Sidecar Restaurant Local-Food Dinner – All Aboard!!!

First, let me tell you why this dinner and this movement are so important. Few things are making America more sick than the food that we eat. Local food, by any definition, is healthier that the processed and long-distance-shipped food that Americans live on. Secondly, industrial farming, which feeds most of America, is an unhealthy system. If you question that, watch the film, Food Inc. Locally grown food tends to be grown in a more sustainable manner. And it is always good, when possible, to know your farmer. Now, the dinner ....

This Thursday, May 6, 2010 between 5 and 9pm Chef Tim Kilcoyne and his team will host a Locavore Light 2010-inspired all local dinner! That means all ingredients used (except for the salt) will be sourced from within a 100 mile radius of Ventura! The cost will be $55 per person which will include wine, or $45 per person without wine. Reservations are highly recommended as space is limited. Please call 805-653-7433 or make reservations from our website at www.thesidecarrestaurant.com

Menu:
For the table- Breakfast radishes with radish top"butter" and tangerine pickled beets
First course- Salad of local greens, english peas, shaved fennel, avocado, meyer lemon vinaigrette
Second course- Mushroom ragu filled cabbage, fennel frond-garlic vinaigrette
Third course- Grilled cauliflower "steak", crushed potatoes, braised greens, caramelized onion bbq sauce
Fourth course- Strawberries, blood oranges, pistachios, lavender-honey syrup

This dinner is the third in a series of all-local-food restaurant meals in Ventura County in 2010! Come join us for dinner and support our local farmers and local agriculture!!!

Come meet special guests for the evening;
John Krist, CEO Ventura County Farm Bureau
Kristofer and Joanne Young, cofounders of Locavore Lite 2010

SLEEPING POORLY? WHAT'S "D" ANSWER?

Gormon Servasta, a medical neurologist from Oklahoma, recently wrote to John Cannell, MD, the Executive Director of the Vitamin D Council in San Luis Obispo, CA, to share his experiences of the benefits of Vitamin D for his patients.

Dr. Servasta reported that all of his patients with sleep disorders had low blood levels of Vitamin D and that when the patients’ blood levels were brought above 50 ng/ml through supplementation, that their sleep improved and secondarily several of their neurologic problems, improved, especially their headaches.

Additionally, Dr. Servasta reports that many neurologic disorders respond to supplementation with Vitamin D. They include improved sleep, seizures, headaches, vertigo, tremor, gait problems, Parkinson's, depression, psychosis, and hypertension (high blood pressure).

Note: At Ventura Chiropractic & Massage, we sell high quality Vitamin D supplements, and Dr. Young orders blood testing for Vitamin D – insurance and cash -  (cash only orders for Vitamin D can be done for $50 by Dr. Young)

To learn more about Vitamin D and to protect yourself and your family from numerous health problems and serious diseases, go to the Vitamin D Council’s website at http://www.vitamindcouncil.org and sign up for their free newsletter.

It's "D" Truth

Dr. Chilkov's column starts by saying,
"Life Saving and Health Promoting Benefits of Vitamin D:
Vitamin D can reduce your risk of the flu and complications of flu. Vitamin D contributes to lowering the incidence of infections and inflammation during the fall-winter flu season. The Canadian government has recommended increased Vitamin D intake as part of their flu prevention strategy, including prevention of H1N1 Swine Flu."

She is not only right, she is accurately reporting the medical science that it is critical for you to have your Vitamin D levels tested in your blood. Read the rest of her column at:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nalini-chilkov/10-reasons-you-should-be_b_525914.html

High Prevalence of Vitamin D Deficiency among Inner-City African American Youth with Asthma

The Journal of Pediatrics

http://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(09)01290-6/abstract

High Prevalence of Vitamin D Deficiency among Inner-City African American Youth with Asthma in Washington, DC

Robert J. Freishtat, MD, MPHacefCorresponding Author Informationemail address, Sabah F. Iqbal, MDacef, Dinesh K. Pillai, MDadef, Catherine J. Klein, PhD, RDbe, Leticia M. Ryan, MDbce, Angela S. Benton, BASa, Stephen J. Teach, MD, MPHbce

Published online 17 March 2010.

Objective
The goal of this study was to examine the prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency among urban African-American (AA) youth with asthma compared with control subjects without asthma.

Study design
A cross-sectional case-control study was conducted at an urban pediatric medical center. Total 25-hydroxyvitamin D insufficiency (<30 ng/mL) and deficiency (<20 ng/mL) were assessed in urban self-reported AA patients, aged 6 to 20 years, with (n = 92) and without (n = 21) physician-diagnosed asthma.

Results
Blood samples were available for 85 (92%) cases. The prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency were significantly greater among cases than control subjects (73/85 [86%] vs 4/21 [19%], adjusted odds ratio = 42 [95% confidence interval: 4.4 to 399] for insufficiency and 46/85 [54%] vs 1/21 [5%], adjusted odds ratio = 20 [95% confidence interval: 1.4 to 272] for deficiency).

Conclusions
Most of this sample of urban AA youth with persistent asthma were vitamin D deficient or insufficient. Given the emerging associations between low vitamin D levels and asthma, strong consideration should be given to routine vitamin D testing in urban AA youth, particularly those with asthma.

Urinary Incontinence in Women

Vitamin D Council
Press Release
4/2/2010

Researchers at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse New York recently announced that pelvic floor disorders in women are associated with low vitamin D levels.

In a paper published in the April issue of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Dr. Samuel Badalian and Paula Rosenbaum studied 1,961 women and found 23% of American women over the age of 20 have a pelvic floor disorder, which often leads to urinary incontinence. Women who are overweight or who have had more than one child are at an increased risk.

The researcher found that low vitamin D levels predicted pelvic floor disorders, even in younger women and that urinary incontinence was twice as likely in vitamin D deficient women compared to women with higher vitamin D levels.

The authors concluded:

“Our findings suggest that treatment of vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency in both premenopausal and postmenopausal women could improve pelvic muscle strength, with a possible reduction in the prevalence of pelvic floor disorders, including urinary incontinence.”

Press contact information: Dr. Samuel Badalian, MD, 104 Union Ave., Suite # 803, Syracuse, NY, badalian@netzero.com
John Cannell, MD
Executive Director
The Vitamin D Council
1241 Johnson Ave., #134
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401