http://www.stevegagne.com/home.php en-us http://www.stevegagne.com/home.php http://www.stevegagne.com/more.php?id=P36 Question: If I am eating a healthy diet, do I need to take extra calcium supplements or drink more milk to prevent potential bone problems, as I get older? Answer: Calcium, like Vitamin C, B6 and other isolated nutrients becomes an issue of nutritional concern when denatured foods are consumed in quantities that exceed wholesome natural foods and when there is an extreme imbalance among the basic macronutrients of carbohydrates, fats and proteins in one’s diet. When we consume... http://www.stevegagne.com/more.php?id=P35 BY STEVE GAGNÉ One of the most popular foods in the world, chocolate is also one of the most versatile. It can find its way into (and have its way with!) delicate cakes, creamy puddings, mousse, cookies, candies, beverages . . . when used for sauces or as a seasoning mixed with spices and herbs, it can even transform a savory meal into an exotic culinary experience. Few foods on the planet have as much appeal as chocolate. It can dominate sweet desserts or entire meals while... http://www.stevegagne.com/more.php?id=P33 Question: I have been reading lots of material about flax seed and flax oil.They are starting to get as much attention in the field of natural foods as soy. What is your take on flax? Answer: Like soy, flax is gaining ground as the next “great thing” you can do for your health. And again like soy, much of the scientific research on flax and flax oil comes from similar sources, “agenda driven” science funded by special interest groups intent on saturating the market place with products... http://www.stevegagne.com/more.php?id=P30 Steve Gagné Steve sees himself as an ordinary man investigating extraordinary information. An independent investigator/researcher, and alternative historian, Steve is one of the most versatile and experienced teachers in whole foods nutrition. His 30 years of teaching throughout America and Europe have earned him a reputation as a progressive and informed wholistic educator who brings a lively, innovative intelligence to his work. Steve is especially well known as an... http://www.stevegagne.com/more.php?id=P27 What is Healthy Food? Just what is “healthy food”? Ideally speaking, healthy food can be defined as natural foods: plant foods that are grown either organically or biodynamically, and animals that are pastured and raised naturally. Natural foods that have been processed and prepared by traditional methods, including fermenting, marinating, drying, etc., also are healthy foods. Healthy food does not include foods that have been grown, raised or processed through genetic... http://www.stevegagne.com/more.php?id=P26 Diet Extremism in the 21st Century Part 1: Reexamining the Case for a Low-Carbohydrate Diet Proponents of a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet use the following general outline of human evolution and reasoning to support their claims: 2.5 Million Years Ago: Primitive humans begin to use stone tools and hunt small animals. CLAIM: Until this time, our earliest primate ancestors consumed a diet much like modern chimpanzees. As a direct result of the increased nutrient-dense... http://www.stevegagne.com/more.php?id=P25 Two Ancestral Lines When considering traditional ancestral diets as a model from which we can draw to improve our own food choices for better health, we must understand that these diets vary considerably according to a host of factors, including soil conditions, cultural habits, changing weather, availability of resources, and more. Despite these smaller variations, we can place traditional diets broadly into one of two categories depending on whether the people who practiced them... http://www.stevegagne.com/more.php?id=P24 The following chart is a representation of dietary proportions roughly based on the well-known mathematical model called “The Golden Rectangle.” This fascinating geometric model has been called by many other names in different parts of the world and different historical epochs. The spiral has often been termed the “universal master form,” and has long been revered as a sacred symbol of life, death, and transformation. Found abundantly throughout nature in both the plant and... http://www.stevegagne.com/more.php?id=P23 In this age of chemical additives, preservatives, and the onset of GMOs (genetically manipulated organisms), we are faced with serious concerns about the quality of our food and its effect on our health. What worsens these concerns is the inordinate difficulty of sorting through all the “newest information” to make any reasonable sense out of an increasingly bewildering picture. Multinational corporations and private interest groups “buy” food science to promote their special agendas,... http://www.stevegagne.com/more.php?id=P22 Theories of Plant Domestication In the distant past, a few Homo sapiens made a decision that altered the biological, psychological, and spiritual essence of humanity. That decision was to work in partnership with the land through the domestication of plants and animals. Researchers from numerous scientific disciplines have made great strides in attempting to explain the origin of agriculture. However, exactly when, how, and why this happened at all is still very much a scientific...