The China Study

The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-term Health by T. Colin Campbell

My review

This was an interesting book. I enjoyed reading about the author's personal research, but the sections where he started citing other people's studies as further evidence of his conclusions felt like propaganda. He later details how and why this information hasn't gotten more public attention. That's where I stopped reading.



On the one hand, I understand his position: he feels like there are a whole slew of corporations and advertisers presenting food propaganda that supports the typical American diet and probably is contributing to the American health crisis. However, I'm not sure that the best way to react is with counter-propaganda.



Anyway, the basic conclusions of Dr. Campbell's research is that a whole-foods, plant-based diet is the healthiest way to eat. He asserts (and uses his own research to back the assertion) that nutrition affects cancer; specifically higher amounts of animal protein correlate to higher rates of cancer.



It definitely got me thinking...


View all my reviews.

Sinus update

Since I last wrote about my sinus woes, I had two more infections. I took a course of antibiotics (15 day), then three days after I finished, I got another infections. I had an appointment already scheduled with a naturepath, and I was very interested in what he thought. He said he thought my infections were fungal, not bacterial, since the antibiotics would have still been in my system. He gave me an antifungal nasal spray, and I haven't had any troubles since then, knock on wood!

Angie's Granola

My friend Angie made this granola (and homemade yogurt) for a play-date snack. I hope it's okay that I post it here. I think she said she originally got it from a running magazine? Correct me if I'm wrong, Angie.

5 C oats

1 C wheat germ

1 C bran flakes

~1 C nuts

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 C honey

1/2 C oil

here's how I make it. I mix the dry ingredients in a big bowl. I put wet ingredients in a microwave safe bowl and zap for 1 min. Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients. I start pre-heating my oven at this point, because it heats very quickly and I usually get distracted by some kid-related emergency before I'm through. I line some jelly-roll pans with foil and spread the granola out evenly. Bake at 300 for 20-30 min.

An aside--I have made this recipe without wheat germ and bran flakes (because none was on-hand), and it turned out just fine. There's more protein and fiber with them in, though. This time I used pecans for the nuts, and added unsweetened shredded coconut. Last time I used pumpkin and sunflower seeds for the nuts. I like that you can add whatever you want to the basic recipe.

Chocolate De-light

I was craving frozen yogurt tonight, but some friends dropped by and stayed until the health food store was closed (they make their own frozen yogurt....mmmmmm.....), so this was my alternative.

1/2 C plain low-fat yogurt

1/2 - 1 T agave syrup

1 T chocolate sauce

mix together and sprinkle granola on top. quite satisfactory, if I do say so myself.

Baked Sweet Potatoes with West African-Style Peanut Sauce

I made this recipe for dinner on Sunday. We had some friends over for dinner. The only alteration I made in the original recipe was to omit the red pepper (so it would be more kid-friendly). Here is a link to the recipe.

Thanks everyone

I greatly appreciate all the advice on the sinus front. I'm not sure I'm ready to cut out dairy again, but I bet that would help a lot.

Also, I love all the great recipes you are posting. My family thanks you as well. The cauliflower curry soup and asparagus soup were big hits at my house.

Thanks again,

shauna

Immunity-boosting help, please

Okay, so one of my main motivations for starting this blog in the first place was that I get sick a lot. Nothing too terrible, just obnoxious sinus infections and their side effects (it moves to my lungs and gives me a bad sore throat on the way).

Since September (I'm going back to there, since the move created a marker by which to gage time better) I've had to take antibiotics twice (once for sinus infection, once for ear infection), and I've been sick more days than not. Each month has brought its own onset of sinus fun, and each bout takes me about 10-15 days to get over. October and December delivered twice the fun.

So, HELP! What can I do to stay healthy?!?!? I've been taking pro-biotics (though not religiously), and used cranberry pills once I get an infection (plus neti pot, musinex, decongestant, etc.), but does anyone know how I can avoid the problem in the first place? A few years back (pre-kids) I had some extensive allergy testing, plus a visit to the ENT (complete with CAT scan), and all they told me was that I have "non-allergic rhinitis." Yea, thanks for that. In plain English--an infection in the nose that is not produced by a histamine response to a known allergen. I've pretty much given up on traditional medicine helping me prevent the problem (that's not really their specialty), though I'm not opposed to trying meds.

Any suggestions?

Sincerely,

Desperately Congested