Aspartame, an artificial sweetener that is 200 times sweeter than sugar, easier/cheaper to produce, store, transport and has an indefinite shelf-life that pests and vermin won’t touch. What more would you want, right?
More and more studies show links to serious health problems and diet disorders. Eliminate ‘soft drinks’ completely because you can only go from bad to worse by switching to DIET drinks. “Sugar Free” is a marketing ploy, not a health enhancement… ~ ac
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People spray their lawns to get rid of it, while others use it to heal their body of numerous ailments. What could it be? Well, dandelions of course!
Whether your eat or juice the greens, indulge in the honey-flavoured flowers or steep some dandelion root tea, this herb is pure magic!
The health benefits of dandelion include bone and skin health, help with liver and urinary disorders, acne, jaundice, diabetes, cancer and anemia. Continue reading
…and four ways to change your weight set point – but ONE part of the equation!
Your friend seems to eat and drink everything in sight — but always stays slim. You, on the other hand, diligently count calories but can’t get rid of those extra 10 pounds. What gives? Continue reading
Now – no smart-Alec comments here. Just something interesting that we we were not aware of.
Because I just lost my dear friend and sister-in-law to cancer treated with surgery, chemo and immunotherapy this spring, this topic remains hot on my mind.
I decided to write a concise, little post showing published, peer-reviewed scientific evidences of turmeric’s amazing level of complexity, modulating countless molecular pathways and helping in traditional cancer therapy and beyond. I hope this will save you some work! Continue reading
Cutting back on sugar may help decrease your likelihood of getting certain cancers, a recent study noted. The finding, which was part of an investigation made by researchers from Duke-NUS Medical School and the National University of Singapore, together with the Duke University School of Medicine and the Medical University of Vienna, is part of a unique approach explaining how reducing sugar can cause cancer cells to die.
The paper, which was published in the online journal Science Signaling, presented a novel cell death pathway through introducing how depriving cancer cells of sugar can trigger a reaction that causes them to die. This research builds on earlier scientific literature that indicates that cancer cells that quickly multiply need higher levels of sugar than healthy cells. Continue reading
Flaxseeds contains lignans which are the main type of phytoestrogens in the Western diet.
Mainstream oncology is at a precipice. On average, there are 4,800 new cancer diagnoses occurring each day. The lifetime probability of being diagnosed with cancer is now 37.7% for women and 39.3% for men. While the death rate from cancer is slightly falling, these figures can be skewed by the millions of false cancer diagnoses that weren’t deadly to begin with and the volume of benign cancers that are detected early, that may regress on their own. Cancer fears abound, but there are countless ways in which modern oncology can improve to quell hysteria and improve patient outcomes. Continue reading
When it comes to sticking to a healthy diet, disease-fighting mushrooms check off all the boxes: They’re low in carbohydrates and calories, but a great source of B vitamins, trace minerals, fiber and even protein. Mushrooms are also an anti-inflammatory food, and mushroom nutrition contains high levels of beta-glucan compounds that keep immune cells alert, plus a powerful antioxidant called ergothioneine that helps lower body-wide inflammation.
The medicinal use of mushrooms has a very long tradition in Asian countries that dates back thousands of years. Although their use in the Western Hemisphere only started increasing in the past several decades, numerous recent studies show that they are vital, biologically active compounds with significant benefits to health. Continue reading
Sweetened drinks are the biggest source of added sugar in the average American’s diet, according to the American Heart Association.
Here’s some less-than refreshing news about soda: even sugar-free versions were associated with a higher risk of death in a study of 452,000 people in 10 countries. Continue reading
…and it won’t destroy healthy cells!
Ginger has been used as both food and medicine for thousands of years.
Native to southeastern Asia, ginger has been a common ingredient in these parts of the world and has long been prized for its aromatic, culinary and medicinal properties. Continue reading
…but what exactly is a processed food?
zz/Dennis Van Tine/STAR MAX/IPx 2018 via AP Images
Hot dogs qualify as an ultra-processed food, since they’re packed with preservatives.
They’re quick, easy, cheap, and really bad for us.
Processed foods are under fresh scrutiny this week after a groundbreaking study from the National Institutes of Health found that people on ultra-processed diets ate more calories and gained more weight than they did when offered the same amount of nutrients from less processed food.
The finding suggests there’s something different about how quickly our bodies take in processed foods and how those foods interact with key hormones that help regulate our appetites.
But this is far from the first time that processed foods have been linked to dangerous outcomes. Other researchers have connected packaged and ready-made foods with more cancer cases and more early deaths.
This mounting evidence raises a somewhat tricky question: What exactly designates a certain food as processed? After all, a chicken-salad sandwich prepared at home may still qualify as a processed meal, as could a cheesy quesadilla.
Flickr/geishabot
To answer that question, scientists and nutrition experts often use a a four-tiered system called NOVA that classifies everything we eat as one of these four categories: unprocessed or minimally processed, processed culinary ingredients, processed foods, and ultra-processed food and drink products.
Unprocessed foods include edible parts of plants (fruits, vegetables, seeds, roots, etc.) or animals, as well as fungi and algae. These can be fresh, frozen, or even fermented — the important distinction is that they have not been treated with additives, injected with salt, or rubbed with oil until they’re about to be eaten. Examples include dry beans; grains like rice; fresh or dried mushrooms; meat and dairy products; seafood; plain yogurt; nuts; and spices.
Processed culinary ingredients involve a step up in production. These are ingredients made from unprocessed foods, like vegetable oils, butter, and lard. This category also includes extracted food, like honey from combs, sugar from cane, and syrup from maple trees.
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Processed foods are items that get infused with ingredients like sugar, salt, and fat to help keep them edible longer. Canned fruits, fermented breads (which most breads are, as they’re made with yeast), alcohol, cheese, pickles, and salted nuts all make this list.
Finally, there are ultra-processed foods. These items are designed to be ready to eat and ready to heat at a moment’s notice. To make that possible, these foods are often made in a factory, broken down from their whole or fresh form and treated with thickeners, colors, glazes, and additives. They may be fried before they’re packed in cans or wrappers. They might contain high-fructose corn syrup, protein isolates, or interesterified oils (replacements for trans fats, which are now widely banned). Examples of ultra-processed foods include packaged granola bars, carbonated soft drinks, candy, mass-produced breads, margarine, energy drinks, flavored yogurt, chicken nuggets, and hot dogs.
These are the items researchers are referring to when they say that ultra-processed foods are linked to more cancer cases, early deaths, and weight gain.
Of course, these items also tend to be more convenient and cheaper than less processed food, since they’re less perishable.
Via Flickr
“Ultra-processed food has a lot of advantages in terms of its convenience,” Kevin Hall, the lead author of the NIH study, told Business Insider. “It’s cheap. It sticks around for a while. You don’t have to have all the fresh ingredients on hand, which might spoil. You don’t have to have all the equipment to prepare these meals from scratch.”
But experts, including Hall, say that if you can afford it, cutting back on ultra-processed food is a good strategy for maintaining a healthy weight and staying disease-free.
“You can’t just tax them and make them more expensive and less convenient for people,” he said. “You also have to support access and availability to unprocessed meals.”
Written by Hilary Brueck for Business Insider ~ May 17, 2019
Eating fruits offers tremendous health benefits — a fact supported by many studies. These are rich in vitamins and minerals, great for keeping diseases at bay, and have high levels of soluble and insoluble fiber, which improves digestion, increases satiety, and lowers cholesterol. But did you know that some fruits might be better than others, in terms of micronutrient content? Continue reading
In the first prospective study of directly measured body fat distribution and cancer risk, investigators found that higher levels of abdominal and thigh fat are associated with an increased risk of aggressive form of cancer.
It’s not the amount of fat in your body but where it’s stored that may increase your risk for heart attack, stroke and diabetes. Continue reading
An estimated 12.5 million people had some form of cancer in 2009, according to the American Cancer Society.. Another 25.8 million have diabetes.. These two preventable diseases are responsible for millions of deaths worldwide each year.
In the constant battle to stay healthy, many of us know that too much sugar in the blood can lead to diabetes and that by controlling our diets we can both prevent and even reverse the disease. But, could the same be said for cancer? Continue reading
World War I Propaganda by James Montgomery Flagg (National War Garden Commission, 1918). “The Seeds of Victory Insure the Fruits of Peace.”
This beautiful poster by famed artist James Montgomery Flagg depicts the Lady Columbia representing the United States sowing seeds of victory to ensure lasting peace.