On Wednesday, February 17, 2010, Danielle Heard, MS, HHC, of Artemis in the City was featured in an article titled "East Texans Embrace Food as Medicine and Regain Their Life," in The Gilmer Mirror newspaper.

The article presents the health success stories of four of Danielle's clients who are from the East Texas area and who have embraced a new holistic lifestyle that is based on whole food as medicine. In just a matter of months, these East Texans have been able to take control of their health, reverse many health conditions and change their life!

If you would like the opportunity to read the article, please click here to read on The Gilmer Mirror's website. We want to thank the publisher Russ Greene and the editor Mac Overton for the opportunity to tell the Gilmer community and others about the exciting success East Texans are experiencing utilizing food as medicine.

Robert H. Lustig, MD, Professor of Pediatrics Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, University of California San Francisco, presents “A Mini Medical School for the Public – Current Controversies in Nutrition – Sugar: The Bitter Truth.”

This is a compelling presentation offering scientific research and explanation as to why diabetes, heart disease, cancer and obesity rates have risen dramatically over the last 30 years while human genes have not changed. The cause is not from a high fat diet but from diets high in sugar.

During Dr. Lustig’s presentation, you will learn how the body processes various types of sugar, why different sugars are not equal and why sugar is a dangerous poison. The primary focus is on explaining the body’s biochemical process of fructose, such as high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), a hepatotoxin which is a toxic chemical substance that damages the liver. Dr. Lustig also explains why fructose is a leading cause of metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, type II diabetes, obesity, lipid problems, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, stroke, inflammation, and non-alcoholic fatty-liver disease.

Even though fructose is a simple carbohydrate, it is metabolized by the body like a fat. Many American’s who are eating low fat diets are also consuming high amounts of fructose which doubles as a fat. But it is not a healthy fat which has the necessary components

In March 2009, Michelle experienced an alarming incident that helped her decide to take control of her health – a heart attack. Michelle’s health had steadily deteriorated since 2005. At the age of 50, she was unable to work or go and do things on her own. Michelle relied heavily on the care of family members to help her. According to Michelle, “I became a true invalid locked in my own home. Many days I was barely able to get out of my bed.” After living with illness, pain and severe chronic fatigue for many years, Michelle decided it was time to change her situation. Within 6 months of implementing food and healing methods, Michelle regained her health, became able to do what she wants on her own and is now living life again!

In June 2009, at the recommendation of a friend, Michelle sought the help of Danielle Heard of Artemis in the City. At the time Michelle was just recovering from a heart attack, had many other health issues which included Epstein Barr Virus (EBV), Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), Fibromyalgia as well as Low Thyroid, Sleep Apnea and High Blood Pressure. Michelle was also taking 14 medications at the same time to treat her various symptoms. Because Michelle was too weak to attend appointments on her own, her husband attended sessions with her so that he could learn to provide her with the care that she would need in order to get well.

Michelle’s primary health goal that she wanted to achieve from the 6 month wellness program was to just be able to have enough energy and strength to go to the store on her own to buy her grandson toys. “I want to enjoy it and be able to take my time,” said Michelle. “I have not had the energy to do this since 2005.” Michelle also wanted to be able to go and visit friends, go to her shop that she owns, have enough energy to wake up before 10:00 AM without an alarm clock and to still have enough energy to go out in the evening and look good doing it.

Beginning with her first health counseling session in June, Michelle

Addictions are a subject that Margaret knows all too well. Throughout her entire life, she has battled and overcome many forms of addiction including addictions to cigarettes and alcohol. Now at the age of 56, Margaret is conquering her last major addiction, an addiction to food, has lost 60 pounds and is obtaining the life she has always wanted!

In May 2009, Margaret stood just 5’2” tall and weighed over 320 pounds. She was experiencing a number of health issues which included arthritic pain, inflammation, cellulitis, high blood pressure and considered herself to have a food disorder. The weight was a lot for her small frame to carry, and Margaret was not feeling well. She was also having trouble walking due to the pain and inflammation in her back, knees and hip. Since both of Margaret’s parents had been overweight and had died of strokes, this too weighed heavily on her mind.

Margaret had tried many times to lose weight. She had even stopped eating fast food 6 years ago. Margaret’s last resort to try to control her weight included skipping meals and eating lots of raw celery and carrots. But her efforts were unsuccessful and she battled many food cravings which she eventually would give in to, especially cravings for sweets.

At the recommendation of a friend, Margaret began visiting the Artemis in the City website and attending the events to learn more. After attending the lecture “Take Control of Your Health with Whole Food,” Margaret decided she needed professional help and scheduled a health history session. Within one month of a 6 month wellness program, Margaret had lost 20 pounds, her knee

Black-eyed peas are not just any ol' cow pea to southern folk. Black-eyed peas symbolize survival, health, prosperity and are thought to bring good luck. It is tradition for people living in the south to eat black-eyed peas each year on New Year's Day. Most southerners make sure to eat their black-eyed peas along with some leafy greens at the stroke of midnight or sometime on New Year's Day to avoid having bad luck and to obtain wealth and prosperity during the coming year.

To help you celebrate and have extra special good luck in the coming year, I have posted my recipes for black-eyed peas, greens and cornbread muffins. To view these recipes, you will need to login as a member to my website. If you are not a member, please sign up. Membership is completely FREE. Click here to find out more and to sign up.

I hope that you can understand the need to require the login to protect my recipes from being copied to other websites. I have experienced this problem in the past and had to have a website taken down for copyright infringement as they were copying my blogs directly to their website!

New Year's Day Recipes:

Here are a few recipes that are sure to bring you luck, good health and prosperity in the New Year! I hope you will

Faced with a health crisis at the young age of 40, John realized that it was time to take control of his health. He had already experienced taking up to 11 medications at one time and knew that this was not the path that he wanted to continue. In just 6 months, John was able to turn his health situation around and lose over 50 pounds.

John has now lost over 70 pounds and said, "I am happier and healthier than I've ever been. I feel like the time has been set back about 13 years."

By helping John dissolve old patterns and thoughts about food and equipping him with new tools and healing food theories, John has been able to completely change his life.

In 2008, John visited the Artemis in the City company website and became interested in the wellness programs. He then contacted Danielle Heard to learn more about how they could work together since he lives in Denver, Colorado. A few months later in April 2009, John was ready to begin a 6 month wellness program.

At the time John began his program, he was experiencing many health issues which included high blood pressure, gout, fatigue, and depression. John also wanted to lose about 50 pounds.

During the 6 months that John and Danielle worked together,

Hello Friends!

I want to let you know that I have changed the format of my newsletter. I am now using the e-newsletter program Constant Contact.

Please click here to view my Artemis in the City December 2009 E-News! as a web page for a limited time. This issue includes featured recipes, a top 10 gifts wish list for Santa, special offers, and important issues for you to take action.

If you have been previously receiving my email newsletter or have been periodically receiving updates from me but did not receive my December 2009 E-News! in your email box, please check your spam folder. If for some reason you did not receive my newsletter, please let me know. I do not want to lose contact with you! Additionally, I am trying to gauge the effectiveness of delivery for this new e-newsletter system and need to know of any delivery problems.

Please be sure to add my newsletter email address to your contact address book so that you will be sure to receive my future E-News! The address is listed in the newsletter click here.

If you are currently not receiving my Artemis in the City E-News!, I hope that you will sign up today. It is absolutely FREE and will help keep you informed of my latest health articles, recipes and events. Click here to sign up!

On September 10, 2009, Michael Pollan's response to President Obama's speech on national health care was printed in the New York Times. In the Op-Ed article "Big Food vs. Big Insurance," Pollan suggests that the American way of eating has become the elephant in the room in the debate over health care.

Pollan, who is a New York Times best selling author of books such as The Omnivore's Dilemma, and In Defense of Food, as well as a regular New York Times Op-Ed contributor, points out that 75% of health care costs are for chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease and obesity that are linked to diet and are preventable.

"Our success in bringing health care costs under control ultimately depends on whether Washington can summon the political will to take on and reform a second, even more powerful industry: the food industry," writes Michael Pollan. "But so far, food system reform has not figured in the national conversation about health care."

Pollan further points out that the US government is now placing itself in the position to pay for health care costs that are caused by the very foods, such as high-fructose corn syrup, that it is subsidizing. Additionally,

"Are you pouring on the pounds?" In an effort to encourage New Yorkers to cut back on sugary beverages, the New York City Health Department is urging New Yorkers to think about the sugar-sweetened beverages they are drinking. The image used in the new public service campaign ad is a soda, sports drink or sweetened ice tea beverage that is turning to fat as it is being poured into glasses. The main message is, "Don't drink yourself fat." This campaign is another great effort by New York City to help improve the health of New Yorkers while sending a message to the world that it is a health conscious city. To read the recent August 31, 2009 press release click here.

Since 2002, New York City has consistently passed bills to improve the health of its city and is continuously working hard to show America what it takes to create a healthy city. In 2002, New York City became one of the first major cities to ban smoking in bars and in restaurants. Just four years later, with help from leaders in the field of nutrition such as Walter Willet, MD, PhD Chair, Department of Nutrition at Harvard University and the support and efforts by the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and its students and alumni, as well as the help from many others, the use of trans fats in food was pushed to the forefront of New York City's health agenda. In December 2006, New York City's board of health voted to ban the use of trans fats by restaurants and bakeries with the full ban on trans fats going into effect by 2008.

New York City is known as the first city to ban trans fats, but the small community of Tiburon in Northern California, just outside of San Francisco,

Last week while I was shopping at a book store, the cover of the latest August 31, 2009 edition of Time Magazine caught my eye. I couldn't help but notice it because there on the front cover is a large photo of a package of hamburger meat, one of the most dangerous products in our food system. In the middle of the package of hamburger meat is a warning label which reads, "WARNING: This hamburger may be hazardous to your health. Why the American food system is bad for our bodies, our economy and our environment - and what some visionaries are trying to do about it." The cover further implies through its title "The Real Cost of Cheap Food," that behind America's food system and corporate farming practices, there have been great costs at all levels, not only to the health of Americans but also to the health of our planet.

Seeing the subject of factory farming positioned on the cover of Time is a positive sign that people are now finally listening to these visionaries who have been out there on the front lines for years educating and warning the public of the consequences of industrialized farming practices that are not sustainable or honorable and that go against laws of nature. This article is further support for a small few who have been fighting a tough battle against very powerful industries, including our own government, in order to protect the health of people, our environment as well as the quality of life for livestock animals and to preserve the integrity of real food.

You might have thought that the quality of food would have been a priority and would have at least mattered to our policy makers in government,