideal of self sufficiency and thriftiness. And certainly there were the political reasons: getting off the corporate-food trough while promoting biological diversity and personal health.

But what really pushed me past reading and into action was a full-color catalog that arrived one Winter’s day. I saw purple carrots, speckled lettuces, striped snappy string beans, and a bright orange tomato that turned out to be an eggplant! If your vegetable education came largely from mainstream supermarkets as mine once did, you’ll understand my shock. Who knew there were purple potatoes, or that we could grow Thomas Jefferson’s beans or the Anasazi’s corn?

These days I’m a passionate gardener and my garden supports over 100 species. Here’s why you should tend a garden, even if it’s just a couple of plants:

1. Get outdoors. Being outside can help many health conditions. The sunshine lightens most folks’ moods and helps produce immune-building Vitamin D. Researchers find that people living near green spaces have much lower rates of diseases including asthma, depression, heart disease, migraines, and even urinary-tract infections.
2. Eat healthier. At WellWire we’re always recommending that you eat the rainbow and gardening is one great way to do it. Vegetables begin losing nutritional value as soon as the plant is plucked and produce from your own garden travels the shortest distance between place and plate. Also, many soils around the country have some well known nutrient deficiency—in western Oregon it’s selenium—which you can address easily in your home garden. Feed your soil, feed your plants, feed yourself.
3. Love those vegetables. Gardening is a great way to convert knowledge about the health benefits of veggies into the action of eating them. Researchers consistently find that garden-based education in schools makes children more willing to try, like and eat a diversity of vegetables. The same trick works with picky adults, too…
4. Grow your own medicine. That lovely lavender you’re already growing can improve digestion and fight depression. Thyme makes a great ground cover and fights off lung infections. Garlic, onions and their relatives support the immune system and the heart. Even weedy dandelion is medicine, helping the liver and the kidneys. And so much of this is so easy to grow!
5. Be more community-oriented. Scientists have found that spending time outdoors changes people for the better. Read here about how gardening transformed the English town of Todmorden and its inhabitants, building food security, ecological sustainability and community spirit.
6. Pure joy. Part of a healthy life is making sure there’s joy in your life, every day. And that is one of the best reasons out there for gardening. For me, that’s about the wonder of nature’s colors and textures, and the sheer awe of actively and literally keeping history alive. And it’s a wonderful gift to share with your partner or kids.

So as the year’s darkest days settle in, take time by the real or virtual fire to go through the words and pictures of the seed catalogs and feed your dreams of summer. Here is a short list to get you started.

• Fedco Seeds a Maine cooperative that offers great starter packets at fantastic prices
• Horizon Herbs offers one of the largest selections of medicinal plant seeds
• Native Seeds/SEARCH has a focus on traditional Southwestern crops including a huge variety of beans, corn and hot peppers
• Seeds of Change was one of the first glossy proponents of growing heirloom seeds
• Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds in Mansfield, MO boasts a catalog of 1400 varieties of vegetable and flower seeds
• Heirloom Seeds in Pennsylvania
• Southern Exposure Seed Exchange

Happy garden planning!

Dr. Orna Izakson, ND, RH (AHG) is a naturopathic physician, herbalist, gardener and writer. She specializes in respiratory issues, mood and women's health at Celilo Natural Health Center in Portland, Oregon.

Photo by tijmen van dobbenburgh.

The media has propelled estrogen-mimicking chemical bisphenol A (BPA) to the forefront of health news. It’s ubiquitous, and it’s likely in your body.

The chemical, developed as an estrogen replacement, is commonly used to harden plastics such, most commonly polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins. It’s been linked to various cancers, diabetes, heart disease and digestive problems. The polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins are often used in plastic helmets and goggles, computers, kitchen appliances, medical devices, adult toys, and the packaging for some foods and drinks—including soda cans, water bottles and baby bottles. This month Consumer Reports and the watchdogs at the Milwaukee, Wisc., Journal Sentinel found BPA leaching into commercially canned foods (it’s in the lining).

And last week Linda Birnbaum, director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the National Toxicology Program, told the Journal Sentinel that consumers should be concerned. Here’s a roundup that many products containing BPA, along with links to safer alternatives.

To learn more about BPA, read “Chasing Molecules: Poisonous Products, Human Health, and the Promise of Green Chemistry” by Elizabeth Grossman.

So what’s a health-conscious person to do? Eat more fresh food, of course. Or preserve your own in good old-fashioned glass jar. Here are some books that will teach you to safely and easily preserve the summer’s bounty from your garden, farmer’s market or local store.

• Stocking Up, 3rd Edition, by Carol Hupping is one of the most recommended books on safe canning and includes great recipes.
• Wild Fermentation, by Sandor Katz focuses on fermentation as a preservation method.
• Complete Guide to Home Canning and Preserving, the US Department of Agriculture’s classic.

Canning is fun for the whole family, and the results can make thoughtful, thrifty holiday and hostess gifts. It’s also clearly the healthiest choice.

Dr. Orna Izakson, ND, RH (AHG) is a naturopathic physician, herbalist, gardener and writer. She specializes in respiratory issues, mood and women's health at Celilo Natural Health Center in Portland, Oregon.

Photo by Nihan Aydin.

It’s the “most wonderful time of the year” and depression is rampant. Between the early darkness, family drama and the financial stress that goes along with shopping season, many people find their mood taking a turn for the worse. Here are some tips for feeling better:

1. Exercise
Depression diminishes motivation. But getting off the couch can make a remarkable difference in your emotional resilience. Exercise literally changes the chemicals being made in your brain and how well those chemicals work. It doesn’t have to be intense and it doesn’t have to be very much. Even a brisk walk will help lift the clouds.

2. Get some sun
The winter’s lack of light makes lots of people feel low. The effect isn’t new—it’s been described since the 1800s. These days there’s a name and a cute acronym for it: seasonal affective disorder, or SAD.

Adding light can help. Outdoor, natural daylight is best, especially in the morning. If that is not an option, many companies also sell light boxes that researchers find really do help—even for summer time depression.

Photo by Nathalie Dulex.

3. You are how you eat
Author Michael Pollan said it best: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”

Scientific research all over the map supports this. An October 2009 study in the Archives of General Psychiatry reported that a Mediterranean-style diet reduced depression (in addition to its well-known heart and anti-cancer benefits). They found that fruits, nuts, beans and fat from fish and olive oil all helped beat the blues.

Filling up with fresh fruits and veggies also has another happy side effect: reducing your exposure to mood-busting sugar and processed foods.

4. Up the fish oils
The long dark winters in Iceland don’t translate into high levels of depression there, and scientists think the reason is in the high-omega-3 fish the locals consume.

For people who are depressed, researchers have found significant improvements in mood after just two weeks of therapy with fish oil.

How does it work? The omega-3 oils reduce depression-causing inflammatory chemicals and improved cellular function, all of which make a happier brain.

5. Feed your microflora
The first-line prescription therapy for depression is a drugs that increases serotonin availability in the brain. Looking at the body as a whole, most serotonin is found in the gut, where it helps signal the movements needed to promote digestion.

We’re designed to make a lot of serotonin ourselves, with the help of foods and the healthy flora in our guts. Supporting that flora with probiotics—found in foods such as sauerkraut, kimchi, live yogurt and miso—can help make more serotonin available to the whole body, including the brain.

Like fish oils, probiotics also reduce inflammation and oxidative stress that influence depression.

6. Try flower essences
Having flower essences on hand can offer a quick pick-me-up, or support long-term healing. Take four drops as needed, or four times daily in a little water over the longer term. They don’t interact with any other medications and the only possible concern is a tiny amount of alcohol.

Try Star of Bethlehem for dealing with grief and trauma. Sweet chestnut helps deep, dark despair and hopelessness. Pine relieves guilt. And willow helps when you feel resentful or sorry for yourself. For some sunshine in a bottle, try the Solstice Sun environmental essence from wild Alaska.

7. Read up
While there’s no substitute for talking with friends or professional counselors, reading can help you understand what’s going on and offer suggestions for helping yourself. Try “The Mood Cure” by Julia Ross, or “Depression Free, Naturally” by Joan Larson.

This psychologist-recommended website links to articles about natural health and a variety of mental health issues.

8. If you need help, get help
Sometimes the blues are transient, and simple home fixes like these are all you need. But if the darkness persists, remember that you are not alone. Naturopaths and psychologists are an important part of getting better.

If you’re battling the blues this holiday season, be sure to take some moments out to take care of you! And please share your own suggestions for beating the blues in the comment section.

Dr. Orna Izakson, ND, RH (AHG) is a naturopathic physician, herbalist, gardener and writer. She specializes in respiratory issues, mood and women's health at Celilo Natural Health Center in Portland, Oregon.

Photo by denisemattox.

You already know that beauty is more than skin-deep. Skin health and appearance depend on much more than what fancy lotions, latest “age-defying” cream or organic make-up you might be using.

Beauty begins on the inside…with the gut and nutrition!

Think of your gastrointestinal lining as the skin inside your body. The health of this gut lining can improve the health of the rest of your body and especially your outside skin. There are many similarities: the gut lining replaces itself often, its irritations and inflammations show up on the skin, and nourishing blood flows just under the surface. What is happening on your skin is reflection of what is happening in your gut. A happy gut equals more radiant skin.

You are what you eat.

Many skin problems can be improved with smart nutrition and identifying and eliminating food sensitivities and allergies. Water and essential fatty acids are internal lotions, making skin soft and supple. Nutritious whole foods provide important anti-oxidants, vitamins and minerals for the frequent renewal of healthy skin cells.

Get the glow!

Move water and nutrition to the skin surface through getting the glow going. Anything that brings a light sweat to the skin means that the skin is being nourished and the toxins are being removed. The glow can be through walking, yoga, bouncing and even sex. Any movement that brings a light sweat counts.

Smile from the inside.

Learn to manage your reaction to stress. Stress affects the health of your skin. We’ve all noticed cold sores, acne or blemishes popping up when we are under stress. Acupuncture, meditation and sleep can all help us lessen the effects of stress on our skin.

When we start to work on the inside, we not only feel better but also look better!

Dr. Gibran Ramos completed his six year training and internship in Naturopathic and Chinese Medicine at National College of Natural Medicine. Dr. Ramos helps patients transform their lives and optimize their well-being at a private practice in Portland, Oregon.

Photo by Frank Jakobi.

From a health perspective, slowing things down when it comes to consuming food is very important. It brings more consciousness to growing, processing and ingesting food and makes it more nourishing. Slow Food International is an organization that promotes a basic increased consciousness of “good, clean and fair food” and wants us to reconnect to our food by learning and participating in where it comes from, how it’s prepared and how it’s consumed.

When we teach ourselves how our food is produced and even start to grow our own food we learn there are many benefits to locally grown seasonal items. Much of our food comes from thousands of miles away and the more local the food, the fresher it is and thus the more nutritional value it has. As soon as a vegetable is harvested, it begins to loose vitamins and enzymes through the decay process. Fresh local food tastes better and it’s better for you!

When we know our local food, we know how it was grown. We know whether it was raised in a clean and sustainable manner–without pesticides and herbicides. The less chemicals on or in food, the better tasting, the better for your body, and the better for the earth.

We also learn there is a plethora of diversity in the varieties of foods available. Variety is more interesting, and gives us the most biologically diverse nutrition. The more varied our food, the more likely we are to get the vitamins, minerals and macro-nutrients we need. Variety is the spice (and necessity) of life!

When we teach ourselves how to prepare our food, we learn that this process prepares our body for digestion and increases nutritional benefit. Digestion begins with preparing and cooking food. Our senses inform our digestion of the forthcoming meal by inducing enzymes to be released and gastric juices to flow. When we just pop on down to the fast food joint and slurp down a burger or bean burrito, it shocks our digestion leading to indigestion and poor absorption of nutrients. Digestion begins in the kitchen!

Slowing down during the meal time also makes for better nutrition. The slow food movement advocates for “taste education,” in which we not only educate ourselves on where food comes from, but also take the time to truly enjoy the meal. We learn to slow down and open our senses of sight, sounds, smells and tastes to the whole experience of the meal. We continue the act of digestion begun during meal production, by using all our senses to completely chew and ingest our meal. Our body’s enzymes released during the food preparation macerate the food in our stomach. It is a beautiful and splendid process!

So the next time you begin to get hungry, think of this: all of the food you ingest is a way for you to let the natural world nourish you. You are truly what you eat and equally important, you are how you eat. So slow down, enjoy the wonderment of eating and live well. Bon appétit!

Dr. Gibran Ramos completed his six year training and internship in Naturopathic and Chinese Medicine at National College of Natural Medicine. Dr. Ramos helps patients transform their lives and optimize their well-being at a private practice in Portland, Oregon.

Photo by ashleypalmero.

There are always raging debates about the origin of humankind, but here is one undeniable fact: You are a mobile fleshy feeding tube!

You have two openings, an inlet/outlet, and a tunnel which is technically exposed to the outside world.  This tunnel, also known as your GI tract, is not a sterile environment and is loaded with bacteria. Seriously loaded.  

There are ten times the amount of bacterial cells in your GI tract than there are human cells in your entire body. Makes you wonder who’s in charge, doesn’t it? I mean, are we just a complex machine designed as a way to transport bacteria?

I’ve heard this debate before because 70% of your immune system is tucked into your innards. That’s right, welcome to the single most important terrain in your body. This relationship between us and ‘them’ is completely symbiotic of course, and we need each other to survive.

Whether by observation or insight, traditional cultures must have known about the importance of probiotics because there is no culture which does not have a fermented food as part of their everyday diet.

Lacto-fermentation creates a plate, mug or bowl full of delicious probiotic laden food which actually adds to the beneficial terrain in your GI tract. There are 1000s of varieties of foods, some which may seriously surprise your palate!

Here are some gut loving fermented foods from several different regions (this barely scratches the surface of what’s out there):

• Japan:  Miso, Kombucha, Tempeh, Nattō
• Korea:  Kimchi, Gochujang
• South East Asia:  Atchara, Fish sauce, Oncom
• China:  Soy sauce, Lufu, Doubanjiang, Douchi, Fermented Tofu
• India:  Dosa, Idli, Dhokla, Achar, Mixed Pickle
• Middle East:  Kaymak, Doogh, Labne, Yogurt
• Europe:  Yogurt, Pickles, Sauerkraut, Kefir, Rakfisk, Skyr, Sour cream, Crème fraîche, Cheese.
• Africa:  Injera, Tapai, Mageu, Ogi, Iru
• South America:  Chicha, Pulque,
• North America:  Igunaq
• General:  Most vinegars, raw apple cider vinegar.

The most readily available in Western supermarkets are miso, fish sauce, yogurt, pickles, sour cream, sauerkraut, raw apple cider vinegar. Incorporate more of these into your diet please! If you can find raw and organic so much the better as the concentration will be much higher.  So much of your health resides in the terrain of your GI tract and getting some delicious traditional foods back in there will help populate the bacterial fields of your feeding tube. If my sister happens to read this perhaps she will be so kind as to post a recipe <wink-wink> that’s wicked easy to make, and includes some of these ‘super-foods‘.

What’s in it for you?

• Strengthen the immune system
• Improve digestion
• Decrease allergies and food sensitivities
• Decrease inflammation
• Keep harmful bacteria at bay

The alternative is supplementing with high quality probiotics.  I am a quality freak when it comes to natural products.  Most probiotics on the market either don’t contain live bacteria, or contain different bacteria than what is listed on the label – so don’t buy cheap bottles of dead stuff. Enteric coated it means that the capsule will not dissolve in the stomach saving the lil guys from a serious gastric burn.  The raw powder or non enteric capsules use a high dose theory whereby some bacteria are sacrificed as collateral, ensuring that a few make it down to the depths of your colon.  Both ways show positive results when the bacteria are alive to begin with.

Prebiotics are non digestible polysaccharides which feed the beneficial gut flora and stimulate their growth.  You might see them listed as FOS (or  XOX /GOS) along with plant sources such as inulin.  They’re great and some food companies are actually trying to incorporate them into every day foods.

Healthy gut flora is a core basic treatment guideline for optimum health. Get some.

Dr. Nishant Rao is a co-founder of WellWire.com. He is a well-traveled naturopathic doctor and new father, practicing an integrative approach to create wellness in and around Los Angeles. Become a patient or discover his practice.

Photo by Gep.

I often marvel at the brilliantly packaged,  deliciously satisfying and nutritionally dense  creation of nature with the strangest of names in  almost any language (dzou in Armenian, oeuf in  French and even egg – try saying that  few times fast).  In the last few decades, the egg, one of natures most nourishing and original whole foods (no matter which came first) has been the victim of the anti-fat and anti-cholesterol health craze based on poor theory and unjustified conclusions.  Researchers are currently de-bunking the myth of the bad egg and we are slowly entering the recovery phase.  It’s comeback time!

We have been told for decades that eggs increase cholesterol, which then increases our risk for heart disease.  However we are now finding that dietary animal based cholesterol does not directly raise blood cholesterol.  The cholesterol in our bloodstream (which is obviously what is measured from a blood test at your doctors office) is in fact made in the liver, and pumped into the blood when the body is in need of it.

Yes, in need of it. Cholesterol is a crucial building block in the body as all of our steroid hormones are made from its fatty backbone along with maintaining the integrity of every single cell wall in your body.  Your sex hormones are made from a cholesterol foundation – yes you can have too little cholesterol which translates into potentially low levels of your sex hormones, which in turn lowers the obvious (pun more or less intended), along with a slew of hormonal deficiency symptoms.  A lack of cholesterol is potentially detrimental to your libido.

Naturopathically speaking, when we see cholesterol go up, the first question is why – and then why again.  As I said, the body is making cholesterol in the liver.  The liver will up-regulate cholesterol in order to repair cellular damage in the body.  Ah-ha! A potential reason for high cholesterol then is that the body is undergoing some injury somewhere.  Atherosclerosis for example – You see the fatty plaques which cause clogged arteries are initiated by a micro injury to the blood vessels.  The reasons for this are too many to list here, however smoking is perhaps the most common and lack of tissue protective dietary antioxidants another.

When you toss out the egg yolk 100% of the fat soluble vitamins are lost, that’s a large serving of vitamins A, D, E, K and carotenoids.  These fat soluble vitamins do more things than you could imagine;  boost your immune system, reduce your risk of cancer, keep your bones, teeth and skin healthy, support the thyroid gland, reduce the damaging effects of diabetes, promote healthy growth in children to list a few.

The egg yolk contains 99% of the zinc, 90% of the calcium and 95% of the folate.  Astonishing!  (zinc is a crucial mineral for sperm count by the way).  Finally get this, egg whites are touted as the protein part of the egg, which is true.  However, the yolk contains 43% of the total egg protein and balances the amino acid profile of the whole food. Natures whole foods never cease to amaze me.  When they are eaten as intended they are super foods, and when dissected in a kitchen as common practice or weight loss technique they can then turn harmful.  Egg whites can cause a biotin deficiency – including the yolks will prevent this.  No need to reinvent this wheel.

The caveat, yes there is one I’m sorry. The yolk has to be runny – period.  Sunny side up, poached, over easy, raw and I’m sure I’ve missed a few.  What about omelet’s?  I happen to love omelet’s. A remnant from living in France is that I always have my omelet cooked “baveuse” which loosely translates as animal drool (think slobbery St. Bernard) – a colorful, descriptive term for soft scramble.  The omelet is not cooked up till the point where the egg is dry, flakey, rubbery etc.

I’m not promoting an egg binge for the next year to catch up on all of those yolkless omelets you’ve feasted on, but please feel good about giving your body the nourishment it needs by having a couple of eggs for breakfast on a regular basis.

Eat whole foods – don’t forget the yolk!

Dr. Nishant Rao is a co-founder of WellWire.com. He is a well-traveled naturopathic doctor and new father, practicing an integrative approach to create wellness in and around Los Angeles. Become a patient or discover his practice.