Archive for the ‘Plant-based nutrition’ Category
Sunday, December 5th, 2010
Colds, watch out. This potent "medicine" is heading your way.
A Well-Known Study Gives Unexpected Insight
Colds, flu, and all manner of upper respiratory infections blossom in winter. Modern medicine has no effective cure for the patient’s misery. Some drugs can temporarily help with symptoms, but may have unwanted side effects that make things worse in the long-run.
So what is a desperate sufferer or their family member to do? Folk cures abound. Chicken soup is reputed to be useful in alleviating cold symptoms. In fact, a scientific study published in 2000 in the peer-reviewed medical journal Chest is often cited to support the idea that chicken soup has real clinical effects. The action the study authors see as most beneficial in helping with cold misery was the demonstrated (more…)
Tags: cold, flu, getting healthy, Janice Stanger, Plant-based nutrition, respiratory infection, soup, vegetables, whole foods
Posted in Plant-based nutrition | 3 Comments »
Friday, November 26th, 2010
Nuts for Nutrition and Health: It’s All In How Much You Eat
Few foods are as simple, delicious, and filling as a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Be sure to enjoy yours on whole wheat bread. Peanuts are not really tree nuts, but have very similar nutritional properties.
Are you looking for a tasty snack that won’t boost your weight? How about a recipe ingredient that will add crunch and flavor? What if only a handful of this food could diminish your risk of having a heart attack?
Nuts were once thought to be fattening and unhealthy due to their high fat content. In 1992, researchers were intrigued when a large-scale study found that adults who regularly ate small amounts of nuts actually had lower risk of coronary heart disease than those who did not eat this food.
Since then, dozens of additional studies strongly support the conclusion that nuts boost heart health. The research is consistent. Nuts lower total and LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and this is (more…)
Tags: cardiovascular disease, getting healthy, Janice Stanger, lose weight, nutrition facts, nuts, Perfect Formula Diet, Plant-based nutrition, weight loss, whole foods
Posted in Plant-based nutrition | 1 Comment »
Saturday, November 20th, 2010
This Colorful Fruit Has Unique Health Benefits
A cranberry bog at harvest is stunning, with deep red fruit contrasting with a watery background.
Cranberries are a holiday season tradition. Their tart taste, dark red hue, and versatility underlie their popularity. Americans are consuming more cranberries, with 40,000 acres devoted to this crop. Farmers grow cranberries in bogs or marshes, taking advantage of a natural habitat for plants and animals. Long-lived cranberry vines can bear fruit for more than 150 years!
Here are 10 benefits of enjoying cranberries fresh in season, and dried or frozen year-round.
1. Of all fruits, cranberries rank near the top in both number and amount of phytochemicals, beneficial plant substances that help protect your cells in many ways. Scientists have identified over 150 phytochemicals in this berry, (more…)
Tags: cranberries, cranberry sauce, getting healthy, inflammation, Janice Stanger, phytochemicals, Plant-based nutrition, reverse chronic disease, urinary tract infections, whole foods
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Saturday, October 30th, 2010
Miguel Villarreal’s Passion for Gleaning Blazes the Path
Miguel Villarreal holds a box of tomatoes that will be the next day's lunch for these lucky students who helped glean the vegetables. Their classmates benefit as well from the local organic goodness.
Now in his ninth year as Food Services Director at Novato Unified School District, Miguel Villarreal muses about the kids under his watch. The students who were first graders when he started are now high school students with one big advantage over many of their peers.
These kids never had candy and soda at school. Miguel got rid of that junk food right away. He has also phased out red meat, and believes Novato Unified is the only school district in the country that does not serve it. Instead, Novato students have nourished (more…)
Tags: family, Farm to School, getting healthy, gleaning, Green spaces, Janice Stanger, making a difference now, Marin Organic, Miguel Villarreal, Novato Unified School District, organic, Plant-based nutrition, vegetables, whole foods
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Sunday, October 10th, 2010
Dr. Neal Barnard Shares a Winning Weight Loss Strategy
The range of delicious, healthy foods to enjoy while losing weight is motivating. Try all these whole foods and many more.
Dr. Neal Barnard, President of Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), noticed his conversations on airplanes have taken a new direction recently. In the days when airlines routinely served meals, he would get his vegetarian choice before the other dinners were brought out. When other passengers found out he was vegetarian, they questioned his health and motives. Not eating meat was a strange concept to them.
Now, when he tells fellow passengers – or just about anyone else – that he is vegan, people respond (more…)
Tags: Dr. Neal Barnard, getting healthy, Janice Stanger, lose weight, PCRM, Plant-based nutrition, Power Plate, weight loss, whole foods
Posted in Plant-based nutrition | 2 Comments »
Sunday, October 3rd, 2010
Nutrition and Health Thrive with An Apple a Day
Apples are beautiful, healthy, filling, and yummy. The US Apple Association proudly shows off its product.
So many nutrition myths are untrue, even downright harmful. Yet the saying “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” has important clues to staying healthy and thin. This popular fruit earns its place as a health symbol. When you understand why, you have the information to maximize the benefits to you.
All whole plant foods are rich in beneficial, nutritionally active substances called phytochemicals. Plants make up to 100,000 kinds of these substances to protect themselves from insects, infections, the strong energy in sunlight, and other threats.
Phytochemicals include the substances that determine the appealing colors, delightful aromas, and delicious flavors of whole plant foods. In apples, over 250 kinds of phytochemicals determine the fragrance alone. Vitamins are not the same thing as phytochemicals. While apples are a good source of vitamin C, in whole apples this vitamin accounts for only .4% of the fruit’s antioxidant activity. The vast majority of the health-promoting effects are from phytochemicals.
These protective substances are densest in the skin of the apple. This makes sense when you remember (more…)
Tags: apples, getting healthy, Janice Stanger, lose weight, nutrition facts, phytochemicals, Plant-based nutrition, weight loss, whole foods
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Saturday, September 18th, 2010
Judi Menzel Revels in a Pain-Free Life
After 22 years of arthritis torment, Judi Menzel now enjoys her active life free of pain and medication
The excruciating pain of severe arthritis dominated Judi Menzel’s life. Her suffering began in 1985, when she was in a sedentary, mega-stress job managing millions of dollars held in trust for her clients. At first, Judi treated the emerging pain in her hips and hands with over-the-counter drugs such as ibuprofen.
The torment migrated to her lower back and her doctors began prescribing stronger and stronger drugs, until she was up to using potentially addictive oxycodone. Still, the pain refused to leave, and continued to imprison her activities. Judi notes “I couldn’t sit without pain in my hip joints. I couldn’t write without pain in my finger joints and working on the computer was the worst.”
The turning point in Judi’s health came in 2007, after 22 years of arthritis agony. Her physical therapist at her HMO suggested she stop eating dairy products, read The China Study by T. Colin Campbell, and try eating only plant foods one day a week.
Ready to try anything to mitigate the pain, Judi checked herself into a vegan holistic health center in San Diego area for two weeks of detox from (more…)
Tags: arthritis, getting healthy, Janice Stanger, Judi Menzel, lose weight, Plant-based nutrition, reverse chronic disease, vegetables, weight loss, whole foods
Posted in Plant-based nutrition | 3 Comments »
Saturday, August 28th, 2010
Discover the Excitement in Nutrition
Nutrition can be this exciting when you discover how many myths you have been saddled with and how much the truth will change your life
Nutrition’s dull reputation may keep you from delving into one of the most exciting topics you could study. Part of nutrition’s mundane image likely springs from high school classes that indoctrinated you on the standard disease-causing diet while at the same time putting you to sleep.
I still remember my last high school nutrition class. The lesson plan was based on the same four “food groups” I had memorized in elementary school: meat, dairy, vegetables and fruits (combined), and grains (whole vs. refined never mentioned). The instructor was our gym teacher. I had no clue about why this diet was supposed to be good, only that it was what everyone ate. The main concern was about “getting enough protein.” Sound familiar?
From the ages of 16 through 43, I avoided the topic of nutrition whenever I could. This did not mean I regarded food as humdrum. In fact, food was one of my favorite obsessions. Not surprisingly, I was (more…)
Tags: getting healthy, Janice Stanger, lose weight, making a difference now, nutrition facts, Plant-based nutrition, weight loss, whole foods
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Friday, August 20th, 2010
Barbara Cole Gates Puts the “Healthy” Into School Lunches with Faith, Patience, and Gumption
Lean and Green Kids is impacting the lives of kids now, which means a healthier adulthood later
Barbara Cole Gates is a mom on a mission – to teach kids that “nuts and beans are powerful proteins.” This mission launched when her two children were very young. Barb was a daycare provider. She served the youngsters in her care plant-based meals and snacks. “All the kids loved my food, including the beans” she observed. “Kids just need the opportunity to experience them with a positive perspective.”
Now, as the founder and director of the nonprofit Lean and Green Kids, she is reaching a broader (and older) audience, which includes students, educators, school food service providers, and food policy makers.
Her nonprofit is impacting the choices children have in school cafeterias and the way teachers teach nutrition education. In Oceanside, CA for example, elementary school students benefited from “Lean and Green Mondays,” with healthy plant-based choices.
At the 2009 CA School Wellness Conference, Barbara realized something was missing (more…)
Tags: Barbara Cole Gates, getting healthy, Janice Stanger, Lean and Green Kids, making a difference now, National School Lunch Program, Plant-based nutrition, school lunches, whole foods
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Saturday, August 14th, 2010
Animals Are Nutrient Consumers
Plants are amazing nutrient factories. Consider how complex a tree is, with its functioning roots, trunk, branches, leaves, and flowers - all powered by sunlight.
Plants are the base of earth’s food chain, using solar energy to fuel nutrient manufacture. These green factories effortlessly put together the complex carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, and phytochemicals that animals need to survive and thrive. Plants also absorb minerals from the soil to weave into their own cells.
Animals who eat plants reap the benefits of these nutrients, needed for their own lives. With the exception of vitamin D, which forms in skin when sunlight hits it, animals cannot make the raw materials essential for their survival.
When you eat animal foods, you are consuming highly degraded remnants of (more…)
Tags: carotenoids, getting healthy, Janice Stanger, nutrition facts, Plant-based nutrition, vegetables, vitamin A, whole foods
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