Recipe of the Month
Remember our recipes are courtesy of Chef Kelly (www.tastesmilerepeat.com ).
Grilled Halibut & Romaine Salad with Beet-Carrot Slaw
Makes 4 Servings
Ingredients:
1 lemon, sliced
4 (4-6 oz.) fillets of halibut (or other steak-like fish, swordfish, tuna, etc.)
Salt & Pepper
4 sprigs fresh tarragon plus 2 T. finely chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tsp. whole grain mustard
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper
2 head Romaine lettuce, cut in half lengthwise (leaving the stem intact)
1 large beet, shredded
1 large carrot, shredded
2 Scallions, thinly sliced
Directions:
1. Preheat grill to medium heat.
2. Place fillets on a large piece of foil lined with the lemon slices and spray the fish with cooking spray. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper then lay the tarragon sprigs on top.
3. Grill the fish on the foil until it flakes easily, 12 to 20 minutes depending on the thickness of the fish.
4. Meanwhile, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, mustard, chopped tarragon, salt and pepper.
5. For the last few minutes of grilling the fish, spray the cut side of the romaine and place on the grill. Grill for just a few minutes until slightly charred and wilted; remove from grill.
6. Drizzle the lettuce with 1/4 cup of the prepared dressing. In a bowl, toss the beets, carrots and scallions with 2 T. of the dressing.
7. To serve, place a romaine half on each plate, place the fish alongside and top with the slaw. Drizzle with any remaining dressing.
Vitamin D in the News
This is the first blog for 2012. We have just renovated the website to include my practice. Check it out at www.drjamesdowd.com . I will be incorporating more video in my communications. And, I hope to expand our topics of discussion beyond vitamin D to emphasize nutrition and exercise.
The revised edition of The Vitamin D Cure was released in June 2012. Recent publicity has been growing. See some of the latest buzz.
Bella Online – Healthy Foods – Traffic: 380,000 Unique Monthly Visitors
Women’s Health
*Posted 7/12/12
Book Talk – Traffic: 6,000 Unique Monthly Visitors
Reading group and discussion forum for both fiction and non-fiction. Includes live author
interviews and chats.
*Posted 7/6/12
She Knows – Traffic: 3.4 Million Unique Monthly Visitors
Real Moms Guide
*Posted 7/6/12
*Posted 7/4/12
Huntington News – Traffic: 22,000 Unique Monthly Visitors
Huntington’s Premier News Resource in West Virginia.
*Posted 7/4/12
Diets in Review – Traffic: 200,000 Unique Monthly Visitors
Diet, fitness, and nutrition resource to help you live a healthy long life.
*Posted 6/15/12
Posts reviews of various products and books, along with everyday “mommy” blog topics.
*Posted 6/15/12
The Suburban Jungle – Traffic: 1,000 Unique Monthly Visitors
*Posted 6/13/12
Sweeps 4 Bloggers – Traffic: 12,000 Unique Monthly Visitors
Collection of giveaways and product reviews.
Healthy Thoughts
I have been reading, Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes, © 2008, from Anchor Books. It’s on loan to me from a friend who is teaching me how to sail. This book is an excellent historical summary of how we have come to understand diet today by an award winning science writer. It reveals the dogma/religion behind most recommendations; the research that attempts to support it; and the research that disputes it. The answer is clear in the end. It’s all about our evolutionary diet.
15th Annual Vitamin D Workshop
This is the last of the triennial meetings alternating between the United States and Europe. The meeting going forward will be part of the Annual Clinical Endocrine Society Meeting. Both meetings were in Houston, Texas, a city near and dear to my heart having spent most of my childhood and early adult life there.
A recurring theme of the meeting was research looking at the enzyme that breaks down vitamin D (24-hydroxylase aka CYP24A1). Many cancer cell lines have increased activity of this enzyme allowing them to inactivate vitamin D more efficiently. This is one of the strategies that cancer cells use to resist the anti-cancer effects of vitamin D. Biochemistry that interfere with the function of this enzyme will enhance vitamin D effects. Companies are trying to exploit this strategy.
Cancer and Vitamin D
Dr. Ron Horst the co-founder and owner of Heartland Assays a company that measures vitamin D for research studies presented data showing that supplementation of 4000 IU vitamin D3 for one year may be associated with improvement in prostate cancer as measured by the Gleason score on repeat biopsy. Fifty-five percent of repeat biopsies improved on vitamin D after one year. Only one-third progressed over that same time on vitamin D. This suggests that vitamin D may slow the progression of prostate cancer.
Video: Vitamin D and cancer prevention.
Pregnancy and Vitamin D
Carol Wagner from the Medical University of South Carolina presented the results of two studies examining the safety and effects of vitamin D on pregnant women. She concluded that 4000 IU of vitamin D daily throughout pregnancy was not harmful to the mother or fetus. Mothers who received vitamin D were less likely to have a premature baby, less likely to have preeclampsia, and less likely to have an infection during pregnancy. She and her colleagues will continue to monitor the health of the offspring.
Video: Vitamin D Breast Feeding.