Go Green To Speed Up Your Energy

Drinking a Green Smoothie is a great way to incorporate tremendous amounts of greens into your diet – far more than just eating your veggies. A glass contains more vegetables than many people get in a week!

In our home, my wife is the expert when it comes to smoothies. So, I asked her to share her smoothie secrets with us:

About the author
Rene von Gunten NTP CPT is certified by the National Academy of Sports Medicine, the Nutritional Therapy Association and holds a diploma in Balancing Nutritional Science from the Westbrook University. He is a Los Angeles-based Nutritional Therapy Practitioner and Holistic Nutritionist serving clients locally and internationally via personal or phone/skype consultations. You can find him on Google+ and his website is www.swissnutritioneer.com

About Making Better Choices

Hiya,

I really have no complaints here in Los Angeles. The weather is nice. The waves are rarely better than they are right now. The only critique I have is the fact that I’ve already broken 2 pairs of flip flops since January. I know, bummer.

Now I have 2 options:

• continue to buy $5 models and complain again later
• or being aware of the sign and invest a little more in better quality

It’s kind of the same thing with food. Should you ignore your symptoms and continue to complain, or react and finally feel better by choosing the foods you are supposed to eat?

The great thing about food is: everyone has it in his or her hands, respectively on the fork. 3 times a day.

For those who want to get started and need a little help in the beginning, I have updated my website with many great tools:

Get started
Listed as good or bad are the most consumed foods. Divided into 3 different approaches, depending on how healthy someone is feeling at the time. Everything is ready so you can get started today.

Videos
Especially for you I was at the hairdresser 2 months ago so that I could now start the Swiss Nutritioneer YouTube channel somewhat videogenic. The project is great fun although I still feel embarrassed watching myself.

• How to better to start your day instead of muesli, coffee and orange juice. Watch my secret morning elixir
• Eating meat, becoming vegetarian or following a raw food diet? My view on this. Watch what to eat and why

Special: Snapshot Package $149 (reg. $199)
And to you as loyal Helvetic.LA readers, I’d like to offer my snapshot package with a 25% discount.
The package is perfect to give you a basic overview of your current health situation. It gives you the answer to questions like what nutrient deficiencies you might have, why you find it much harder to reach your top performance and why it takes more time to recover than a few years ago.
» Claim the Snapshot Package for a reduced price of $149 (Offer expires April 30, 2013)
or go over to my website to check out my other services.

Today, I will invest in a better pair of flip flops.
What will be your decision?

Thanks for reading. Ride on.
Rene
(Deutsche Version herunterladen als PDF)

About the author
Rene von Gunten NTP CPT is certified by the National Academy of Sports Medicine, the Nutritional Therapy Association and holds a diploma in Balancing Nutritional Science from the Westbrook University. He is a Los Angeles-based Nutritional Therapy Practitioner and Holistic Nutritionist serving clients locally and internationally via personal or phone/skype consultations. You can find him on Google+ and his website is www.swissnutritioneer.com

A Simple Glass of Water

Last Sunday my wife and I made a trip to Griffith Park along with our two four-legged friends. It was a beautiful day and the destination was soon mutually agreed on: the hike up to the observatory. As always on Sundays, it was pretty crowded. As I have noticed, almost everyone carries some type of water. As a nutritional therapist I thought that was great. However, the devil is in the details, as always. Plastic containers provide for the vast majority. Simple, practical and toxic?

Image: MJ Photography

As this study shows (1), a large majority of plastic bottles leach chemicals into the content. The contamination increases even more if the bottle is exposed to sunlight. Many of you already know that. New could be that the so-called BPA-free plastic materials also emit harmful toxins. It’s similar to yogurt, just because it’s fat-free doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s healthy.

I always ask my clients to switch to stainless steel. Especially when the bottle could be exposed to sunlight. Stainless steel does not leach chemicals and the content survives safely a day in the hot car from taste and health point of view. (My favorites are the bottles from Klean Kanteen.) Yet drinking from a sports cap isn’t necessarily something for everyone or applicable under all circumstances.

For me glass is the most beautiful container for water. It is as transparent as water, as malleable as water, and if you are not careful it is as transient as water. A perfect match. Glass is 100% neutral in taste, does not emit toxins and can be used over and over again. Glass withstands sunlight, dishwashers and microwaves. The only enemy is clumsy hands. And for those it brings some luck after all.

For this reason, I started Trinkglas. A one liter (33 oz) beautifully simple glass bottle with a ceramic swing top seal. Highly convenient with its captive cap is the perfect solution for stationary use at home or in the office. Trinkglas is a semi-fictitious German word and simply stands for what it is, a ‘glass made for drinking’. The bottle with the unique cap was first invented in 1875 and actually sees a remarkable revival in Europe. The swing top can be opened (with a characteristic popping sound) and closed over and over again without tools such as a bottle opener. I think that bottled water hasn’t looked as great for a long time 🙂 Trinkglas is available here and here.

To clean water. Cheers.

About the author
Rene von Gunten NTP CPT is certified by the National Academy of Sports Medicine, the Nutritional Therapy Association and holds a diploma in Balancing Nutritional Science from the Westbrook University. He is a Los Angeles-based Nutritional Therapy Practitioner and holistic nutritionist serving clients locally and internationally via personal or phone/skype consultations. You can find him on Google+ and his website is www.swissnutritioneer.com

The Swiss Cheese Misconception

Maybe it happened to you as well. When I arrived in Los Angeles 3 years ago, pretty much nothing resembled my home in Switzerland. But wait. There was something that did remind me of my country of origin on a regular basis: Swiss cheese.
In the states, one comes across this epitome of quality and tradition over and over again. Offered as an option in your favorite sandwich, any fairly good tasting hamburger comes stuffed with it and there is no supermarket that doesn’t carry it in its dairy section.

The famous milk product from our small Alpine country has come this far. Right? Unfortunately, not quite so glorious. Anyone who has ever enjoyed an original Swiss cheese made from tasty alpine milk, will suspiciously recognize the difference in taste. And therefore, I have taken the effort to learn more about the difference between ‘Swiss Cheese’ and ‘Cheese made in Switzerland’. And here’s what I found out:

Swiss cheese made in the U.S.

Swiss Cheese is mostly produced in large U.S. corporations using bulk operations to make Swiss-type cheese. It is made from pasteurized milk and is available already sliced and shredded in regular and low fat varieties. Due to mass production for a quick distribution it is usually matured only about 4 months and therefore, has a much milder flavor than the real thing.

By the way, the size of the holes (known as ‘eyes’) in Swiss cheese is regulated by the U.S. government. In order to sell large quantities in the United States, the holes may not be greater than 3/8 of an inch. If this standard is met the cheese may be sold as Grade A. However, the reason for this law has more to do with politics than with quality. The American manufacturers had problems with their mechanical slicers when the holes were too big. Instead of developing new techniques or equipment, they went with the practice of simply lobbying the government to make laws to fix a problem.

In the U.S. the two best-selling varieties of Swiss cheese are Baby Swiss (from whole milk) and Lacy Swiss (from low fat milk). In 2010 about 152’400 metric tons of Swiss cheese were made, most of it in the state of Ohio.

Cheese made in Switzerland

Cheese made ​​in Switzerland on the other hand stands for traditional and natural production methods. Cheese-making in Switzerland dates back to the Roman Empire. To this day village dairies daily process fresh milk from the nearby region.

Image: Jürg Vollmer / Aroser Zeitung

Switzerland prides itself on putting quality first, and cheese is no exception. The lush alpine meadows with flowers and herbs creates a milk that is perfect for the rich flavored cheeses. Soft, hard and semi-hard cheese, each region has its own specialties. Swiss cows eat grass in the summer, hay in winter. The milk must be at the dairy within 18 hours of milking and must not be older than 24 hours when processed into cheese. Cheese made in Switzerland is mostly made from raw milk, which requires rapid proceeding.

In the U.S., primarily 2 of the original Swiss cheeses are available: Emmental and Gruyère.

• Emmental or Emmentaler takes its name from the Emmental Valley where it originated around 1293. This prestigious cheese is traditionally-crafted according to strict regulations. The main trademark of Emmental cheese are the large holes. It has a mild, slightly nutty, buttery, almost fruity flavor. The maturing process takes at least 4 months. This forms the characteristic holes. About 1,200 liters of fresh, raw Swiss milk are needed for an approximately 95kg loaf of cheese.
• Gruyère, this cheese’s namesake is the valley of the same name in French-speaking western Switzerland. This raw milk cheese is made by hand in small village dairies for over 1000 years after an unchanged recipe. Each loaf receives at least 5 months to mature until its typically strong, fruity flavor has developed. And unlike Emmental, Gruyère cheese has no holes.

Cheese making is one of the great traditions of Switzerland. Every year, about 180,000 tons of cheese are produced. 1/3 the amount is exported abroad of which only about 4,750 tons come to the U.S.

Summary

The real cheese connoisseur doesn’t just ask for ‘Swiss cheese’ but rather pays close attention to the appellation ‘Made in Switzerland’.

Enjoy!

About the author
Rene von Gunten NTP CPT is certified by the National Academy of Sports Medicine, the Nutritional Therapy Association and holds a diploma in Balancing Nutritional Science from the Westbrook University. He is a Los Angeles-based Nutritional Therapy Practitioner and holistic nutritionist serving clients locally and internationally via personal or phone/skype consultations. You can find him on Google+ and his website is www.swissnutritioneer.com

A Word on Genetically Modified Organisms

The debate on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is in full swing around the world. The European nations have rejected GMO foods and crops. America has allowed many GMOs, however, resistance is growing due to the growing number of reported problems. Currently 88% of U.S. corn and 94% of U.S. soy are genetically modified.

According to the movie ‘Genetic Roulette’ by Jeffrey M. Smith, GMO technology is not a precise science! It’s more of a microscopic aiming from the hip. Take a desired gene, copy it a million times and load all of them into a pistol-like device. Then you shoot the content at millions of target cells. And then you’ll have to clone these ‘wounded’ cells. Usually it takes a virus or a portion of a virus to activate the foreign genes in these newly cloned cells. The process of cloning and bombardment creates massive lateral damage. There could be hundreds or thousands of mutations. This means unpredicted side effects.

The movie further claims that the results are gene-sequences, which do not exist in nature. Our immune system reacts to these unknown ‘intruders’ and the result is an inflammatory reaction. Many of our current disease patterns have inflammation as a common cause. Inflammatory bowel disease, ulcerative colitis, chronic constipation, gastrointestinal infections, Crohn’s disease, gastroesophageal reflux. Inflammations also play a major role in allergies, autoimmune diseases, diabetes, asthma, heart disease, kidney disease, thyroid disease, .. the list just doesn’t end!

To my understanding, there are no security regulations or mandatory authorization of GMO foods in the United States! The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) only reminds manufacturer’s of GMOs that it is their responsibility to ensure that foods marketed are safe, wholesome and in compliance with all applicable legal and regulatory requirements. Currently, the manufacturers can bring new CMO crops to market without reporting it to the FDA or telling it to consumers.

The conclusion: I personally try to stay away from all GMO foods as much as I possibly can.

How to avoid GMO foods in the USA

There are 4 ways to avoid GMO foods:
– Buy organic
– Products that say ‘NON-GMO’ (www.nongmoproject.org)
– Buy products that are listed in the NON-GMO shopping guide (Find the NON-GMO shopping guide for download here)
– Avoid the below mentioned at risk ingredients all together

At risk ingredients
There are 9 GMO food crops right now:
Soy, Corn (not popcorn), Cottonseed (for oil), Canola (for oil), Sugar Beets (for sugar), Papaya (Hawaiian and Chinese), Zucchini, Yellow Crookneck Squash, Alfalfa (for hay).

But their derivatives can be found in more than 70% of the foods in supermarkets, particularly the processed foods.

They include but are not limited to: canola oil, corn flour, corn masa, corn meal, corn oil, corn sugar, corn syrup, cornstarch, cottonseed oil, dextrin, dextrose, glucose, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), hydrolyzed vegetable protein, maltodextrin, protein isolate, soy flour, soy isolates, soy lecithin, soy milk, soy oil, soy protein, soy protein isolate, soy sauce, sugar (unless specified as cane sugar), tamari, tocopherols (vitamin E), tofu, vegetable fat, vegetable oil.

Vote Yes on Proposition 37
But wait, there is a significantly easier way to find out if there are any GMOs used in foods. Vote for the right to know what’s in your food. Please vote yes on Proposition 37 on November 6 which requires mandatory labeling for GMO ingredients.
More information: www.carighttoknow.org

GMO foods in Switzerland

Switzerland has comprehensive mandatory labeling laws for GMO foods to protect consumers against deception. And also to allow freedom of choice between conventional and genetically modified foods.

The import and sale of genetically modified foods are allowed if the corresponding genetically modified organisms (GMOs) received premarket approval. Such products have to be labeled if more than 0.9 percent of an ingredient is genetically modified. However, Swiss farmers and the major supermarket chains like Coop and Migros voluntarily reject to buy or sell GMOs.

What can you do to keep it this way?
Buy organic (aka ‘Bio-Produkte’ in Switzerland) and locally produced food. Support politicians and organisations that promote the concept of an ecologically and locally oriented agriculture.

Source: Movie ‘Genetic Roulette’ by Jeffrey M. Smith

About the author

Rene von Gunten NTP CPT is certified by the National Academy of Sports Medicine, the Nutritional Therapy Association and holds a diploma in Balancing Nutritional Science from the Westbrook University. He is a Los Angeles-based Nutritional Therapy Practitioner and holistic nutritionist serving clients locally and internationally via personal or phone/skype consultations. You can find him on Google+ and his website is www.swissnutritioneer.com