Strand

Sid: My guest has been all this week has been Dr. Ray Strand.  He has 2 books out that are amazing eye openers.  As he puts it “We can’t rely on doctors, we must do our homework; we must become proactive.” it’s getting very complex out there when it comes to what vitamins to have; what herbs to have; what medicine to have; what diet to be on; what is good for you; what is bad for you how you can prevent most diseases. And this is the simplest and most practical approach that I’ve seen and that’s why I want to get these in your hands… Let’s devote the rest of this day Dr. Strand to being proactive.  What should we do?

Ray:  Well, I think that there’s a triad of healthy lifestyles; everybody needs to actually establish in their life.  First of all we need to learn to eat a healthy diet that does not spike our blood sugar.  In simple ways we need to avoid processed foods and certain high glycemic foods are those foods that will spike your blood-sugar very quickly like white potatoes.  What you need to learn is that if you go back to the way that God has made the food; whole oranges and apples and fruits.  All the fruits are fine; all the vegetables are fine; nuts, legumes, beans and then whole grains. Not processed grains but whole grains, slow cooked oatmeal; go back the way your grandfather and grandmother used to live.  That is healthy, it’s not… there are good fats out there; there are bad fats; there are good proteins there are bad proteins; there a good carbs and there are bad carbs.

Sid: So the diets that say “Just cut all carbs out or just have proteins they’re not showing you the difference between the good and the bad and if you miss the good you’re affecting your health.

Ray:  Well, you are and see the thing that happens is all of those vitamins and minerals and antioxidants that I’ve been talking about if everybody; if your listeners would simple go out and eat 8 to 12 servings of fruits and vegetables each and every day, and I’m talking whole fruits and vegetables they would decrease their risk of heart attack, strokes, cancer, Alzheimer’s, dementia about 3 fold just by doing that.  If they add the good fats which are more your vegetable fats, your cold water fish. And like we talked about range fed chicken eggs and that has the omega3 fats and the mono-saturated fats. We need to decrease some of the saturated fats and the most horrible rancid fats; which are called rancid fats which are called trans-fats.  If you read anything on the label that says partially hydrogenated those are horrible fats. Those are like margarines that came out as health foods. In fact in Europe they don’t even allow it on the marketplace.

Sid: What’s wrong with margarine?

Ray:  Well because it has trans-fats and there are changed fats and they are partially heated and to thicken it and so it is actually the worst fats in the world.  And we’re starting to… people need to learn those things. Well, then you turn around and when you start to eat this way; you eat for natural hunger.  When you’re hungry you eat; what people don’t realize is when they eat white bread, white flour, pasta, rice or potatoes it spikes your blood sugar faster than if your slapping table sugar on your tongue.

Sid: And if it spikes your blood-sugar what affect does it have on your body?

Ray:  Well, it over stimulates your release of insulin and then your blood-sugar drops below normal and the body has to then…it stimulates release of what we call stress hormones like adrenalin and cortisol and it moves it back up to normal. But we’re left with an uncontrollable hunger; you have to eat. So what many people are calling cravings or what they’re calling emotional eating is really this cycle that they’ve set off. It’s what I call a carbohydrate addiction and these people eat about 80% more calories than those who don’t spike their blood-sugar.

Sid: So is most fast food in the category of problem?

Ray:  Well sure it is because you start to look at what… how much fruits or vegetables are in fast foods?  I mean maybe now maybe having some salads and stuff but usually it’s a hamburger, white bun and maybe a slice of tomato and lettuce and with all the bad fat. Then the french fries which have this hydrogenated oils.  So those are all bad but what people need go learn; just very simply avoid anything white sugar, white flour, white pasts, white pasta, rice, cereals and brains and get to the whole grain breads or the sprouted breads like Ezekiel bread.  And then they turn around and eat whole grains, whole fruits and whole vegetables getting more of the…

Sid: What about normal wheat bread?

Ray:  Well wheat bread is bad because it’s whole wheat flour, it actually has…

Sid: Now see, I always thought that I was doing good when I would have whole wheat rather than white bread.

Ray:  Well, if it’s truly whole wheat…

Sid: No, it’s what you get in the restaurants.

Ray:  It’s brown bread is worse than white bread.

Sid: Huh.

Ray:   It’s spiking your blood-sugar; it’s..

Sid: I’ve been doing everything wrong Doctor.

Ray:   I know it and that’s why when you learn this…

Sid: I mean it’s a miracle that God’s preserved me! (Laughing)

Ray: (Laughing) Well, and it is and you start I feel people go back to eating more natural  the way God presented it. And not going to processed foods or cereals or stuff like that they will be much healthier.  But then we must exercise. The second stage is you have to be; the only thing that the body cannot stand is in activity and  simply walking 30 to 45 minutes briskly 5 times a week does tremendous health benefits in doing that. And so any kind of exercise it gets your body moving you’ll have tremendous health benefits but it must be consistent and you want to have a modest activity with that.  The third triad is I call cellular nutrition. And that’s what I present in “What Your Doctor Doesn’t Know About Nutritional Medicine.” What you’re doing then is proving these new nutritional supplements, vitamin C, vitamin E, Beta-carotene, the minerals, the B vitamins at optimal levels to the cell, not RDA but optimum levels.  Those levels that have been shown to provide a health benefit in our medical literature.  And let our cell decide what it needs and what it does not need.  When you’ve combined all 3 of those you are giving yourself the best chance of remaining healthy and actually staying away from the doctor so that he doesn’t have a chance to prescribe that medication…

Sid: Even more important than that we’re living longer than ever as a people, however the quality of life stinks for most elderly people.  Are you saying that most of this can be avoided?

Ray: Yes it can and people need to understand how to do it. Sid by the time we diagnose cancer, by the time we diagnosis Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s or heart disease, by the time macular degeneration people that have these diseases know that I’m speaking the truth. We don’t have much to offer them.  Now we might bypass, we might do this, we might look at President Reagan, you think that he could afford the medication you know to slow down the process.  He didn’t know his family for the last 5 – 6 years.  It was his death was a blessing he could be with the Lord now he was trapped in his body.  So living a long time is not a blessing unless we have our health. I think that’s what I’ve been trying to tell people and this is where we need to go. And people need to say “Hey, I just can’t come in running into the doctor when I’m all rusted out and saying “Save me doctor.”  We have to do something before and become proactive, with our health.

Sid: Well, you call it an anti-aging strategy.  In your book I find it very interesting, something I find that very few doctors even mention.  You mentioned people have to have certain tests and one of the key ones to prevent heart trouble is a homocysteine level. What is that?

Ray: Well, homocysteine is a byproduct of protein; a breakdown of protein metabolism called methionine.  And they found that elevated homocysteine levels in our blood-stream is the cause of over 15 % of every heart attack and stroke in this country. But it’s a vitamin…it’s due to a vitamin B deficiency.  Your Folic Acid, B6 and B12 and yet doctors don’t test for that.

Sid: So like if someone takes a test and they find out they are low basically all they have to do is take a couple of B vitamins and they’ll be okay?

Ray: For pennies a day.

Sid: Hm.

Ray: And drop it down, and it’s like anything, other things cause inflammation.  People don’t know this but when you go out and have a fatty meal or a Big Mac or an Egg McMuffin or something for breakfast they’ve checked your arteries. Your arteries go into spasm for 4 to 6 hours after that meal. And the same thing with spiking your blood-sugar and you go and have a bagel, or juice and a cup of coffee and that will spike your blood-sugar and cause inflammation and cause your arteries to go into  spasm for to 6 hours after that meal.

Sid: Now what do you think about for dinner having a gigantic t-bone steak?

Ray: Probably would do the same thing, you know you can take antioxidants. You know quantity.  If you’re going to eat red meat eat the leanest you can get your hands on. But you know your best protein; your second best is cold-water fish, the third is…

Sid: Excuse me, what are coldwater fish?

Ray:  Like mackerels, salmon, tuna, trout because they have this good fats, the Omega 3 fats will lower your cholesterol; will decrease inflammation and they will raise the good cholesterol. That’s the same thing as olive, and olive oil and the good vegetable oils that aren’t over heated or over treated. Those….

Sid: Dr. Strand I’m sorry our time is slipping away. I thank you for being our guest. There’s no way we can cover this; it’s time to get pro-active.

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