Dr. Fuhrman Introduces a New Salad Dressing: Sesame Ginger

Bestselling author of books “Eat to Live” and “Super Immunity,” as well as his newest “The End of Diabetes,” Dr. Joel Fuhrman offers a number of healthy food products on his Web site www.drfuhrman.com. This includes a line of no oil, no salt, no preservatives, vegan and gluten free salad dressings – and the newest addition is Sesame Ginger.

The ingredients are all natural, and heart-healthy nuts and seeds are used instead of unhealthy oils. The new Sesame Ginger includes a blend of fresh ginger, sesame seeds, almonds and carrots. Other flavors include Tuscan Herb Dressing, BlueberryPom and Almond Balsamic.

Dr. Fuhrman Shares “5 Epic Diet Disasters” on the Dr. Oz Show

Bestselling author of book “Eat to Live,” and “Super Immunity,” as well as his newest “The End of Diabetes,” Dr. Joel Fuhrman, believes in using food as medicine. He also believes in throwing away the food scales, frozen diet meals, fat-free foods and more, and shared what he calls five “epic diet disasters,” on a recent episode of The Dr. Oz Show.

1 – Don’t diet. Never go on a diet. “People go on a diet and they start cutting back on calories, and the amount of food they are eating and it just results in a disaster. They wind up heavier then when they started,” he said on the Dr. Oz Show.

2 – Diets Fuels Food Addictions. “Diets give people these gimmicks and tricks, but they don’t supply the full gamut of micronutrients the human body needs, and when you are micronutrient deficient you develop cravings,” said Dr. Fuhrman.

Some diets he discussed include going gluten free only to loose weight. “Gluten is only negative for less than 10 percent of the population, and many of the gluten-free flours have high insulin levels and promote weight gain,” he said.

Another diet many people choose is high protein, but this can cause weight gain in the long run, and can worsen diabetes in those suffering from it, said Fuhrman. “It promotes the hormone IGF 1, or Insulin like growth factor 1, that could promote certain cancers like breast cancer. High protein and low carb is a dangerous long term diet and disruptive to your health,” he noted.

Also, fat-free diets can work against the body because the body can’t lose fat if we are not eating it. “We need fat to absorb the micronutrients that have anti-cancer effects, and it could lead to more cravings and actually slow down fatty acid oxidation,” said Fuhrman.

3 – Counting Calories. Dr. Fuhrman said counting calories – and in essence, reducing calories – is a proven formula for dietary failure. “The American diet is already micronutrient deficient, and by reducing calories further it exacerbates the micronutrient deficiency and makes [people] want to crave food even more and overeat,” he told Dr. Oz.

4 – Six Small Meals a day. Believe it or not, Dr. Fuhrman said eating six small meals a day has been show to cause people to eat more calories in the evening or end of the day, which stops the body from detoxing. In the catabolic phase of the digestive cycle, the body breaks down food and this is when the body repairs itself. “People are inhibiting that by putting food in all the time, so it’s not good for their long-term health either,” said Dr. Fuhrman.

5 – Toxic Hunger. Dr. Fuhrman called toxic hunger the No. 1 epic diet failure. Have you ever had a growling stomach, light-headedness, headaches or irritability, and think it means your hungry? Dr. Fuhrman refers to these symptoms as toxic hunger, which are actually withdrawal symptoms from a diet that is inadequate.

“It’s actually addictive withdrawal. The body dumps waste products into circulation for removal by the liver and kidney … you feel fatigued, irritable and have headaches,” said Fuhrman. “They are signs there is something wrong with the way you are eating, and it drives people to overeat food. It keeps them addicted.”

With an inadequate diet lacking the proper nutrients – or micronutrients – these symptoms cause people to eat more in order to get rid of the symptoms. “When you try to stop eating it, you feel sick because the body is trying to repair the damage caused by that substance, so you have to keep eating that food. Toxic hunger means they have to consume more calories then the body needs,” he said.

The only way to break this cycle is to eat more of the right foods – those high in nutrients, antioxidants and phytochemicals to remove the toxins, free radicals and oxidative stress. “Then you no longer feel shaky and fatigued between meals. You don’t have to stop the detox because you don’t feel bad,” said Dr. Fuhrman. “Then you get connected with what real hunger feels like. You don’t have to diet, measure or weigh, you just eat when you feel like eating, and you will feel like eating the right amount of food.”

The Secret to Losing Weight & Keeping it Off
True hunger is not felt in the stomach with growling – it is actually felt in the neck, throat and chest area, said Dr. Fuhrman. Once we begin to introduce the right foods into the body, we will actually enhance our taste buds, and food that is good for us will begin to taste amazing.

“There are a lot of taste buds in the tongue. In toxic hunger you overwhelm the taste buds, and they start to go dull on you. The first bite of food tastes differently than the last, but with true hunger we turn this around,” he told Dr. Oz. The taste buds become more sensitive, and each bite of food tastes the same once we begin eating right.

We can actually eat as much food as we want, as long as it’s the right foods – foods that don’t raise the insulin and glucose, he said. Here are five that can’t rid the body of toxic hunger, help it to lose weight, and keep it off for good!

1 – Pomegranates. These are full of a nutrient called punicalagin, which lowers the blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar. It also helps reverse diabetes, doesn’t raise insulin, and may have anti-cancer effects, said Dr. Fuhrman, who told Dr. Oz he eats the seeds. When they are in season, he buys extra, removes the seeds, and stores them in bags in the freezer. His method for de-seeding? Cut around the fruit like an avocado and twist it open. Bang on the back of it with a wooden spoon, and all of the seeds will fall out.

2 – Cocoa Powder. There is no sugar in cocoa powder and it’s full of antioxidents and flavanols. Dr. Fuhrman recommends buying all natural and unsweetened.

3 – Adzuki Beans. These beans are a dieters best friend because not only are they low in calories, but they are also not broken down entirely, so some of the calories pass through and are not digested. This can speed up fat loss, burn fat faster, and help us to lose weight.

4 – Squash. These contain the right type of carbohydrates that don’t raise insulin response and have anti-diabetic effects to keep sugar down and allow us to feel full, Dr. Fuhrman said on the show. “They have pectins that lower your cholesterol, lower your blood glucose, and help modulate insulin to make you more non-diabetic,” he explained. Other carbs in this category are beans and cauliflower.

5 – Cashews. “We want people to get most of their fat intake from nuts and seeds because when you take oil instead of nuts and seeds for the fat, the oil absorbs within minutes, but for nuts and seeds, it takes hours to break down the fat, and your body burns it for energy, and it increases fatty acid oxidation,” said Dr. Fuhrman. He also offered a four-ingredient recipe for a dressing with cashews to replace oil:

Cashew Dressing

Ingredients

2 Navel Orages
½ cup cashews
¼ cup of unhulled sesame seeds
¼ cup of white wine vinegar
a squeeze of Lemon

Directions: Combine all the ingredients in a blender and process.

For more on Dr. Fuhrman, visit www.drfuhrman.com.

Dr. Joel Fuhrman Offers Advice for Keeping Healthy During Flu Season

Dr. Joel Fuhrman, author of bestselling books “Eat to Live,” “Super Immunity,” and his newest book, “The End of Diabetes,” recently sent out a letter to his mailing list offer advice on staying healthy during cold and flu, as well as the effectiveness of the flu vaccine.

To avoid any viral illness, Dr. Fuhrman recommends eating right, getting enough sleep, and keeping your hands away from your face, as it is difficult to get a viral infection if you do not put your hands near your mouth or nose when in public.

“Remember, when you are in public, such as at work or school resist the temptation to touch your face or put your hands near your nose or mouth,” he said in the e-mail. “That works, because you can’t get enough virus in the orifices of your body just by breathing the air, unless someone coughs right on you.”

He also noted the flu shot is not as effective as one might think. There are more than 200 viruses that cause the flu (influenza) and influenza-like illness, and lab test are required to tell these apart.

Even in the best-case scenario, vaccines might be effective against only some influenza A and B, but those represent less than 10 percent of all circulating viruses,” he noted.

Each year, the World Health Organization makes recommendations on which viral strains should be included in the upcoming year’s flu vaccinations, and while this may lead to some effectiveness against specific viral strains, the match to these varies from year to year.

“Even if you are in that 10 percent of sick people with flu-like symptoms who really have influenza A or B, only about half of those vaccinated will be helped by the vaccine because the other half will have strains that were not included in the vaccine,” said Fuhrman. “And even with the best matching conditions the vaccine may diminish your symptoms somewhat, but not necessarily preclude you from catching the flu.”

He quoted a study done by the internationally renowned Cochrane Collaboration, which reviewed all the relevant studies, involving over 70,000 participants – and the authors were independent from the U.S. vaccine manufacturers and the pharmaceutical and vaccine lobby, so the results were totally unbiased.

“They assessed all trials that compared vaccinated people with unvaccinated people. The combined results of these trials showed that even under ideal conditions (vaccine completely matching circulating viral configuration), 4 percent of unvaccinated people and 1 percent of vaccinated people became infected – the vaccine had only a minor benefit,” he stated.  Also, in children two years and younger, the researchers found the effectiveness of the vaccine was no better than a placebo.

“The authors disagreed with the CDC’s recommendation for universal vaccination at all ages without clear evidence of significant effectiveness and safety. Certainly the elderly, the group most vulnerable to non-pandemic flu, should benefit the most, but this also is not observed as the vaccine does not work well in the elderly because of their decline in immune function,” he said.

Fuhrman pointed out that no vaccine is without risks, and for those who do choose to get a flu shot – do not get a shot from a multi-use vial, as it contains more mercury and preservatives than a single dose vial.

For more information on Dr. Fuhrman, or to sign up for his newsletter, visit www.drfuhrman.com.