Sunday, February 26, 2012

Dr. Don & The Plant-Based Pharmacist - Vitamin D

Vitamin D - The Sunshine Vitamin
Dr. Don Wagner invited me to join him on his radio show once again! He's such a pleasure to work with and I'm always grateful to get the opportunity to do his show. This time we breakdown the topic of vitamin D and its role in maintaining excellent health.

As you may or may not know I'm one of the few pharmacists in the field of conventional medicine who's not a fan of pills whether they're obtained via the prescription pad or from buying them over-the-counter. I believe America has a pill obsession and it's only making our health worse. Instead I focus on educating others on the benefits of plant-based nutrition and lifestyle medicine which is why they call me the Plant-Based Pharmacist.

With that being said vitamin D is one of the few supplements/medications I feel everyone should seriously consider taking but only if their levels are low. Dr. Don and I do our very best to get to the bottom of this topic in the segment below as we provide some key insights into the world of vitamin D as it pertains to achieving a state of optimal health. I hope you find the show enjoyable and helpful!


Dr. Don show archive - Vitamin D from 2/16/2012









Photo credit: OBMonkey (sxu.hu)

If you like what you see here then you'll LOVE our daily Facebook and Twitter posts!  Also, don't forget to sign up for  Our Free Online Mailing List  to get all the latest updates from the Plant-Based Pharmacist!
by Dustin Rudolph, PharmD
Clinical Pharmacist

Check out Dustin Rudolph's book The Empty Medicine Cabinet to start your journey towards better health. This step-by-step guide leads you through many of today's common chronic diseases (heart disease, obesity, diabetes, cancer, and more), giving you the facts on foods versus medications in treating these medical conditions. The book also contains an easy-to-follow guide on how to adopt a whole foods, plant-based diet as a part of an overall lifestyle change, producing the best possible health outcomes for you and your family. Hurry and get your copy today!

We'd love for you to join us in spreading the good word about plant-based nutrition and lifestyle medicine by telling your family and friends about our website at www.PlantBasedPharmacist.com

Share and rate this post below or tell us what you think by posting a comment. Thank you again for stopping by and until next time... be happy, be healthy, and live the life you've always dreamed of!

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Eating Clean

Clean eating begins with colorful eating
Clean eating has become a trend in the past few years. A simple definition of clean eating is building a diet around whole, unprocessed foods: fresh fruits and vegetables, complex carbohydrates, whole grains and lean proteins. Clean eating will require you to change the way you shop, as well as the way you see food in general. It doesn’t mean, however, that you’re stuck eating bean sprouts and wheatgrass. Here are five quick tips that can help you eat clean and enjoy every bite you take.

Proteins: Think outside the box

The Standard American Diet has changed drastically over the past few decades: a timeline published by the New York Times shows how industrialization has made foods full of refined sugars and fats cheap and widely available. The modern feedlot method has also made meat cheap to produce and buy, which means that American eaters tend to build meals around high-fat animal proteins.

Monday, February 20, 2012

Functional Medicine - The Future Is Now In 21st Century Medicine

Dr. Mark Hyman isn't one of those doctors who's eager to pass out pills and procedures like candy when patients come to see him for their medical problems. He doesn't care about "labeling" a set of symptoms just so people can finally put a name to whatever they're suffering from. He wants to do more than just this.

He wants to get to the root cause of his patient's problems. Instead of taking a backwards approach to treating diseases by throwing more drugs at them he takes a forward thinking approach of finding the underlying cause of these diseases and then targets those issues to better the lives of his patients. He practices what is known as Functional Medicine and hopes to help both patients and doctors view health and disease from a different perspective. This perspective focuses on long term solutions instead of short term relief from a medicine cabinet full of prescriptions.

He shares his personal story of discovering this new vision of what healthcare should look like in his speech at TEDMED 2010. His insights into the management of the emotional, mental, and physical wellbeing of a human being gives hope that one day our current medical system may finally realize that our conventional ways of compartmentalized thinking are outdated and in need of a major overhaul. The body is a whole system of interconnected parts that all affect one another. More pills are not the answer. More understanding and knowledge about this systemic approach is.










Photo credit: Editorjp (Wikimedia Commons)

If you like what you see here then you'll LOVE our daily Facebook and Twitter posts!  Also, don't forget to sign up for  Our Free Online Mailing List  to get all the latest updates from the Plant-Based Pharmacist!
by Dustin Rudolph, PharmD
Clinical Pharmacist

Check out Dustin Rudolph's book The Empty Medicine Cabinet to start your journey towards better health. This step-by-step guide leads you through many of today's common chronic diseases (heart disease, obesity, diabetes, cancer, and more), giving you the facts on foods versus medications in treating these medical conditions. The book also contains an easy-to-follow guide on how to adopt a whole foods, plant-based diet as a part of an overall lifestyle change, producing the best possible health outcomes for you and your family. Hurry and get your copy today!

We'd love for you to join us in spreading the good word about plant-based nutrition and lifestyle medicine by telling your family and friends about our website at www.PlantBasedPharmacist.com

Share and rate this post below or tell us what you think by posting a comment. Thank you again for stopping by and until next time... be happy, be healthy, and live the life you've always dreamed of!

Thursday, February 16, 2012

10 Tips for Making a Plant-Based Diet Affordable

Plant-based diets revolve around produce and whole foods, with little to no nutrients coming from animals. For those who know where to find the nutrients they need, this does not pose a problem. Plants can provide all of the nutrients people need to remain healthy and disease free. Because whole foods are sometimes more expensive than highly processed foods, it may take a little research to make vegan or vegetarian diets affordable. The following tips can help lower your grocery bill when implementing this healthy lifestyle.

1. Grow as much of your food as possible 

Growing and preserving fruits and vegetables can drastically cut down the cost of buying fresh from the produce section of the store. Frozen and canned foods maintain much of their nutritive value and you are sure of what they contain. There are no additives and preservatives that you don't know about.

2. Buy in bulk when you can 

Many times, a store will offer a promo code or coupon for a percentage off if a specific amount is purchased. Buying large quantities and storing it yourself can prevent unnecessary trips to the store.

3. For convenient pre-packaged foods, try shopping online 

These companies may also offer coupons or discounts if you decide to purchase their products in bulk. Online coupons can also be redeemed for extra savings.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Whole Perspective

Burger and fries - "SAD" diet of the past
by guest blogger Joseph Baker

I was raised on a Midwestern diet of hamburgers, French fries and frothing glasses of ice-cold milk. I once tried to go vegetarian. I gave up that weekend, when a friend unknowingly made me a steak dinner, causing me to promptly cave on my resolutions to eat healthier. This "meat and potatoes" attitude followed me throughout college, until last winter.

I was working out at the gym, and my trainer noticed that I was congested and unable to draw a full, deep breath without coughing. After questioning me about my diet, he recommended that I cut dairy completely out. I started to notice a difference within a week—namely, I felt less sluggish and congested. After researching the negative side effects of dairy, I stopped consuming dairy altogether, except the rare snack of cheese.

Monday, February 6, 2012

Vitamin B12 Supplements At A Glance

by guest blogger Boris Washington


What Is Vitamin B12 And Its Functions


Vitamin B12 is one of the most valuable vitamins in the Vitamin B complex. It plays an important role in the functioning of the brain and nervous system, production of proteins and red blood cells. Vitamin B12 is a water soluble vitamin and for that reason our body can’t store too much vitamin B12. This is why we have to take care of our vitamin B12 levels.

Who Should Take Supplements?


The best way to obtain the necessary doses of vitamin B12 is from food, but there are cases when people need to take supplements. This can happen either because they can’t absorb vitamin B12 from food due to some intestinal problems or diseases or because they don’t consume meat or dairy products. Accordingly, there are several groups of people who may experience vitamin B12 deficiency and need to take supplements:
  • older people
  • those who lack intrinsic factor protein
  • strict vegetarians
  • people affected with pernicious anemia
  • people who use medications to reduce stomach acid