April 28, 2010|By Judy Hevrdejs, Tribune Newspapers

Turmeric, a tawny orange-gold spice that is an integral part of curry powder and ballpark mustard, has been garnering some nice press lately — and not just among foodies.

Its health benefits, from aiding digestion to easing inflammation, have caught the attention of researchers, including the National Institutes of Health’s National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

Investigators there are “studying the active chemicals in turmeric and their effects — particularly anti-inflammatory effects — in people to better understand how turmeric might be used for health purposes.”

Turmeric (Curcuma longa) does more than turn foods yellow. When used without being heated (in pickled vegetables, for example), turmeric will impart a floral, almost grass-like taste, said Julie Sahni, a New York-based cooking teacher and author of several books on Indian cooking. Once cooked, it will develop a woody scent, but, Sahni cautioned, “be careful when heating turmeric so you don’t burn it.”

We like to add turmeric to a bottled garlic-pepper blend to sprinkle on grilled meats and fish. Or use the blend to sprinkle on pan-fried cubed white and sweet potatoes with lots of chopped onion.

Curcumin Extreme™ with BCM-95® has superior bioavailability and absorption. BCM-95 contains the natural spectrum of the turmeric rhizome and is 100 percent natural. Curcumin Extreme promotes liver detoxification, promotes healthy glutathione levels and normal cellular regeneration. Taking Curcumin Extreme every day can help detoxify impurities in your body that build up over time

By Deborah H. Land

a. Cholesterol Truths – Good and Bad

There are actually two types of cholesterol, which is not a known fact for people who misconstrue it as something bad. HDL is the name of the good cholesterol, while the bad one is called LDL. A bloodstream with too much LDL will result in plaques in the arteries. Over time, blood will have a difficult time travelling your arteries because the opening becomes narrow thanks to the amount of bad cholesterol in it. Dietary cholesterol is not the culprit for your having high cholesterol in the blood. Rather, it is copious amounts of saturated fat along with Tran’s fat that is to blame for the tightening of the artery. To keep your cholesterol on the low level, you should eat plenty of unsaturated fats and fibrous foods, as well as exercise often.

b. Number Relevance in Cholesterol

Adults should see to it that they have their cholesterol checked every 5 years. Four results are given to you, which will show the levels for your LDL cholesterol, Triglycerides, total cholesterol and HDL cholesterol.

Should you find your cholesterol levels over or even under the normal range, you need to diet and exercise as a result.

Total Cholesterol – less than 200 mg/dL (5.2 mmol/L)

LDL Cholesterol – less than 100 mg/dL (2.6 mmol/L)

HDL Cholesterol – greater than 40 mg/dL (1.0 mmol/L)

Triglycerides – less than 150 mg/dL (1.7 mmol/L)

c. Vitamin E and Heart Protection

You can find Vitamin E in many nuts, leafy vegetables and vegetable oils. While it cannot prevent a stroke, Vitamin E can still reduce your risk for heart disease.

d. Five Fabulous Foods to Decrease Cholesterol Levels

1. Oatmeal and Oat Bran: These contain a high amount of soluble fiber, which can lower LDL.

2. Fish: Fish is a great source of omega 3 fatty acids, which lowers LDL and raises HDL.

3. Nuts: Not only are nuts high in fiber, but they contain the healthy fats you need to keep LDL in check.

4. Plant Sterols: This is found in foods like margarine, salad dressing, orange juice, and functional cookies. 2 grams per day will lower your LDL by 10-15%.

5. Soy: This popular meat replacement can lower LDL by up to 3%.

e. Plant Sterols and Benefits to Health

Foods such as VitaTops Muffin Tops, Benecol Spread, granola bars and fat free milk are rich sources of plant sterols. You can easily help your heart when you start eating foods packed with plant sterols and avoid eating foods that contain saturated fats. A saturated fat-filled diet is not canceled out by this. Exercising often as well as eating healthy food will keep your cholesterol in check.

About the Writer – Deborah H. Land writes for the <a href=”http://www.cholesterolloweringdiets.net/” mce_href=”http://www.cholesterolloweringdiets.net/”>low carb low cholesterol diet</a> site, her personal hobby blog she uses to help people lower bad cholesterol levels.

Honey has been eulogized in the scriptures of every major religion since the dawn of time, but is the “food of the gods” really that good for you? Yes – in moderation. Natural honey is valued for its sweetness, and is chock full of unexpected goodness. Because it’s predigested by insects many people who can’t stomach cane sugar can more easily metabolize honey and enjoy its natural energy – so it’s almost the perfect food.
Honey is composed of two main sugars, levulose and dextrose. These sugars do not need to be broken down by the digestive process, so honey is quickly absorbed into the bloodstream, giving a quick energy boost to the body. It also contains protein, vitamins and minerals, but no cholesterol.
Honey has certain potassium salts that make it a phenomenal moisture absorber and a great killer of germs and bacteria. In fact, honey kills bacteria more effectively than some antibiotics.
This also helps it draw excess fluid from the blood stream, lowering blood pressure. Honey, if taken on an empty stomach with water and lemon, reduces obesity and weight. Beauticians recommend using it liberally for a glowing complexion and silky hair. If taken at night with hot milk, it cures constipation.
Honey has been used in many medical applications over the years, but recent studies are now able to prove its benefits as a topical antibacterial treatment for burns and ulcers.
Known antioxidant compounds in honey are chrysin, pinobanksin, vitamin C, catalase, and pinocembrin. Unlike most other sweeteners, honey contains small amounts of a wide array of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and antioxidants, which include a wide array of vitamins, such as vitamin B6, thiamin, niacin, riboflavin, and pantothenic acid.
In addition, honey contains essential minerals including calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, and zinc as well as several different amino acids have been identified in honey. Dark honey has more nutrients than lighter varieties. Vitamin and mineral content depend on the floral source of the honey. Honey has less than 2% sodium.
Because of its antibacterial properties, pure honey can be preserved indefinitely.
t is found that mixture of Honey and Cinnamon cures most of the diseases. Honey is produced in most of the countries of the world.

Ayurvedic as well as Yunani medicine have been using honey as a vital medicine for centuries. Scientists of today also accept honey as a “Ram Ban” (very effective) medicine for all kinds of diseases. Honey can be used without any side effects for any kind of diseases.
Today’s science says that even though honey is sweet, if taken in the right dosage as a medicine, it does not harm diabetic patients. Weekly World News, a magazine in Canada, on its issue dated 17 January, 95 has given the following list of diseases that can be cured by Honey and Cinnamon as researched by western scientists.
http://1stholistic.com/reading/health/health-honey-and-cinnamon.htm

What is HFCS

Detoxify your body!   http://www.marketamerica.com/annanathankagan/index.cfm?action=shopping.wpGoShopProducts&skuID=13281

By Brett Blumenthal. If you know me at all, you know that I’m an advocate for whole, unprocessed foods.  However, many of us inevitably turn to packaged or processed foods when we are short on time.  Maybe we grab a frozen dinner or pizza for a quick dinner for our family.  Maybe we grab a quick nutrition bar to satiate our hunger until we can sit down for a real meal.  Or maybe, we just don’t like to cook.  Whether we like it or not, packaged and processed food has become a huge part of our food industry and, as a result, a part of many of our diets.

Although there are some brands that I hugely advocate for, there are many more that border on outright unhealthy and “scary.”  Many packaged foods that seem healthy often contain fillers, preservatives and other ingredients you don’t want in your diet. It is always preferable to choose products that have only a handful of ingredients, all of which should be recognizable.  One test to know whether an ingredient is healthy is to ask yourself whether your grandmother would recognize it.  If not, there is a good chance the ingredient is less natural food and more man-made chemical.  Another good test is whether or not you can easily pronounce the ingredient.  If you feel like you need a science degree to pronounce it properly, chances are the ingredient is worth avoiding.

If you do have to resort to a processed food for a snack or dinner (anything canned, packaged, etc.), try to avoid those that contain the ingredients listed in the following chart.  Although this isn’t an exhaustive list, these ingredients are some of the most highly processed and least healthy of all:

Have you checked your ingredient lists recently? Do they contain any of the above? Have you tried cutting some of these ingredients out?Originally posted on sheerbalance.com 

PR debacle for HFCS: Care for some mercury with your oatmeal?

That much-debated sweetener, high-fructose corn syrup, is going to need more than a pricey PR campaign to fix this one.

After one set of scientists found mercury — yes, everyone’s favorite brain-impairing element — in almost half of commercial HFCS, another bunch of scientists decided to get specific and tested 55 common consumer products that use HFCS. And guess what? Almost a third of them contain mercury.

How did the heavy metal get in there? In making HFCS — that “natural” sweetener, as the Corn Refiners Associaton likes to call it — caustic soda is one ingredient used to separate corn starch from the corn kernel. Apparently most caustic soda for years has been produced in industrial chlorine (chlor-alkali) plants, where it can be contaminated with mercury that it passes on to the HFCS, and then to consumers.

David Wallinga, M.D., and his co-authors of “Not So Sweet: Missing Mercury and High Fructose Corn Syrup,” are naming brand names in their report from the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. At the top of the list: Quaker Oatmeal to Go, Jack Daniel’s Barbecue Sauce from Heinz, Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup, Kraft Original Barbecue Sauce, and Nutri-Grain Strawberry Cereal Bars. Oy!

Abstract

Mercury cell chlor-alkali products are used to produce thousands of other products including food ingredients such as citric acid, sodium benzoate, and high fructose corn syrup. High fructose corn syrup is used in food products to enhance shelf life. A pilot study was conducted to determine if high fructose corn syrup contains mercury, a toxic metal historically used as an anti-microbial. High fructose corn syrup samples were collected from three different manufacturers and analyzed for total mercury. The samples were found to contain levels of mercury ranging from below a detection limit of 0.005 to 0.570 micrograms mercury per gram of high fructose corn syrup. Average daily consumption of high fructose corn syrup is about 50 grams per person in the United States. With respect to total mercury exposure, it may be necessary to account for this source of mercury in the diet of children and sensitive populations.

The Indian spice curcumin may slow down the progress of liver disease, a study has shown.

The substance – which gives the curry spice turmeric its bright yellow colour – has been used for centuries in Ayurvedic medicine – practised on the Indian subcontinent – to treat a wide range of gastrointestinal disorders.

CHICAGO – The lives of nearly 900 babies would be saved each year, along with billions of dollars, if 90 percent of U.S. women breast-fed their babies for the first six months of life, a cost analysis says.
The findings suggest that there are hundreds of deaths and many more costly illnesses each year from health problems that breast-feeding may help prevent. These include stomach viruses, ear infections, asthma, juvenile diabetes, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and even childhood leukemia.
The magnitude of health benefits linked to breast-feeding is vastly underappreciated, said lead author Dr. Melissa Bartick, an internist and instructor at Harvard Medical School. Breast-feeding is sometimes considered a lifestyle choice, but Bartick calls it a public health issue.
The $13 billion in estimated losses due to the low breast-feeding rate includes an economists’ calculation partly based on lost potential lifetime wages — $10.56 million per death.

The methods were similar to a widely cited 2001 government report that said $3.6 billion could be saved each year if 50 percent of mothers breast-fed their babies for six months. Medical costs have climbed since then and breast-feeding rates have increased only slightly.

About 43 percent of U.S. mothers do at least some breast-feeding for six months, but only 12 percent follow government guidelines recommending that babies receive only breast milk for six months.

Dr. Larry Gray, a University of Chicago pediatrician, called the analysis compelling and said it’s reasonable to strive for 90 percent compliance.
The pediatrics academy says babies should be given a chance to start breast-feeding immediately after birth. Bartick said that often doesn’t happen, and at many hospitals newborns are offered formula even when their mothers intend to breast-feed.

More>

If you have to breast feed some supplements may help to keep your child healthy.

You’re not alone so do about 100 million other Americans. High cholesterol comes from a variety of sources, including your family history and what you eat. Here is a visual journey through the most common causes.
http://cholesterol.emedtv.com/high-cholesterol-video/high-cholesterol-presentation-summary-video.html

Some natural supplements along with the right diet really help. Think twice before taking Lipitor.

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