Saturday, April 15, 2006, 1:00-3:00 pm
Sherlock Hound 4369 Stuart St, Denver, CO 80212
Call: (303) 433-3234 to register
Cost: $25 payable to Sherlock Hound
Dogs have muscles too! Massage is no longer just for humans--dogs can
benefit just as much as humans. Come learn how to help your dog feel
better with massage and acupressure. Class topics will include:
Supernutrition for Optimum Cellular Nutrition Seminar
Saturday, April 8 (9:30 am to Noon) with Dr. Roland Thomas, BSc, ND
Sponsored by Holistic Healing Services
Optimum Choices will be exhibiting BioPreparation algae product for animals
Even with the best of nutrition, we remain under attack from increasing
pollutants and other cancer-causing and bio-hazardous agents in our food,
water and air.
For superior natural protection, we must boost our health with
phytonutrients and immunize ourselves with micro nutrients, such as those
provided in bio-algae concentrates... Bio-algae concentrates with over
20,000 person years of Russian research fulfill the promise of Optimum
Cellular Nutrition! A revolution in supplementation, these bio-algae
concentrates are 100 years ahead! Dr. Thomas will share with you step by
step how this quantum leap in holistic cellular nutrition was researched,
proven and applied with human and animal for over 30 years.
A Place for Peace Center 1605 West Mulberry, Fort Collins, CO
(Parking across Mulberry next to city park lake)
For directions call: 970-679-4286
Registration fees: $10.00 in advance – $15.00 at the door
Material and booklet Included
Limited Seating – Reserve TODAY to Assure your Seat and Booklet
Call William Comer at 970-679-4286 or Roland Thomas at 303-683-8113
The International Association of Animal Massage & Bodywork (IAAMB) will be
holding its national conference this year in Boulder, Colorado. This is
exciting news for those of us located in the Denver/Boulder metro area. If
you or anyone you know does professional animal massage, bodywork or
energywork, or if you are considering pursuing a career in it, this is the
conference to attend. We attended it last year in Toledo, Ohio and found it
very worthwhile. Optimum Choices will be exhibiting our
BioPreparation for animals product at the conference. For more
information, see IAAMB's website:
www.iaamb.org/conference/index.htm. Next year it will probably be in
Virginia so don't miss your chance to attend the conference locally if you
live in the front range area of Colorado.
You probably assumed all the Katrina animals had been rescued and
re-homed by now, right? Unfortunately, that's not the case yet. There are
still some rescued Katrina dogs in Denver seeking homes. For more
information, see:
www.optimumchoices.com/katrina-help.htm.
The Denver-based Misha May Foundation, that saved more than 80 homeless dogs
and cats after Hurricane Katrina, now needs its own home. The Misha May
Foundation, dedicated to preventing the euthanasia of neglected and untrained
homeless dogs through affordable training, is one step closer to greatly
expanding its operation and vastly decreasing canine euthanasia in metro Denver.
An ideal building in Denver has been located, according to Lorraine May,
executive director, but an additional $60,000 is needed immediately to make a
down payment and meet start-up costs. For more details,
click here.
April showers bring our spring sale on Joint Treats, helping your dog be more spry
(springy) as you
start to enjoy outdoor activities together again with the return of
spring. Receive 10%
off your order of
Active Care Healthy Joint
Treats if you purchase at least 3 bags at one time (shipped to one address). If ordering online, put
"April Showers Sale" in the special order instructions (mailing) box of
the shopping cart or in your e-mail to
info@OptimumChoices.com.
Offer good until midnight on April 30, 2006.
For a limited time get Multi-Pure's popular new Aqua Dome water filter for
$100 off the retail price! This is a $180 value filter for only $79 + tax,
shipping/handling and a $4 registration fee (to become a distributor). We took advantage of this offer
recently and are passing on the word to everyone that wants to drink healthy
water for less money. Multi-Pure is a leader in water filtration technology
and with this promotion, we were able to afford the purchase of a filter,
eliminating trips to the health food store to fill up our 5 gallon bottles with
filtered water. See our article on
Healthy water
for you and your pets to find out why we recommend filtering
your water.
Egyptian Gold oil blend was the new oil introduced at the 2005 Young Living
Convention. It was originally only packaged in the Gold of the Gods
convention kit. This kit contained bottles of Egyptian Gold, Thieves,
frankincense and lavender along with a nice DVD. The essential oils found in
this exquisite blend were treasured by the pharaohs. These oils were used by the
priests to access higher powers, heighten spiritual awareness and seek spiritual
illumination. The oils in Egyptian Gold were worth a king's ransom in gold. Now
you can experience these ancient secrets of the Gods.
Optimum Choices has three 2005 Convention "Gold of the Gods" kits available
complete with DVD for $55 each. The DVD includes one section on Essential Oils in
Ancient and Modern Medicine and a second section on Essences of Life: Using the
oils. It makes a great gift for that essential oil aficionado. Send an e-mail to
Russell Louie if interested:
russell@OptimumChoices.com.
Most people would answer this question "yes". Based on our research,
we would answer this question "no". Vegetarianism is the politically correct way
to eat but we do not agree that it is healthier or better for the environment. The assumption in most
media is that a vegetarian diet is healthier (such as cancer preventive and
"heart healthy"), kinder to the environment and more spiritually advanced. In recent years, many teenage
girls have become vegetarians or even vegans because it is "cool" and they feel
it is healthier and kinder to animals. The majority of people we know assume
that Russell and I must be vegetarians because we don't eat the Standard
American Diet (SAD), we avoid junk food, we love animals and they know we follow
a healthy diet and pursue spiritual growth.
However, we do not follow a vegetarian diet nor do we feel it is the
healthiest way to eat, especially for the long term. For the short term, it can
be cleansing but in the long-term, the body does not get the nutrients it needs
to be healthy, particularly for children, teenagers, parents-to-be and nursing
mothers. And despite assumptions to the contrary, a vegetarian diet is not
necessarily kinder to animals or the planet than a diet containing meat. Did you
know that soy farming in South America claims more acres of rainforest than
beef? While much of this is grown to feed European animals, the soy industry is
also vigorously promoting soy for people, and soy is often a major component of
the diet of vegetarians. Soy is not an appropriate, healthy or natural food for either
animals or people unless it is slowly fermented (see
our article on soy here). And eating a vegetable-based diet doesn't prevent
animals from being harmed either. Most vegetables, even organic, are grown on
large farms that use mechanized vegetable farming, resulting in numerous animals
being killed (the soil organisms, insects, rodents and birds that live wild in
the vegetable fields). In addition, monoculture agriculture (growing one plant in great
quantity) depletes the soil and is ecologically damaging. Neanderthin
author Ray Audette states "The production of wheat in ancient Sumeria
transformed once-fertile plains into salt flats that remain sterile 5,000 years
later." Slate, the online magazine, recently ran an
article on Whole
Foods pointing out that most of the organic produce at their store rarely comes from
the small, local, family-run farms they promote but rather from a few large
corporate farms in California.
Transporting organic food from these farms cross-country uses a tremendous
amount of energy. Growing plants for food is not always the best use of land, either. Two
thirds of the earth's land is unsuited for cultivation but can be used to graze
animals and these animals can subsist on plants
that are not fit for human consumption. The Maasai people in Africa are nomadic
herders and they believe that tilling the land for crop farming is a crime
against nature. Once you cultivate the land, it is no longer suitable for
grazing.
We realize that many people are vegetarians because they object to killing
animals and then eating them. Our feeling is that since we are biologically
designed to need nutrients only found in animal products, and our bodies have
the physiology (teeth and digestive system) of omnivores (animals that eat both
animal and plant material), then it cannot be wrong for us to kill animals for
food anymore than it is wrong for a lion to kill its prey. What is wrong is the
inhumane manner in which animals are raised and killed today in factory farms.
These animals are fed inappropriate food for their species (such as animal parts
being given to herbivores), raised in filthy conditions, do not have room to
move around and are given antibiotics and hormones to keep them alive in these
horrid conditions and maximize production.
We agree that meat from these
animals is not very healthy to eat and the animals are cruelly treated. On the
other hand, eating animals raised on pasture without hormones or antibiotics,
from a mixed-used farm run by small farmers, is not cruel in our opinion, nor
does it damage the environment. In fact, a farm that integrates animal husbandry
with growing vegetables is the most ecologically sound use of land and kindest
to the environment. The manure from the animals is used to fertilize the
plants and the animals help to protect the plants from destruction (such as
chickens eating insects that destroy plants). The
meat, dairy and eggs from such a farm will contain far more nutrients and a more appropriate
balance of fats than factory-farmed food. This food is more expensive and
difficult to find but is becoming more widely available as people request it.
The meat is typically labeled as "grass fed" and can be found at some health
food stores. (The dairy and eggs usually must be purchased direct from the
farm). For a thoughtful discussion on the ethics of eating meat, see this
article:
www.westonaprice.org/healthissues/ethicsmeat.html.
What about the argument that vegetarians can obtain all the nutrients they
need from food if they combine proteins (beans & grains) and take B12
supplements? And what about cultures such as in India that have been
successfully vegetarian for thousands of years? The fact that vegetarians do
need to take an artificial supplement (B12) to meet their needs for vitamins
tells me, as a biologist, that the diet is inappropriate. If a species is eating
the diet designed for it by Mother Nature, it should contain all the nutrients
in the food the animal needs for optimal health, without having to add man-made
substances created in a laboratory. Some people argue that soy and blue green
algae contain B12, however these are forms of B12 that cannot be absorbed by
humans and, in fact, increase the need for B12. Vitamin
B12 is found in dairy
and eggs, so it is primarily vegans who are at risk of B12 deficiency. The
argument against veganism being a "natural" way of eating is that if these same
people who are vegans had lived just a few decades ago, when fortified foods and
vitamins were unavailable, they would have died. So, how do Indians stay healthy
on a vegetarian diet? There are two factors: 1) their diet usually contains
dairy products (and raw milk, in the era before pasteurization, is very high in
nutrients) and 2) their grains are infested with insects, which provide many
beneficial nutrients including B12. Some Hindus are vegans but apparently the
insects infesting their grains provide the B12 they need. When they later moved
to England, they developed megaloblastic anemia (caused by B12 deficiency)
within a few years. In England, the food supply is cleaner and does not contain
insect parts as in India.
However, it's not just B12 that is lacking in a vegetarian diet. Other
critical nutrients lacking are the fat-soluble nutrients, particularly Vitamins
A and D. The beta carotene found in vegetables is not the same as Vitamin A
(though it may be listed on the label as the same). It has to be converted by
the body into Vitamin A and not all bodies can make this conversion,
particularly children, people with hypothyroid issues and diabetics. So maybe
children really do have a sound reason for not wanting to eat their vegetables
(their bodies are not as good as adults as absorbing the nutrients in plant
foods). Vitamin A is critical for a healthy immune system and many former
vegetarians have found that they are healthier and get fewer illnesses when they
eat animal products.
Vitamin D is also critical to health and to the absorption of minerals such
as calcium and magnesium. It is difficult to get enough D from brief periods of
time in the sun at the latitude of the U.S. Only sunning at midday during the
summer months with most of the body surface exposed will produce enough.
Traditional cultures, even in the tropics, ate diets high in Vitamin D such as intestines, organ
meats, skin and fat from certain land animals, as well as shellfish, oily fish
and insects. The Standard American Diet does not provide sufficient Vitamin D
and vegetarians get even less, since it is primarily found in animal foods,
particularly animal fat.
What about the frequent statements in the media that eating meat and animal
fats produces cancer and heart disease? Many scientists have shown these claims
to be false or to only be associated with processed or overcooked meats.
Instead, a high-carbohydrate diet as well as excessive consumption of
polyunsaturated fats from refined vegetable oils are associated with cancer.
Primitive cultures, such as the Eskimos, Aborigines and Maasai traditionally eat
diets high in animal products and animal fats but show low rates of cancer and heart
disease unless they switch to a modern Western diet. Then they are prone to the
same rates of degenerative diseases that plague
us. The media frequently uses the term "artery clogging saturated fats",
however, studies have shown that arterial plaque is composed mostly of
unsaturated fats, especially polyunsaturated. Mary Enig, the PhD expert on fats
who first sounded the alarm on trans-fatty acids, has shown that both
trans-fatty acids and polyunsaturated fats are the major culprits behind cancer
and heart disease, not saturated fats.
Numerous studies show that low fat diets are associated with many problems
such as depression, violence, cancer and fatigue, as well as growth problems,
failure to thrive and learning disabilities in children.
High-carbohydrate/low-fat diets tend to increase insulin in the body which is
now known to cause inflammation leading to heart disease, cancer and diabetes.
Excessive carbohydrates as well as monounsaturated fats, like olive oil, also
lead to weight gain. Vegetarian diets and in particular vegan diets are by nature
high-carbohydrate/low-fat. Maybe it's not just junk food that is making our
children obese and prone to mental problems--autism, violence, learning
disabilities, depression, etc. Animal products and especially animal fats
(including the fats in whole, raw milk) provide nutrients that are especially
needed for growing bodies and the developing brain and nervous system. Instead,
schools are providing low-fat, pasteurized milk to "counteract" the obesity
epidemic and well-meaning parents think a vegetarian diet is healthy for
children.
A low fat diet is also likely associated with the increasing rates of
infertility afflicting couples. Traditional cultures fed parents-to-be animal
products that are super high in the nutrients needed for healthy reproduction
such as eggs, liver, fish eggs, cream, butter, seafood, etc. Native American
couples experiencing infertility would go on a "bear fat" diet, which usually
resolved the problem. Today, we're told that it's healthier to eat vegetarian
and that being vegan is the ultimate in health. A local paper, which runs a
weekly feature on how couples met and what their wedding was like, ran a story
several months ago about a vegan man who persuaded his fiancé to become vegan as
well. The story focused on how wonderful it was that this couple was eating so
"healthy". Unfortunately, that couple may well have difficulty conceiving and
bearing children and their children's health will likely suffer as well. They
won't know why this is or even associate it with what they are eating because they think their diet is perfect.
Proponents
of vegetarian diets also don't take into consideration biochemical
individuality. As some former vegetarians have discovered, not everyone can be
healthy on a vegetarian diet, no matter how well balanced and supplemented.
Nutrition expert Sally Fallon describes the Native American and Irish races as
"obligate carnivores", meaning that their bodies require animal meat and fat to
obtain all the nutrients they need and adds that they tend to become alcoholics when their diet
is lacking this. People with ancestry of Innuit,
Scandinavian, Northern European or sea coast peoples that ate diets high in
seafood may have lost the ability to convert alpha-linolenic acid into EPA and
DHA (essential fatty acids found only in animal foods). This means they can't
get the fats they need from flax oil or other plant oils. If you have pets, you
should note that this is also true of many dogs and all cats. (Cats, being pure
carnivores, have no need for and therefore don't produce the enzymes that
convert plant oils into EPA and DHA.) Flax oil or seeds added to pet food and
supplements is useless to a cat.
If a vegetarian diet is not the ideal healthy diet, then what is a healthy
way to eat? We think it makes sense to look at what traditional cultures have
eaten for thousands of years, before the advent of Western processed foods (like
white flour, white sugar, refined vegetable oils, etc.). There are few cultures
left now that are untouched by Western civilization. Fortunately, researchers
such as Dr. Weston Price studied the diets of traditional people in the 1920's
and 1930's when it became possible to travel to the far corners of the globe,
before these cultures started eating modern foods. He was hoping to find a
healthy vegetarian culture and was disappointed when he did not. He found that
all healthy cultures used some animal foods. Also, paleontological evidence
shows humans have always been omnivores. For more information, see our
article on
Healthy Traditional Diets.
While the ideal diet will contain animal products from animals raised
outdoors on pasture, vegetables from small, organic family-owned farms and wild
seafood, even the less ideally-raised animal foods still contain essential
health-promoting nutrients. Sally Fallon tells the story of an elderly neighbor
who opened his refrigerator and showed her a shelf full of cream. Though the
cream was grocery store pasteurized cream and not from grass-fed cows, it still promoted the health
and longevity of this elderly man because cream is so concentrated in the
fat-soluble nutrients (like Vitamins A and D).
For more information on vegetarianism, we recommend the following resources:
The Myths of Vegetarianism (a major source for our article, it contains
a long list of scientific references)
Eat Fat, Lose Fat : The Healthy Alternative to Trans Fats
by Mary Enig and Sally Fallon
ISBN: 0452285666
review by Margaret Auld-Louie
This book, which has just come out in paperback, is not just for people
wanting to lose weight. It's for anyone wanting to feel better and be healthier,
since it explains how to change your diet to incorporate traditional foods and
methods of preparation which maximize nutrients vs. the processed, depleted
foods in most modern diets. The authors are nutrition experts: Mary Enig, PhD is
a world-renowned biochemist and lipids (fats) expert. She was one of the first
scientists to sound the alarm on trans-fatty acids (back in the 1970's) and was
ostracized at the time for that. Finally, more than 25 years later, their
dangers are widely known and on January 1, 2006, it became law for the amount of
trans-fats to be listed on ingredient labels. Sally Fallon is President of the
Weston A. Price
Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to teaching accurate
nutritional information based on traditional diets.
One important factor in traditional diets is the liberal use of animal fats
from pasture-raised animals, which are high in important nutrients, including
Vitamins A and D. Coconut oil is also a very healthy traditional fat, used for
thousands of years, that is especially helpful for weight loss because the type
of fat in it tends to be burned for energy rather than stored and it raises the
metabolic rate. I can personally vouch for that, having eaten coconut oil one
time in the evening with my dinner and then not being able to sleep all that
night because it energized me so much. When I mentioned that to coconut oil
expert Dr. Bruce Fife, he said that he avoids eating it after 6 pm.
An entire chapter of the book is dedicated to explaining the real facts on
fats--that saturated fats are essential for health and are not the
artery-clogging, cancer-producing demons reported in the media. The authors
describe the history of the myth that high-fat foods cause heart disease and the
evidence against this, both scientific and historic. For instance, traditional
cultures such as the Maasai, Eskimos and Native Americans ate up to 80% animal
fat, yet were free of heart disease. They describe the health benefits of eating
animal fats and coconut oil, including helping with a myriad of ailments such
as: chronic fatigue, anxiety, depression, mood swings, thyroid imbalance,
hypoglycemia, insulin resistance, food cravings, bacterial/fungal/viral
infections, digestive problems, gas and bloating, skin problems, wrinkled skin,
lifeless hair and liver problems. They then present 3 menu programs: one for
weight loss, one for health recovery and one for maintenance, with recipes
incorporating coconut oil and other forms of coconut. They also emphasize other
important components of a healthy diet, such as incorporating lacto-fermented
vegetables and drinks, as well as raw dairy. Other popular diet plans such as
Atkins, Zone, Weight Watchers and South Beach are analyzed and their strengths
and weaknesses explained.
If you have been on a low-fat diet for some time, do not jump "whole hog"
into the meal programs in the book, as your body probably cannot tolerate a high
fat diet right away and you may get sick. You need to do it gradually. I
experienced this problem myself a couple of years ago, when I tried eating a
bowl of oatmeal for breakfast with a large amount of butter and became very
nauseated a couple of hours later. On their
website, the authors
advise: "After following a low-fat diet for many years, your body is not used to
fats. You need to start slowly, with just 1/2 teaspoon coconut oil and less fat
in your meals. Then gradually build up your coconut oil and fat intake—we’ve had
several individuals report that they could tolerate the fats just fine after a
slow buildup. Be sure to include Swedish bitters in your diet as these help in
fat digestion. Beet kvass can also be very helpful." (Beet kvass is a fermented
beet beverage that is very healing for the liver.)
This book focuses heavily on the benefits of coconut products and how to
incorporate them into your diet. If you want a more comprehensive cookbook and
historical/scientific explanation of healthy traditional diets, we suggest you
also purchase their previous book,
Nourishing Traditions. That book, which is larger, covers in more detail how
to prepare traditional foods, such as fermented vegetables and beverages, but
has much less information on or use of coconut.
303-271-1649 866-305-2306 (toll-free) Normal office hours are 11:00 AM – 7:00 PM Mountain Time (U.S.). If you would
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Nothing on this website has been evaluated by the FDA. This information
is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Please
see a qualified healthcare practitioner for any disease or illness.