Wow, it is already March already! Hard to believe, but great to see! The days are getting longer and Spring will soon be here. It is an exciting month for me as I continue my CCWFN Certification program and later in the month will attend a workshop to learn Nutrition Response Testing (better known as muscle testing). I’m a big believer in continuing education, particularly in the field of nutrition. There is so much to learn and communicate with both clients and the public at large. Everyday a new study comes out based on the latest “evidence” and usually they are just more hype and in reality based on very suspect evidence.

The basis of my CCWFN Certification is whole foods nutrition – that’s the “WFN.” It speaks to the importance of healthy eating and the use of supplements from whole foods, not synthetic. Over the past couple of months on my Rosen Wellness Facebook page and other social media I use, I’ve been featuring what I call “The Nutrient of the Day.” Each day (well, almost each day) I post information about an important vitamin or mineral discussing its function, how it works in the body, and what foods are good sources. See feature articles below on the B vitamins and minerals that are important for bone health. If you’d like to get this type of information on a regular basis you can “Like” Rosen Wellness on Facebook, follow me on Twitter or Plaxo, or connect on LinkedIn.

Sugar Depletes B Vitamins

One of the required books for my CCWFN program is Lick the Sugar Habit by Nancy Appleton. The author is a recovered sugar-holic and her story is inspiring and the book highly informative. The bottom line – our bodies are not designed for the amount of sugar we are putting in them. By sugar, I not only mean white sugar, but also all the refined grains, and yes even too many whole grains. When you add it all up our bodies are on carbohydrate overload. Sugar consumption is connected to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer; pretty much you name it. It puts you on a blood sugar roller coaster throughout the day, depresses the immune system for five hours, and depletes your B vitamins. You can read about the B vitamins by following this link and get more details into what body systems are being affected.

http://brwellness.blogspot.com/2011/03/meet-b-vitamins.html

It is also a good time to review my previous blogs about sugar:

Why sugar is unhealthy: http://brwellness.blogspot.com/2009/01/sugar-not-so-sweet.html

Why artificial sweeteners are no better: http://brwellness.blogspot.com/2009/02/alternative-to-sugar-artificial.html

Sugar alternatives: http://www.blogger.com/goog_1056867517

Agave nectar falsehoods: http://brwellness.blogspot.com/2009/04/agave-nectar-update.html

Minerals for Bone Health

It seems that most of what you read about nutrition focuses on the big five nutrients – protein, fat, carbohydrate, water, and vitamins. There are all the debates about what are “good” and what are “bad”, make sure you drink your eight glasses of water, oh no my doctor just told me I’m Vitamin D deficient! Outside of calcium for our bones we do not hear a lot about the sixth classification of macronutrients – minerals. There are four minerals most important for bone health – calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, and manganese. To read about them, what they do in the body, and food sources click here. http://brwellness.blogspot.com/2011/02/key-minerals-for-healthy-bones.html

Also, don’t forget Vitamin K – http://brwellness.blogspot.com/2011/02/k-is-for-clotting-but-also-for-bone.html