Eating For Health

Some nutrition articles this week were interesting.   Peeling that apple, then maybe you are losing some nutritional benefits.   Is there a mineral that helps prevent cancer?   Apples Many people don’t like the peel of apples and thus cut it off or buy apple slices in a bag with no peel.   Eating fruit is a healthy habit.    The   Centers for Disease Control and Prevention     reports, “Statistics from a 2013 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey show nearly 40% of Americans eat fruit less than one time a day”.    The good news is, over 60% of us are eating fruit one or more times a day.   So eating apples is good, eating apples that are not peeled is even better. Double the fiber – leaving the peel on doubles the amount of fiber you get from eating the apple Potassium – the peel adds 25% more potassium Vitamin A – apples are not a great source of vitamin A, but leaving on the peel adds 40% more vitami...

     The Food and Drug Administration announced new calories rules for restaurants.   This is part of the Affordable Care Act.   So what will be changing?           1.          Chain restaurants (those with 20 or more locations), pizza parlors, movie theaters will be required to post calories on their menus.          2.        Beverages on Menus – calorie content of beverages, including alcohol will be posted but not for mixed drinks at a bar.          3.        Grocery stores – buying a sandwich or a salad for yourself, then the calories will be noted.     Buying a rotisserie chicken or other item designed to a number of people and the calories need not be noted.           4. ...

So much good information is coming out about coffee that some health professionals are wondering if they should recommend coffee for good health.   So what are some of these great health benefits and how much do you need to drink to get these benefits?   Health Benefits of Coffee      Reduced risk of many diseases including cardiovascular (heart) disease, dementia, Parkinson’s disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes – all these benefits for just drinking coffee. Reduced risk of skin cancer - about 3 cups of coffee a day reduced risk of skin cancer Reduced risk of depression , at least in women – 2-3 cups a day, helped lift one’s mood according to a Harvard University Research study Why is drinking coffee healthy?   Phytochemicals – coffee contains more of the phenolic phytochemical than tea or red wine, other phytochemicals in coffee are flavanols Antioxidants – these prevent damage to the cells in your body.   Coffee provides these be...