To be truly healthy, you have to eat nutritious food. Choosing those foods can be pretty simple and straightforward. The reward: a lifetime of better health.Foods For Healthy Heart And Brain
Picking foods that can lower your risk of heart disease and stroke requires a look at inflammation, an underlying cause of these chronic diseases. Foods (and anything else) that perpetuate inflammation increase your chances for chronic disease. Avoiding these and dining on less inflammatory comestibles can significantly improve your well-being.
Refined sugar is known to contribute to inflammation. It acts much like a drug in the body and is not a natural nutrient. As a matter of fact, many people get the same reaction I do to refined sugar when eaten on an empty stomach: It acts like a short-acting sleeping pill. Worse, refined sugar interferes with the proper release of the hormones insulin and glucagon. Diabetics know this well.
Furthermore, refined sugar consumption can increase your systolic blood pressure, contributes to diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome, promotes atherosclerosis, and can be linked to peripheral vascular disease. Refined sugar is clearly an inflammatory food you need to eliminate or minimize.
Problematic Processes
Processed foods, like donuts, cookies and chips, containing hydrogenated oils and trans fats are also a problem. These fats become imbedded in body tissues and plug up the natural transport of nutrients across cell membranes. In general, fake foods that are loaded with chemical preservatives and have been extensively processed are low in micronutrients such as vitamins, minerals, omega-3 oils, fiber, antioxidants and phytonutrients. (Micronutrients are the food ingredients that are not only anti-inflammatory, but are used by the body to build healthy cell and tissue function.)
Natural Medicine
In contrast to these health robbers, fresh produce is Mother Nature’s medicine. If you do as Hippocrates suggested and make your food your medicine, then you must be able to discern nutritious food from junk food.
Generally speaking, your diet should focus on foods that provide the most micronutrients accompanied by the fewest calories. These foods give you the most nutrition per mouthful, and they help the body fight against disease.
In the accompanying chart, the foods that are most nutritious are near the top, while less helpful foods are lower down. (One calorie-rich exception: nuts, which lower your risk of heart disease but are high in calories.)
| NUTRIENT CONCENTRATION CHART | |
| Most micronutrients per Calories = 100 Least micronutrients per Calories = 0 | |
| 100 | Raw leafy green vegetables (darker greens have more nutrients) Spinach, kale, Swiss chard, parsley, dark leaf lettuces, collards |
| 95 | Solid green vegetables Artichokes, asparagus, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, sprouted grains, cabbage, celery, cucumber, peas, green beans, peppers, zucchini |
| 80 | Non-green, non-starchy vegetables Beets, mushrooms, onions, garlic, tomatoes, yellow/red peppers, water chestnuts, cauliflower |
| 60 | Beans and legumes Kidney beans, red beans, black beans, navy beans, lima beans, soybeans, black-eyed peas, lentils |
| 50 | Fresh fruits Fresh fruits of all types; dried fruits have a higher glycemic index. |
| 35 | Starchy vegetables White potatoes, red potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash, pumpkin, turnips, corn, carrots, chestnuts |
| 30 | Whole grains Barley, buckwheat, millet, oats, brown rice, wild grain, quinoa, wheat |
| 25 | Raw nuts and seeds |
| 20 | Fish |
| 18 | Un-pasteurized fresh dairy, fermented cheeses |
| 15 | Eggs, fowl, wild meats |
| 10 | Fat-free dairy |
| 8 | Red meat, pork |
| 5 | Full-fat dairy (milk, cheeses) |
| 3 | Processed cheeses |
| 2 | Refined white flour foods |
| 1 | Refined oils |
| 0 | Refined sugars |
Protein Complications
To improve your diet, you should also cut back on animal protein. Consuming animal protein as more than 10 percent of your calories without eating fibrous vegetarian foods is associated with some serious health problems. Along these lines, a study in the Journal of Cardiology (in 1998) demonstrated the health differences between rural Chinese people and typical Americans. In the Asian study population, animal protein intake was very low at only 10 percent, a small fraction of the U.S. average; fat intake was less than half of that found in the United States; and fiber intake was three times higher than in the U.S. Consequently, the average cholesterol levels of Chinese compared to Americans were 127 mg/dL versus 203 mg/dL in the U.S.
The scientists found the death rate to be 16.7-fold greater for U.S. men and 5.6-fold greater for U.S. women compared to their Chinese counterparts. The rate of heart attacks was similarly skewed: Heart attacks were fewer when people ate less animal protein and dined on more green vegetables. In my next column, I’ll take a closer look at the health value of minimizing meat in your diet.
Until then, may your new year 2012 be one of positive outcomes for you and yours!
Michael Cutler, M.D.
Easy Health Options
www.easyhealthoptions.com
