Dr. Ben Kim's blog

If you already know that 100% whole food vitamin and mineral supplements are far better for your health than synthetic vitamin and mineral supplements, you know more about how to healthfully take vitamins and minerals than the vast majority of conventional health care practitioners.

While I firmly believe that regular use of whole food supplements can ensure optimal health, I also believe that your primary source of natural vitamins, minerals, and other micronutrients and macronutrients should be fresh, whole foods (locally grown, whenever possible). Read more

If you take a look at a variety of vitamin C supplements, you will find that the majority of them contain only ascorbic acid or a compound called ascorbate, which is a less acidic form of acorbic acid. Ascorbic acid is NOT vitamin C. It represents the outer ring that serves as a protective shell for the entire vitamin C complex, much like an orange peel that serves as a protective shell for an orange.

Real vitamin C found in whole foods like fruits and vegetables contains the following components: Read more

Earlier this month, I shared a Sweet Potato and Pecan Salad with Lime Recipe on this blog that generated several enthusiastic reviews. One appreciative reader even left a phone message of thanks for that recipe! Among the reviews were several requests for more recipes that call for sweet potatoes.

I hope that this recipe for homestyle sweet potato soup is appreciated as much as the last sweet potato recipe was. It's one of the first healthy recipes that I shared on this site, and it remains one of our family's favorite healthy soups. Read more

Approximately 60,000 to 70,000 cell phones are sold each day in the United States. Over 110 million Americans use cell phones. And worldwide, it is estimated that approximately 1 billion people use cell phones. As the number of cell phones, cell phone towers, and other wireless antennas increase rapidly in industrialized nations, should you be concerned about the effects that regular exposure to radio frequency radiation can have on your health?

If you're not concerned about the effect that wireless devices and broadcasting antennas can have on your health, I encourage you to view "Public Exposure: DNA, Democracy and the Wireless Revolution," a documentary that provides the best overall look at the connection between radio frequency radiation and human health that I have ever come across. Read more

In Japan, expensive varieties of mushroom like maitake and matsutake have long been thought to contain more health-promoting nutrients than the humble white mushroom. A new study, conducted by a government research institution in France, indicates that the white button mushroom (Agaricus bisporus) has at least as much antioxidant power as more expensive varieties like maitake and matsutake.

White button mushrooms are the youngest form of Agaricus bisporus. If left to grow, white button mushrooms turn into Crimini mushrooms. When Crimini mushrooms are left to grow another 2-3 days, they turn into Portobello mushrooms. Read more

Last week, I published a comprehensive article on Operation Shanti, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to empower the poorest and neediest children and elderly, beginning with those in Mysore, India.

In that publication, I set a goal of having our readership raise $11,700 in one week for Operation Shanti's most pressing needs.

While I was hopeful for a positive outcome, I was emotionally prepared for a muted response; despite my optimistic nature, life has beaten me down on enough occasions for me to instinctively brace myself for disappointment in such situations. Read more

Late last year, I began working with a professional writer named Tracy Kunichika. I found Tracy through an online service that allows professionals to meet together to work on various projects.

When Tracy told me that she was in India, knowing that her last name is not a typical Indian surname, I became curious about what she was doing there. A few google searches later, I discovered that Tracy is the founder of Operation Shanti, an organization whose mission is to empower the poorest and neediest children and elderly in the world, beginning with those in Mysore, India. Read more

In the summer of 2000, while working at a fasting clinic in northern California, I met a woman named Myra Bailes. Over the course of about three weeks, I had several conversations with Myra, and found her to be memorably genuine, thoughtful, and kind. Myra and I stayed in touch over the years, and this past January, I learned that Myra has been working on establishing an agrarian community in Georgia. Her plans for a small, environmentally-sound, community-based, agricultural community are extremely appealing to my wife and me, and if we didn't have the family ties that we do here in Ontario, we would seriously consider being a part of Myra's proposed community. Read more

If I could choose only one fruit to eat for the rest of my life, avocados would receive serious consideration. Not only are avocados creamy and delicious, they are abundant in healthy raw fat, fiber, vitamin K, folate, vitamin B6, and vitamin C.

If eating avocados straight up isn't your thing, give one of the following easy guacamole dip recipes a try. It's near impossible to mess up a guacamole recipe, and freshly made guacamole is far healthier than commercially prepared varieties, which sometimes don't even contain real avocados. Read more

Contrary to popular belief, free radicals are not entirely bad for your health. Free radicals, by definition, are reactive elements that want to steal electrons from compounds that they come into contact with.

The vast majority of free radicals that exist in your body at any given moment can be traced back to one of the following sources: Read more