Healthy eating can happen on holiday
By Matthew Ryno/ News Republic
With black friday behind some shoppers and perhaps a full house on Thanksgiving taken care of, the opportunity to let off some steam or relax and stay healthy this holiday season was given to residents Saturday at the first annual Holly Jolly Run, Walk and Health Fair. Closer to downtown, in the Village Booksmith, local author Rebecca Marx, talked with about 50 residents on how to eat healthy during the holidays and beyond as she signed a book she co-authored with Dr. John Puma, called "Chef MD's Big Book of Culinary Medicine." During the fair Jane Stevens of Four Elements, said weary shoppers or stressed hosts might lose their body's natural defenses to fight off ailments that herbs have helped people fight off for centuries. One of her many blends created from her 130 acre farm in Baraboo, "To Your Health," was designed to boost the immune system and contained organic nettles, echinacea, orange peel and burdock root. Michael Zolper, a local chiropractor, said people often forget to take care of themselves during the holidays because sometimes obvious symptoms are not noticed or others might not think there is time or money availible. "Taking care of yourself is of utmost importance. Health to me is the state of optimum function. It is not merely the absense of disease and symptoms," Zolper said. He brought with him a device that scanned the spinal cord for nerve interference, which if untreated, could impact a person's overall state of well being. John Kessenich of The Grainery, said accupuncture, massage therapy or herbal treatments are part of a wholistic health approach that people may not think of utilizing which may actually help people faster, with less side effects. At the Grainery he sells many of the products offered at the fair, like Stevens' herbs or Barlean's flax-seed organic oils. He cited the high number of people with diabetis in this country, and he said smarter food selections or use of herbs taught hundreds of years ago have been ignored in America up until recently. "Processed food is going to kill us," he said. "Much of it has taken all the nutritional value out of something." One example of eating smarter, he said, was to eat a handful of walnuts before eating a holiday meal to take in some healthy fats and reduce chlorestoral build-up during the meal. Rebecca Marx, a local author agreed with Kessenich that what someone eats can cure certain ailments, and this is addressed in her book written with the medical director for the Santa Barbara Institute for Medical Nutrition and the "ChefMD" on the Lifetime cable channel. "Most diseases of aging are all related to what you eat ... The idea of this book is to learn a little more how food works in your body for any medical condition you have," she said. She said cooking the foods in her book can be stress-free during the busy holiday season and tasty in just 15 minutes with under 10 ingrediants. "The tendency of people is to pick up processed foods thinking they will save time, but they will not feel better," she said. For those watching their weight over the holidays, some of her advice at or before a holiday party included eating liquid yogert before attending a holiday party to reduce hunger, drinking a glass of red wine or being conscious to eat off of a smaller plate with a radius of nine inches -- a plate size which used to be the standard about a hundred years ago. She hoped with her book she can reach out to more people and she writes, "a delicious culinary prescription" can help a reader achieve optimal health and avoid or treat ailments like heart disease, asthma and breast cancer. Though a wholistic medicine approach may acknowledge things like traditional medicine or treatments, experts said it also includes the common tasks of eating healthy and exercising. To kick-off the presentations on health about 50 runners or casual walkers stormed through Baraboo to let of some steam, compete, or simply stay healthy. For more information about Marx's book: http://www.chefmd.com/ or visit the Village Booksmith. The winners of Saturday's 5K run and walk: Male first place: Matt Rosene, time of 20:43 Female first place: Denise Leaver, time of 22:07 First place walker: Ella Koss