Eating For Health

The Short answer: Yes—while no single food can prevent cancer, research shows that a colorful, plant‑rich diet packed with antioxidants, fiber, and phytochemicals can lower your overall cancer risk when eaten consistently over time. 🌱✨ 🌈 1. Add More Color to Your Plate Colorful fruits and vegetables are rich in phytonutrients that help protect cells from damage. Blueberries, strawberries, grapes, kiwi, apples, and cruciferous veggies (like broccoli and kale) contain compounds such as anthocyanins , polyphenols , and sulforaphane , which may reduce inflammation and slow cancer cell growth. Aim for at least 5 servings a day —more is even better! 🍳 2. Build a Cancer‑Smart Breakfast Foods naturally rich in folate —such as whole‑grain cereals, eggs, strawberries, melons, and real orange juice—support healthy cell function. Low folate levels have been linked to increased cancer risk. Choose real juice over sugary “fruit drinks,” which lack nutrients. (See: What is the di...

Now that the weather has turned colder, it is time to think about how you can protect yourself and family members from getting colds or flu this winter.    There are many things people can do in terms of diet, exercise and habits that can greatly reduce your chances of getting sick.    What diet and other changes can you focus on to boost your immune system and keep you healthy?      1.   Fruits and Vegetables – 5 A Day is the suggested amount but eating even more than 5 A Day during the cold and flu season is a wise choice. a.        Antioxidants for your immune system: Fruits and vegetables are not only full of vitamins and minerals but also antioxidants that can help you fight off those infections and build your immune system.   But each color of fruit and vegetable has different antioxidants.   To ensure you are getting a wide range of colors, vary your colors.   Include many di...

Who among us isn’t trying to reduce the size of our bellies?   Are there really foods that can help cut the belly fat?    MSN listed foods this week that are worth a try.   Even if you don’t add all of these, some are really easy to incorporate into our diet and daily routine.         Onion and leeks – so easy to add to our diet.   Onion slices on our hamburger, onion in our salads.   How do they work?   Onions produce butyrate which is a prebiotic that encourages the growth of good bacteria in our intestines.   The butyrate also helps one burn body fat.            Artichokes and asparagus – on a recent trip to the Cheesecake Factory, my daughter and I enjoyed the fire-roasted artichoke appetizer.   Absolutely delicious.   Asparagus is now plentiful at our local farmers markets where I live and a great health food.   These two are also prebiotics and they produce acet...