Post by Tulameen on Aug 9, 2005 10:27:53 GMT -5
Rocky Mountain News
There's plenty of evidence that eating lots of fruits and veggies protects against cancers of the mouth, lung, stomach, colon, larynx, pancreas, breast and bladder, according to the American Institute for Cancer Research.
August 9, 2005
All hail kale!
Maybe that should be "All inhale kale!"
Either way, can't do it. My son, Jasper, amazed me by choosing to eat kale not once but on two separate occasions. Granted, it had been sauteed with roasted garlic and tomatoes, but it still tastes like a vile weed to me.
If you ask Dr. Michael Murray, kale deserves our respect, and we should encourage our children to eat great heaping bowls of it.
Edible plants are here to be served and protect, and they can help alleviate ailments as diverse as anxiety attacks and varicose veins, say Murray and co-author Joseph Pizzorno, who wrote the Encyclopedia of Healing Foods.
There's plenty of evidence that eating lots of fruits and veggies protects against cancers of the mouth, lung, stomach, colon, larynx, pancreas, breast and bladder, according to the American Institute for Cancer Research. (Note: If you smoke, nothing you eat is going to save you.)
The AICR report Food Nutrition and the Prevention of Cancer: a global perspective says that if people did just one thing - consuming just over two cups of vegetables and fruits a day - it could reduce the overall incidence of cancer worldwide by at least 20 percent.
Diets high in produce, particularly dark green, deep orange or yellow ones, also help lower the risk of heart disease, stroke, hypertension and diabetes, according to the American Heart Association.
The latest word, published in the journal Stroke, says lowering the blood pressure of the 59 million Americans considered prehypertensive - with readings from 12 0/80 to 13 9/89 - might prevent nearly 50 percent of heart attacks.
Roy G Biv to the rescue!
You know of whom I speak: RedOrangeYellow Green BlueIndigoViolet, the colors of the rainbow and the colors everybody should have on their plates to live long and well.
What do fruits and veggies have that Twinkies don't? Phytochemicals.
"These are compounds that don't have nutritional value in that they're not essential vitamins and minerals, but they seem to be very important in helping our bodies function better," Murray says.
Using food to heal ourselves is the wave of the future, he says, and research uncovers new disease-fighting powers of various nutrients all the time.
Take lycopene. It's the red-orange carotenoid - antioxidant - that gives tomatoes their superfood status. It's already been shown to fight breast and prostate cancers, and it's possible that it can do the same for your skin, says Dr. Huachen Wei, director of Dermatology Research Laboratories at Mount Sinai Medical Center.
Wei has some experiments planned, courtesy of the AICR. They involve feeding lycopene to hairless mice and then exposing them to UVB rays until they develop tumors. Then he'll see whether more lycopene helps skin cancer the way it does other cancers.
If it does, it might open the door to a tomato-based sunscreen that not only protects your skin but tastes great on pasta.
Cancer-fighters can be found in the most unexpected places. Monoterpenes - which are found in caraway and celery seeds as well as the essential oils of orange peel, peppermint, spearmint, sage, cherries and cranberries - have been shown to help prevent and treat breast cancer. More research is under way to see whether they have the same impact on leukemia.
And fruit can do more to help protect your vision than a bushel of carrots. Three or more servings a day may reduce by 36 percent the risk of age-related macular degeneration, the main cause of vision loss in older adults, according to a study in the June 2004 issue of the Archives of Ophthalmology.
To get the most healing out of your meals, Murray and Pizzorno have created what they call the "Optimal Health Food Pyramid," a blend of the world's healthiest diets: the traditional Mediterranean diet and the traditional Asian diet.
"These are associated with a lower risk of the main killers of Americans: heart disease, cancer and stroke," Murray says.
He thinks the government's earlier food pyramid wreaked havoc on the American waistline.
"It really kind of led people down wrong path," he says. "It recommended eight to 11 servings of bread, rice, cereals and grains, and those recommendations contributed to the fattening up of America."
The latest government recommendations are a little better, he says, but still not specific enough. His Optimal Health Food Pyramid daily recommendations:
• Two to four servings of green leafy and cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli, cabbage, endive, escarole, chard and . . . kale
• Two to three servings of low-glycemic vegetables such as carrots, peas, cucumber, tomatoes, zucchini, asparagus and celery
• One to two servings of starchy vegetables such as yams, beets, pumpkin and butternut squash
• Three to four servings of fruit
Before you freak out about how much food that is, please remember what actually constitutes a serving: It's a medium-size piece of fruit or a half-cup of fruit juice, or a half-cup to a cup of cooked or raw vegetables.
Veggies' value in losing weight is ingrained in the American mind: An AICR survey found that 80 percent of adults eat more salads, vegetables and fruits to lose weight.
And it works. Produce often has a high nutrient density but a low energy density, which means it makes you feel full because of its fiber and water content but adds relatively little to your daily calorie count.
As for its power to heal, Murray's encyclopedia has "food prescriptions" for whatever ails you. In the case of the common cold, for example, the book suggests avoiding concentrated sugars such as glucose, fructose, sucrose, honey or fruit juice, which suppress the body's ability to kill bacteria.
When you feel a cold coming on, whip up a drink containing a 1-inch slice of fresh ginger, a quarter of a lemon, a quarter-teasthingy of cinnamon and a cup of hot water. Juice the ginger and the lemon if you have a juicer, or grind up the ginger and squeeze the juice from the lemon if you don't.
Other cold warriors: garlic and Jerusalem artichokes, both helpful in fighting infections.
It's common to hear about food-based remedies for viruses and bacteria, but carpal tunnel syndrome? Part of the blame, Murray says, is tartrazine, also known as FD&C Yellow No. 5, a food dye found in almost every packaged food (even those that aren't yellow).
Tartrazine interferes with vitamin B6, which can help relieve carpal tunnel. The prescription: Avoid the dye, eat B6-rich foods such as bananas, lentils, soybeans, walnuts, brown rice and brewer's yeast, and during a flare-up, try the anti-inflammatory combo of pineapple juice and fresh ginger.
And what of kale? It hails from the noble cabbage family, which contains phytonutrients believed to reduce the risk of colorectal cancer. A serving is chock-full of carotenes and contains vast quantities of vitamin C - more than 70 percent of the recommended daily intake - all for a mere 20 calories a serving.
Like most veggies, it's high in vitamins, minerals and fiber, low in fat, calories and sodium, and devoid of cholesterol. I'll think twice before I dare to diss kale again.
I'll also think twice before I eat any, because I still think it tastes like lettuce's evil twin.
All the more for Jasper.
What they bring to the table
Strawberries
vitamin C, phenols
heart-protective, anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory
Blackberries
phenols
lower cholesterol, reduce risk of heart disease and cancer
Bananas
potassium
help prevent high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke
Romaine lettuce
beta carotene, folate, vitamin C
heart-healthy, lowers risk of hypertension and stroke
Eggplant
flavonoids and phenols
protects against heart disease and cancer
Tomatoes
carotenoids
protect vision, help prevent heart disease and breast, lung, prostate and colorectal cancers
Bell peppers
vitamins A and C, beta carotene
protect against heart disease, diabetes, arthritis and cataracts
Ryckmanl@RockyMountainNews.com
MORE RYCKMAN COLUMNS »
Copyright 2005, Rocky Mountain News. All Rights Reserved.
URL: www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/lifestyles_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_4537_3987234,00.html
There's plenty of evidence that eating lots of fruits and veggies protects against cancers of the mouth, lung, stomach, colon, larynx, pancreas, breast and bladder, according to the American Institute for Cancer Research.
August 9, 2005
All hail kale!
Maybe that should be "All inhale kale!"
Either way, can't do it. My son, Jasper, amazed me by choosing to eat kale not once but on two separate occasions. Granted, it had been sauteed with roasted garlic and tomatoes, but it still tastes like a vile weed to me.
If you ask Dr. Michael Murray, kale deserves our respect, and we should encourage our children to eat great heaping bowls of it.
Edible plants are here to be served and protect, and they can help alleviate ailments as diverse as anxiety attacks and varicose veins, say Murray and co-author Joseph Pizzorno, who wrote the Encyclopedia of Healing Foods.
There's plenty of evidence that eating lots of fruits and veggies protects against cancers of the mouth, lung, stomach, colon, larynx, pancreas, breast and bladder, according to the American Institute for Cancer Research. (Note: If you smoke, nothing you eat is going to save you.)
The AICR report Food Nutrition and the Prevention of Cancer: a global perspective says that if people did just one thing - consuming just over two cups of vegetables and fruits a day - it could reduce the overall incidence of cancer worldwide by at least 20 percent.
Diets high in produce, particularly dark green, deep orange or yellow ones, also help lower the risk of heart disease, stroke, hypertension and diabetes, according to the American Heart Association.
The latest word, published in the journal Stroke, says lowering the blood pressure of the 59 million Americans considered prehypertensive - with readings from 12 0/80 to 13 9/89 - might prevent nearly 50 percent of heart attacks.
Roy G Biv to the rescue!
You know of whom I speak: RedOrangeYellow Green BlueIndigoViolet, the colors of the rainbow and the colors everybody should have on their plates to live long and well.
What do fruits and veggies have that Twinkies don't? Phytochemicals.
"These are compounds that don't have nutritional value in that they're not essential vitamins and minerals, but they seem to be very important in helping our bodies function better," Murray says.
Using food to heal ourselves is the wave of the future, he says, and research uncovers new disease-fighting powers of various nutrients all the time.
Take lycopene. It's the red-orange carotenoid - antioxidant - that gives tomatoes their superfood status. It's already been shown to fight breast and prostate cancers, and it's possible that it can do the same for your skin, says Dr. Huachen Wei, director of Dermatology Research Laboratories at Mount Sinai Medical Center.
Wei has some experiments planned, courtesy of the AICR. They involve feeding lycopene to hairless mice and then exposing them to UVB rays until they develop tumors. Then he'll see whether more lycopene helps skin cancer the way it does other cancers.
If it does, it might open the door to a tomato-based sunscreen that not only protects your skin but tastes great on pasta.
Cancer-fighters can be found in the most unexpected places. Monoterpenes - which are found in caraway and celery seeds as well as the essential oils of orange peel, peppermint, spearmint, sage, cherries and cranberries - have been shown to help prevent and treat breast cancer. More research is under way to see whether they have the same impact on leukemia.
And fruit can do more to help protect your vision than a bushel of carrots. Three or more servings a day may reduce by 36 percent the risk of age-related macular degeneration, the main cause of vision loss in older adults, according to a study in the June 2004 issue of the Archives of Ophthalmology.
To get the most healing out of your meals, Murray and Pizzorno have created what they call the "Optimal Health Food Pyramid," a blend of the world's healthiest diets: the traditional Mediterranean diet and the traditional Asian diet.
"These are associated with a lower risk of the main killers of Americans: heart disease, cancer and stroke," Murray says.
He thinks the government's earlier food pyramid wreaked havoc on the American waistline.
"It really kind of led people down wrong path," he says. "It recommended eight to 11 servings of bread, rice, cereals and grains, and those recommendations contributed to the fattening up of America."
The latest government recommendations are a little better, he says, but still not specific enough. His Optimal Health Food Pyramid daily recommendations:
• Two to four servings of green leafy and cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli, cabbage, endive, escarole, chard and . . . kale
• Two to three servings of low-glycemic vegetables such as carrots, peas, cucumber, tomatoes, zucchini, asparagus and celery
• One to two servings of starchy vegetables such as yams, beets, pumpkin and butternut squash
• Three to four servings of fruit
Before you freak out about how much food that is, please remember what actually constitutes a serving: It's a medium-size piece of fruit or a half-cup of fruit juice, or a half-cup to a cup of cooked or raw vegetables.
Veggies' value in losing weight is ingrained in the American mind: An AICR survey found that 80 percent of adults eat more salads, vegetables and fruits to lose weight.
And it works. Produce often has a high nutrient density but a low energy density, which means it makes you feel full because of its fiber and water content but adds relatively little to your daily calorie count.
As for its power to heal, Murray's encyclopedia has "food prescriptions" for whatever ails you. In the case of the common cold, for example, the book suggests avoiding concentrated sugars such as glucose, fructose, sucrose, honey or fruit juice, which suppress the body's ability to kill bacteria.
When you feel a cold coming on, whip up a drink containing a 1-inch slice of fresh ginger, a quarter of a lemon, a quarter-teasthingy of cinnamon and a cup of hot water. Juice the ginger and the lemon if you have a juicer, or grind up the ginger and squeeze the juice from the lemon if you don't.
Other cold warriors: garlic and Jerusalem artichokes, both helpful in fighting infections.
It's common to hear about food-based remedies for viruses and bacteria, but carpal tunnel syndrome? Part of the blame, Murray says, is tartrazine, also known as FD&C Yellow No. 5, a food dye found in almost every packaged food (even those that aren't yellow).
Tartrazine interferes with vitamin B6, which can help relieve carpal tunnel. The prescription: Avoid the dye, eat B6-rich foods such as bananas, lentils, soybeans, walnuts, brown rice and brewer's yeast, and during a flare-up, try the anti-inflammatory combo of pineapple juice and fresh ginger.
And what of kale? It hails from the noble cabbage family, which contains phytonutrients believed to reduce the risk of colorectal cancer. A serving is chock-full of carotenes and contains vast quantities of vitamin C - more than 70 percent of the recommended daily intake - all for a mere 20 calories a serving.
Like most veggies, it's high in vitamins, minerals and fiber, low in fat, calories and sodium, and devoid of cholesterol. I'll think twice before I dare to diss kale again.
I'll also think twice before I eat any, because I still think it tastes like lettuce's evil twin.
All the more for Jasper.
What they bring to the table
Strawberries
vitamin C, phenols
heart-protective, anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory
Blackberries
phenols
lower cholesterol, reduce risk of heart disease and cancer
Bananas
potassium
help prevent high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke
Romaine lettuce
beta carotene, folate, vitamin C
heart-healthy, lowers risk of hypertension and stroke
Eggplant
flavonoids and phenols
protects against heart disease and cancer
Tomatoes
carotenoids
protect vision, help prevent heart disease and breast, lung, prostate and colorectal cancers
Bell peppers
vitamins A and C, beta carotene
protect against heart disease, diabetes, arthritis and cataracts
Ryckmanl@RockyMountainNews.com
MORE RYCKMAN COLUMNS »
Copyright 2005, Rocky Mountain News. All Rights Reserved.
URL: www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/lifestyles_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_4537_3987234,00.html