Cheryl Farley, Food as Medicine nutritionist shares answers to your nutrition questions on May’s Diabetes Late Nite podcast. LISTEN HERE. 

During the podcast we asked her:

“Does smoked salmon carry the same dangers (and risks for cancer) as other processed meats?” 

Here is Cheryl Farley’s answer: The latest research coming from some of the leading experts in Food as Medicine indicate that processed meats especially are highly carcinogenic! Smoked salmon really has its own set of issues. Salmon is very high in fat content and although it is high in Omega 3 fatty acids to me the bad outweighs the good. As mentioned on May’s Diabetes Late Nite interview the real culprit behind insulin resistance for people living with Type 2 diabetes and pre-diabetes is fat. Also, salmon is very high in sodium content. Another consequence of eating fish or any meat for that matter can be explained in the book The China Study by Dr. T. Colin Campbell, a landmark study on the relation between animal protein and cancer.  If you choose to eat smoked salmon, I would make certain that it is organic, non-GMO and not farm raised. This has become another popular method to supply the ever-growing demand for fish is to raise them on farms, but it is a known fact that the environment is not clean.  What we put into our mouths daily is either nourishing and feeding our cells and supplying vital nutrients to our body, or it is setting us up for sickness and eventually disease. Truly “Health is Wealth”.  

Cheryl encourages people to eat “as close to the tree as possible” (a whole food plant-based diet). Why not try something that will feed and nourish your body? What have you got to lose, except your type 2 diabetes? 🙂  

Mock Salmon Spread Recipe by Cheryl Farley  

Ingredients:

2 cup raw almonds

3/4 cup raw carrot pieces

1/2 cup water

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon of sesame tahini

1 1/2 celery stalk cut into pieces4 green onions 

1 teaspoon celery salt

1 teaspoon sea salt or pink salt1 teaspoon paprika

1-2 tablespoons liquid hickory smoke

2 tablespoons dried chives 

Directions 

1. Place almonds, carrots, water, lemon juice, sesame tahini, celery, and onions into a food processor and blend until it is a smooth puree.  

2. Add remaining ingredients, except for dried chives and blend briefly. Add dried chives and blend for a few seconds. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Great on crackers, whole grain bagels or as a dip for veggies. 

Cheryl Farley was born in Baltimore, Maryland and moved at the age of 11 to California where her father managed health clubs for Jack Lalanne who was widely recognized for publicly preaching the health benefits of regular exercise and a good diet. Growing up in and around the health club environment and meeting Jack Lalanne as a young girl left an indelible impression on Cheryl’s about the importance of exercise to live a long, healthy life. By her late teens Cheryl was working in fitness facilities in California.  Cheryl married her husband Dennis in 1986. Dennis gave up a career working for John’s Hopkins to focus on the mission of teaching people about how effective a healthy diet and a change of lifestyle can be in restoring health.  Cheryl and Dennis together developed a deeper understanding of the dietary component to our health, the importance of good nutrition and how what we eat impacts not only our health, but our lives overall. They returned back to their home state of Maryland in 1986, and Cheryl became a passionate advocate for wellness, spreading the word of good nutrition wherever she could. Cheryl and Dennis started offering cooking classes in their local community knowing the importance of influencing people on how to prepare foods healthily and how food choices can change the lives of people who are sick.   While in Maryland, Cheryl met Dr. Richard Hanson who owned a wellness center in Maine. At this time, they made the decision to leave their jobs in Maryland and work at this wellness center in Poland Maine. Dennis became the administrator and Cheryl the cook, also helping with the exercise programs.  During the two years they were there, they were introduced to the Weimar Institute, a wellness center located on the west coast. Weimar is known for having a powerful impact on changing people’s lives.

Cheryl and Dennis were invited to participate in a reversing diabetes program in 1997. Cheryl gave the cooking class, which was an educational component to the 3-day seminar. The physicians involved with Weimar understood that food is vital in the restoration of health. Cheryl saw patient’s blood sugar drop within 48 hours.  From their experience with Weimar, Cheryl and Dennis were invited to participate in additional reversing diabetes seminars over an 8-year period in Upstate New York, Maryland, North Carolina and Georgia. Participants saw their blood sugar drop and when they returned home and applied what they had learned; they experienced miraculous changes in their lives. Cheryl bonded with many of these people and she would get phone calls and emails from the participants following each seminar saying; “I’m off high blood pressure medications,” “I’m off my heart medications,” “No more Glucophage.” Some patients lost up to 30 pounds.  Cheryl came to appreciate that most of us do not realize just what a treasure our health truly is until we don’t have it. Our lifestyle and diet catch up to us eventually.  We are all such creatures of habit from the environment we are raised in.  The foods we eat, the lifestyle we live, is generational. When people eat the foods Cheryl suggests, they realize not only how good they are, but also that they are delicious and nutritious.  In addition to addressing diabetes, a similar healthy lifestyle, with a healthy, balanced diet can equally address other diseases such as hypertension, asthma and chronic heart disease. Cheryl plans to expand her programs to address these areas also.  

From years of working at reversing type 2 diabetes seminars, Cheryl has realized that this information is so powerful and that this is such an important and relevant message; especially today where there is an epidemic of diabetes and obesity, she feels a moral obligation to get this information out to people. We all have choices to make in everything we do. We do not realize how powerful the decisions we make about our lifestyle are going to impact our overall health. Cheryl strives to get this message out to everyone who needs to know, recognizing it is vitally important not only in this country, but also worldwide.    www.cherylfarley.com  Recommended reading – The China Study by Dr. T Colin Campbell and Reversing Diabetes by Dr. Neal Barnard  

We’re talking about secret and hush hush topics in diabetes wellness such as intimacy issues, fears and food issues on Diabetes Late Nite with musical inspiration from H.E.R. courtesy of SONY Music. H.E.R. chooses to keep her identity a secret but that’s proving harder to do after winning Best New Artist and Best R&B Song Grammy Awards this past year. Guests include Janis Roszler LMFT, RD, LD/N, CDE, FAND, Cheryl Farley “Food as Medicine” Nutritionist, Dr. Dugan Maddux and the Charlie’s Angels of Outreach. Throughout the podcast we will be playing music from H.E.R.’s I Used To Know Her: The Prelude album courtesy of SONY Music. Diabetes Late Nite is a fast-paced, full-filled hour of diabetes education and wellness advice that encourages listeners to “laugh a little, learn a lot’.