Dr. Greger on COVID, Iron & Cancer, Cholesterol, Recipe Corner

In This Issue: 

• • Dr. Greger on COVID-19
  • Iron & Cancer
  • Worried About Cholesterol?
  • Recipe Corner

You’ll Find More Fascinating Health Posts my Facebook Page –

facebook.com/HealItAll/ – and lots of great recipes in my

Whole Foods Plant-Based, Gluten Free Diet & Recipes Group

Message from Bernadette Wulf

Greetings!

Happy May Day, or Beltane as it was called in the old world. It is the first day of summer in the Celtic calendar, so welcome in the sun!

I know it may not seem like a time to celebrate for many of us right now. The world is going through some strange growing pains. A lot of things we took for granted are now feeling out of reach or up in the air. Some people are directly impacted by our worldwide pandemic, either dealing with illness themselves, taking care of others, having lost jobs or income, or saddest of all, having lost loved ones. My heart goes out to all of you and I wish you the very best in these trying times.

It seems like nothing can come up in the news any more without triggering all sorts of radically conflicting opinions, some well founded, others bordering on lunacy. Many are motivated by politics or financial interests. The COVOD-19 pandemic is no exception.

Who can we trust to tell us the truth? How can we know how to make the best choices for ourselves and our families? I can’t answer that for you, but out of all the many sources I’ve read and listened to, I can say that Dr. Greger is one voice of reason that I trust, because I know his track record and qualifications. I wish he had more good news to share, but I guess it is better to prepare for the most probable outcomes, even while hoping things don’t last as long as he is predicting. I hope you find something helpful in his article on the virus.

Dr. Greger also shared some interesting research on heme iron and how it is related to cancer and possibly even diabetes. Too much of a good thing can be a bad thing!

Next we have a really interesting video by Dr. Klaper on cholesterol that is well worth watching. The visuals are super helpful in understanding how diet can affect the health of arteries and health. The good news is that you don’t have to worry so much about cholesterol numbers, as long as you are eating a healthy whole food plant-based diet.

Last of all, I figured we could all use some healthy recipes to support our quest for health (and a strong immune system). I found a great website with all Medical Medium compatible recipes – and lots of them look really delicious. I can’t wait to try some of them.

As always, I love to hear what you want to read about. More recipes? More videos of inspiring doctors and nutrition experts? More articles on specific health issues? Let me know.

Have questions or comments? Email Bernadette Please use this link and do not hit reply to this post, because I may never get your message that way.

To your health and happiness!

Bernadette Wulf

HealItAll.com & Plant Based for Life

---

Dr. Greger on COVID-19

Before he became the leading authority on nutritional research, Dr. Greger was also an expert on pandemics and he has a lot to say about the current one. In fact, he recently did a four hour webinar on the subject. His article highlights the most important points from the webinar.

I don’t share his hope that a vaccine will eliminate this virus, given that there is so much data available about adverse reactions and ineffectiveness of the flu vaccines. (If you have been watching The Truth About Vaccines, you will be aware of what the media doesn’t tell you on the subject.)

However, I trust Dr. Greger’s understanding and explanation of the causes and probable outcomes of the COVID-19 more than most. After all, he now spends his life crusading for the improvement of our health and diet without any personal profit from it, and he has spent over a decade studying pandemics.

Unfortunately, some of his predictions are not very optimistic.

HOW COVID-19 ENDS

• • We shouldn’t count on COVID-19 going away naturally when the weather gets warmer. Every recent flu pandemic emerged in the spring or summer months, but secondary waves tended to hit the following winter.
  • Even if the COVID-19 virus’s contagiousness drops in the Northern Hemisphere this summer, thanks to warmer, wetter weather, that’s not expected to make a big impact on the pandemic curve.
  • Herd immunity would stop the pandemic—when a critical portion of the population is immune to the virus. When there are no longer enough susceptible individuals for a virus to infect, jumping from person to person, the chains of transmission are broken.

Bottom line, he says that ALL our modern viral outbreaks (SARS, MERS, Swine Flu, Bird Flu) as well as outbreaks of E. coli and salmonella have been traced back to animal sources – from people eating wild or farmed animals, especially those that are raised in factory farms. Easy solution – close down all factory farms and outlaw hunting wild animals. Good luck with that, eh?

In the mean time, Dr. Greger offers some good advice on how to deal with the present and future pandemics. You’ve heard it all before. Maintain physical distancing, keep washing your hands, and wear a mask in public. Of course, we all need good nutrition, plenty of sleep, sunshine, and regular exercise, as well as social interaction from a distance, to support our immunity.

Unless a reliable cure is discovered, this thing may be around until 2021, so make your peace with spending a lot of time at home and finding ways to work and shop while maintaining distance and wearing a mask. Our world is changing and the healthiest way to deal with it is to embrace the positive changes and try to accept the negative ones without too much resistance. Some days will be better than others, but always remember, this too shall pass.

(My intuitive sense is that we are going through a global reset and the eventual outcome will be a much more harmonious and equitable world – once we get through this challenging time. Things WILL get better!)

Try to find something to laugh about every day. It’s really good for your immune system.

Read lots more notes from Dr. Greger’s fascinating webinar on COVID-19 – https://nutritionfacts.org/2020/04/16/takeaways-from-my-webinar-on-covid-19/

---

Iron & Cancer

When I was a kid, there were commercials on TV about “iron poor blood,” aimed at selling an iron supplement. Maybe there still are (I haven’t watched TV in years.) Sure, some people are actually deficient in iron and may need a supplement, but meat eaters, particularly men, often get more iron than they need – to the point of being dangerous.

According to this nutritionfacts.org article:

If we measure the iron stores of men who stay away from heme iron and, instead, get all of their iron from plants, their iron levels are right around where the cancer-free donor group came in, as you can see at 2:54 in my video. This may help explain why those eating plant-based diets tend to have less cancer and other diseases associated with iron overload. Indeed, they may also have less pre-diabetes, as well as have less diabetes.

There is a very small percentage of the population that cannot absorb iron from plants, so they need to eat meat or take a heme iron supplement. I haven’t seen any studies on this, but I’m guessing it may have to do with their gut biome being damaged by pharmaceuticals or a lousy diet. I’d love to see some studies on iron absorption and a healthy gut biome. Let me know if you happen to find any.

Whatever the case, unless you test low in iron, it is important to avoid taking iron supplements, eating too much meat, and eating iron-fortified foods, as well as vitamin supplements.

Read lots more on why ingesting too much iron can be dangerous – https://nutritionfacts.org/2020/03/17/whats-the-best-ferritin-level-to-lower-cancer-risk/

---

Worried About Cholesterol?

Dr. Klaper is one of the world’s leading experts on nutrition and his take on cholesterol is very interesting. Though high cholesterol numbers CAN be an indicator of developing heart disease, they are not the main risk factor. Not even close.

What is much more important is the amount of arterial plaque and the overall health of your arteries. Cholesterol, in itself, is not a dangerous substance. In fact it is needed in the body (Statin drugs block the liver from forming the cholesterol we need).

The problems come with oxidized cholesterol, most of which comes from cooked animal proteins, fried foods, processed junk foods, refined sugar, acidic soda drinks, cigarette smoke, and air pollution. Most of those can be easily avoided by choosing a healthy, whole foods plant-based diet.

Check out what Dr. Klaper has to say here –

Here’s the link – https://youtu.be/z9YjjEQNIFI

---

Recipe Corner

Seems like almost everyone wants to eat a healthier diet these days – if only it were delicious and easy. One way I find it easier to stay on a healthy diet is to always have a few of my favorite “go to” recipes on hand.

Here’s a great website to get you started. The recipes are all Medical Medium compatible, so you don’t have to figure out substitutions for the “no” ingredients if you are following MM protocols – like I’ve been doing for the past five years.

Here’ the next recipe I want to try out – Spicy Turmeric Twice Baked Potatoes –  https://thehealthyfamilyandhome.com/spicy-turmeric-twice-baked-potatoes/

You can browse through all the recipes at the link below. I’m sure you’ll find something you’ll want to go back to again and again. https://thehealthyfamilyandhome.com/category/healthy-recipes/medical-medium-recipes/