Posts Tagged ‘inflammation’

Vanilla Is Anything But Plain

Sunday, December 14th, 2014
The vanilla flower is a gorgeous orchid, shown with the dried seed pods used for pure, natural vanilla spice

The vanilla flower is a gorgeous orchid, shown with the dried seed pods used for pure, natural vanilla spice

This Enticing, Aromatic Spice Protects Your Health In Five Ways

Vanilla has an image problem. The run-of-the-mill perception is that vanilla is a plain and boring choice. Once you learn about this extraordinary spice, your appreciation may change. In fact, vanilla is a rare, expensive, and health-enhancing flavor.

Vanilla is produced from the seeds of a tropical climbing orchid that grows as a vine. Native to Mexico, vanilla was used by the Aztecs in the chocolate drink of their royalty. The bees and hummingbirds that pollinate this orchid (more…)

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Five Ways You Thrive with Flax Seeds for Pennies a Day

Sunday, September 4th, 2011

Flax seeds are tiny, but contribute much to a whole foods, plant-based diet.

Why Consuming Fish for Omega-3s Is Like Eating Radioactive Vegetables

You can’t eat a single nutrient in isolation. This includes overhyped omega-3 fatty acids. Whether you get these nutrients from food or pills, they’re part of a package.

Here’s an illustration. Just imagine for a moment you want to get more fiber into your diet and decide vegetables are the way to do this. So you buy some veggies, but they were grown near Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant and have low levels of radioactivity. Not enough to kill you right away, but enough to raise (more…)

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Six Reasons to Make Pineapple a Favorite Fruit

Saturday, July 2nd, 2011

The pineapple is an attractive fruit growing on a four foot high plant. Don't you just want to grab it and bring it home?

A Special Enzyme in This Unique Food Has Profound Health Benefits

Although only four feet high, the pineapple plant grows a powerful fruit. This tropical plant, native to South America but now found in warm places around the world, blooms with red or purple flowers. The many small flowers meld together as they produce fruit. So a large pineapple is really a fusion of many smaller berries around a central stalk.

Bromelain is an enzyme that distinguishes pineapples from all other fruits. This enzyme, which your body can absorb intact, has unique and powerful effects to support your health. Pineapple is a special piece of the puzzle in putting together your ideal whole foods, plant-based diet.

To reap the advantages of bromelain, be sure to eat pineapple raw. Cooking or canning destroys this enzyme. An electric knife makes cutting whole pineapple a breeze, or you can buy fresh fruit that is already cut into chunks.

For more bromelain, eat the whole pineapple (minus the skin and leaves). The tougher circle of cells at the center of these fruits (which is actually the central stalk or stem) has more concentrated bromelain than the surrounding tender fruit has.

You can cut the stalk into small pieces or put it into a smoothie where it will be ground up. If you just (more…)

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Eleven Risky Mistakes the USDA Makes About Plant-Based Diets

Saturday, February 5th, 2011

The USDA should be teaching Americans that healthy food is also appetizing and delicious.

You’ll Need Bigger Clothes If You Follow the Government’s Advice

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) launched their Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010 with great fanfare. Mostly, the Guidelines are more of the same wimpy advice that has been making Americans fatter and sicker for the last several decades.

The 2010 Guidelines does have a new twist, though. The USDA makes a half-hearted effort to lay out a 100% plant-based eating plan. Appendix 9 of the Guidelines is labeled “Vegan Adaptation of the USDA Food Patterns.”

What a silly task, to “adapt” plant-based eating to a framework built on animal foods that create obesity and disease. This is like writing Shakespeare by (more…)

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Twelve Ways Smoking and Animal Foods Are Alike

Sunday, December 19th, 2010

Both smoking and animal foods can damage your heart and the arteries that feed it. Whole plant foods nourish your heart. Should be a simple choice.

And Two Important Ways They Are Different

The Surgeon General’s December 2010 report, How Tobacco Smoke Causes Disease, is a gift for anyone interested in health. Of course, everyone knows that smoking is “bad.” This 727 page masterpiece vividly describes exactly how and why.

The Surgeon General has yet to release a report on the perils of animal foods. Yet compelling evidence shows striking similarities between smoking and eating meat, fish, dairy, and eggs. Here are twelve parallels between these dangerous habits.

1. Both smoking and animal foods damage your body through multiple mechanisms, including causing genetic changes, inflammation, and an increase in the free radicals that cause oxidative stress. Chronic illnesses, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, reproductive problems, and aggravation of diabetes are (more…)

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10 Reasons to Eat More Cranberries

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…)

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Energy to the Max with Whole Foods

Saturday, June 12th, 2010

Michele DeFilippo Finds Vitality and Diet Can’t be Separated

As the owner of 1106 Design, and an active player in the creation of book covers, interiors, and business logos, Michele DeFilippo

The creative tasks at 1106 Design demand Michele's full energy

draws on physical and mental energy through long days and tight timelines. I met Michele when, impressed by 1106’s strong portfolio, I worked with her and her team on the cover and interior for The Perfect Formula Diet.

Several months later, Michele shared with me that she had decided to try the Perfect Formula Diet eating plan. This diet, based on whole plant foods, includes vegetables, fruit, beans, potatoes, whole grains, herbs, spices, nuts, and seeds. There are no artificial portion sizes. Instead, the diet balances the proportions of the different food types so you can eat whenever you are hungry and stop when you are full. The benefits for both health and permanent weight loss are impressive.

Here is Michele’s account of her experience with the Perfect Formula Diet.

Janice: What kinds of foods did you grow up eating?

Michele: I’m of Italian descent, so our diet was typically (more…)

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