Posts Tagged ‘whole foods’
Saturday, November 13th, 2010
You Don’t Need Fat From Dead Fish to Be Healthy
Every fish taken out of the sea by people can disrupt ecosystems. Dolphins and other animals and birds that must eat fish may then starve. Modern fishing practices are simply not sustainable.
Fish and fish oil hype is everywhere, inundating news stories, ads, and doctors’ offices. The fatty component of dead fish is touted as the magic bullet for just about any health concern, from cardiovascular disease to poor memory.
There’s only one problem with these claims – they are not true. However, the fish and fish oil ballyhoo does hold a core of important information. If you want to benefit, it’s critical to sort the fact from the fiction.
Here’s the deal. You need two types of essential fatty acids: omega-6s and omega-3s. These substances are called “essential” because they are necessary for health and you can get them only from food.
Omega-6s are generally pro-inflammatory. Inflammation is a normal body function necessary for survival. Acute inflammation fights off (more…)
Tags: essential fatty acids, fish, fish oil, getting healthy, hype, Janice Stanger, marine algae supplements, omega-3 fatty acids, omega-6 fatty acids, phytochemicals, Plant-based nutrition, whole foods
Posted in Health | Comments Off on Seven Reasons Omega-3s From Plants Clobber Fish and Fish Oil
Sunday, November 7th, 2010
Spur-Of-The-Moment Cooking Can Be Healthy and Fun
You can make delicious soup with a prepared base plus your own fresh vegetables and spices
Cooking from scratch with fresh ingredients is the gold standard for healthy plant-based eating. Tips to make cooking more enjoyable simplify this process. But some nights even the most undemanding recipes are out-of-reach. You are running late at work and get home tired and distracted. Traffic was a hassle. Maybe you have less than an hour to make dinner, eat, clean up, and run out for another commitment. Even on weekends, you can be squeezed for time as you bounce from one commitment to the next.
Don’t despair. Even in these stressful situations, you can have healthy, satisfying food. You do not need to (more…)
Tags: cooking lite, fast cooking, getting healthy, Janice Stanger, Plant-based nutrition, vegetables, whole foods
Posted in Recipes | Comments Off on Not-Recipes for Not-Meals
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
Posted in Plant-based nutrition | Comments Off on How To Make Kids Love Their Veggies
Saturday, October 23rd, 2010
The Land of Sandy Autos: A Fable
If you pour sand in your engine, expect to spend a lot of time and money on car repair
People in the Land of Sandy Autos (LSA) start each morning taking care of their cars. The usual routine, which 99% of men and women embrace, is to mix a teaspoon of sand into a car’s fluids.
Each person has their own opinion of the best method to use, and the media buzz with experts. Some pour the sand directly into engine oil. Others swear it’s better to put the sand into the fuel tank, the brake fluid, transmission fluid, or some other target. A common strategy is to vary each day where to put the sand.
Car repair costs in LSA are out-of-control, increasing at a rate far higher than salary increases. As you are reading this, (more…)
Tags: getting healthy, Janice Stanger, Plant-based nutrition, reverse chronic disease, whole foods
Posted in Health | 1 Comment »
Saturday, October 16th, 2010
Vivid Orange Food that Is Fun to Play With
Pumpkins have a strong association with the supernatural. Yes,they are supernaturally healthful.
The traditional instruction from parents to “eat your food, don’t play with it” was not meant for pumpkins. These giant fruits, each with its own distinct form and personality, light up October with fun.
It’s hard to look at a pumpkin without smiling. These special plants give you something to smile about, because pumpkins are healthy in at least three ways.
First, pumpkins fascinate with their vivid color, intriguing forms, and range of possibilities. The idea of carving a jack-o-lantern brings out the kid in people of all ages. So pumpkins stimulate creativity.
Often the carving is a family project, an innocent way for parents, kids, siblings, and friends to work together cooperatively. The whole process ignites active engagement, fine motor skills, artistic talents, and joy. Contrast this with the passive and sedentary ways so many kids now spend much of their time. So pumpkins enhance (more…)
Tags: gardening, getting healthy, Halloween nostalgia, healthy Halloween, jack-o-lantern, Janice Stanger, nutrition facts, phytochemicals, Plant-based nutrition, pumpkins, vegetables, weight loss, whole foods
Posted in Health | Comments Off on Three Ways to Enjoy Healthy Pumpkins
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 | 1 Comment »
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
Posted in Plant-based nutrition | Comments Off on Why Apples Really Are Your Best Medicine
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 | 2 Comments »
Saturday, September 11th, 2010
Where Does All That Great Organic Food Come From?
The Organically Grown warehouse was filled with thousands of pounds of gorgeous organic food
Natural food stores, co-ops, and even supermarkets and many restaurants overflow with organic produce. These extraordinary whole foods, including fruits, vegetables, potatoes, beans, whole grains, herbs, spices, nuts, and seeds, make eating a healthy pleasure. Farmers grow organic foods using the power of nature, not toxic herbicides and pesticides, petroleum-based fertilizers, genetic engineering, or chemical processes.
The abundance of organic food masks all the risk and effort necessary to bring these nourishing choices to market. Until I visited Organically Grown Company, the Pacific Northwest’s largest wholesaler of organic produce, I never wondered “where does all that great organic food come from?” Yet this is a (more…)
Tags: co-op, Eugene, food wholesaler, getting healthy, Janice Stanger, Oregon, organic food, Organically Grown, Plant-based nutrition, Tom Lively, vegetables, whole foods
Posted in Health | Comments Off on Organic Fruits and Veggies Take Over the World
Sunday, September 5th, 2010
Eating for Health with Your Eyes
At 177 foot South Falls, the highest waterfall in Silver Falls State Park, water pounds into a large pool with bone-crushing force and majestic beauty
Oregon’s Silver Falls State Park is a study in green. The forest is thick and welcoming. The sound of water shouts at the park’s ten waterfalls and sings along the steams connecting them. You can smell and feel the freshness in the air, and it’s not because of any canned scent. An amazing hiking trail, with breath-taking scenery at every step, loops around the waterfalls.
Can you feel better simply looking at plants? Thousand of studies show that plant-based nutrition is the healthiest way to eat. But what about just spending time in green spaces, which are open, undeveloped stretches of land with tress and other vegetation? Silver Falls State Park is an excellent example of a green space.
Researchers have found that merely being out in nature, even without exercising, (more…)
Tags: deforestation, environmental degradation, getting healthy, Green spaces, Janice Stanger, Silver Falls State Park, waterfalls, whole foods
Posted in Green spaces | Comments Off on Green Spaces Aren’t Optional
