Health News

Merry Christmas!

Just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas today! 

Take care, enjoy your family and friends and don’t forget to really take the time to reflect on the gifts in your life and enjoy everyone around you, even if you have some family angst

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Enhanced Broccoli Offers Greater Nutrients

Scientists in Britain have successfully created a hybrid version of broccolil that is supposed to be even healthier and pack a bigger nutritional punch than original broccoli.  It took them fourteen years to create the cross-bred version of broccoli, but they finally did it and were able to file a patent on the new breed of vegetable.

The broccoli is supposedly not genetically modified (non GMO), so it may still appeal to the purists who do not want to eat GMO foods or produce that is grown this way. Genetically modified basically means that the basic genetic makeup was messed with in some way at the inception of the growth of the veggie.

The new breed of ‘super’ broccoli is supposed to taste a bit sweeter because it does not have as much sulphur in it. Sulphur is actually a really healthy component of broccoli and other sulphur rich veggies like cauliflower, cabbage and brussel sprouts, so I’m not sure why they reduced the sulphur content in the broccoli.

However, the new super broccoli has much more of a nutrient called glucoraphanin.  Glucoraphanin helps to break fats down in the body, and so is thought to be excellent for heart and brain health, and a great diet aid since it can help you maintain a thin waistline.

Where can you get this new enhanced super broccoli?

Right now, this super broccoli is only available in certain select stores in Texas and California so far here in the US. It may be available more widely in the country where it was created, the UK, but details were not available.

Broccoli itself, the normal kind, is a super food. It contains so many vital nutrients such as vitamins and minerals, as well as beneficial fiber, that it helps maintain heart health and ward off cancer. It is important that this veggie be purchased organically if at all possible.

This is because broccoli is eaten as a whole food. It is not peeled before eaten, so it has not protective layer from the pesticides that are repeatedly sprayed on it. It also can absorb the toxins from the soil since non-organic soil contains toxins left over from years of pollution.

What’s All This About Antioxidants?

What’s All This About Antioxidants?

Antioxidants are used to control free radical damage. Free radicals are produced when the body burns oxygen to produce energy. A free radical is a molecule that has a single, unpaired electron in its outer shell. Free radicals are reactive because they seek stability with an additional electron to make a pair.

They can do damage to other atoms in the body by taking their electrons and making them unstable. This can cause chain reactions that result in cell death. Antioxidants are molecules that have an extra electron, and they can give it to a free radical, thus neutralizing it.

Then the neutralized free radicals leave the body as waste products. So having lots of antioxidants in the body can reduce the amount of damage free radicals cause. This level of free radical activity is called oxidative stress. Oxidative stress is associated with aging and general breakdown of the body over time.

Some foods that are rich in antioxidants are fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds, cereals, and spices. As you can see, these are natural, living foods. Vitamins A and E are antioxidants, and help strengthen your immune system as well.

Cherries, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, pomegranates, oranges, plums, kiwis, black currants, and grapefruit contain lots of antioxidants. Some people may choose to eat these fruits whole or buy beverages like Welch’s, Minute Maid, Tropicana, Monavie, or Florida’s Natural. Monavie is made with fruit purees and acai berries.

These berries have antioxidant properties and come from the acai palm. When you choose to add antioxidants to your diet, you are taking a step towards preserving your own health.

Adjusting your diet to combat free radicals could allow you to enjoy a healthier life. It can be easy and tasty to include more antioxident-rich foods in your diet. If you start by using some simple fruits, like prunes, raisins, blueberries, and blackberries, you could decide how you feel with the change.

You may want to include more vegetables after a time, like kale, spinach, brussel sprouts, and broccoli. If you decide you like this path, you can develop a more sophisticated repetoire and try some fancier dishes.

For instance, adding beets to your diet could allow you to try a popular dish called borscht that is made with beets, beef, carrots, onions, potatoes, and sour cream.

Or you could just snack on a stir fry of onions, corn, eggplant, black beans, and red bell peppers. Adding many antioxidants to your diet is easy, healthful, and quite delicious.

When Food is an Addiction

Many people pass judgement on others who are overweight especially if they, themselves, don’t have a weight problem.  Most people don’t realize that overeating and the often resulting obesity may be from differences in how our brains are “wired.” 

Overeating and obesity doesn’t necessarily mean that a person is lazy or has no will power.  In a recent study, results show that, for some people, food is an addiction and their brains respond to food in a similar way that people with other addictions respond to alcohol or drugs when the binge on food. 

There are differences in actual brain activity in those who have have an addiction to food than in those who don’t when shown a picture of a sweet treat.  The participants in the study who had signs of food addiction had more activity in the craving areas of the brain in response to the picture.  The same participants also had less activity in the part of the brain that inhibits the desire to eat.

When measuring food addiction in this study, the researchers measured responses in a similar manner to how they would gauge any other addiction such as drugs or alcohol.  Food addicted individuals will have the same type of behavior patterns as those addicted to any other substances . 

They will be preoccupied with thoughts of food, be prone to going on eating binges and will have little control over their eating patterns.

Since obesity is such a problem and the effects on our health are serious, the medical profession is as concerned about food addiction as they are about other substance addictions like drugs or alcohol.  Extreme overeating and resulting obesity is just as dangerous to our health.

The importance of recognizing that food is, for some, an addiction and not just a lack of will power, can change how individuals approach weight loss and changing eating patterns.  Breaking the cycle of food addiction can be dealt with the same way as breaking addictions to any other substance.

Recognizing signs and symptoms of withdrawal from certain foods and a one day at a time attitude can help an individual overcome food addiction.  The researchers at Yale University have come up with a list of questions to determine if you have an addiction to food that are similar to the self questioning thresholds for other substance addictions.  They can be looked up online at abc world news and click on the health tab.

Merry Christmas Fellow Dieters!

Hello everyone. This is gonna be really short and sweet because like everyone else, my plate is full of social stuff today with family.

I wanted to wish everyone a really wonderful Christmas day.  Let’s all be grateful for what we have and forget about any problems we have on this day.

So, eat drink and be merry – without guilt and without stuffing yourself til you feel ill.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE – I LOVE ALL MY READERS!!!!

Did Ya Pig Out on Thanksgiving?

I know I sure did. And the one thing that’s really bad about pigging out, even if it’s only for a day or two, is that your body literally gets somewhat addicted to all the fat, salt and sugar you’ve enjoyed, and you think everything else after that really tastes like sawdust.  It doesn’t take the human body very long at all to become used to food that has a lot of flavor via the big three baddies of the diet world.

For that reason, sticking to a healthier and more wholesome diet the majority of the time makes you actually crave those foods when you do go off track, as opposed to constantly craving junk.  Studies have shown that sweets and fats are actually addictive on a physiological level to the body. That’s why someone who has been on a diet of junk their whole life and has had excess fat, salt and sugar, finds it so ridiculously hard to go on a good diet after that.

This is especially important to teach your kids to like wholesome foods. You really keep  a lot of the tastes you were brought up with when you go into adulthood.  If you were fed mac and cheese and junk all the time as a kid as opposed to lots of fruits and veggies, well, guess what types of foods you’ll still prefer when you are an adult?

If you start kids off on fruits and veggies, you will find the ones they naturally prefer. For instance, lots of kids love oranges and apples, so try to give them these as a dessert, for instance, or maybe if that doesn’t work, try giving them some strawberries and whipped cream, just so that they really get that taste for fruits, which is probably easier to get kids to like than veggies actually because of the natural sweetness.

To get back on track from Thanksgiving yourself, try to sort of detox the next day gradually.  Maybe make some fruit and yogurt or cottage cheese for breakfast, and then move on to a salad with lots of chicken and a low fat dressing and some cheese for lunch.  Then maybe eat only a piece of chicken or fish for dinner with a nice side of veggies and a small salad, again with some cheese. Don’t deprive yourself too much, or you’ll find yourself headed for the pecan pie before you know it!

Why Aspartame is Bad for You

Aspartame is substitute for sugar and is 150 – 200 time sweeter than cane sugar. Aspartame is used as substitute for sugar in many beverages, sodas and food products, and in low-calorie foods but is not suitable for baking products. It is an artificial sweetener who gives sweet taste to ready to use beverages, sodas and sweet products. As he is 150 -200 times sweeter than cane sugar he can be added in small quantities to improve taste in bitter juices and food products.

Aspartame can be added in all variety of juice products and can give this pleasant sugar taste to every diet. Also he can mask non pleasant taste of some mixed products. He has one feature different than sugar, it doesn’t have high sugar energy value. Only small quantities of aspartame are needed to produce the sweet sugar like taste, and his caloric value is negligible. Also aspartame has different taste from sugar and aspartame sweet feeling last longer.

Manufacturers of the Aspartame must put sign on the label “this product contains aspartame’ or “this product contains artificial sweetener” for the people who suffered from Phenylketonuria to see on the label the ingredients of the product.  Persons with Phenylketonuria must avoid aspartame and be on particular diet.

Approximately 10% of aspartame (by mass) is broken down into methanol; most of the methanol is absorbed and quickly converted into formaldehyde and then to formic acid. Some opponents of aspartame have claimed that this causes metabolic acidosis.

But these byproducts of aspartame didn’t have any harmful side effects in the body because his byproducts already exist in the body and they aren’t harmful. Also some soft beverages and juices contain more alcohol and methanol than aspartame byproducts can produce in the body.

But there are proven Aspartame side effects, and they were a well guarded corporate secret since the 1980s. Side effects of aspartame can cause some problems in the human body and they are result of his nature. Precaution must be taken in children and in pregnant woman because aspartame can cause many side effects in the body.  Novel investigations state that there are over 92 symptoms of side effects connected with aspartame.

But on the market there are alternative sugars substitutes called artificial sweeteners that that can be used in food products, sodas and beverages. Although Aspartame is the one of the most popular there are many sugar substitutes who almost taste like sugar. The impact is on the sweet taste that can make these sweeteners taste and feel as close as possible to sugar probably just isn’t worth it.

Processed Meats Linked to Health Problems?

It’s no secret that processed, nitrate and salt loaded meats like sausage, bacon and organ meats that are highly processed are on the far end of the bad spectrum when it comes to health foods. However, there really hasn’t been a definitive study or conclusion that shows consuming these types of a meats on a daily basis significantly contributes to your likelihood of getting certain diseases or having problems with certain aspects of your health.

When compared to eating meats that were not processed such as pork and hamburger, the risks were not as high, or there was no correlation at all, so the reason might be the preservatives and salt that are loaded into most processed meats. I know they make a tasty part of your meal, but you may really want to reconsider cutting them out all together or just making sure they are only “special occasion” foods if you want to avoid some of the health pitfalls that frequent consumption comes with.

The calorie and nutrition info was similar between the processed and unprocessed forms of the meat, but what was different was sodium and nitrate content. The consumption of these types of meats daily showed a large increase in the risk of both heart disease and diabetes, suggesting that salt and nitrates were the culprit.

What’s the lesson to be learned here? Try to avoid organ meats and processed meats if you can. Sure, it’s ok to indulge in some sausage links or bacon strips here and there, but try to avoid it in your every day consumption as it can definitely play havoc on your health in a couple different ways.

Depo Provera and Weight Gain

A recent study has shown that the method of birth control where you get a shot in the arm about once every three months, known best by the brand name of Depo Provera, may cause a weight gain in specific women who are susceptible to it, that may be very hard to shed once it is put on, potentially putting them at risk for all those headaches that are associated with a higher weight like difficulty breathing, diabetes and the like.

Depo Provera is already not without it’s critics.  Many believe that it causes a higher risk of strokes and other health problems that make it not even worth the convenience it offers to women who want to use a birth control method.

The weird part about the weight gain experienced on Depo Provera is that women who were already mothers and of a normal weight were at the highest risk of early weight gain while on the contraceptive, most of them citing an almost immediate increase in their appetite after getting the injection.  The larger appetite may be explained by the alteration of hormones that are involved in hunger and satiety in the body, caused by the contraceptive method.

The study to see which women were at higher risk involved women of quite a few ethnic backgrounds, so it should have been a pretty good study outcome.  The women who gained about 5% of their current body weight within six months of getting the injections were the most likely to also continue on with the weight gain trend throughout the years.  The interesting part is that the women who gain weight early on and quickly with Depo Provera were identified as much  more likely to continue that trend than the women who were on it and gained weight at a slower pace from the onset.

For that reason, Doctors should recommend that patients who see this high increase in weight very early on the shot should seriously consider going on something different as an option so that they do not put on weight and jeopardize their health. My personal opinion on the shot is that there are better options.  I think that it causes too many complications in my opinion to be a viable birth control option that minimally interferes with a woman’s health.

The Joys of Growing Your Own Food

More and more people, especially with the economy these days, as well as the new awareness that is spreading about the benefits of locally grown produce, are actually making their first foray into the gardening market. I’ve tried my hand at gardening, with some degree of success, and some degree of miserable failure as well, but I’ve learned along the way, and I’ve also learned how fulfilling it is to see something grow into a vegetable from a plant, and how much better it tastes. It’s almost a world of difference between a home grown tomato and a store bought tomato, for instance. Rarely will a home grown, fresh and un radiated tomato taste grainy or flavorless.

There is something to be gained from that. The less flavor and texture a piece of fruit of a veggie has, the less nutrients it most likely has, so you know you are getting a double bang for your buck when you grow your own fruits and veggies, because not only are you getting excellent flavor, but the fruit or veggie is also retaining a lot of it’s texture and flavor and makes for much better cooking and eating. Cucumbers are another one that I love fresh and home grown. They are so tender, so flavorful, compared to the bland, tough ones you buy at the grocery store, and you can just put a touch of olive oil and seasoning on them and eat them right up.

Remembering back to when my grandma and grandpa first introduced me to gardening, I didn’t appreciate the difference between store bought fruits and veggies and what they had grown in their own back yard, but I always knew that the foods that my grandma cooked, especially in the summer, seemed to be brimming with life and flavor. As an adult, I fully appreciate the money savings that gardening offers, as well as the health benefits.

Just for the nutrient benefits alone, gardening is immensely healthful. Not only that, I think that there is something inherently healthy and fulfilling about having your own garden. I know that pulling up after I get off work and seeing that some more of my tomatoes have ripened and are ready to be sliced up for a salad is immensely rewarding. Or picking some cilantro for a fresh salsa. There is something very instinctually rewarding and “right” about gardening and I’d encourage everyone to at least try your hand at it.