Day: July 24, 2015

This past weekend, I visited Maui.  I am going to dedicate my blog this week to healthy delicious Maui eats that I found on my trip!  My video is about Coconut Glen’s, which is dairy-free organic coconut ice cream.  It was delicious.  Here are some pictures:

 

We also went to the Coconut Glen hut on the road to Hana.  Unfortunately, it rained, so my pictures are not as bright:

 

Right next to Coconut Glen’s (on the same street) is Maka’s, which serves fabulous plant-based cuisine.

The restaurant is airy and bright with beautiful wall art:

 

They serve both raw and cooked food.  Here is the current menu:

 

I had the Teri-Coco Sandwich, which was delicious!:

We took a trip to Lahaina, and checked out the Choice Health Bar, which has vegan sushi from 6-9pm Monday-Saturday:

They had the specials on a board and the standard menu (to the right):

 

We had the dragon roll:

 

And the rainbow roll:

 

And the local fig compote and coconut kefir yogurt:

 

We loved it!

My last eatery stop was at Maui Kombucha which serves kombucha that they make themselves and delicious plant-based cuisine. Here is the menu:

 

We sampled the kombucha, which was delicious.  That’s coming from me, and I don’t normally like kombucha!  I had the black mango flavor and Jessica had the ginger lime flavor.

 

I had the burrito bowl:

 

 

Jess had the MK Threeway:

 

We had a fabulous lunch there!

That’s us with a photo bomber.  Check out these healthy Maui eats next time you go to Maui.  Enjoy!  I had a great weekend there.

Hi all,

I did a recent lecture for the hawaii vegetarian society which is now recorded and on youtube.  It is titled “Avoid a Visit to the ER with a Healthy Vegan Diet”.  The link is :

Check it out!

Synopsis:  I talk about some of the common complaints I see as an Emergency Physician, and talk about how these diseases can be prevented with diet.  I also talk about medication side effects.  Some topics include Diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, stroke, and heart attack.  Lastly, I address constipation and afflictions that can occur as a result of constipation including hemorrhoids, diverticulosis, diverticulitis, and rectal prolapse.

I am going to address constipation in this blog, since it is easily preventable by some changes in your diet.  You will see results relatively quickly when you make dietary changes.  Constipation is a common problem I see in the Emergency Room.  On any given day, I may see about 1-2 patients with constipation.  There are probably countless others that have less severe constipation that do not make it to the emergency room as well!  In the lecture I talk about how 90% of Americans do not eat 30 grams fiber daily which is the recommended daily intake.  Fiber consumption is about half the daily recommended amount.

I go over the fiber content of different foods.  In summary, animal products such as beef, chicken, fish, eggs, and dairy have NO fiber.  If you are eating these products and have constipation, you are setting yourself up for misery.  Only plant products such as beans, nuts, veggies, and fruits contain fiber.  I recommend at least 4-6 servings daily for my patients.  The processing of food takes out their fiber content.  Processed foods include rice, pasta, cookies, crackers, chips, and noodles.  You should limit your intake of these when you are constipated.  However, processed foods listed above still have more fiber than animal products which have none.  Even a cup of white rice has 0.6 g of fiber.  The less processed version (brown rice) is always preferable in terms of fiber content.  You will likely lose weight when you increase the fiber in your diet as the bulk will cause earlier satiety.  The weight will come off slowly, but weight that comes off slowly is more likely to stay off!

Other agents that can cause constipation include medications, such as diuretics and especially narcotics.  Exercise is also important to prevent constipation and drinking water helps as well.  I recommend patients drink half their weight in ounces of fluid unless they have limitations due to heart failure or kidney failure.  For instance, if you are 100 pounds, you should be drinking 50 ounces of water at least daily.  You may need more if you are sweating due to exercise or excessive heat.  How about juicing?  I prefer smoothies because juicing takes out the fiber in the fruit or vegetables.  I also recommend that patients stay away from diuretics, such as soda with caffeine, coffee, or tea, since that may cause frequent urination, causing the stool to be more dry and hard.

If you are really desperate, they do have many over the counter laxatives and enemas at Long’s or whatever pharmacy you prefer.  You can ask the pharmacist.  However, some patients become dependent on these laxatives for a bowel movement.  Some patients add metamucil to their food.  I am not against this practice, but it would probably be better to add something with nutrients such as fruits and veggies which are also delicious to your diet; instead of using metamucil.  I hope after reading this post, you will never be constipated again, and not need to resort to these practices!