This week, a good friend from high school died of Alzheimer’s disease at just 67 years old. 

Unfortunately, no meds can appreciably change that process once diagnosed. And it’s doubtful there ever will be. (Some other time, I’ll address why I’m 99.99% positive about that opinion.) My friend didn’t learn soon enough how to prevent these devastating consequences. I visited her in October when I was back ‘home’ and it was truly heartbreaking. But the same needn’t be true for any of us. Science shows us that we have a lot more control over it than we think. Having just seen how heartbreaking that was for her family, I’ve recommitted my efforts to help you understand the role of diet and lifestyle and the simple steps to making a profound difference in your and your family’s future.

There is a simple analogy to help you understand the interaction between diet, lifestyle, and genetics.

Experts worldwide agree and statistics corroborate this fact. Genetics essentially load the gun but environment (diet & lifestyle) pulls the trigger.

This is true for almost every disease. Even if you inherit ALL the genes for many diseases (heart disease and cancer included), those genes are much less likely to be turned on if you adopt the appropriate diet and lifestyle.

The diet I refer to here is essentially an anti-inflammatory diet. 

Today, I want to cover the essentials of that diet. 

Michael Pollan, Journalist and Author stated it plainly, “Eat (real) food, mostly plants, not too much.”

Let’s break it down:

The most inflammatory products are “food-like” products or “ultra-processed foods.”

I recently found that there is a succinct accepted definition of “ultra-processed foods”. An ultra-processed food is a “packaged product that includes ingredients not normally found in a typical kitchen.”

When we’re discerning pro-inflammatory products, we may need to narrow this definition to say “any packaged product that contains ingredients not normally found in the kitchens of traditional cultures or modern cultures before 1900.” 

I look at this date because corn oil, safflower oil, white flour, and white rice found their way into modern kitchens around that time. It is also the timeframe when companies began mass-producing and packing fried products thus increasing the quantity we eat. 

It was after this time that the chemicals found in modern ultra-processed foods were introduced(preservatives, additives, dough conditioners, etc.). This multiplies the problem.

Another way of looking at this is simply eating a whole food (mostly plant-based) diet: fruits, vegetables, beans, and (whole unprocessed or minimally processed) grains is healthiest. Note that inherent in that definition are also legumes, mushrooms, and nuts. 

I want to cite a couple of things most people don’t know about the value of whole plant foods:

• Eating mostly plants feeds the good guy bugs of our gut microbiome what they need to produce butyrate and numerous other highly anti-inflammatory nutrients that are then circulated throughout our systems. 

These organisms also produce many of our hormones & neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin & acetylcholine.

Whole plant foods have several advantages over animal-based products and processed foods.

• One thing is that they are calorie-poor and nutritionally rich so they fill you up without a lot of calories. This helps keep you satiated for longer periods and gives you all the fiber you need for good gut health. 

• A point of reference: paleontologists have found significant evidence that the diet of ancient humans contained about 100-200 grams of fiber daily. Today, only a small portion of Americans meet even the minimum requirement of 30 gms/day.
• In addition, the omega-3 fats in plants favor the production of anti-inflammatory prostaglandins.
• Furthermore, saturated fats found predominantly in meats (including poultry and fish) favor prostaglandin production which is more pro-inflammatory and thus pain-producing. 

I could cite numerous other reasons to not consume a lot of animal products but I’ll also save that for another article.

• Minimally processed grains like ground whole grain flour, pastas and more do not appear to be unhealthy if they make up only a small portion of your diet. If you’re allergic, that’s different. And I DO refer ONLY to organically grown grains here as other grains are grown with excessive amounts of pesticides that affect your gut microbiome and your overall health. 

• I draw the same conclusion about small amounts of animal foods. I base this conclusion on the fact that most of our Blue Zone cultures eat small amounts of animal products. I suggest the way to mimic their intake is to reduce meat to a condiment-sized portion (up to 1.5 ounces daily). Another alternative is to eat 4-6 oz. of meat 1-2 times/week. 

• Plant foods are also referred to among food chemists as alkaline ash producing. Simply, that means that after the digestive process is complete, you’re left with proteins and minerals that are slightly alkaline. An alkaline system favors better kidney & lung function. It also helps your bones retain the right mix of osteoclasts (bone-producing cells) and osteoblasts (bone-remodeling cells) leading to a decreased likelihood of developing osteoporosis.

• By decreasing chronic inflammation through an anti-inflammatory diet, you decrease the likelihood that you’ll need anti-inflammatory medications for day-in and day-out discomforts as well.

However, sometimes the addition of a natural anti-inflammatory is warranted either to hasten the process or because of injury.

Enz-Flame, a powdered orange-flavored drink supplement, by DaVinci Labs is one such product that I recommend.

It contains DMG (dimethyl glycerate), Curcumin, Boswelia (frankincense), ginger, quercetin, proteolytic enzymes and more. These products decrease inflammation but do it in a way that is far safer then NSAIDs or prescription COX-2 inhibitors. 

On the rare occasion that I find I need something more than my normal diet because of an injury, this product is my personal go-to.

This blog naturally leads into recommended products for natural pain relief, which I’ll cover next. 

(references for information in this article are available upon request

To order Enz-Flame or sign up for an account on my store, go here:

The post Maintaining Brain Clarity appeared first on Dr Leslie K. Empowered Wellness.

Great opportunity for me to expound on this way of eating and tell a client success story.

Simply stated, the components of this diet; less animal foods, more plant foods, and little or no dairy feed the good bacteria in your gut Microbiome.

Those bacteria are responsible for making dopamine, serotonin, and GABA. They all positively affect our moods. And keep our heads clear.

And when you eat more of these foods, you’ll have more of these bacteria and they’ll crowd out others.

The others are responsible for increasing inflammation, and often our cravings for fatty, salty, and sweet foods.

Feed the inflammatory bugs and that, as you might imagine, can get into a vicious cycle.

But what are whole food starches and are there more reasons to eat them?

Whole food starches are among the healthiest foods on the planet.

Most are fairly nutrient-dense.

But here’s the key, they’re Calorie-dilute.

That means you can eat lots of them and not be concerned about gaining weight as you fill your tummy. (An entire pound of potatoes has only 330 Calories! By way of comparison: that’s about the same calories as 4oz. of french fries; 1/4 the amount of potatoes. )

One result is that my clients can stop calorie and carb counting and still lose weight.

My client, Lorna is a great example. Lorna walks with crutches after surviving polio as a child. That makes exercise difficult for her. It also tends to make her less active than others. She spent her lifetime counting calories to maintain weight and going hungry to lose it.

After about 3 months of this approach to eating, Lorna has been able to lose almost 10 pounds. More importantly, she started to realize that she didn’t really need to count calories anymore. She felt satiated with the amount of food she was eating and was still losing weight. (Her name & story are being used with her permission.)

You see, an extra advantage to this way of eating is that thylakoids get all the way down to the colon before they are digested. (Thylakoids are good chemicals in unbroken cell walls, unique to plant foods.) So, they use more calories being digested AND their arrival undigested, in our colon signals to increase production of leptin. That decreases your appetite. (Thylakoids are broken down by grinding grains & overcooking vegetables.)

And here’s the REAL advantage: this means we eat less for as much as 12 or more hours after they arrive in our colon. So, eat oatmeal for breakfast and you’ll likely find yourself still wanting SOME, but less lunch. And eating far less at dinner and not snacking that evening.

So exactly what are whole food starches?

Beans of all types, whole (unpulverized) grains, and seeds like quinoa, brown rice, millet, barley, corn, sweet potatoes, and winter squash to name a few.

The one important thing to mention is minimizing the addition of fats that could quickly counteract the calorie saving. It can also feed the pro-inflammatory bugs.

You can use salsa, marina sauce, or a variety of other nutrient-dense & low calories toppings. Or try mixing your starches with other veggies, or balsamic vinegar. Creamy sauce made with a small amount of nuts, nutritional yeast, and herbs is another alternative.

The possibilities are endless.

Want the recipe for my quick creamy cashew sauce? Email me.

In my next blog, I’ll talk about the connection to more energy.

The post Improve Your Moods, Energy & Clarity with Your Fork. (part 1) appeared first on Dr Leslie K. Empowered Wellness.

Every October we are accosted by pink ribbons, pink buckets of Kentucky Fried Chicken, pink M & M’s and more! We are urged to get “our mammograms.” But preventing breast cancer is not about pink ribbons. and mammograms. No one ever brings up prevention!  A healthy diet & lifestyle IS primary prevention; regardless of your genetics.  It is NOT as though all you can do is is get your breasts irradiated (with cancer-causing radiation) to find out if you have cancer and them get them lopped off!

I know that last sentence may come off as vulgar & radical but ladies, there is much you CAN do! And maybe the shock of a ‘respectable doctor’ talking about it this way will wake up some folks! I can only hope!

So, How do you prevent cancer and cause it at the same time???

You can’t. The facts are clear: a high-fat diet, like the Standard American Diet, is a Class 1 (Proven), Cancer-causing agent. And the radiation in a mammogram (especially a 3D digital one) is also a contributor to breast cancer.

But no one talks about ANY strategies to PREVENT BREAST CANCER; it’s all just about “early detection.”

Let’s look at what the Medical-Industrial Complex calls ‘prevention:’

Some facts about mammography:

A Canadian study of 44,910 women ages 40-59 who had routine mammography found that 22% of breast cancers (106 of 484 positives) were over-diagnosed. This means 106 women were subjected to surgery and some to chemo and/or radiation who DID NOT HAVE INVASIVE CANCER!

Cancer Research UK and the Department of Health (England) published findings that said in part, “. . . to prevent 1 death, about 250 women need to be screened and 11-19% OVER-DIAGNOSED.”

The UK department detailed, in the above-cited document, that if 10,000 women were invited for screening, 681 cases would be diagnosed, of which 129 would represent over-diagnosis  (almost 1 in 5 cases!).

A study in the Netherlands estimated that screening decreased the death rate by 1-2% while increasing over-diagnosis by 32%!

Over -Diagnosis

Part of the problem with ‘over-diagnosis’ is that women don’t know they were (are) part of this statistic.

Let me explain: Ductal Carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is the most common form of ‘breast cancer’ diagnosed by mammography.

Autopsy studies show large numbers of women die WITH DCIS but don’t die OF it. DCIS is, by definition, not invasive. It plays no role in causing death according to at least 14 separate studies. Some in the medical community feel that DCIS shouldn’t even be considered ‘cancer.’

Increasing Cancer Detection Rates at what price?

Now here’s the real kicker: when mammography was instituted as a regular screening procedure, the rate of diagnosis of breast cancer in the United States went from 1:9.5 to 1:8. This represents thousands of more diagnosed yearly. However, the rate of breast cancer DEATHS has not decreased! So, we are diagnosing more, we are treating more but we are not saving more lives! This, by definition, means we are needlessly screening, diagnosing and treating more women (who have non-invasive conditions).

Did the TEST Find the Cancer?

Now, I understand there are women out there that feel their life was saved by a mammogram and that could be true. Many (perhaps most) of those are cases were cases where the woman found the lump herself and the mammogram confirmed it.  Cases of invasive cancers found first by mammography are extremely rare. And, as mentioned previously, the most common kind of cancer found by mammography is DCIS.

What happens during a mammogram & the potential harm

Now, let’s look at the mammography procedure. The breast tissue is smashed and squished between 2 plates of inflexible material; a physical action that CAN disrupt the tissue enough to cause bleeding under the skin (bruising) and then the breast is exposed to ionizing radiation (which can cause mutation).

The nature of bruising is such that it stimulates white blood cells to flow into the area which stimulates increased circulation to the area. Pressure can also disrupt the capsule the body forms to wall off a cancer mass. So, now, in someone with DCIS, you have damaged the (formerly contained) cancer mass and increased the circulation in the are making it more likely that those cancer cells can be spread.

Then you’ve applied ionizing radiation to the area; potentially stimulating the growth of the cancer cells! So, if the mass was DCIS you have just injured it enough that the cells could be picked up & spread by the circulation to distant body sites. This is something that typically wouldn’t happen with DCIS! And if the cancer is a more invasive form, you have also stimulated possible spread.

A Suspicious Result: What’s Next?

Then, if the mammogram comes back suspicious, a needle biopsy is used to extract cells. The process of puncturing the mass and extracting cells can, again, cause cancer to spread. Then, if you do surgery, the same thing again! (Now I’m not telling you “don’t do any of this.” I’m admonishing you to be aware of what you’re doing and weigh the potential risks and benefits.)

Can You Do Something Else? 

For those that feel they MUST have a procedure for “early detection,” an option is to educate yourself about thermography, which is non-diagnostic but capable of showing inflammation and see if that makes sense to you. Alternatively, you could adopt a healthier lifestyle and understand that there are no guarantees in life.

What About Prevention?

Now that you know all that, how about taking concrete steps to prevent breast cancer in the first place?

First: the absolute best primary prevention comes from diet & lifestyle. A low-fat, plant-centered diet and regular exercise will do more to prevent cancer than any other tool regardless of genetics!

My colleagues at Wellness Forum Health and The Physicians’ Committee for Responsible Medicine have teamed up to put forth a 4-point pledge that WILL diminish the likelihood that you’ll get breast cancer. These 4 actions (choosing more whole plant foods, exercising regularly, limiting alcohol intake and maintaining a healthy weight) have all been positively correlated with decreasing the rate of ALL cancers.) So, sign the attached form & send it back to me & I can get you a gift certificate for $100 off a course through Wellness Forum Health. Their science-based approach will teach you to be pro-active and make choices that will result in better outcomes and longer life. 

Disclaimer: The information about the diagnostic procedure in this article is intended to educate and inform only. It does not represent recommendations.

The post Preventing Breast Cancer Pink Ribbons = False Hope appeared first on Dr Leslie K. Empowered Wellness.

Today, I want to tell you a couple of quick stories of people who made small changes that helped address chronic inflammation and how these changes changed their life. (All names have been changed.)

Beverly is a client that, despite being obese had an active lifestyle that including skiing, tennis and other sports. But throughout the years she had had numerous injuries that resulted in chronic pain. Still, she was committed to maintaining her lifestyle and finding a way to diminish pain & inflammation without the potential negative effects of medication. I suggested a program that included Ameo’s Frankincense Essential Oil, various supplements and detoxification & weight loss. Bev decided to go with the Frankincense alone. (She didn’t want to give up any of her favorite foods & was convinced she actually felt better at her current weight.) Amazingly, just that, by itself made enough of a change that, although she wasn’t able to ski or play tennis, she had less pain and was able to be more active than she had been in the recent past .

Melinda is a young adult (mid-20’s) that was having some health challenges as a result of her poor diet and lack of exercise throughout her teenage years and into young adulthood. Blood tests revealed she was pre-diabetic. She had constant digestive distress, pain in many joints, possible gall bladder issues and knew she had to make a change. Adding Zija’s Smartmix, AGX Digest and making better food choices made an incredible difference. In a matter of just a couple of months, her digestive and gall bladder issue were resolved, her blood tests returned to a healthy range, pain was gone, she had more energy & felt healthier and she lost about 20 lbs.

Michael was a morbidly obese middle aged man who was diabetic, had fatty liver disease and was in constant pain. He knew his very life hinged on the need to make some major changes. He added Zija’s Supermix, Premium Detox tea and more fresh fruits and veggies to his diet. He has eliminated junk food, most dairy and some meat. He has lost almost 60 lbs and is now able to be a little more active. His blood tests have shown improvement after just a few months. Michael still has a long way to go to undo the damage caused by years of toxicity and inflammation. At this writing, he is still, unfortunately, in some pain but as he continues to build muscle, lose fat and decrease inflammation, he is beginning to see more positive changes. He is optimistic that he will be able to resume many activities soon.

These 3 clients illustrate  how making changes that decrease inflammation can result in quick improvements in people’s lives and in their health profiles.

To learn more about any of the products mentioned here or Dr. Leslie’s Lifetime Wellness Coaching Services, contact us.

The post Chronic Inflammation: Stories of Change appeared first on Dr Leslie K. Empowered Wellness.

We now know that chronic inflammation is a contributing part to almost any chronic disease you can name. So squelch chronic inflammation and you will live healthier and pain-free for many more years!

What contributes to Inflammation? The Biggies:

• The 5 white poisons: White flour, white rice, white sugar, dairy, GMO Soy
• Processed foods: food with the above but also artificial colors, preservatives, chemicals and vegetable oils
• Animal foods; especially high animal fat foods

Over the next few blog entries, I’ll be talking about ways to decrease inflammation.

Today we introduce Moringa olifera! Superfood of Superfoods

When I started adding the Moringa found in Zija International’s Smartmix and Supermix, something amazing happened. I found that my nearly 60 year habit of night time munching was getting under control! Many aches & pains disappeared and my energy level improved as well. A few weeks later, I had lost 7lbs without really even trying and went on, using Zija’s additional products, to lose a total of 15lbs. Give the body what it needs & it doesn’t suffer from cravings! I’ve kept that off for an year and recently started working on the last 10lbs!

With 36 different anti-inflammatory compounds; Moringa is a powerhouse when it comes to decreasing inflammation. This 3 minute animated is much easier than reading! :

Moringa Animation from Club Moringa Network on Vimeo.

Email me by June 1st and you can get a $50 sample package plus a wholesale membership to purchase Zija products for just $20.  Just copy “I’m in!” into your email & I’ll contact you! (And if you’re looking for a business or a “Plan B” in case your job goes away, this can offer you a great opportunity. Let’s talk!)

Learn more about Zija’s other products, including Ameo Clinical Grade Essential Oils and Ripstix Fitness products here.

The post Chronic Inflammation 101: What Is It & Why Should I Care? appeared first on Dr Leslie K. Empowered Wellness.

In discussing diet, I like to invoke the 80/20 rule with a caveat. The 80/20 rule in diet, the way I advise people means that if 80% of your diet consists of fresh veggies, beans, nuts & seeds, berries and fresh fruit -pretty much in that order- the other 20% can be made up of starches (whole grains, potatoes, etc) and animal products. There are a couple of caveats here: (1) when I say whole grain I mean things like brown rice, millet, barley etc. in their WHOLE state; not pulverized as in flour or cornmeal (notes: quinoa is a seed and included in that category. I categorize yams & squashes as veggies but not white potatoes) (2) if you are already sick, you may need to observe the 95/5 rule until you, at least, become asymptomatic. (3) if you’re not overweight or otherwise ‘sick’ you can likely increase starches and/or animal foods a little without adverse effect.

The addition of super-foods to this diet will further enhance the anti-inflammatory effect of this diet. When I say super-foods, I’m referring to a list of foods- within the above categories- that have a high concentration of specific nutrients that are often lacking in the Standard American Diet (SAD). Here is a partial list: flax seeds, Moringa,  chia seeds, pomegranate, acai berry, gogi  berry, blue berries, cacoa (raw chocolate), green tea, avocado, cruciferous veggies (broccoli, kale, cabbage family) . Many people add raw coconut oil and wild caught salmon to this list. I use caution with adding them because (1) I don’t want to give people ‘permission’ to eat excessive amounts of fat; small amounts are fine in foods but I don’t think we have the evidence to justify more, (2) there are appropriate concerns about mercury in sea food and (3) there are plenty of non-animal sources for Omega-3 fats (nuts, seeds, olives).

A discussion of anti-inflammatory foods is, of course, incomplete without mentioning the most inflammatory foods that must be excluded. The main culprits on the list here are (1) white four (2) processed foods (3) sugar  (4) dairy  (5) Genetically modified foods (GMOs) and recently (6) ALL non-organic grains.  When eaten to the degree they commonly are in the American diet, I also add chicken and beef to this category.

The reason for the addition of GMO foods and non-organic grains is 2 fold: (1) GMO foods disrupt a crucial metabolic pathway of bacteria in our gut and as such may play a role in many disease processes. (GMOs may be found in non-organic products containing corn; especially corn syrup, soy, canola, beet sugar, zucchini, papaya and soon in apples that don’t turn brown and salmon) and (2) both GMO foods and non-organic grains are sprayed with large amounts of pesticides (Glyphosate) that also effect both us and our gut microbiome.

Inflammation is a natural part of the healing process and a certain amount of it is necessary and good when we are injured or sick. It is part of the process that makes your ankle swell and hurt when you sprain it, for example. However, when we eat a predominantly animal product and starch diet, our body becomes highly acidic and produces much more pro-inflammatory chemicals than it needs. This is one reason why it’s not uncommon in our society, for an injury to become chronic even when a person stops doing what caused the injury. Excessive inflammation also plays a role in allergies and illnesses causing an increased non-specific immune response; making these conditions worse than they might otherwise be. In the inflamed state, our bodies heal more slowly; excessive inflammation actually impedes the healing process whereas appropriate levels of inflammation speed the process. With the Standard American Diet, we’ve upset the natural balance making it difficult for our body to advance from the acute stage of the injury to the healing phase.

Beyond this basic approach, people often want to look at which specific foods are best for their body. Food sensitivities are a real concern as well as the fact that some people may feel better with more protein that what I outlined above. These responses are individual and best handled in an individual way. However, for the vast majority of people, getting off of processed food and pulverized grains and decreasing animal proteins will make a huge difference and is a conservative starting place.

With this approach, you can begin to take control of your health and effect significant change in almost any process that is affecting your overall energy and vitality.

For some simple ways of adding additional nutritious foods, beyond diet, there are supplement that contain Moringa that you can learn about here: and is a whole food supplement of concentrated fruits and veggies that you can learn about here: If you are interested in ordering either of these products you can do so here: or here:

Feel free to comment below or email me with questions. You may also learn more through a FREE 30 minute Health Strategies Session with me.

The post The Anti-Inflammatory Diet appeared first on Dr Leslie K. Empowered Wellness.