Taste and smell can be powerful tools in the classroom

   

As classrooms “go digital,” educators should consider smell and taste as underutilized

There’s strong evidence for smell and taste being central to nutrition education dating back a century to the pioneering work of physician Maria Montessori, whose schools worldwide continue to prioritize what Dr. Montessori referred to as the “education of the senses.” There is also recent evidence that multisensory nutrition education reduces classroom absenteeism and improves standardized test scores, according to a report by the Institute of Medicine’s task force on childhood obesity. Changes in health behaviors, such as hand washing, hydration and reducing sugar intake, lead to fewer sick days. And activities such as cooking with recipes, reading nutrition labels and counting calories appear to greatly improve math test scores, possibly because they utilize more senses than does most math classwork.

There’s a biochemical basis for incorporating taste and smell into nutrition education. Taste and smell, which are referred to as the chemosenses because they “talk” to the brain via molecules, guide our behavior and level of motivation. Studies using functional MRI map chemosensory brain activity in the brainstem, a control center for instinctual behaviors like sleeping, eating and the fight-and-flight response. (In contrast, sight and sound are largely registered in the neocortex, the part of the brain used for cognition.) Food scents and taste are powerful influencers because of food’s central role in species survival. The gaming and cosmetic industries use food fragrances to incentivize behavior and purchases. In other words, the nose knows–less in the test-taking way we usually assess knowledge and more through pathways linked closely to behavior change and lifelong learning.

Chemosensory learning does not stop in elementary school. In fact, taste acquisition and adult food preferences are honed during early adolescence.
The case for incorporating chemosensory learning into middle and high school curricula has never been stronger. The sophistication of fast food marketing requires today’s youth to be especially discerning. Children and teens also have more discretionary spending and a wider array of food choices. Given the epidemic of nutrition-related chronic diseases, we need an all-hands-on-deck approach to equipping our nation’s youth.

A rise in chronic diseases in youth has led to a rise in the use of prescription medications to treat them. One in 4 insured American youth takes a prescription medication on a regular basis, according to the Medco 2010 Drug Trend Report. Many of these medications have not been studied in youth, and those that have been studied exhibit nuanced, individualized and sometimes adverse effects on food selection and appetite. Appetite-related side effects are not limited to the medication’s duration and can be long-lasting. However, teaching kids to fine-tune their senses of smell and taste can minimize these side effects by helping people realize when they’re full, and is also key to mindful eating.

The digital age makes new and innovative ways of incorporating the chemosenses possible. One example is “flipped classrooms,” where technology-driven learning can be used at home or in during extracurricular activities, which then frees up class time for student discussion and presentations. The flipped classroom approach makes it possible to use smell and taste in virtual classrooms as well, and in settings where food allergies may limit such experiences in the classroom. Encouraging students to engage in nutrition activities in the home has long been used in public health interventions known as a “child-as-change-agent approach.”

Community partnerships have long been a way for public health nutritionists and educators to work together to achieve sustainable behavior change among youth. The web has also become a catalyst for more diverse stakeholders in nutrition education: STEM programs using nutrition as a gateway science, athletic groups seeking to improve the sports performance of youth, agriculture programs such as 4-H and Future Farmers of America, and the National Park Service linking healthy parks with healthy people for their upcoming centennial.

Peer leadership is another well-established method for engaging adolescents in positive health behaviors. The web and social media have allowed youth peer leaders to expand beyond traditional roles such as camp leaders, afterschool tutors and buddy program participants. In NutriBee, an early adolescent nutrition intervention I researched and developed at Johns Hopkins, high school students come up with projects relating their personal interests to nutrition, which then comprise the online component of NutriBee’s curriculum. The curriculum, aimed at slightly younger kids, incorporates the chemosenses, touch and social interaction.

The chemosenses can help translate nutrition education into healthful behavior changes and positive actions. Getting taste and smell back into the teaching toolbox can therefore impact public health. And the digital age is fertile soil for sprouting the innovation necessary to do that.

Ingrid Kohlstadt, MD, MPH, is a physician graduate of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Dr. Kohlstadt is a Faculty Associate at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health and double-board certified in preventive medicine and nutrition. She edited textbooks Food and Nutrients in Disease Management and Advancing Medicine with Food and Nutrients, Second Edition. Dr. Kohlstadt has worked for the CDC, the FDA, the USDA, the Indian Health Service and the Johns Hopkins Weight Management Center, and serves on the review board of Nutrition Journal.

http://time.com/3582298/coming-to-our-senses-on-education-and-nutrition/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+time%2Ftopstories+(TIME%3A+Top+Stories)

Optimal Sulfur Levels Can Reverse Chronic Disease

Are you unable to lose excess weight? Do you have a family member at risk of dying from an "incurable" disease? According to a growing community of health experts, medical professionals need to consider the danger of sulfur deficiencies in the body and their impact on human health.

Modern farming practices are creating the epidemic rise in mineral deficiencies

Sadly, thanks to conventional nutritional wisdom, most people are led to believe that a "balanced diet" will provide all the essential vitamins and minerals needed to enjoy a healthy life. Unfortunately, monocropping, the heavy use of herbicides and the deployment of genetically engineered foods have dramatically reduced the quality of our food supply and its nutritional value.

And let's not forget the damage caused by highly processed, denatured foods -- which are so depleted in essential nutrients that food producers are forced to "fortify" the products with synthetic substances not found in nature. We must wake up the sleeping masses and warn them about the health dangers associated with eating nutrient-depleted foods.

A lack of sulfur promotes the creation of cancer cells

To prevent cancer, we often hear about the value of chemical avoidance, consuming lots of antioxidant-rich foods plus the need for supplements like vitamin C and D. But few people ever hear about the importance of sulfur -- one of the most abundant minerals found in the human body. This essential mineral is responsible for cellular respiration, regeneration and detoxification, and it functions as a precursor to the utilization of amino acids.

Simply put, if we want to avoid cancer, we must eat sulfur-rich foods like grass-fed meats and organically raised fruits and vegetables. But, more importantly, we must avoid toxic chemicals found in personal care products, household cleaners and industrialized food products -- which are loaded with cancer-causing substances that inhibit the absorption of sulfur plus other essential nutrients.

The widespread deficiency in sulfur -- due to modern food production techniques -- coupled with the proliferation of harmful chemicals in our environment must end for us to eliminate the growing threat of chronic disease in our society.



http://www.naturalnews.com/046159_sulfur_chronic_disease_mineral_deficiency.html?utm_content=buffer2c901&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Adrenal Fatigue: How it Affects Your Life and How to Heal it

80 % of American society is afflicted with adrenal fatigue at some point in their life yet most are unaware of the problem. They simply know they don't feel well or perhaps symptoms lead them to explore other disorders; we do know that often symptoms denote multiple possibilities and sometimes overlap disorders. Do these symptoms apply to you?

♠ Weight gain, especially in waist or stomach, and it stubbornly sticks to you
♠ Fatigue ~ lack of energy ~ lethargy
♠ Insomnia
♠ Brain fog ~ concentration difficulty
♠ Morning sluggishness ~ need for stimulants to get you moving
♠ Constipation
♠ Nervousness ~ anxiety
♠ Mild depression
♠ Dry skin and hair
♠ Arthritis
♠ Pain in upper back and neck
♠ Unexplained hair loss
♠ Cold hands and feet ~ or just plain cold
♠ Allergies ~ both inhalants and food
♠ Low body temperature
♠ Reduced sex drive

If you said "yes" to several of these symptoms there is a strong possibly that you are experiencing adrenal fatigue. If you said "yes" to half or more, your adrenals are fatigued.

What is adrenal fatigue?
Adrenal fatigue is simply the allowance of stressors to influence and perhaps take control over your life. Stress is a big issue in most people's lives and all too often the person has no idea how to deal with the stress. The result is adrenal fatigue as well as many other imbalances within the body, mind and spirit of the individual. Stress has many faces such as:

Anger ~ fear ~ guilt
Not enough sleep ~ chronic fatigue
Chronic illness
Chronic infection
Too much exercise
Improper diet
Gluten intolerance
Worry ~ anxiety ~ continually focusing on negative aspects and events
Exposure to large amount of toxins
Surgery
Caffeine
Excess sugar
Digestive imbalances

What happens when your body becomes stressed?

Your adrenal glands are located directly above the kidneys which are found in the back of you right above your waist. In this tiny gland is the most abundant hormone in your body - DHEA. Cortisol (often referred to as the hormone of death) is also found in your adrenal glands. The adrenals main purpose is to be a stress regulator. Here's an example:
You are traveling down the road and someone pulls out in front of you. You slam on your brakes, maybe say a few choice words, and are grateful that you avoided an accident. In the meantime you had probably stopped breathing momentarily, at the very least you only took shallow quick breaths. Your heart probably began racing and felt like it would pop out of your chest and maybe even your head started throbbing. What you probably don't know is that your cortisol also shot up to accommodate for the demand put on your adrenals. This is what we term flight and flight, and it is beneficial when something like this occurs. However, when our life becomes a continual fight and flight atmosphere, we can easily develop adrenal fatigue. The adrenals kicking in for a sudden trauma is meant to be temporary.

From the stressors already mentioned, it is usually a combination of various stressors that create this syndrome for you.

As a result of continuous stress to your body, your cortisol remains elevated and thus the symptoms begin. It is very likely that at the same time your DHEA is declining, and if you are 40 or older, it is doing so naturally. We know that hormones do decline with age, but if we are stressed they will decline more rapidly. All of this not only tears down your health but ages you faster both internally and externally. And who wants to age faster!

As a result of experiencing adrenal fatigue, most individuals reach for stimulants to get and keep them going - coffee, sodas, pills, alcohol, chocolate, nicotine, etc. They are masking their problem and it continues to grow worse without their awareness due to the cover-up.

Here's the importance of cortisol.

It normalizes blood sugar ~ When a stressor occurs the cortisol increases the blood sugar level in your body, working with the pancreas to provide enough glucose to provide energy for your cells. Continuous increased blood sugar levels creates a blood sugar imbalance which can lead to multiple physical disorders such as diabetes.

Anti-inflammatory ~ Cortisol is a powerful anti-inflammatory agent. When trauma happens to our body the cortisol is released to reduce the swelling and repair the injury. Too much trauma produces too much cortisol. There are many disorders associated with inflammation such as arthritis, fibromyalgia, osteoporosis.

Immune system supporter ~ Cortisol influences most cells that participate in your immune system's regulation. Chronic high levels of cortisol suppress the immune system allowing an individual to be more susceptible to illness, especially to viruses.

Stress balancer ~ Cortisol helps to balance your stress reactions, but if stress becomes chronic then it can no longer maintain the balance. The result can be weight gain that is difficult to reduce, high blood pressure, estrogen dominance that can lead to uterine fibroids and even breast cancer, and much more.

So you can see how easy it is to find yourself in the throws of adrenal fatigue and yet suspect other disorders. I personally believe, as do many health practitioners, that it is imperative to repair your adrenals no matter what illness or disorder you have because the adrenals will always be affected if there is imbalance anywhere in your body.

Steps to repair your adrenals

1. First of all understand this. Traditional medicine testing cannot detect adrenal fatigue unless it has become severe. That's why so many physicians tell their patients - and you may have been one of them - to go home and relax or give them a prescription drug for anxiety to help. That's simply a band-aid approach and resolves little if anything, and it definitely doesn't cure the problem.

2. However, there is a saliva test that holistic practitioners and doctors are using that has excellent results in measuring your cortisol and DHEA levels. It is called the ASI, or Adrenal Stress Index. Although nothing is ever 100% accurate, this has very high accuracy. The reason is that your saliva is part of your tissues and can relate to the lab technicians what is being absorbed within your body as well as the level of your hormones.

3. Realize that all physical disorders have emotional cores. You may be able to "fix"
your adrenal problem temporarily by making some lifestyle changes, but if you don't release the negative emotion that underlies your stress it will simply come back again, perhaps in another form. We are multidimensional beings and it requires a balance in all four areas to be healthy. One tire on your car can cause quite an imbalance if it loses enough air. So it is with your body and health.

4. Remove your stressors. You might be laughing right now as you're thinking I don't know what your life is like and what you're going through. You might be surprised just how much I do understand. And yes, you can successfully become stress free. You see, I'm a recoveree of adrenal fatigue and had been experiencing it for decades but didn't know it. I gave birth to and raised five children, worked all through those years, was driven to succeed in my work, began having big health challenges, divorced, experienced major financial struggles for several years, found myself in a potentially destructive business arrangement from which I finally detached, and so on. We all have our stories but you don't have to stay in them. I left my old story and created a life free from stress and its affects on me. You can do it too! The key is in how you respond to the stressors.

5. Get enough sleep! This can be a real problem for many people. So many come into our health store begging for something so they can sleep. Insomnia often accompanies
adrenal fatigue yet it is most necessary for repair. 7-8 hours or more are necessary for healing and the adrenals repair most from 11pm - 1am. (some say the repair begins at 10 pm) So that means that you night owls might need to make some changes. I had to do this as well. Melatonin, 5HTP, herbs, magnesium, warm baths, reading before retiring, working with a coach to learn new ways to respond to your stress, listening to soft music, are all possible was to help you sleep. It is also essential to clean your liver and digest your food well to sleep well. Guides for this are mentioned below.

6.Change your diet. Follow these guidelines to allow for adrenal repair:

♦ Eliminate sugar, caffeine, and alcohol - these fight against adrenal repair
♦ Consider adding salt to you diet - but only Himalayan or Celtic types
♦ Consume many organic vegetables, at least 6 every day
♦ Consider juicing veggies several times a week for cleansing your body
♦ Drink 1 mug of warm water on empty stomach every morning with ½ organic
lemon squeezed in it - cleanses the liver easily and naturally
♦ Exercise, but only moderately at first. Rule of thumb is to stop if tired.
♦ Eat regularly, at least three meals per day - may benefit from 5-6 small ones
♦ Eat plenty of good protein as amino acids found in protein help restore adrenals
♦ Progesterone cream - promotes healthy adrenals and thyroid glands, helps to
balance estrogen overload
♦ Supplementation - this is an individualized process - there is no one protocol that works for everyone and what works for one can be toxic to another. Below are some suggestions but please do your own research and seek the help of qualified
practitioners for your repair process.

Note: When your adrenals are fatigued the immediate craving is for sugar, yet ironically it is the worst thing you could consume as it furthers the adrenal fatigue. Individuals who crave sugar or carbohydrates often find that adrenal fatigue is a root cause of their cravings.

Adrenals will be better served with organic vegetables, the darker and brighter the better, plenty of good quality protein to ensure enough amino acids, plenty of water and the inclusion of beneficial oils like refined, organic extra virgin coconut oil. This kind of coconut oil can actually cause weight loss and provide the good fats necessary for the conversion of ALL hormones in your body.

Supplementation that can support adrenal repair:

♦ Vitamin C and bioflavonoids - 1000 mg to 5000 mg daily, divided doses
♦ B-5, pantothenic acid, or panethine gelcaps - 1000 - 1500 mg daily, divided
♦ Vitamin E, mixed tocopherols - 400 iu's daily, one gelcap
♦ Magnesium - citrate good form, 500 mg or more daily, powdered form good
♦ Natural progesterone cream - men can also benefit

Also may be beneficial:

♦ B complex, 50 - 100 mg 2 x's daily
♦ Multi-vitamin/mineral - once daily
♦ Antioxidants
♦ DHEA - be careful with this, especially women, as only a little is needed to help
♦ Natural hydrocortisone - caution here as well - prescription only

Additional suggestions:

Since most individuals with adrenal fatigue have compromised digestion, it is vital that they can digest food and supplement intake properly and have a good intestinal flora balance.

You might want to include the following in your daily diet to assist in adrenal restoration:

♦ Probiotics - 2 - 3 times per day
♦ Digestive enzymes - with every meal
♦ Eating raw fermented vegetables - daily

Note: Often less is best, at least to begin. If your body is not functioning optimally, it may be necessary to introduce supplements and changes slowly so as not to "shock" the body or overload it. Of course, in the case of serious disease, it is often beneficial to saturate the body quickly to detoxify and ensure healing. Baby steps do best and know that adrenal restoration takes time, from 3 months to as much as two years, according to the severity of your adrenal fatigue.

By Carolyn Porter
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/158612http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Carolyn_Porter,_D.Div.

Can These 7 Foods Lower Your Cholesterol?

Cholesterol can be a tricky thing to wrap your head around. 

It’s hard to keep up with what you’re supposed to be eating and what you’re supposed to be avoiding. But most of the foods laden with cholesterol are also heavy in saturated fats and other things you want to avoid. - See more at:

http://www.sunwarrior.com/news/lower-cholesterol-7-foods/

8 Foods Even The Experts Won’t Eat

 

Find out more at:

http://eatlocalgrown.com/article/12214-8-foods-even-the-experts-won-t-eat.html

The pH Equation and Health

 

Healing chronic illness occurs when the blood is restored to normal slightly alkaline PH. Isagenix doesn't cure, prevent or treat any illnesses but it will assist in returning your blood to an alkaline state amongst many other health benefits.

 

For more information about Isagenix go to http://www.healthnharmony1.isagenix.com

Heart surgeon declares on what really causes heart illness

The following article is a MUST to read!!!

 

Dr. Dwight Lundell, a heart surgeon with 25 years experience, admits he's been wrong on the medical science on heart disease and shares what he feels is the true cause of heart disease, obesity and diabetes.

NOTE: After reading this article, you've no doubt discovered a range of health challenges. While no one product can single-handedly remedy these issues, it's imperative that we do something to support our health and well-being.

 

Remember, Isagenix does not treat cure or prevent any disease or illness. Isagenix used in conjunction with proper rest, diet and exercise, may contribute to overall health and well-being.

 

http://www.tunedbody.com/heart-surgeon-declares-really-causes-heart-illness/

What Is Your Heart Age?

Hi all, here's a great website which will allow you to see your heart age. It's a simple test and only takes 2 minutes, it's more accurate if you know your cholesterol and blood pressure.

Remember that with every 2.2kg of additional weight (fat) you carry on your frame above your ideal weight your heart will have to pump blood the distance of the moon and back every 6 months, so if this is happening over many years you will wear your heart out.

http://www.heartage.me/#/

Measure Your Waist

Your waist measurement compares closely with your body mass index (BMI), and is often seen as a better way of checking your risk of developing a chronic disease.

Measuring your waist circumference is a simple check to tell how much body fat you have and where it is placed around your body.  Where your fat is located can be an important sign of your risk of developing an ongoing health problem.

Regardless of your height or build, for most adults a waist measurement of greater than 94cm for men and 80cm for women is an indicator of the level of internal fat deposits which coat the heart, kidneys, liver and pancreas, and increase the risk of chronic disease.
 
 
How to measure your waist

1. Find the top of your hip bone and the bottom of your ribs.

2. Breathe out normally.

3. Place the tape measure midway between these points and wrap it around your waist.

4. Check your measurement.
 
 
 

 

Are these waist measurements suitable for everyone?

Waist measurements should only be used for adults to check their risk of developing a chronic disease. The waist measurements above are recommended for Caucasian men, and Caucasian and Asian women. Recommended waist measurements are yet to be determined for all ethnic groups. It is believed that they may be lower for Asian men.

http://www.heartfoundation.org.au/healthy-eating/Pages/waist-measurement.aspx