Top 10 Healthy Foods

This post was originally published as 10 Foods You Should Really Try by Laurel on Health Food blog. 

Men’s Health Magazine produced a list of “The Ten Best Foods You Aren’t Eating“. Here are their choices for the superfoods that rarely make it into our shopping carts-but should. The article also contains helpful information about how you can include each of these foods in your diet.

1. Beets – contain lots of folate and betaine, reduce risk of heart disease, may fight cancer

2. Cabbage – contains sulforaphane to reduce free radicals and cancer risk

3. Guava – high in lycopene to fight prostate cancer, also high in potassium and fiber

4. Swiss Chard – carotenoids protect your eyes from damages of aging

5. Cinnamon – reduces blood sugar and LDL cholesterol

6. Purslane – highest amount of omega-3s in any plant source, and melatonin inhibits cancer growth

7. Pomegranate Juice - lowers systolic blood pressure and improves blood flow, high in vitamin C

8. Goji Berries – potent in antioxidants, reduces insulin resistance

9. Dried Plums – antioxidants fight free radicals that cause cancer

10.  Pumpkin Seeds – high magnesium, linked with living a longer life

People who regularly eat dark chocolate

This post was originally published as  Chocolate News! by Laurel on Health Food blog.

Here’s a good reason to pick up some dark chocolate for you or your one true love on Valentine’s Day…and every other occasion after that. A new study published in the Journal of Nutrition concluded that people who regularly eat dark chocolate (in moderate amounts) had 17% lower levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) in their blood. C-reactive protein is found in our blood when there’s inflammation inside the body.Previous research found that people with high CRP levels are at greater risk for diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and hypertension.

Remember that with chocolate, a little goes a long way. Have a small square a few times a week (2-3) to keep your heart healthy. University of Illinois professor of food science and human nutrition, John Erdman, Jr., Ph.D., recommends high-cacao content dark chocolate because it has the most flavanols (a class of flavonoids, or those wonderful antioxidants we all need). (Ref: Body+Soul Magazine, March 2009, p.33)

If you have trouble eating just a little bit of chocolate instead of the whole bar, try cutting it into small pieces that you can take on the go. That way you only have the small piece when you go to eat it later in the day.

Resveratrol supplements could be a powerful addition to your healthy diet

 

Photo by: Zoran Ozetsky, www.dezignia.com

This post was originally published as  Power Supplement: Resveratrol by Laurel on Health Food blog.

I’ve been hearing more and more about resveratrol over the past couple of years. It’s a powerful antioxidant compound found naturally in foods like grapes, cranberries, blueberries, peanuts, and wine. It’s also found naturally in a Chinese herb called Hu zhang and a Japanese plant called knotweed. According to Natural News, Hu zhang is actually the richest source of resveratrol on the planet!

Recent research found that resveratrol can help the body fight off cancer and heart disease, reduce inflammation, prevent weight gain, expand longevity (anti-aging), boost energy, and even improve athletic endurance. In addition, there’s preliminary research that says resveratrol reduces menopausal symptoms in women. Resveratrol has received support from big names like Dr. Andrew Weil and Dr. Mehmet Oz. Fitness Magazine even featured a lengthy article on resveratrol in their February issue.

Resveratrol supplements are certainly popular these days. The Fitness article said it’s one of the top five supplements sold at Vitamin Shoppe. The Nutrition Business Journal estimates that sales of resveratrol supplements are over $30 million a year. A growing number of people are taking them to improve endurance and extend longevity. The research shows that resveratrol may “activate enzymes that help muscles use oxygen more efficiently.”

Unfortunately, resveratrol research has been mostly contained to laboratories at this point. There’s only been a few human trials (though they had successful results), but I’m sure more are underway.  I’m always a proponent of trying to get the majority of your daily nutrients, minerals, vitamins, antioxidants, etc. from whole food sources. But resveratrol supplements could be a powerful addition to your healthy diet.

Fitness Mag recommended supplements with trans-resveratrol in the ingredient list (it’s the naturally-occurring form of the compound). Avoid supplements that say “complex”, “formula”, or “blend” on the label because you could only be getting a small amount of the good stuff. A few quality brands to look out for are: Longevinex, Swanson, and Biotivia. (Fitness Mag, Feb. 2010, p. 114).

UPDATE: This post was featured on FitBuff’s Total Mind and Body Blog Carnival 141 and the Baby Boomers Blog Carnival 27.

Fish Oil More Effective than Drug

This post was originally published as Fish Oil More Effective than Drugs by Laurel on Health Food blog.

New research from Europe found that fish oil supplements are more effective than a popular cholesterol medication at helping people with chronic heart failure. When someone has chronic heart failure, their heart becomes enlarged and fails to fill with blood to pump it through the body. In the study, almost 3,500 patients were given an prescription formula omega-3 pill on a daily basis. About the same number of patients took a placebo. The patients were followed for about four years. A parallel study gave one group the cholesterol drug Crestor and placebo pills to the other group.

When comparing the results from both studies, researchers found that taking fish oil (omega-3) supplements are slightly more effective than the drug. Dr. Richard Bonow, Chief of Cardiology at Northwestern University Hospital in Chicago and former president of the American Heart Association, says that “it’s a small benefit, but we should always be emphasizing to patients what they can do in terms of diet that might help.”

Dr. Jose Gonzalez Juanatey from the European Society of Cardiology says these new findings may give patients a new treatment and offer a change of dietary recommendations for people with chronic heart failure. Juanatey said, “this reinforces the idea that treating patients with heart failure takes more than just drugs.”