Eating For Health

According to the University of Southern California , almost half of Americans over the age of 20 have high blood pressure.   This means an astounding 122 million Americans.   Unfortunately, as you get older it is more likely to have blood pressure increase.   Many people don’t even know they have high blood pressure or hypertension.   The American Heart Association notes at first there are “no obvious symptoms to indicate something is wrong, but HBP can lead to heart attack, stroke, and kidney failure.”    A relative was asking what they could do diet wise to help lower their blood pressure.   We had already discussed the DASH diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension).   (See:   Best Diets for Healthy Eating in 2024 .) and physical activity.    Diet wise, they were cutting back on sodium and increasing potassium foods but were wondering if there were anything else like any drinks that could help lower blood pressure?  ...

Are you getting your daily vitamin C?   Growing up everyone had juice glasses in their homes and almost everyone drank some real, 100% juice for breakfast.   This could be orange juice, tomato juice or grapefruit juice.   Now, juice glasses are a rarity in people’s home.   And, rather than real, 100% juice, the people that do drink “juice” often choose a fake juice or a fruit drink that contains little or no juice.   But you do not have to drink juice to get enough vitamin C.   Many fruits and vegetables are rich in C. What is vitamin C?   Vitamin C is an essential vitamin that is also known as ascorbic acid.   What does “essential” mean?   It means your body does not make vitamin C and you need to “eat it to get it”. Since it is water-soluble vitamin, your body does not store it and you should eat some vitamin C rich foods every day.   How does vitamin C help keep you healthy? Some people hear “vitamin C” and they think of colds...

Most people know we need vitamin C daily.   Are you getting the vitamin C you need each day?   Just because a fruit drink is labelled rich in vitamin C, it doesn’t mean it is a healthy choice.   What foods and beverages have vitamin C and why do our bodies need vitamin C? Enjoy some vitamin C rich foods every day. What is vitamin C? You may see “vitamin C” on a label or you may see its scientific name, ascorbic acid, on a label.   Our bodies don’t make vitamin C so we must get this important vitamin from the foods we eat or the juices we drink.   Why do our bodies need vitamin C? Healthy Skin : Vitamin C is important to our bodies in so many ways.   Want healthy skin?   Then eat foods rich in vitamin C as vitamin C helps our bodies boost collage production.   To make collagen, your body needs vitamin C.   Vitamin C not only supports collagen production, it helps stimulates collagen production .   Vitamin C also protects your ...

So much confusion about fruit.   So many people avoid or cut back on fruit because they say, “fruit is high in sugar”.   What is the truth about fruit and its sugar content?   The Washington Post had a great wellness article , “The sugar in fruit doesn’t make it bad for you, despite some trendy diet claims”.   The article is written by a dietitian who notes more and more dietitians are hearing from their client’s phrases like, “fruit has too much sugar”, “don’t eat bananas, they are too high in sugar”.   One quote in the article is, “fruit is toxic”.   Now that one I haven’t heard.   But there is so much confusion about fruit.   In the class I teach one student said to avoid Naked Juice as it has too much added sugar.   Yet, Naked Juice has NO ADDED SUGAR and is one of the healthier juice choices because they provide juice blends with no added sugar.   Naked Juice now offers juices with half the “sugar” from fructose, called “ Half ...