Why are berries and other fruit and veggies so good for your health?

What a great time of year to enjoy some fresh berries.  Last week my husband brought home some freshly picked strawberries.  Raspberries are soon to be plentiful but you can buy them all year.  Blueberries are considered a superfood.  My husband now says it is getting harder to even buy blueberries as they are sold out in many stores he goes to.  He now has to go to a store farther from our home in search of blueberries, but he did find a huge container of blueberries at Costco.  Searching out and stocking up on berries is worth it.  Why?  Because berries and other fruits and vegetables are so good for your health.  (See Superpower Fruits to Add to your Diet and Superpower Vegetables to Add to Your Diet .)

Berries contain lots of different “phytochemicals”

Berries are loaded with phytochemicals.  This sounds bad, but phytochemicals are good for your health.  Plants produce phytochemicals for protection.  “Phytochemicals are a plant’s way of protecting itself.  They help shield tender buds and sprouts from predators, the elements, and pollution.  These protective compounds are passed along to us when we eat plant foods.”  In fact, the term, phytochemicals, comes from “phyto” when means plant and “phytochemicals” are the good chemicals in the plant.  Interestingly, these phytochemicals that protect the plants also have great health benefits for us.   

How do phytochemicals help our health?

Researchers have found that phytochemicals are a huge benefit to our health.  One is they act as antioxidants which helps our bodies fight cancer and heart disease and reduce our risk of developing type 2 diabetes.  There are tens of thousands of phytochemicals in fruits and vegetables.  These phytochemicals give fruits and veggies their color – the orange in carrots, the blue in blueberries.  What is interesting is that different color fruits and veggies provide different phytochemicals.  So, eating a rainbow of colors is good for your health.  Get your phytochemicals from real fruit and veggies, not a supplement like you see advertised on TV.

Why are berries and other fruits and vegetables considered a “superfood”?

Different berries contain different phytochemicals and as noted different colors provide different phytochemicals. 

Blue and purple – blueberries, plums, grapes are rich in anthocyanins that help delay aging and help your heart by preventing blood clots.  The blue color may also help “boost your immune system”.  

Blueberries are low in calories, full of antioxidants – a superfood.

Red – strawberries, cherries, watermelon, cranberries, tomatoes, apples, red grapes, red peppers, raspberries and even red onions.  You also get the “red” color from ketchup, tomato juice, tomato sauce, and salsa.  All of these foods contain lycopene which you may have seen advertised as being good for your eyes.  Lycopene also prevents cell damage and may have a role in preventing cancers and boosting your immune system.    

Orange and yellow – sweet potatoes, oranges, carrots, yellow peppers, pineapple, pumpkin, tangerines, apricots, peaches, cantaloupe, winter squash, corn.  The yellow color is associated with reduced heart disease risk, promoting healthy eyes, healthy skin, strong bones and boosting your immune system.

Green – broccoli, cabbage, green beans, spinach, kale, peas, green pepper, zucchini, green apples, green grapes, kiwi, avocado, guacamole, kiwi.  These fruits and veggies help your eyesight, protect you from cancer and help lower cholesterol and boost your immune system. 

When someone recommends you eat 5 A Day – at least five fruits and vegetables a day, this is good advice as it is so beneficial to your health.  When choosing fruits and vegetables – vary the color and you vary those good phytochemicals.  Having trouble finding fresh berries like blueberries?  Then buy some frozen berries.  Frozen fruit and vegetables are just as healthy as fresh.  Dried fruit is also good.  Take some dried apricots, raisins, or other dried fruit with you on a car trip, when you go camping or hiking.  Dried fruit doesn’t spoil and makes for a great snack.

Sources:  Superpower Fruits to Add to your Diet , Superpower Vegetables to Add to Your Diet , protection , antioxidants , risk , colors , help , cancers , yellow color , fruits and veggies   Image Sources:  Alpine fresh blueberries , Strawberries , Berries

How a morning walk can improve your health

Are you in the habit of taking a morning walk?  If not, should you start?  Scientists have found there are many health benefits to starting your day with an early morning walk.  Eat This, Not That! has a great article, What Going for a Morning Walk Does to Your Body, Says Science.  And it doesn’t have to be a long walk, even 10 minutes can benefit your health.

• A brain boost – Your brain relies on sugar (glucose) for energy and this glucose is in your blood.  Walking increases the amount of blood going to your brain and thus increases the amount of fuel going to your brain.  Researchers from New Mexico Highlands University found that a steady walk significantly improved blood flow to the brain.  Want some tips on improving your walk, then Harvard has some for you, The Secret Trick for Walking for Exercise.  What is the “secret”?  To start, just walk at a steady pace for 5-20 minutes a day a few days a week.  Get your body moving.  But then up your pace to get your heart rate up some by going for a brisk walk.  Fast enough you can talk easily but find it harder to sing a song.  Or, walk at your usual pace and then for a block or two, pick up the pace for a brisk walk.

Walking is good for your brain.

•  After a morning walk, you may find you are eating healthier.  Yes, you will burn some calories when you walk but researchers have found you don’t come back from a walk craving chocolate or sweets.  You may even find you snack less during days you’ve had a morning walk.  Professor Adrian Taylor of Sport and Health Sciences at the University of Exeter notes, ”People often find it difficult to cut down on their daily treats but this study shows that by taking a short walk, they are able to regulate their intake by half”.  Even more interesting, Professor Taylor found that walking can cut chocolate cravings and he has even done research that verified this.  He had 25 people abstain from chocolate for 3 days.  Then they walked for 15 minutes or rested for 15 minutes.  Those that walked had less of a craving for chocolate than the sitters.  Professor Taylor stated that this was the first study to show exercise can reduce chocolate cravings.
• Weight – Harvard studied people with a genetic propensity to obesity and found those that walked for an hour a day, reduced their obesity risk by half.  One has to wonder though, if you are walking an hour day, that alone would reduce your risk.
• Better sleep – a morning walk gets your exercise in early in the day.  So, when it’s time for sleep, you aren’t exercising just before you go to bed.  Researchers reported in Sleep Medicine that early morning walks can improve the quality of your sleep.
• Heart health – how much can walking help your heart?  A lot.  Go for a 30 minute walk every day and you cut your risk of heart disease by a whopping 35-40%.  As noted above, walking improves circulation to your brain but all over your body and can help lower your blood pressure.  Walking helps lower blood glucose so can also help prevent or control diabetes.
• Brain – cognitive function – feeling some brain fog?  Go for a walk.  Researchers studied college students and had some take a short, 10--minute brisk walk and then take a cognitive test.  Just this 10-minute walk improved brain function and performance on cognitive tests.  The researchers noted, “Physical exercise is an important lifestyle intervention for promoting mental health…”. 

Want to improve your health?  Go for a walk.  Even a short, 10-minute walk improves brain function.  Find some time this week to go for a walk and enjoy your neighborhood or a local trail.  Within 15 minutes of our home is a National Park with a nice walking trail through the woods.  Always nice on hotter days as the trail is usually shady.    

Sources:  article , New Mexico Highlands University , tips , notes , stated , Sleep Medicine , Researchers , noted   Image Sources:  brain , Walking , heart health

Eat more fiber for a healthy heart

Last week we talked about how important fiber is for feeding the good bacteria in your gut.  To have a healthy gut you need to populate it with good bacteria by eating yogurt and then you need to “feed” those good bacteria by adding some fiber to your diet.  Fiber is not only good as a food source for your good gut bacteria, fiber is also good for your heart.  A recent article in our local newspaper points out “Four ways fiber helps your heart” taken from an article by a registered dietitian, Carolyn Williams.  She acknowledges fiber is good for your gut but also your heart by saying, “to put it simply, eating more fiber means a healthy gut, and a healthy gut means a healthy heart.”  

 So how does fiber promote heart health? 

1. Fiber lowers your cholesterol.  Have you seen the oatmeal and Cheerios packages?  Right on the front of Cheerios, it states, “Can help lower cholesterol as part of a heart healthy diet”.  Foods like oatmeal and Cheerios, which is made from oats, have fiber that acts like a sponge and literally helps carry the cholesterol out of your body.  Not just any cholesterol.  This fiber in food helps lower the bad cholesterol or LDL cholesterol.  Your good gut bacteria also help lower LDL cholesterol and your triglycerides. 
2. Fiber helps prevent inflammation.  Having a healthy gut helps your body absorb needed nutrients but also helps block out any food components that are inflammatory.  If you don’t keep a healthy gut, then these inflammatory food components can “leak”” into your body.  Keeping these inflammatory food components out helps prevent heart disease. 
3. Fiber can help lower blood pressure.  As noted last week, fiber feeds the good bacteria in your gut.  When this happens, some fiber is fermented which produces short chain fatty acids (SCFA). These SCFA’s in turn feed the good bacteria.  Research has shown these SCFA also lower your blood pressure.  If you have high blood pressure, consider upping your fiber intake.
4. Fiber helps you lose belly fat.  This may surprise people.  Who doesn’t want to lose some fat around their belly?  (See Nutrition in the News).  People who have more fiber in their diet have less fat around their midsection.  Fiber also helps fill you up at meals so you may eat less and help with losing weight.   

How much fiber do you need?

The Food and Drug Administration recommends 25 grams of fiber a day for a 2000 calorie diet.  UCSF Health recommends:  Total dietary fiber intake should be 25-30 grams a day from food, not supplements.  Most Americans are taking in far less fiber than these recommended amounts – only about 15 grams a day.   If you want to increase your fiber intake, do so gradually.  Otherwise, your stomach will protest in the form of bloating and gassiness.  My son-in-law aptly terms this as having a “bubble gut”.  To avoid “bubble gut”, add fiber to your diet slowly and give your body time to adjust.

How can you increase fiber in your diet?

After the article appeared in our newspaper, a reader wrote in to say she was coming up with ways to add fiber to her diet.  She started adding 1.5 tablespoons of ground flaxseed to her oatmeal.  UCSF Health has some great ways to add fiber to your day:

• Whole grain bread – choose whole grain instead of white bread.  If you don’t like whole grain bread, then choose a bread that is part whole grain.
• Wheat germ – this used to be a popular health food but has fallen out of favor.  Sprinkle wheat germ on cereal, yogurt, or on a salad.
• Cereal – oatmeal is always a healthy choice as are Cheerios.  But all General Mills cereals are whole grain so choose a cereal you like.  Look for a cereal that has at least 5 grams fiber per serving.
• Whole wheat crackers – Triscuits, Wheat Thins – there are many to choose from.  Even Goldfish offers a whole grain version.
• Beans – add a lot of fiber to your diet.  Beans and franks, chili that has beans in it.  Add garbanzo beans to a salad.   

Cheerios add fiber that is good for your heart.

·         Fruit and Veggies – Choose fresh fruit and vegetables.  I like juice but no fiber in orange juice unless you get the OJ with pulp.  (See: How many fruits and vegetables do you need?)  Eat some dried fruit.  Add raisins to your oatmeal, have dried fruit as a snack.  Dried fruit is easy to carry for a snack when you are on the go.  Add a handful of baby carrots to your lunch.  I try to eat some baby carrots every day at lunch.   

Years ago, my husband wanted to lower his cholesterol.  I told him to up his fiber.  He asked me how much fiber he needed each day and then he started tracking his fiber intake.  Although he had a healthy diet overall, he was short on fiber grams.  We both added more fiber to our diet.  Our stomachs were not too happy at first.  It does take awhile for your gut to adjust to a higher fiber intake.  But now, we both have higher fiber diets and include yogurt each day to add those good bacteria.  The added fiber in his diet did lower his cholesterol so he still keeps up his fiber intake.  My sister said she has added chia seeds to her diet.  A super food.  Not only are chia seeds loaded with nutrients, 2 tablespoons of chia seeds add 11 grams of fiber to your day.  How can you add more fiber to your diet?

Look for cereal with 5 grams of fiber per serving.

Sources:  Four ways fiber helps your heart , Nutrition in the News , recommends , Americans , UCSF Health , How many fruits and vegetables do you need?   Image sources:  Cheerios  ,  Vegetable heart , High fiber foods 

Healthy gut for a healthier you.

 

So many of us are doing everything we can to kill bacteria and have a cleaner home.  But did you know there are “good bacteria” that are actually good for our health?  We want those “good bacteria” to multiply in our gut so we can have a healthier gut.

What are the “good bacteria”?  It actually doesn’t sound too healthy but good bacteria are good for a healthy gut.  NIH defines the healthy bacteria in your body as all the bacteria, fungi and viruses that live on or inside our bodies.  NIH notes this “microbiome” actually contributes to our health in many ways including:  protecting us against bacteria that can cause disease, helping your immune system, and helping our bodies digest food.  Dr. Mullin from Johns Hopkins University notes, “Your gut bugs help determine your overall health in a good way – or a bad way.”

Can you change the population of “good bacteria” in your gut?  Yes, you can and diet is one way to do so.  The foods you eat can help feed the good bacteria and can help add good bacteria to your gut.

What are some ways these good gut bacteria promote good health?

• Digestion – the bacteria in your gut help your body break down the foods you eat.  The food you eat supplies nutrients and energy for your everyday activities. And some bacteria in your gut actually produce some vitamins.  Not enough to supply your need for any particular vitamin but enough to make a contribution to your health.  Vitamins produced by your good bacteria include vitamin K, and many B vitamins including niacin, folate, and B-1 and B-2.  The University of California has found that the bacteria in your gut are linked to how active vitamin D is in your body.  Many Americans are low in vitamin D, so having a healthy gut is important.
• Boost Your Immune System – who doesn’t want a healthy immune system?  Can you believe that having good bacteria in your gut can help protect your from getting sick?  Research has shown that healthy gut bacteria can produce antibodies protecting a person from Crohn’s disease.  Healthy gut bacteria can protect you from some cancers and even affect cancer treatment.
• Weight – having the right gut bacteria can affect your metabolism and your weight.  Dr. Mullin states, “So when you shift the balance of bacteria in your biome by eating the right foods, you can shift your metabolism toward weight loss.” 

What can you do to promote a healthy gut?  1^st you need to add some good bacteria to your gut and then you need to feed those good bacteria to keep them multiplying and healthy.  How do you do this?

• Probiotics – you may have heard the term “probiotics” but not understood what this term means.  NIH has an information sheet that explains what they are.  Probiotics are basically the good bacteria you want to add to your diet.  The easiest way to do so is eat some yogurt.  Look for yogurt that has “live cultures” on the label.  I choose real yogurt made out of real cow’s milk and not the fake yogurts on the market.  I eat some yogurt every day for lunch and I have done so for many years.  The usual bacteria added to yogurts include Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium.  (See Yogurt – a great health food.)

 

Yogurt is an easy way to add probiotics to your diet.

 

• Prebiotics – this is the “food” for your good bacteria.  Think FIBER – we can’t digest fiber but the good bacteria love to feed on the fiber in our diets.  Think “whole foods” before all the processing.  Apples are a good source of prebiotics (fiber) but applesauce would not be.  Oranges are a good source of prebiotics but orange juice would not be.  (But I like orange juice so I get my fiber from other foods.) WebMD has a long list of Prebiotic Foods – think fresh fruit, vegetables and whole grains. 

a.       Fruit: bananas, apples, berries,

b.       Vegetables:  green vegetables like spinach, kale, potatoes, asparagus, artichokes, peas and beans, onions, tomatoes

c.       Whole grains – oatmeal, Cheerios, whole grain bread (See Add some whole grains to your day)

Try some different brands of yogurt to find some flavors you like.  I wrote previously about a student in my class eating some yogurt before class started.  She made a terrible face after every bite and when I asked why, she admitted she didn’t like the yogurt.  Right away other students started recommending yogurt brands and flavors to try.  The student did try other flavors and did find some yogurt flavors she liked.  Try to eat some yogurt every day or as often as you can during the week.  Then “feed” the good bacteria you are adding to your gut, by adding whole fruits, vegetables and some whole grains to your day.

A healthier gut means a healthier you.

Sources:  NIH , notes , vitamins , Vitamins produced , California , cancer treatment , states , information sheet , Yogurt – a great health food , Prebiotic Foods , Add some whole grains to your day  Image Sources:  Gut bacteria , Prebiotic foods , yogurt

Are you drinking real juice or fake juice?

 

So often I hear people say they had some juice to drink and when I ask them what juice, they respond with lemonade or a fruit punch.  Neither lemonade or fruit punch are real juice but mostly sugar water.  Students in my class have to keep a 24-hour record of all the foods and beverages they eat.  They then put the foods and beverages into the right food group.  A student put a well-known brand of fruit punch under fruit as she thought it was a juice.  I looked up the ingredients and there was actually no fruit and no juice in this beverage.  It was just flavored sugar water.  This student actually had no fruit or juice in her diet that day.

How do you know if what you are drinking is real juice?  Consumer Reports has a great article, Decoding Fruit Juice Labels that helps you understand what is real juice, part juice and just flavored sugar water. 

100% Juice – this is the healthy choice as it is all juice with no added sugar.  Actually, the Food and Drug Administration mandates that “fruit juice” be just that – the juice of fruit that is not diluted down with water.  Some brands may have added some sugar but 100% fruit juice means the product is all juice and nothing added.  Look at the ingredients to be sure it is just 100% fruit juice.

Choose 100% juice in a carton, not plastic container.

Juice Drink, Fruit Punch - watch out – not real juice.  If it has the word “drink” or the words "fruit punch" on the label, you are not buying 100% juice.  Juice drinks are often a combination of some juice, water and added sugars.  There are some that are 50% juice but others contain less than 50% juice.  

Fruit punch, juice drinks are not 100% juice.

Juice from Concentrate – students often ask me if Juice from Concentrate, or even frozen juice that you add water to, is real juice.  Yes – it is fine to have juice from concentrate or to buy frozen juice and add water.  Basically, the manufacturer took real, 100% juice and removed most of the water.  Then the water was added back or “reconstituted”.  This “reconstituted” juice can still be sold as 100% juice and it is just as healthy as 100% juice that hadn’t been reconstituted.

Diet Juice or Diet Cocktails – “diet” means something has been removed or reduced.  These are not 100% juice but contain some real juice and probably some artificial sweetener to make the drink taste sweet.  Thus, you are getting some real juice.  Some people try to avoid artificial sweeteners but for others, this isn’t a bad choice and can be a refreshing drink on a hot day.

Reduced Sugar Juices – I have a relative that likes to buy juice that has less “sugar”.  The “sugar” in real juice is not added sugar so is not really a sugar we have to cut back on.  The Dietary Guidelines recommend we limit “added sugars”, not the naturally present fructose in fruit and juice.  The Food and Drug Administration says “reduced sugar juices” have to have 25% less sugar than 100% juice.  Manufacturers often add a sugar substitute to make up for removing some fructose so is it really a healthier option? 

Vitamin C – how often do you see a label boasting, “provides 100% vitamin C”?  Well, that’s great but almost all real fruit juice provides vitamin C naturally.  One doesn’t’ need to buy a fake juice that has vitamin C added to get the vitamin C you need each day.  Often these “100% vitamin C” beverages are fruit drinks are not real juice, contain a lot of added sugar, added flavorings and are missing many of the nutrients that real juice provides. 

Pictures of fruit – just because a label has beautiful images of fruit on the label doesn’t mean the fruit drink contains any fruit at all.  Consumer Reports notes, “Sunny D Orange Strawberry features images of oranges and strawberries but has just 5% fruit juice – and no strawberry juice”.  No strawberries but it does contain high fructose corn syrup, some artificial flavors and food dye as the color red 40 is added.  Real juice doesn’t need artificial food dyes, or high fructose corn syrup as real juice is naturally colored and naturally sweetened with fructose.

Strawberries are missing in this Sunny D.

What kind of juice are you and your family drinking – real or fake?  I like real juice and drink some orange, grapefruit or other real juice every morning.  To me it is odd to see so many parents buying fake juice for their kids.  Kids today have so much sugar in their diets, why add more with fake juice drinks?  When buying juice, focus on buying real juice, not fake juice.  If you are not sure, look at the ingredients and look for 100% juice.   Try to buy juice in a carton, not a plastic container as we are getting too much plastic in our diets (see:  How much plastic are you eating?)  Growing up juice used to come in glass containers, but rarely so now.  So, my husband tries to buy real 100% juice in cartons as much as he can.  Healthier for us and healthier for the environment.

Sources:  Decoding Fruit Juice Labels , notes, , How much plastic are you eating?  Image Sources:  juice , Sunny D , juice drink