Finer Health & Nutrition
FinerHealth & Nutriton
  Mission Statement

  Online Lecture

  New Essay

  Gluten Sensitivity and
    Celiac Sprue

  Microscopic Colitis

  Nutrition

  Preventive/Holistic Health

  Physical Fitness


  Background

  Dr. Fine's Curriculum Vitae

  Personal Statement



Nutrition

Overview of Nutrition

Twelve Concepts for Healthful Eating

Water: A Source of Hidden Toxins

Online Lecture: 10 Steps to FinerHealth and Nutrition

Overview of Nutrition

Nutrition is defined in the dictionary as the process by which an organism takes in and assimilates food. By this definition, this process may be healthy or unhealthy. Thus, there are healthy and unhealthy nutritional practices.

While it is my belief that all people would choose to be healthy over unhealthy, the area of nutrition as a mechanism of maintaining or restoring health is often ignored by individuals and health care providers. I believe it is central.

There are a number of reasons for this. First, as a nation on the whole, we have become unhealthy eaters with the boom of the fast food, frozen meal, and restaurant industries. Fresh, nutritious food is artificially preserved, altered, or avoided all together. Although I will not expand on these concepts at the present (but will in the future), it is my belief that the best foods to eat are fresh fruits, vegetables, and nuts. In medical studies, fruit has repeatedly been linked to statistically decreased incidences of cancer (such as breast and colon cancer), and nuts to decreased incidence of heart attacks.

Things in the diet known to have negative affects on health are cholesterol, sodium, and excessive protein consumption. I recommend avoiding these as much as possible. The most common causes of food allergies and sensitivities are proteins (particularly but not exclusively animal proteins).

My research has shown that up to 35% of individuals are immunologically sensitive to gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley, rye, and oats. This has been linked to almost every autoimmune disease known including asthma, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, hypothyroidism, psoriasis, autoimmune liver disease, to name just a few. With such a high percentage of this sensitivity in the general population, and since the need to avoid gluten (if present) has such a major impact on dietary choices, I recommend gluten sensitivity testing for everyone. However, there are particular groups of people (mostly patients with specific diseases) who are at particularly high risk for gluten sensitivity. These diseases include:
  • Microscopic colitis
  • Relatives of gluten-sensitive individuals
  • Gluten-sensitive individuals 1 year after treatment
  • Chronic diarrhea of unknown origin
  • Hepatitis C
  • Autoimmune liver disease
  • Other causes of chronic liver disease
  • Dermatitis herpetiformis
  • Diabetes mellitus, type 1
  • Rheumatoid arthritis
  • Sjogren's syndrome
  • Lupus
  • Autoimmune thyroid disease
  • Any autoimmune syndrome
  • Asthma
  • AIDS
  • Osteoporosis
  • Iron deficiency
  • Short stature in children
  • Down's syndrome
  • Mothers of kids with neural tube defects
  • Female infertility
  • Peripheral neuropathy
  • Seizure disorders
  • Irritable bowel syndrome
  • Inflammatory bowel disease
  • Gastroesophageal reflux disease
  • Autism
Some nutritionists recommend avoiding grains all altogether because they are immunogenic, possess very little natural nutrients, and bind other essential minerals and elements in the intestine, thereby preventing their absorption. Although I agree with these concepts, and avoid eating grains personally for these reasons, for the average individual, I prefer to let objective tests for food sensitivity be the guide. Affordable testing for gluten and other food sensitivities is offered in my laboratory, EnteroLab


Twelve Concepts for Healthful Eating

  1. Center your diet around fruits, vegetables, and nuts. Limit (or if you choose, avoid) cholesterol and animal proteins (meat, dairy, eggs), starchy carbohydrates (grains, potatoes), sodium (salt, canned foods, pickled foods, processed or preserved meats), chemical preservatives, pesticides, simple sugars (excluding that found in fruit), and foods for which you are immunologically intolerant.

  2. Always eat the minimum amount of food that it takes for hunger to be satiated (the dose concept), and eat frequently (usually every 2-3 hours) but only as determined by your hunger

  3. Avoid calorie-containing fluids. Drink clean, toxin-free water if thirsty

  4. Eat carbohydrates with some protein and fat in a predetermined ratio

  5. Eat only for proper energy and nutrition

  6. Learn what foods make you and your stomach and intestine feel the best and feed an abundance of these

  7. Minimize or avoid high calorie foods and meals

  8. Avoid eating if you are not hungry

  9. If you are hungry, do not skip feedings or become excessively starved

  10. Recognize when eating has continued beyond its caloric purpose and employ methods to stop
  11. Be certain not to confuse hunger with appetite or thirst

  12. For adequate weight control and overall good health and nutrition, you must eat with your head not just your gut.

Water: A Source of Hidden Toxins

Although the industrialization explosion of the last two centuries has brought about improvements in the infectious risks of drinking water, industrial toxins and pollutants (particularly petrol chemicals) have filtered into the drinking water of many metropolitan areas of this country. Of course, high levels of chlorine remain in water following the chlorination disinfection process used by most water purification plants. Nevertheless, infectious agents (bacteria, viruses, and protozoa) are still present in tap water; they are just curtailed to counts that are acceptable for EPA standards. Bottled water has also been found to contain unacceptable levels of bacteria not much different than tap water.

For optimal health, many experts now stand behind the belief that drinking water must be aggressively treated in order to remove these microorganisms, chlorine, and toxic chemicals. Unfortunately, this is not an easy process, and requires both filtering and distillation methods for optimal purification. Tap-mounted carbon filters, counter top distillers, and post-distillation filtered pitchers are relatively inexpensive methods to clean up the water coming into our homes. Once you begin distilling water and see and smell the residue extracted from your city's "drinking water", like me, you probably will never drink from a tap or drinking fountain again. Clean water is not only needed for drinking, but for washing our food (i.e., fruits and vegetables), and for cooking as well. Information on ordering water purifying products is coming soon to this website for your FinerHealth and Nutrition.
To EnteroLab --- To Intestinal Health Institute

Dr. Fine: Singing and Songwriting for Health

The Health and Nutritional information contained in this Website is based on scientific facts, medical research, and the personal and professional experiences of Dr. Kenneth D. Fine. It is provided as a free public service. It does not constitute medical diagnosis or treatment, and should not be construed or used as such.

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