News from Marlene M. Marcello

Let us bring the spirit of gratitude and thankfulness from our Thanksgiving Holiday into the beautiful season of Hanukkah and Christmas! As we connect with each other in spirit and love, we will see the manifestation of all our actions and thoughts.

Welcome to The Rays of Hope E-newsletter! We connect you with research, information, and practitioners in the nutrition and holistic health communities. We strive to be a powerful connection and resource for holistic practitioners, medical professionals, and everyone interested in holistic practices and plant-based nutrition.

Our goal is to "better your life" by connecting you to the world of integrative health.

We invite you to send us your stories about your illness and/or recovery, feedback on this newsletter or any general ideas you might have for us. We also invited holistic health professionals to express their views and promote their studies. RAYS OF HOPE is published monthly.

Lastly, check out our blog for frequent updates, news and stories.

Peace, love, and good health.
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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

VICTOR CARSRUD, D.C.,
DABCI Chiropractor and Internal Medicine Specialist
AUSTIN TX

Interviewer: It was a pleasure to meet Eric

you on my trip to Austin TX in October. Dr. Carsrud, when did you begin your medical practice, and what led you into the practice of chiropractic medicine and natural health, first of all?

Dr Carsrud: It's kind of a perfect storm of eventualities. I was always exposed to alternative medicine as a child. My mother, being a product of the Sixties, introduced me to the idea of accupressure, and I remember, some of my earliest memories -when I was about five, maybe seven years old, Mama was showing me how to do various accupressure points for headache release and things like that.

I never thought much of it at the time. I actually started down the path of conventional medicine, and went to grad school and was looking very seriously at going back to medical school after that, but I sustained an injury, actually, and tore my shoulders, and I went to an physician who said , "Well, you're going to need surgery". And I said to myself, "I don't think I like that idea". And I went and checked out the statistics on it. The statistics said that the rate of recovery, the rate of repeat of a lot of shoulder surgery, is actually fairly high. And my mother, being the good Sixties child that she was, said "Go talk to your chiropractor about it".

So I went and talked to the chiropractor, and I said, "It is the rotator cuff" and he said "Yes!". "Well, I'm going to need surgery", and he goes, "No! I don't care what they said. Give me two weeks, and if it's not better in two weeks, you still have the option". It made a lot of sense to me, so he worked on me for two weeks, and two weeks later the shoulder was better, and there was no need for surgery! And as I progressed down this path, I met some really phenomenal mentors, like Dr. Jack Kester in Missouri , and Dr. Frank Stroll in Chicago , and Dr. Klieber in Colorado , who kind of expanded on the idea that chiropractic philosophy says that "the powers that made the body should heal the body".

And this not only applies to physical manipulation of the spine and the extremities and the muscles, but also applies to the underlying biochemistry, so you can apply that to nutrition, to herbalism, to homeopathy, and the idea of bringing the body back into balance by using the natural means, is the underlying philosophy that drives forward not only chiropractic but also most natural healing arts.

Interviewer: Dr Carsrud, why is osteoporosis so prevalent in our society?

For the complete interview with Dr. Carsrud, please go to my blog,
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FOOD CONNECTION:

Pecan Pie:
A Healthy Dessert for the Holidays:

From the internationally acclaimed cookbook of vegan, macrobiotic desserts, Love, Eric and Sange by Chef Eric Lechasseur. www.loveericinc.com

Recipe makes one pie

For the pie crust:

1 cup spelt flour
3/4 cup unbleached flour
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup safflower oil
1/4 cup purified water

For the pecan filling:

11/4 cups pecans, crushed
2 cups almond flavored or plain Amasake
1/2 maple syrup
1/4 sea salt
3 tbsp safflower oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 tbsp agar flakes
3 tbsp arrowroot

For the pie topping:

1 cup pecans, halved

For the apricot glaze:

3 tbsp organic, sugar-free apricot jam
3 tbsp water

To make the pie crust:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add the oil and water, and knead quickly to form a dough. Allow dough to sit for 15 minutes.Using a rolling pin, roll the dough into a circle slightly larger than a 9-inch pie pan. Gently line the pie pan with the dough, trimming off any excess

To make the pecan filling and pie:

Roast the pecans until fragrant, about 5 minutes. In a large saucepan, combine all the filling ingredients (except for the halved pecans) and whisk togehter. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes until the agr has dissolved. Pour the filling into the pie shell.Arrange the halved pecans on top of the filling.Bake for another 10 minutes.

To make the apricot glaze:

In a small saucepan, melt the jam and water together to make a thinner consistency. Glaze the pie, then allow to cool.

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Eric

The December Issue of this newsletter will feature Eric's just published cookbook, Love, Eric and Sanae. Eric and his talented wife, Sanae Suzuki, collaborated with this cookbook of seasonal vegan, macrobiotic cuisine. We will feature as well an "exclusive" interview with Eric's "life" and business partner, Sanae Suzuki. Sanae's story of survival and hope is riveting and next to miraculous! She is not only

a cancer survivor but also survived a near fatal car accident.
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MIND-BODY CONNECTION:

The Center for Integrative Medicine (CIM),
University of Maryland School of Medicine

Founded in 1991 by Brian Berman, M.D., the Center for Integrative Medicine is an interdepartmental center within the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

A leading international center for research, patient care, education and training in integrative medicine, the Center for Integrative Medicine (CIM) is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Center of Excellence for research in complementary medicine.

Emphasizing an approach to healing that values mind, body, and spirit, the Center is committed to: evaluating the scientific foundation of complementary medicine; educating health professionals and the public; and integrating evidence-based complementary therapies into clinical care to help people achieve and maintain optimal   health and well-being.

One of the Center's current research/clinical trials involves Qigong therapy for treating cocaine addiction. An exciting investigational research study offering new approaches in helping with cocaine withdrawal is being conducted by the University of Maryland School of Medicine.   Non-drug therapies (acupressure, deep breathing and meditation) will be combined with a standard detoxification program to hopefully increase the success rate of people who have made the commitment to stop using cocaine.

Visit the Center at www.compmed.umm.edu/

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Medical Connection:

Study Show Fat and Disease Linked

The research, just published online in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, was conducted because previous studies that attempted to relate fat consumption to the disease reached inconclusive results. But this study concludes the link between dietary animal fat and pancreatic cancer appears to be strong. Rachael Z. Stolzenberg-Solomon, PhD, of the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Bethesda, Maryland, and colleagues investigated a cohort of over 500,000 people from the NIH's AARP Diet and Health Study.

Participants in the study filled out food frequency questionnaires in 1995 and 1996 and follow-ups were conducted by the researchers every six years or so in order to track the research subjects' health, including whether any developed pancreatic cancer.

Men and women whose diets included high amounts of total fats had 53 percent and 23 percent increased rates of pancreatic cancer, respectively, compared with men and women who had low fat consumption. Overall, the research subjects who ate high amounts of saturated animal fat had a 36 percent higher rate of pancreatic cancer compared with those who ate low amounts.

Another important finding: fat found in vegetables was not associated at all with cancer of the pancreas. "We observed positive associations between pancreatic cancer and intakes of total, saturated, and monounsaturated fat overall, particularly from red meat and dairy food sources. We did not observe any consistent association with polyunsaturated or fat from plant food sources," the authors wrote in the journal article. "Altogether, these results suggest a role for animal fat in pancreatic carcinogenesis."

There's even more good news about cancer prevention through diet. Other research just published in the British Journal of Cancer by Oxford University scientists concludes that not eating meat lowers the risk of many cancers, including stomach and bladder malignancies as well as leukemia, by close to 50 percent.

For more information:
www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/types/pancreatic

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To order my book, When Hope Never Dies, or schedule a consultation, go to www.medmacro.com .

Sincerely,

Marlene M. Marcello
MedMacro Integrated Health