Enjoy a longer life by adding some “disease-fighting foods to your” day

How can what you eat help you fight off disease?  What foods will help boost your immune system and keep you healthier?  Many of my students know we should be “eating healthy foods” but when asked, many have a hard time describing what those “healthy foods” are.  (My husband said to him a longevity diet would be chocolate and IPA beer.  Not sure that would be the way to a longer life.)  Can you name 5 foods that would help you fight diseases and lead to a longer life?  Yahoo has an interesting article, Add These Disease-Fighting Foods to Your Diet to Live a Longer Life.  Basically, what you are adding are foods that contain the healthy antioxidants that I have written about many times.  (See:  Antioxidants and good health.)  

Focus on fruits and vegetables:  I tell my students to focus on at least 5 A Day – at least 5 fruits and vegetables a day.  Why?  Because eating fruits and vegetables lowers your risk of many diseases including heart disease, some cancers, diabetes, obesity, and respiratory diseases.  And you want to “eat the rainbow” and vary the color of the fruits and vegetables you eat.  What difference does color make?  Each color provides different antioxidants.

What are some specific foods that help prevent disease and can lead to a longer life?

• Beans and legumes – my husband and I just read an article about how healthy beans are.  We eat Pork and Beans with our hot dogs or hamburgers but really don’t focus on adding beans to our diet.  We now have discussed ways to do so.  Interesting that a meal we recently ate at a Colonial Tavern in Williamsburg had a side of green beans with black eyed peas, black beans, and lima beans – an assortment of beans and it was quite good.    

Why are beans and legumes so healthy?  Think fiber.  Fiber slows the absorption of the food you eat and thus slows absorption of sugar, keeping your blood sugar more stable.  Fiber helps your body get rid of cholesterol which is good for your heart.  And fiber actually feeds the good bacteria in your gut which helps build a healthier immune system.  According to Suzanne Dixon, RD, “A healthy gut microbiome is known to help regulate inflammation, lower blood lipids (cholesterol) and regulate immune function.” 

a.       Peanuts – easy to add a handful of peanuts to your day.  I try to eat a handful of peanuts at lunch. 

b.       Peas – I like peas and we eat peas at least once a week.  If you don’t like them, don’t eat them.  But if you do, buy some frozen peas and keep them on hand.

c.       Beans and chickpeas – chickpeas are easy to add to a salad.  My husband and I talked about adding kidney beans to our menu.  Truck stops used to serve a side of lima beans with meals.  Don’t know if they still do, but that was a healthy choice.

• Eggs – so maligned for years.  Although eggs have cholesterol, they now say the cholesterol in eggs has less effect on your blood cholesterol than saturated fat does.  So, we can enjoy some eggs once again.  Believe it or not at least one researcher reports that consuming up to 1 egg a day may actually reduce your risk of a stroke.  Moreover, eating eggs every day was not associated with increasing ones’ risk of heart disease.  I enjoy eggs.  Not every day but a once or twice a week.  

• Leafy greens, and orange foods– not the iceberg lettuce many of us eat but the deep green leaf greens like spinach, kale and Swiss chard.  We like to buy the Spring mix greens at the grocery store.  So much healthier than iceberg lettuce as dark green means more vitamin A, folate, vitamin K and all those good antioxidants.  Vitamin A and carotenes are not only food for your eyes, but also for healthy skin, bones and teeth.  Dixon states, “Folate from natural food sources [not a vitamin pill] helps protect brain function as we age.  Carotenes bring a boost of antioxidants, which protect again DNA decay or the breakdown of cells.  This damage can accumulate over time, contributing to cancer and heart disease.”  I try to eat some baby carrots at every lunch.  On a trip recently, we brought some fruit and baby carrots with us, just to be sure we had some healthy food to eat at lunch. 

• Extra-virgin Olive Oil (EVVO) – for years, health experts did not recommend olive oil but other oils like Corn oil.  Then olive oil became the rage.  Use olive oil for cooking and in your salad dressing as it reduces inflammation, can help lower blood pressure and even help diabetics as it improves insulin sensitivity.  WebMD notes that people using about 4 tablespoons of EVVO a day, may be able to reduce their blood pressure meds.  It seems the antioxidants in EVVO may help lower blood pressure. These same antioxidants are not found in oils like sunflower oil 

• Sweet potatoes – I love all potatoes and really like sweet potatoes.  One of the Blue Zones – areas of the world where people live to be 100 or more, is Okinawa, Japan.  And what do Okinawans love to eat?  Sweet potatoes.  The dark orange color means sweet potatoes are loaded with Vitamin A (carotene) and potassium and sweet potatoes are also good sources of fiber.  Dixon notes, “Okinawans eat less rice and more sweet potatoes than typical Japanese, and this key difference in the diet of the these two groups is believed to play a role in why Okinawans outlive even other Japanese people.” We like to eat sweet potato French fries.  A great alternative to regular French fries.
  

• Coffee and Tea – on that recent trip, the hotel had a Keurig maker and we enjoyed our morning coffee.  But the next day, we weren’t sure if the housekeeper would refill the Keurig coffee cups, so I found her in the hall and asked for more coffee cups.  I do not like missing my morning cup or so of coffee.  Who would think drinking coffee has some health benefits besides helping you stay awake?  Drinking some coffee is associated with a reduced risk of heart disease, cancer, dementia, and diabetes.  If you like “cream” in your coffee, replace that “cream” that is usually some artificial processed liquid and instead use real milk, whole or 2%.  By using real milk, you are actually adding important nutrients to your day.  Prefer tea?  Well, that has health benefits too.  Interesting that drinking black tea may be good for your bones.  Green tea helps lower the risk of breast cancer and some other cancers.  See the Hidden Health Benefits of Tea for a review of the health benefits of white tea, herbal tea, green tea, black tea, and Oolong tea.  

Enjoy some tea for better health.

The Yahoo article list many more disease-fighting foods including fatty fish like salmon, herring, mackerel and sardines.   Greek yogurt, chia seed, plums, avocado, berries, chocolate, turmeric, oatmeal, and mushrooms are other foods you can add to your diet for good health.

What disease-fighting foods can you add to your diet this week?  Or, add a healthy tea to your daily routine.

 

Sources:  Add These Disease-Fighting Foods to Your Diet to Live a Longer Life , Antioxidants and good health , heart disease , diabetes , Dixon , cholesterol , immune function , researcher , states , lower blood pressure , WebMD notes , notes, heart disease , cancer , dementia , Hidden Health Benefits of Tea, Image Sources:  Beans and legumes , Eggs , Tea