Dark leafy greens, such as kale, spinach, and Swiss chard, tend to top health experts’ lists. Bursting with vitamins A, K, and C, kale is also a great source of calcium, iron, magnesium, and potassium. Whether you toss it into soups, smoothies, or salads, gobble as much of this stuff as you can every day.
healthy habits
Today’s Health Tip ~ It Taste Good in Most Dishes and It’s Good for You
The Healthy Choice is Garlic
Today’s Health Tip ~ Are You Getting Enough Beta-Carotene
Beta-Carotene is Your BFF
One of the best ways to get vitamin A—an essential nutrient that protects and maintains eyes, skin, and the linings of our respiratory, urinary, and intestinal tracts—is from foods containing beta-carotene, which your body converts into the vitamin. Beta carotene-rich foods include carrots, squash, kale, and cantaloupe, but sweet potatoes have among the most. A half-cup serving of these sweet spuds delivers only 130 calories but 80 percent of the DV of vitamin.
Today’s Health Tip ~ What Food May Protect Against Heart Disease and Breast Cancer?
Tomatoes – They’re a Winner
Tomatoes are our most common source of lycopene, an antioxidant that may protect against heart disease and breast cancer. The only problem with tomatoes is that we generally eat them in the form of sugar-loaded jarred pasta sauce or as a thin slice in a sandwich. For a healthier side dish, quarter plum tomatoes and coat with olive oil, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Roast in a 400°F oven for 20 minutes, and serve with chicken.
Today’s Health Tip ~ A Near Perfect Food
It’s Hard to Beat Beans
It’s hard to imagine a more perfect food than beans. One cooked cup can provide as much as 17 grams of fiber. They’re also loaded with protein and dozens of key nutrients, including a few most women fall short on—calcium, potassium, and magnesium. Studies tie beans to a reduced risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and breast and colon cancers. Keep your cupboards stocked with all kinds: black, white, kidney, fat-free refried, etc.
Today’s Health Tip ~ What are the Best Foods Recovering from Surgery
Protein serves as your body’s building blocks. When you eat foods that contain protein, your body breaks the nutrient down into its simplest form — amino acids. Your body then reconfigures these amino acids to make new blood vessels, nerve endings, muscle and tissue. Protein also helps your body fight infection, per Michigan Medicine, while carrying oxygen throughout your body and balancing your body fluids.
Eat more fiber. Constipation is common after surgery due to the effects of anesthesia (which slows down your digestive tract) and the oral pain medication you may be taking, per the Cleveland Clinic. While you may not have an appetite if you’re feeling bloated and full from constipation, it’s important to drink and eat to help get things moving. Adding more fiber-rich foods to your diet may help prevent the after-effects of your surgery (although your doctor may also prescribe a laxative).
Foods With Nutrients for Wound Healing. When it comes to foods to eat after surgery, you should choose a wide variety from all the food groups so your body gets all the nutrients it needs for health and healing. There are certain nutrients that are especially important for healing after surgery, including vitamin C and zinc. To help your body heal, include plenty of vitamin C-rich foods in your post-surgery diet, such as oranges, broccoli, red peppers, potatoes, tomatoes and cantaloupe. These vitamin C-filled foods are also good sources of fiber, so they offer two benefits in one.
Today’s Health Tip ~ Is Frozen Fruit Nutritious?
Frozen Fruit is as Nutritious as Fresh Fruit
Depending on the fruit, some may retain more nutrients frozen while others are better fresh. Nutrients in fruit are at their peak right after being picked. Because fruit is frozen quickly, it retains nutritional value. If your fresh fruit is truly fresh, the nutrient value may be similar. If your fresh fruit was shipped and sat on store shelves for a while, it may contain fewer nutrients. When you consider all of the variables, the health benefits of fresh and frozen fruit are very similar.
Today’s Health Tip ~ Watch Out for the Char
Consuming Charred Meats Increase the Risk of Colon Cancer
Meats cooked at temperatures high enough to cause charring can contribute to an increased risk of colon cancer, Nasrallah says. This can be caused by grilling or broiling. “The charring process can make nutritious proteins like skinless chicken breast harmful to eat,” she says. “Charred meat contains unsafe hydrocarbons and other carcinogens that are cancer-causing agents, which can increase the risk of colorectal cancer.”
Today’s Health Tip ~ Can Your Diet Reduce the Effects of Air Pollution?
Outdoor air pollution is deadly, and is currently the ninth leading cause of death and disability in the world. Air pollutants also worsen or increase the risk of other health problems like asthma, liver disease, and the risk of diabetes.. . . Broccoli can dramatically boost the detox enzymes in our liver and help decrease the level of inflammation within our bodies. This helps explains why eating more than two cups of broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, or other cruciferous veggies a day is associated with a 20-percent reduced risk of dying, compared to eating a third of a cup a day, or less. The cruciferous compound sulforaphane is a powerful inducer of our detox enzymes, so most of the research has focused on its cancer-fighting abilities.
Eating broccoli and other cruciferous veggies might just be a frugal way to combat the long-term health risks of air pollution.
Cruciferous Vegetables
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- Arugula
- Broccoli
- Brussels sprouts
- Cabbage
- Cauliflower
- Kale
- Radish
- Turnips
Today’s Health Tip ~ A Healthy Diet Can Help Prevent Cancer
Eating a healthy diet can also help shield you from cancer.
While no single food is going to provide 100% protection from any type of cancer, research suggests that an anti-cancer foods list would lean heavily toward plant-based foods. Avoiding processed meats is also recommended in accordance with a plant-based diet by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. Amy Kimberlain, a registered dietitian and certified diabetes educator based in Miami who’s a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recommends eating five or more servings a day of plant foods and consuming 30 grams of fiber daily. It’s a good idea to include one or a combination of fruit, legumes and pulses, whole grains and nonstarchy vegetables in each meal. “Eating a balanced, varied diet is what’s shown to reduce the risk for cancer more than any one specific food,” she says.
