Pumping Iron with Mollusks

What are mollusks?  Mollusks include all the shelled seafood found in the ocean.  Mollusks include clams, mussels, scallops, and oysters and as a family of species with more than 80,000 known species.  What diversity!

Growing up, these creatures were always a delicacy but sometimes the seafood-y smell didn’t make it as appetizing for me.  Also, they are considered unclean in the Kosher diet, which I am conscious of and sometimes prescribe to (just pretty hard on the pork part given I eat a lot of Chinese food).  So the mollusk family has only been an occasional part of my diet.

Recently, I have been looking hard for elements and food that are good for my blood.  One essential element is iron.  Amazingly, clams are one of the richest sources of iron, surpassing beef liver many times over.  Get this, three ounces of clams yields 700% of the daily value for vitamin B12 plus 66% of the daily value for iron.  Amazing, amazing.

Even on manganese, raw blue mussels provide 100% of the daily value which is important for growth, reproduction, wound healing, peak brain function, sugar metabolism, and cholesterol.  And, zinc, which is crucial for a strong immune system, fertility, and male sexual health can be found in 1 cup of drained oysters, that is 100% of the daily value.

These sea critters are good deals all around.  All high in protein, low in fat with the real benefit coming from the minerals our bodies can absorb from eating them.  Now if only I can find good sources for this food, as many have toxins because of where they are caught or grown.  And, if you have any chronic illness of the liver, stomach, blood or immune system, you should definitely not be eating these raw.

Source: 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth, by Jonny Bowden

Cold Remedy

It's that time of year again - common cold season.  And, why is it that it sometimes takes so long to get rid of?  No one size fits all answer here, but from my experience, I offer a few remedies, and of course, some of these remedies revolve around food.

First off, I am getting over a cold right now.  Less than a week ago, I went to try on bridesmaid dresses, and the places was an ICEBOX.  Literally, it was freezing -- and lo and behold, the next day I woke up with a super sore throat.  Immediate things I typically do when this happens: gargle mouthwash or saltwater.  It kills whatever is harboring in my throat.  But, the real problem is my immune system.  It wasn't strong enough from the beginning to fight the germs already around.  So, my plan of attack when I am sick or getting sick is to boost the immune system and create an environment for my body to heal.

I used to load up on vitamin C.  I don't know if it really works, because most of the time for me, it doesn't help all that much.  It might offer a sliver of help, but I believe most of the help comes through other means.  Vitamin C might be more a marketing game than your answer.

Here are a few ideas:
1) Stay warm.  Western medicine does not emphasize this enough.  When your immune system is down or boost your immune system, take every effort to stay warm.  Wear an extra layer, scarf, hat, extra socks, heaters, hot water bath or hot water spa for feet, cover exposed skin, extra blankets at night.  Drink warm water, don't drink cold (your organs work extra hard to get the cold water to your body temp).  Don't have cold feet -- all your major blood veins run through your feet, this will keep your blood flow moving.

2) Drink hot soup.  The soup warms up the inside, and when you have a homemade chicken soup, it is highly nutritious for your blood.  Try to load up on garlic and onions in your soup or meal. Don't underestimate the power of broth or soup, and I typically strip the saturated fats from the soup.

3) Steep ginger and drink as tea.  Ginger is powerful for empowering your immune system.  Peel the ginger, cut in slices and put in 2 cups of water or so.  Try to make it more potent than diluted.  Boil for a few minutes, then steep.  It should open up sinuses and give you a "fire-y" feel.

4) Drink goji juice.  So, for this one, I am promoting a supplemental juice that my family started to buy a couple of years ago.  It's called NingXia Red - and is a blend of goji and other berries, but this stuff is AMAZING.  I took 2 shots of it the day my throat started to get sore, and the sore throat subsided - I probably would have been fully better by the third day but I went outside in the cold for a while the third day, which then caused me to wake up with stuffy sinuses and a runny nose since then.  I should listen to my own advice...Here's the link: http://www.youngliving.com/essential-nutrition/goji-juice

5) Don't eat junk.  It will cause your body to fight even harder.  And, please don't eat sugary anything, breads, cakes, cookies, candy, etc.  This reduces your immune system.