Happy New Year

I have been remiss or preoccupied or all of the above and have not posted for a while. I want to share an excellent link to a website that is designed for children who are tube fed, but from which we all can gain more knowledge and appreciation of the eating process when you cannot eat. The website is called mealtimenotions.com and it provides very enlightening info and love for all who have problems eating. They also put out a recipe book which I promise to order once I get enough dimes in my cookie jar and which I will share here. Hope everyone is having a good new year....I pray for all of us to receive the gifts of health and bounty. Peace out....

Fructose Be Damned

Found this article which shows that recent studies have shown a direct correlation between HFCS and childhood diabetes and heart disease.

Stay tuned as I will be posting some great info about dry mouths and some health products that help moisten the mouth. Cancer, Sjorgren syndrome, medications and other issues promote cotton mouth. I wonder if medical marijuana does that too? Hope you are all well and surviving the holiday blues.

Smoothies Cover The Bases

Fruit smoothies are great for feed tubes and for those who can drink liquids. I visited Bastyr today for some nutritional guidance and they shared some great ideas and recipes that I will post here. Vitamins A, C and E are common threads in the foods they recommended. Let's start with a simple smoothie recipe that can be made with The Ultimate Meal or whey protein, which is a great source of glutathione, a core source of anti-oxidants within us. The great thing is you can add whatever fruits will serve your purpose. Avocado is a great source of Vitamin E, which nurtures the blood and cardiovascular systems. Peanut butter is another source of E and also A (great for the eyes and immune system), but I do not recommend it for g-tube users as it thickens the liquid significantly.  'Nuff science here's a recipe for a fruit smoothie.

5 fresh strawberries
1 medium banana
juice of half a lime
3/4 cup rice milk
Other enhancers like peanut butter, avocado, 1/2 an apple, etc.

Blend for four minutes and serve.

To Tat or Not to Tat

Like most Jews raised in America I was taught that tattoos were a no-no, that you could not be buried in a Jewish cemetery (hey, I'm all for cremation) and that Lenny Bruce was denied his proper resting place for just this reason. So I just googled 'jews and tattoos' and found this article which says hey it's okay - oy vey - to tat. The basic theme is a phoeniix rising from the flaming ashes of Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis (TEN). Of course there's the other premise that I will get old and my skin will sag and that's not so far off. As they say in French....we shall see.

Doctor My Eyes

My SJS/TEN peeps know the hardships of eye care. This illness causes a range of eye problems from blindness to corneal abrasion and lack of tear production. I spoke to the Boston Foundaton for Sight where I was fitted for scleral lenses in late 2007. They told me that a fitting for new lenses costs the same as the original visit. My insurance only covers the price of new lenses and the rest is up to me. This seems unfair since I spent as much time learning to install and care for my lenses on my first visit as on the fitting and I am a professional lensman now.

In the meantime I recently started using an herbal product and my eyes have really been doing well of late. I make no medical claims that this product, Advanced Eye Factors is the cure all but my eyes feel great now. The product was designed by Dr Michael Murray, who sits on the board of Bastyr University, and is produced by the Canadian herb and vitamin company Natural Factors. Factors Formula is a combination of herbs and nutrients that have been shown to help the eyes and reduce free radical damage. The formula includes the carotenoid, lutein, as well as bilberry, multi-anthocyanidins, carrot juice powder, and eyebright that fight free radical damage, one of the main reasons our eyesight deteriorates as we age.

Recipe For Success

I'm waiting for some input from the nutrition gurus, everyone has tryptophane poisoning, so in the meantime I will give you my recipe for a high calorie/high protein liquid meal. You can drink this product, The Ultimate Meal too, but it tastes like stuff inside the grass catcher of your old lawn mower. For my friends who keep Kosher it has the stamp of approval so go for it!!!!

1/3 cup Ultimate Meal
10 oz of milk or water
1 large banana
1/2 a pear, peach or orange or 1/2 cup blueberries
2 scoops of powdered Acai Berry order here
Run in blender for four to five minutes to blend all the ingredients well. It is important to break down the fruits so that the feeding tube does not clog. ALWAYS bolus your tube with water after every feeding Use a pipe cleaner to clean out the tube if particles accumulate but do it gently so that you don't damage the feeding device. Use this recipe twice a day for @ 1000 super healthy calories. Bon Appetit!

The Enemy Always Has Deep Pockets

The Corn Refiners Association has been on a media blitz this year. You know the ad where the two moms dispel the negative myths about High Fructose Corn Syrup (hereafter referred to as "HFCS") while pouring Kool Aid into cups (shades of Jim Jones, anyone?). They have a website that proclaims the virtues of corn syrup from the top of Nebraska's tallest corn stalk. But in the timeless words of Public Enemy:
"Don't believe the hype - its a sequel
As an equal, can I get this through to you..."
I will have some dietitians post on this blog a scientific perspective on the myth of King Corn, but in the meantime suffice to say that HFCS promotes diabetes, obesity and worse. It is also responsible for the death of up to a third of the bee population in the US. Here's a link to some less than sweet info about HFCS to chew on meanwhile.