Eat Right Now with Chef Wendell
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Mo Hotta Mo Betta!

8/12/2019

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     Friends, you ‘all just gotta’ wake up. Clearly, the rest of the world knows more about preventing chronic disease with nature’s ‘farmacy’ than we do. Capsaicin, the stuff that makes peppers hot is an example. Since chili peppers are not a part of our Midwest tradition, Hoosiers have wimpy taste buds for hot, mouth-searing, albeit health-stimulating peppers flavoring their food. Excluding a cocktail party when inebriated men exhibit their machismo by seeing who can eat the hottest pepper.

When capsaicin is consumed in a slightly diluted form, such as in hot sauce, chili peppers or cayenne peppers, it offers a myriad of health benefits. The hotter the chili pepper, the more capsaicin it contains. 
World cultures who use hot peppers liberally in their meals have significantly lower rates of heart attack and stroke than cultures that do not. Capsaicin may help to protect the heart by reducing cholesterol, triglycerides and platelet aggregation."

Capsaicin inhibits the growth of human prostate cancer cells in petri dishes and mice," says lead researcher at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. A study published in Cancer Research found capsaicin caused cancer cells to commit suicide. 

A topical form of capsaicin is used for osteoarthritis pain and alleviating pain from diabetic neuropathy. Capsaicin is a potential treatment for arthritis and psoriasis.  Studies have found that capsaicin relieves and prevents cluster headaches, migraine headaches and sinus headaches.

When I’m congested, among other natural treatments, I eat food spiced with hot peppers. Capsaicin stimulates secretions that help clear mucus from your nose, thus relieving nasal congestion. Capsaicin has potent antibacterial properties that fight and prevent chronic sinusitis too.

We must address the root cause. Why treat just the symptoms? Why hush our temple’s way of telling us something’s wrong? That’s illogically insane. We’ve been pharmaceutically disconnected from mother nature; told plant-based naturopathic medicine is hokum and trained, yes trained, by aggressive TV advertising to, despite the horrific side effects, obediently take a pill and the symptoms will disappear. Really? Perhaps, but the source still exists… you just don’t hear your temple’s screams for help.

Add more chili pepper spice to our life. Keep a container of powdered cayenne or hot pepper flakes on the table right next to the pepper mill, so you and your family can add a pinch of extra spice to any of your meals. Chili peppers burn your butt? Small price to pay. And BTW, they are not intended to be used as suppositories.
 

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​ Dehydrated? Cool it in sizzling weather

8/2/2019

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     Much to the delight of kids and overheating parents… they’re here: seductive ice cream trucks blaring Pop Goes the Weasel trolling neighborhood streets for innocent victims. When its hotter than blazes, consuming popsicles, ice cream bars, slushies, might seem like common-sense choices when you want to cool off, (spoiler alert) but they may do more harm than good.

We mean well, but rehydrating our parched temple with diet soda, energy drinks, Mt. Dew, beer, margaritas, wine spritzers is not the wisest decision as caffeine and alcohol contribute to rapid dehydration. Excess alcohol consumption can cause dehydration in a variety of ways and sugary desserts, doughnuts, ice cream, muffins, highly processed breads, pasta, and grains require a lot of water to digest.  Dietitians agree the temple uses a lot of water to metabolize these foods, which depletes water reserves leading to dehydration. Plus, you don’t get any nutrients, just unpleasant, disease-mimicking effects.

Some symptoms of dehydration include confusion, irritability, dark colored urine, dizziness, dry mouth, fatigue, frequent urination, reduced blood flow to the extremes, sunken eyes and cheek. High blood pressure is common among the chronically dehydrated. It can also be a warning sign of dehydration.

Icy cold food and drinks might provide a short-lived cooling effect, but consuming these food and beverages food leads to an increase in temperature as the process of digestion is heat-generating. This combined with the rapid cooling initiated by cold food and drinks means your temple over-compensates by increasing your core temperature. So you may actually end up feeling hotter than you did!
Drinking an air-temp or hot drink increases the temples heat load and responds by sweating. The output of sweat is greater than the internal heat gain, and this is where it all starts to make sense ― when the sweat evaporates from the skin, it cools us down,

Dehydration is relatively preventable. Basically, take in more water than you lose. Drink water throughout the day, back off caffeine and alcohol, eat as much watery fruits and vegetables as you are able, mind your thirst levels and rehydrate accordingly, check your urine—if you are drinking enough, it should be a pale straw color.
Certain fruit and vegetables score highly in this regard, so consider eating more strawberries, cucumber, zucchini, celery, lettuce, Hoosier cantaloupes, and local watermelon if we want to up the H2O.  Watermelon is the juiciest and one of most colorful of fruits to rehydrate.

Pedialyte, the electrolyte drink of our childhood, has suddenly become the drink of pop culture. You'll find it in pro sports locker rooms for rehydration and in our fridges to help you get through hangovers.

Include dark leafy-green salads with a rainbow of vegetables. Lettuce is 95 percent water so it keeps you both cool and hydrated. Throw extra cucumbers on top, which are 96 percent water. Make pitchers of cucumber, fresh mint, peaches, and strawberry water and carry a reusable water bottle with you throughout the day.

Plain and simple: pure water hydration is the staff of all life. Both mother earth and our temple are two-thirds water by divine design. I doubt any garden would survive, let alone flourish being watered with anything other than the colorless, transparent, odorless liquid that forms the seas, lakes, rivers, rain and all lifeforms.

Listen to our Podcast: #LIVERIGHTNOW
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​Dog=God?

7/28/2019

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     Sandi and my existence would be incomplete without the unconditional love, companionship, and faithfulness of our two Morkies, Teddy and Scarlet, the diva bitch from hell. Feeding our beloved dogs properly is hugely significant to their well-being, life span, and overall health. Ours too.

As tribute to our many dogs who crossed rainbow bridge, may I share ways we can show love to your fur-buddies while we can still rub their favorite spot as they lick and nuzzle our hand in gratitude.

While they eagerly walk beside you in life, enrich their vittles with nourishment they’d naturally eat in the wild: not GMO corn, wheat, soy and the entrails and internal organs of other animals. Read labels: The first item on the list of ingredients should be meat like chicken or lamb. Not chicken meal as the primary ingredient.

Look for healthy preservatives on the ingredients label like vitamin E (mixed tocopherols) or C. Sidestep foods with chemical preservatives ethoxyquin, BHA, BHT or Propyl Gallate, all implicated in many health problems, including cancer.

Never, ever treat your yard with cancer-causing Round-Up, or feed them dairy, chocolate, coffee grounds, grapes, avocado, onions, garlic, raisins, nutmeg, baking powder / soda, raw fish, smoked meats, jerky treats from China, bacon, hotdogs, or sugary foods! With a few exceptions, today’s doggie junk food is stepped-on with corn, wheat, soy, food colorings, and preservatives. Corn and most grains are not easily digestible unless refined into a meal or flour then cooked. Seek organic, grain-free.
 
Dogs should have a shiny coat; high energy level and you should be able to feel their ribs through the skin. Enhance your dog’s meals by adding. ground flaxseed or canned sardines in water that brim with Omega-3 fatty acids, critical for skin and coat health and preventing dry, itchy skin and hot spots. Add a pinch of turmeric powder, chopped wheatgrass, kale, peas, carrots, green beans, cooked sweet potato, grated apples, coconut oil, and probiotics. Dogs supplemented with appropriate nutrition live tail-wagging, long and healthy lives.

Your fur-babies couldn’t care less that Gravy Train makes its own gravy. Evolve, scrutinize labels, and upgrade your pooch’s meals. Although all life is born to die, we’re never prepare for death’s arrival, but we mustn’t hasten it.  Teddy and Scarlett love us no matter what – just like the great creator. I look up and I see God, I look down and see my dog.
 

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​The Big Shift: Change and the future of Medicine

7/23/2019

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        Millennials, Boomers and everyone in between are witnessing a joyful societal transformation: a huge shift in the collective dietary consciousness of an obese, sickly angry America. Changing their perception of today’s food, an awakening society is transcending weapons-grade food-like substances and returning to earth’s verdant garden; reconnecting to the benevolent source of all life. 

One of many secrets to successfully living is handling changes that come our way. Not set in behaviors that perpetuate disease. Even if we detest it, change is an inevitable part of life whether you’re willing or not. Sure, I get it, as we get older, we like things just as they are, thank you. I’m no different. It’s about giving a crap and realizing that we can still plant and fertilize the seeds of a quality late life by adopting a plant-based lifestyle of plant-food, exercise and a positive disposition. No curmudgeons allowed in this club.

The foundation of my Eat Right Now with Chef Wendell presentation was validated while moderating a panel of esteemed allopathic doctors from IU Medical School on the rapidly evolving field of Lifestyle Medicine: the use of evidence-based lifestyle therapeutic approaches, such as a predominantly whole food, plant-based diet, regular physical activity, adequate sleep, stress management, avoidance of risky substance use, and other non-drug modalities, to prevent, treat, and, oftentimes, reverse the lifestyle-related, chronic disease that's all too prevalent… even in old age. Sound familiar?

The primitive, failed Standard American Diet (SAD) and food industry-policed, disease-creating, corporately biased Food Pyramid we were encouraged to follow throughout our lives, has caused endless, preventable suffering from chronic mental, physical, and spiritual dis-ease (JAMA). The SAD however, is being widely abandoned for compassionate, cell-nourishing, scientific dietary knowledge regarding the stewardship of our holy temple which quantum physics proves is indisputably connected to earth, galaxies, each other, and virtually all that is. 

God and I weep at statistics revealing America remains one of the unhealthiest countries in the World. We spend more on healthcare coverage than those who live in some of the world’s wealthiest nations. Yet, Americans have worse health compared to Australia, Canada, and Germany.

After 100 years, Americans are returning to the earthly garden of original wholeness and health our ancestors used for many millennia as food and medicine. Up until the Industrial Revolution, our ancestors used naturopathy: earth’s medicine. The Industrial Revolution uprooted us from God’s garden and tossed us like dirt clogs into the festering compost pile of nutritional unrighteousness, processed food, and illnesses of vitamin deficiency: malnutrition. Disease rates took off like they were shot from garden sprinklers. We’re created to express perfect health when connected to earth’s pharmacy, not pharma pills that hush symptoms: your temple’s way of signaling something’s wrong.

Bludgeoned, exploited, and malnourished. Our temple and Mother Earth desperately need our help. It’s our responsibility to co-create and a lifestyle that will leave her better for our grandchildren.
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My mission is to present readers with emerging truths; not indulge what clearly hasn’t worked. Small changes, even this late stage in the game, offer years of health, not years of sickness. Join the shift.

(What more to learn and read more? Visit the Books link.)
 


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A diet of stress: the trash of modern life

7/23/2019

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Despite our best efforts, life can be stressful, unpredictable, and messy. Nevertheless, this is where we can learn our greatest lessons.

In this case, the lesson lies in the revelation that acquiring chronic age-related disease is not solely about the vitamin-deficient American diet of processed food, a disconnect from nature, environmental toxins, EMF’s and genes.

In modern society, chronic stress is overwhelmingly linked with the development of cancer. Cancer.gov states, “Psychological stress describes what people feel when they’re under mental, physical, or emotional pressure. Although it’s normal to experience some psychological stress, people who experience high levels of psychological stress repeatedly over a long period of time may develop mental or physical health problems.”  Sciencedaily.com adds: “Stress wreaks havoc on the mind and body. Researchers discovered chronic psychological stress is associated with the body losing its ability to regulate inflammation.”

Carnegie Mellon University adds.  “Under stress, immune system cells are unable to respond to hormonal control, and consequently, produce levels of inflammation that promote disease, Because inflammation plays a role in many diseases such as cardiovascular, asthma and autoimmune disorders, this model suggests why stress impacts them as well. Knowing this is important for identifying which diseases may be influenced by stress and for preventing disease in chronically stressed people.”

Simplepsychology.org and the NIH both explain, “When we're stressed, the immune system's ability to fight off antigens is reduced. That is why we are more susceptible to infections. The stress hormone corticosteroid can suppress the effectiveness of the immune system (e.g. lowers the number of lymphocytes).

The immune system is the body’s department of defense against invading bacteria, viruses and other pathogens. Your organs, tissues, cells and cell products that all work together to fight harmful substances and protect you from getting sick. Stress can affect your immune system in two ways: By creating chronic inflammation that harms tissues and suppressing immune cells needed to fight infection. The immune system’s ability to regulate inflammation predicts who will develop a cold, but more importantly it provides an explanation of how stress can promote disease.

Those grappling with cancer and their caregivers may find the physical, emotional, and social effects of the disease overwhelmingly stressful. Those who numb their stress with smoking, drinking alcohol, over-eating, pharma or street drugs and are sedentary, may have a poorer quality of life after cancer treatment due to weakened immunity.

Due to the Standard American Diet (SAD) of processed foods, brain food vitamin deficiency is widespread. Anti-anxiety vitamins A, C, B-complex, B-12, D-3, E, magnesium, and omega-3 can be supportive for the seat of our emotions when sourced from plant food and trustworthy food-based supplements.

The Journal of Clinical Investigation claim stress triggers master cancer genes. According to the research, ATF3 is the master gene that affects the response of cancer cells to the changes in the body. When a person experiences stress, ATF3 is triggered and stimulates the growth and spread of cancer cells within the local region or to other parts of the temple.

When stressed, choose plant-foods that fortify the immune system, lighten dark moods, relieve tension, and give stress the bum’s rush. Earth’s foods that feed your head are dark leafy greens, fermented foods, blueberries, flax and chia, walnuts, real turkey breast or wild-caught salmon rich in omega-3.  Lavender and lemon balm soothe stress too.
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Chill out and avoid scary TV news, violent, bloody movies, negative, energy-sucking people, stop taking things personally, accept what you cannot control, explore relaxation methods, meditation, ancient breathing techniques, exercise, or spend time in ear-splitting silence 30 minutes daily. And of course, if all else fails, seek family and community support, counseling or group talk therapy and you’ll exhibit lower levels of depression, anxiety, and symptoms.

It’s difficult staying grounded in today’s world. To cope effectively, we must accept stress is part of life, limit our exposure to it, and choose each morning to be positive, happy and focus on life through the lens of the present moment. When you’re healthy, you’re happy. Genes may load the gun, but lifestyle pulls the trigger.

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Earth is my pharmacist... not a delicatessen

7/23/2019

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     Summer weather is here; cookouts, picnics, porch parties proliferate as bustling Farmer’s markets abound with a kaleidoscope of local summer fruits and vegetables tingling with vitamin-packed, sun-kissed deliciousness.
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     If I never see another health-depleting grocery store potato salad and Coleslaw it will be too soon. That stuff is just nasty; full of unhealthy fats, preservatives, sugar and God knows what else. Don’t believe me? Read ingredient labels. This food writer is not at all convinced Big Food manufacturers (in bed with Big Phama) are at all concerned about your family’s health and wellbeing; just it’s bottom line and how long the product will hold up. The vast majority of grocery premade salads were made weeks even months ago, which means its dead food! You may recall my past columns regarding the energy and vibrating of fresh versus old, processed dead food.  The higher the vibe, the more that plant does for you.

     So, what can a beautiful soul who is eager to take the road of nutritional righteousness do? Take the easy route and surrender in blind servitude to the grocery delicatessen? Nope. Hit the local farmers market and then get back into the kitchen for goodness sake where you control the ingredients, not a board of directors focused on profit over humanity and take charge of your loving families mental and physical health and wellbeing. Visit Chefwendell.com where you can order my educational plant-based cookbooks that create health.
      I believe deep inside that you truly love yourself and want to eat better but not sure where start or think you don’t have the time. How much do you love yourself and family?  

     This quick salad is Sandi and my summertime go-to. It’s simple and full of anti-inflammatory vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and fiber that create health…. and compliments.

1 medium zucchini
1 medium unpeeled cucumber
1 small red onion
1 red and 1 yellow pepper, cored and seeded
Himalayan salt
3 tbsp. Apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp. raw Honey
½ tsp. Dijon


  • Wash produce to remove field dirt.
  • Slice thin — we use our mandolin slicer, but a sharp knife works, too.
  • Toss with salt then let sit in a colander for 30 minutes.
  • In a large bowl, whisk together raw honey, vinegar, and mustard. Taste then add additional honey if needed.
  • Add veggies then toss. Eat at air-temp immediately, or refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving. Lasts two days.
 
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