13Feb
People who are at risk are mostly people who have a family history of diabetes. As people gets older the risk for diabetes also increase. Young people, who have gotten into the lifestyle of the fast and famous foods and are overweight or obese, are 2-4x at risk compared to people who are not overweight. Weight control is one of the key factors in reducing the risk for diabetes and it starts with our choice of food.
How do we know if we are overweight or obese?
This formula says it all. The Body Mass Index or BMI computed as weight in kg divided by the height in meter squared. For this formula the measurements must be in Metric. Normal BMI is 18.5-24.9, Overweight is 25-29.9 and Obese 30 or greater. Asian may reduce each class and use the following: Normal 18.5-23, Overweight 23-27.5, Obese greater than 27.5.
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16Jun
Many of us may wonder how food helps in giving us the protection we need for a healthy life. Contrary to beliefs that food supplements may be useless is the fact that a significant amount of resources are spent on studying plants such as fruits and vegetables. Take for example the amount of scientific information that are published in journals. One these is quercetin, published in the Complementary and Alternative Medicine Journal, which suggests that the bioactive substance found in apple skins, onions, tea, red wine, leafy green vegetables and berries support the body’s defenses that “sensitize†cancer cells (in this case melanoma cells – or cells responsible for skin cancer) to make more receptive to chemotherapy. (Ref: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2407/10/282/abstract) Assuming perhaps that the body has the natural attack mechanisms against cancer, this implies that we have enough basis not to negate the value of anti-oxidants.
What is the relevance of food supplements in this case? In one of the respected websites, the University of Maryland Medical Center, people are given information and choices about supplements and let us quote: “One advantage of buying a supplement is ; Quercetin is available in higher amounts in dietary supplements than would typically be found in food sources. I guess you would need to eat a basket of Apples just to get the same amount of quercetin in a tablet.â€
We post this so the public may know that food supplements have value in health and to balance the view about food supplements. What we really need to pursue is for the public to be protected against poor quality products that have dubious value.
Tags: food supplement, quercetin
02Oct
Do you know that cabbage which belong to the brassica family is rich in tartronic acid. This phytochemical (dicarboxylic acid), which acts not only as free radical scavenger, but also acts as an inhibitor of the conversion of carbohydrates into fat. What this means is that we can limit the fattening effect of carbohydrates by limiting its conversion to fat.
Try a simple recipe of getting most out the brassica family, create your own salad:
1. Chop these ingredients, celery, cucumber, onions; shred the cabbage.
2. Take about half a cup of each and put 3 tablespoon olive oil, a dash of pepper, and salt.
3. Mix everything and serve cold.
This is now your slimming salad. Eat it 3-4 x a week and it will supplement your slimming regimen. Don’t forget, exercise is need still, for any successful slimming or reducing plan.
Tags: slimming
14Aug
Dysmenorrhea is a medical condition wherein there is pain during menstruation. This is due to severe uterine contraction. One of the causes may be a hormonal imbalance. If this is the case, foods that are rich in phytoestrogens can help. Notable are the soya food and parsley. If you want a regular supplementation of phytoestrogens, soya milk is the most practical. A very helpful herb which we often ignore is parsley. Parsley is a common garnish but one takes about half a cup during periods of menstrual discomfort, parsley can be a helpful remedy. We can either eat this with a salad or blend it as juice.
Tags: parsley, soya milk
27Jun
Now that the world suffers from the Influenza A(H1N1) pandemic it appropriate to look at how plants can help us improve our immune system to help people become resistant to diseases.  Many of nutrition papers have shown that eating dark green leafy vegetables and deeply colored vegetables provide the antioxidants that support health.  In this instance our immune system. These vegetables contain flavonoids which are polyphenols or a group of antioxidants.  Whether we like it or not plants have provided animals with enough nourishment to keep them healthy.  Even if we become sick, these polyphenols help us recover from disease much faster than without them.
So eat us eat vegetables.  A good guide is really to have all the colorful vegetables such as red, green, purple and yellow.  Make 2/3 of our meals as vegetables.
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