We currently have over 20 million obese children in the United States and all the statistics show that these trends will continue to get worse. By 2015, it is predicted that 75% of Americans will be obese or overweight.

Our children are also more medicated than ever before in history. Prescription and over-the-counter drug use in children is growing at a rate of more than 20% a year! That’s faster than the drug use growth rate of senior citizens!

Dr. David Katz has said, “Children are more harmed by poor diet than by drugs, alcohol, and tobacco combined!” Dr. Katz is right – over 25,000 children in America die every die from preventable causes.

The costs of this obesity epidemic are horrendous. We spend over $475 billion a year on treating Cardiovascular diseases, over $219 billion on Cancer treatments, and over $147 billion treating diseases directly caused by obesity.

Today about 20% of every dollar spent in the U.S. goes to pay our healthcare expenses. By 2014, the U.S. healthcare expenses are expected to be $3.6 trillion! And 70% of those expenses are for treating chronic diseases which are preventable and reversible with proper nutrition and exercise!

On top of that, between 90,000 and 400,000 patients die every year due to prescription drugs and surgery. Many of these deaths are due to normal complications resulting from taking prescription drugs as directed.

The #1 killer of Americans is Heart Disease (cardiovascular diseases) the #2 killer of Americans is cancer, and the #3 killer of Americans is the American health care system (drugs and surgery!).

Even though we spend more on healthcare per capita in the U.S. than any other country in the world, we rank only 39th in the world in terms of health. The paradox is, the more we spend on healthcare in America the sicker Americans get!

Researchers from the National Institute of Health have shown that 90% of diseases in America is due to poor nutrition and lack of physical activity. Why don’t we spend more money promoting good nutrition and physical activity instead of promoting drugs and surgery? We could prevent 90% of disease in America and save Trillions of dollars at the same time!

What are your thoughts? Should we invest more in prevention in America? Leave a comment and let us know!

Dr. Barry Sears, author of The Zone series of books and founder of the Zone Diet. Dr. Sears is an internationally known expert in weight loss and human nutrition.

Great news!

We just interviewed Dr. Barry Sears, author of the best-selling The Zone series of books and founder of The Zone Diet for the Authentic Health Coaching Nutrition Podcast show. Dr. Sears shared for 50 minutes on the amazing research on inflammation, obesity and weight loss. Did you know that inflammation is one of the major causes of weight gain?

Dr. Sears shares some incredibly powerful and SIMPLE tools for losing weight and maintaining a healthy weight and a healthy body for the rest of your life.

If you’re thinking, “I’ve heard of Dr. Barry Sears before,” that’s probably because you have! He’s sold over 5 million books and appeared on 20/20, Today, Good Morning America, CBS Morning News, CNN, MSNBC and many other media outlets!

But in this interview, Dr. Sears dives dips and gets to the core of weight loss and diet. Dr. Sears even shares the story of how he’s helped the heaviest man in the world, Manuel Uribe, lose over 500 pounds! Manuel is still obese, as he started at 1,320 pounds but his bloodwork shows that he’s a healthy man.

How is that possible?

Because his diet is now a healthy diet and it’s brought down his inflammation to a healthy Zone – thanks to Dr. Sears. You’ll hear all the details when the show is published this Saturday, October 1st at 4am EST. Stay tuned!

You can listen here.

For more information about David, visit his website www.mydestinationwellness.com

For more great nutrition tips and info, visit us at www.AuthenticHealthCoach.com

Here's a Tower Garden loaded with a very large Squash plant, peas, greens and herbs.

It’s a great way to grow food, especially in cities like New York City where several restaurants are using the Tower Gardens to grow food and herbs for their dishes on the rooftops. The food is fresh and local and it’s a great use of the wasted grey space in the city’s rooftops.

Can you imagine what it would be like if every rooftop in our cities were being used to grow food? Imagine the health benefits for everyone in the city and the environmental impact as well.

The Tower Garden lets you grow your own food at home, on your roof, or in your backyard, year-round! You can even take the Tower Garden inside during the Winter months if you live in the North and still grow healthy, delicious, local organic food for you and your loved ones.

This is what the Tower Garden Kit looks like before the plants start growing.

Here's the Tower Garden Kit with a tomato cage.

Enterprising entrepreneurs and farmers can also use the Tower Garden to sell produce to local restaurants and produce lovers.

The Tower Gardens aren’t due to be released until early 2012 so all you expectant Tower Gardeners will have to wait a few short months.

You can join the Tower Garden Fan Page here and connect with the Tower Garden community.

Here's the top of the Tower Garden which shows you the water pumping mechanism (so no more watering with a hose!)

In this show, we interview Becky Bassham on brain health and neurofeedback. Becky shares some incredible information here on brain health and how you can improve conditions such as ADD, ADHD, Alzheimer’s and addictions using some simple, proven methods to help the brain balance and heal itself.

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Did you know that over 60% of the human immune system is in the gut? That’s because the gut is the biggest transitional organ between the outside (food you eat) to the inside. So your immune system must constantly patrol the gut lining to make sure no bad bacteria, viruses or parasites can get through and make you sick. The problem is, many of us have horrible digestive health because of our diets – and so our immune system suffers.

In this episode, Dr. Corson explains how digestive function and immune function are interrelated. Dr Corson shows you how you can dramatically improve your health by focusing on some simple nutritional steps to improve digestive and immune function. For more great nutrition tips and info, visit us at www.AuthenticHealthCoach.com

There are two major kinds of essential fatty acids (EFA’s) or essential fats – Omega-3 fats and Omega-6 fats. Researchers have found that the ideal ratio of Omega-3 to Omega-6 fat is 1:1 for optimal health. Recent tests of mother’s milk in America have found ratios as out of balance as 1:45! This means that the mother was eating 45 times more Omega-6 fats than Omega-3 fats.

This is a huge problem because we’re designed to have a balance between these two fats. Omega-3 fats are anti-inflammatory fats. They help lower inflammation, protecting your body from damage.

Omega-6 fats are pro-inflammatory fats – they promote inflammation.

When you eat too many Omega-6 fats and not enough Omega-3 fats, your body must utilize Omega-6 fats in places where it would rather use Omega-3s. Your body becomes “compromised” – missing these vital building blocks. Furthermore, inflammation grows out of control and can lead to diseases like diabetes, auto-immune disorders like Lupus, Multiple Sclerosis, Crohn’s Disease and many more. Every chronic disease we know of from cancer to heart disease to stroke are all contributed to by inflammation.

Thus, in reducing your risk of chronic diseases and early death, it’s imperative that you try to balance your intake of Omega-3 and Omega-6 fats as much as possible. For 99% of Americans, this means eating more Omega-3 fats.

Omega-3 fats are damaged and destroyed by high heat. This means that if you cook your food, most of the Omega-3 fats in it will be damaged and your body won’t be able to utilize them.

There are numerous ways to eat more Omega-3 fats. Here are some of the best foods that contain Omega-3 fats:

Flax Seeds

Flax seeds are a fantastic source of Omega-3s. Furthermore, they contain lignins which are very powerful insoluble fibers that promote digestive health and reduce risk of prostate cancer. You can grind up flax seeds and put them into oatmeal, smoothies, cereals, breads and other dishes. Whenever possible, do not cook or high heat the flax seeds as that will damage the fragile Omega-3 fats.

Chia Seeds

Chia Seeds have been used for thousands of years since the Mayans and Aztecs used them. These civilizations used these power-packed seeds to sustain their fiercest warriors in battle and revered the seeds, valuing them even more than gold! Chia seeds are definitely worth their weight in gold when it comes to protecting your health and providing you with healthy omega-3 fats.

Hemp Seeds

Hemp seeds are another power-packed seed that contain high levels of Omega-3s. In addition, the protein in hemp seeds is complete and very powerful and there are numerous other antioxidants and nutrients in the seeds. Hemp has gotten a bad “wrap” for some time now because it is in the same family as cannabis (marijuana) but they are not at all the same plant. Hemp is a fantastic plant for industry (it can be made into paper, clothing, and numerous industrial supplies) and hemp seeds are an incredibly valuable and healthy food.

Wild Salmon (NOT farm raised, not “Atlantic Salmon”)

Wild salmon contains high levels of Omega-3 fats. Just make SURE it’s wild – any farm-raised salmon or salmon labeled as “Atlantic Salmon” will NOT have any meaningful level of Omega-3 fats because they feed farm-raised salmon corn instead of a natural diet. This creates unhealthy fish – and if you eat them, it makes you unhealthy.

Walnuts

Walnuts are delicious and a great source of Omega-3 fats.  Just remember to do them raw as much as possible or else you’ll lose most of the Omega-3 fats to oxidation.

Certain Algaes

Some algaes have very high levels of Omega-3 fats and are the BEST source of Omega-3 fats in most cases. In fact, the only reason salmon or any other seafood has Omega-3 fats is because they get them from the algae that produce them! Then the fats cycle up the food chain as larger and larger fish eat them. But the best way to get your Omega-3 fats is straight from the source – in the plant kingdom, whether algae, flax, chia, hemp, walnut or other plants.

Visit us at www.AuthenticHealthCoach.com to receive special discounts on Omega-3 supplements and organic whole flax seeds.

He shared some things that are pretty scary (and very real) about skin care products and household products like deodorants, shampoos, cosmetics, lotions, toothpaste, and so on.

Do you know what the #1 method of ingesting toxins is? If you guessed smoking, you are right. But most of you probably don’t smoke anyway, yet still load your body up with carcinogenic toxins every single day – because the #2 method of ingesting toxins is through everyday products you use in your bathroom.

Let’s talk about the various toxic household products, what they do, why to avoid them, and some healthy alternatives:

Toothpaste:

If you’ve ever read the label of your standard toothpaste, then you’ve seen the warnings like “ask your dentist before giving to children under 12 years of age,” “do not swallow!” “Call poison control if you swallow an amount more than used for brushing,” “Keep out of reach of children under 6″ and so on. Why all the warnings? Because the stuff is POISONOUS! Most toothpastes contain stannous fluoride (fluoride as it’s commonly called) which is a toxic substance.

Here are the official warnings on stannous fluoride:

Potential Acute Health Effects:

“Extremely hazardous in case of eye contact (irritant). Very hazardous in case of skin contact (irritant), of ingestion, of
inhalation. Severe over-exposure can result in death. Inflammation of the eye is characterized by redness, watering, and itching. Skin inflammation is characterized by itching, scaling, reddening, or, occasionally, blistering.
Potential Chronic Health Effects:
“Extremely hazardous in case of eye contact (irritant). Very hazardous in case of skin contact (irritant), of ingestion, of
inhalation. CARCINOGENIC EFFECTS: Not available. MUTAGENIC EFFECTS: Not available. TERATOGENIC EFFECTS:
Not available. DEVELOPMENTAL TOXICITY: Not available. The substance is toxic to lungs, mucous membranes.”

“Repeated or prolonged exposure to the substance can produce target organs damage.”

And the list of warnings go on..

That’s why I use and recommend natural toothpastes that have no fluoride in them from brands like Jason’s toothpaste or Tom’s of Maine children safe toothpaste.

Skin Care Products

Skin care products contain a myriad of toxic substances including talc, glycol, parabins, dioxins (a by-product of many of the substances used in skin care products) and much more. Did you know that upon biopsy over 94% of breast cancer tumors contain parabins and 100% contain dioxins? And the major source of these two substances are from skin care products – lotions, facial creams, lipstick, coverup, shampoo, wrinkle creams, etc.

These are toxic, carcinogenic substances. Everytime you put them on your body you’re creating cellular death and toxic buildup and increasing your risk factors for cancer. Some of these toxins are also extremely powerful endocrine disruptors, over 1,000 times more powerful than estrogen. They interfere with the body’s endocrine function and can cause lasting damage and imbalances.

Fact of the day: Lipstick contains 29 known toxins.

There are still other toxic substances that people put on their skin and in their body every day, such as…

Deodorants

Most deodorants contain aluminum. Aluminum is a toxic metal in the human body and it is easily absorbed through the skin, like most toxins. Aluminum has been linked to disorders such as Alzheimer’s, auto-immune disorders, and impaired immune function, among others.

So go buy a natural deodorant that doesn’t contain aluminum from a company like Tom’s Natural Deodorant.