When you’re paying attention to good nutrition, it’s easy to spend a lot of time focusing on what not to eat – all the stuff that clogs your arteries and expands your waistline. Now’s a good time to look at the things that you should eat and the things you can do to keep your arteries healthy, and to fully understand why paying attention to arterial health is important. Five Superfoods For Heart Health
Some foods pack more punch than others. Here are five foods that have a lot of disease-fighting power, and it’s a good idea to regularly make room for them in your meals. If you would like more helpful healthy living and nutrition articles to keep you on track with proper arterial health, visit the Life Line Screening Blog.
The Five Superfoods: Five Superfoods For Heart Health
Salmon. As far as seafood goes, this delicious fish is one of your best food sources of heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids, which can help keep your heart rate steady, lower your triglycerides – a type of blood fat — and slow the growth of atherosclerotic plaque. You can bake it, broil it, roast it, poach it, or enjoy it smoked or in sushi. The FDA recommends that people eat up to 12 ounces of fish weekly.
Broccoli. It may not rank as the favorite food of kids, but as an adult you can probably appreciate the health benefits that broccoli offers. Its mildly bitter taste comes from chemicals it contains that may provide cancer protection. Experts think anti-cancer substances in the green veggies may act as antioxidants or encourage enzymes that detoxify harmful chemicals in your body, according to the American Cancer Society. Since cooking may destroy some of the helpful compounds, cook it as lightly as possible.
Almonds. These tasty nuts are a good source of fiber and the antioxidant vitamin E, and the fat they contain is mostly monounsaturated, which is considered a “good” type of fat that can help lower your cholesterol. They may also help control blood sugar and insulin levels. Research has shown that eating 2 ounces of almonds daily for 10 weeks didn’t cause people to gain weight. A daily serving size is the amount that you can fit into two sections of an ice-cube tray, suggests the American Dietetic Association.
Blueberries. These vivid little orbs are chock-full of antioxidants, which can help lower your risk of heart disease and cancer by neutralizing free radicals, rogue oxygen molecules that can contribute to atherosclerosis and damage your DNA.
Green tea. This drink contains chemicals called polyphenols, which act as antioxidants. One of these, called EGCG, may encourage cancer cells to die, though more research is needed to show whether drinking green tea can reduce your risk of cancer. However, it may also help control your blood sugar and lower your cholesterol. All these add up to plenty of good reasons to switch some of your daily servings of soda with green tea. Drink it iced or hot. It is delicious either way.
More healthy advice:
Another key activity to cardiovascular health – consider getting screened. Vascular screenings can visualize the inside of your arteries and see if dangerous fatty plaque is building up. Key health screenings include tests that look at the arteries of your neck and the arteries of your legs. Blockages in the neck arteries, called the carotid arteries, are a leading risk factor for stroke. A blockage in the legs is called Peripheral Arterial Disease and is linked to a six-fold increase in stroke and heart attack. Finding these silent conditions early can help you and your doctor take preventive action before a serious health event occurs.
Provided By: ARA
Diet
Nourishing Food For Weight Loss
Nowadays chickens are raised and bred to become really huge. As a consequence, chicken flesh comes with three times more unneeded fat versus only three decades in the past. This excess fat is not good for people.
Although, quite a few dieters think chicken happens to be among the more healthy food products for dropping pounds. In fact, particular meat from chicken happens to be. Hens raised in fields rather than indoor coops can graze the grassland producing more lean meat from chicken. Therefore, field chicken certainly can be included in healthful food products to shed pounds.
Hen meats will be nutritious food items for losing weight because these meats happen to be rich in lean protein. Protein aids in building as well as sustaining muscle mass. Muscle mass raise metabolic rate and this boost leads to even more calories to be utilized. Plus, the system uses more energy in order to break down protein packed food products. Other protein packed foods consist of beans, fish and raw nuts.
Research has discovered eggs from open pastured hens are healthier for an individual too. Chickens grown within pastures not just can roam around but also can soak up sun. For this reason, these hen eggs contain more beta carotene, more vitamin D, more omega-3 fatty acids, less saturated fat and less cholesterol in comparison to enclosed cooped hens. Hence, an individual may choose to include chicken eggs as nutritious foods for slimming down so long as those eggs are from open pastured chickens.
Chicken eggs will be healthy foods to lose weight because hen eggs will be high in top quality protein. Protein not just boosts the metabolism but additionally keeps individuals filled for more time. Whenever folks feel less hungry for more time she or he is not as inclined to eat during the day. Therefore, lesser amounts of food calories will be consumed. Additional food products that keep a dieter not as hungry longer consist of fruits, oatmeal and veggies.
Meat, like cow meat, available in grocery stores these days happens to be filled with artificial hormones, antibiotics, heavy metals and a host of other contaminants which makes selecting food items for losing weight tough. Plant based food items to reduce weight do not have those components. Furthermore, pesticides and herbicides happen to be a lot more concentrated within meats in comparison to plant based food items.
Whenever dieters choose food products to shed pounds they do not need to exclude all meats from her or his nutritional regimen. Instead just cut back on the amount of meals and snacks having meat products. A dieter might find whole grains, beans and brown rice happen to be wonderful alternatives. Also, watch portion control. The amount should be no larger than a palm as well as not ever bigger compared to the vegetable portion.
Different healthy foods to lose weight happen to be plant based food items. Plant based foods furnish all vitamins, minerals and antioxidants needed in order to remain healthy and fit, minus the cholesterol, saturated fat and contaminants present in meat.
When it comes to health, many people are aware of the major do’s and don’ts of maintaining a healthy lifestyle and diet. However, people often focus on their cholesterol, blood pressure, and body mass index (BMI), and overlook another key medical marker: Advanced Glycation Endproducts (AGEs). AGEs are harmful compounds in the body that accelerate the aging process and are linked to many of the top health concerns people face today. Impact of Eating Habits on Aging
AGEs develop in the body or are ingested through certain foods, including browned, sugary and processed foods. When people consume too many of these foods, higher than normal levels of AGEs build up in their tissues. This accumulation accelerates the aging process from the inside out. Slowing the progression of AGEs is vital to living a long, healthy life.
In an effort to educate the public about AGEs, the A.G.E. Foundation, a global not-for-profit organization, is unveiling the findings of its U.S. survey on the effect of eating habits and cooking methods on aging. The A.G.E. Foundation is dedicated to educating consumers about AGEs and how they can protect themselves.
The impact of eating habits and cooking methods on aging
Seventy-six percent of Americans know that eating and preparing processed food can accelerate aging, according to the survey. Thirty-two percent cited the manner in which they prepare food as having an impact on aging, while just 11 percent indicated cooking food at high temperatures affected aging.
As temperatures warm up and outdoor cooking season begins, people will be heating up the grill with limited awareness of the way to reduce AGEs. The survey showed that six in 10 people prefer grilling their meat over oven-roasting (23 percent), stir-frying (9 percent), steaming (3 percent) and poaching (1 percent).
“It is important for people to limit the amount of barbecued, sauteed or even toasted food,” says Dr. Michelle Davenport, a board member with the A.G.E. Foundation. “We’ve found that the higher the temperature you cook something, the higher the AGE level – and excessive AGEs cause our bodies to age prematurely.”
The survey also showed that when people are eating processed, fried or sugary foods, 81 percent are more concerned with the impact on their weight compared with 58 percent who are more concerned about the effect on their internal organs.
Controlling your AGEs
The key to lowering AGEs is to reduce heat, extend cooking time and incorporate more water and acid into your food preparation, according to the A.G.E. Foundation. Water-based cooking methods (i.e., steaming, poaching) dramatically reduce AGEs. When queried about healthy ways to prepare meats for grilling, herb and oil ranked the highest (34 percent), followed by “straight to the grill” at 21 percent. Only 17 percent of respondents knew that adding an acid-based marinade was the best cooking method to reduce AGEs. “Adding a marinade in the form of lemon, lime or vinegar can cut AGEs by 50 percent,” says Dr. Davenport.
Avoiding foods high in AGEs and opting for brightly colored fruits and vegetables and whole grains, which are low in AGEs, is also recommended. Opt for foods that include iridoids, which are healthy elements produced in plants and found in certain fruits and vegetables like noni, blueberries, olive leaves and Cornelian cherries, as well as the supplemental beverage TruAge Max.
In addition to eating a healthy, fresh diet and preparing low-AGE level foods, it’s important to quit smoking, exercise regularly, get enough sleep and control stress levels to achieve an AGE-less lifestyle.
Certain foods may push back against cognitive decline. Adding whole plant foods, including fruits and vegetables, beans and whole grains, to your diet can help cut cholesterol. Eating for Your Brain as a Senior
Berries, Coleslaw and Your Brain
The MIND diet, introduced early last year and ranked for the first time in Best Diets 2016, was created specifically to reduce dementia risk in older adults. Researcher Martha Clare Morris, a nutritional epidemiologist at Rush University Medical Center, and colleagues combined features from the DASH dietand Mediterranean diet to create the MIND diet, which includes 10 brain-healthy food groups: green leafy vegetables, other vegetables, nuts, beans, whole grains, fish, poultry, olive oil, wine and berries, especially blueberries.
As early as 1999, researchers found that feeding blueberries to aging rats helped them navigate better through mazes they’d previously run, says Dr. Michael Greger, a physician and founder of NutritionFacts.org. But it wasn’t until around 2010 that studies began showing brain benefits in people who eat berries. Eating for Your Brain as a Senior
One was the long-running Nurses’ Health Study, which followed more than 16,000 women age 70 and older and found that those who ate more berries showed slower rates of mental decline. “The magnitude of the associations were pretty impressive,” Greger says. “Women with a higher intake of berries appeared to have delayed cognitive aging by 2.5 years. So it’s like your brain is 2.5 years younger if you’re eating berries.”
Brain scans with functional MRI imaging can show a difference in brain function as people eat blueberries. The reason: “We think it’s polyphenol phytonutrients,” Greger says. “These are special antioxidant pigments, like the natural blue and purple pigments in berries, that actually cross the blood-brain barrier.”
Foods, beverages and extracts with similar pigments – such as pomegranates and grape juice – are also being studied for potential brain benefits.
Not fond of berries? Brightly colored cabbage also has the same brain-healthy phytonutrients, Greger says. “The cheapest, more available and most convenient source of the compound is purple and red cabbage, such as in coleslaw,” he says. “It lasts for a week in the fridge. It makes a nice, delightful crunch, and with color as an addition to any meal.” Cabbage, he says, “has the most antioxidants per dollar, beating out things like acai berries and quote-unquote superfoods.”
Good for Your Heart/Good for Your Brain
The two most common types of dementia affecting older Americans – Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia – might be delayed by the same types of food and diets that help lower blood pressure, reduce cholesterol and prevent or manage diabetes.
Vascular dementia is caused by a series of “micro-strokes” that people aren’t even aware of but that damage parts of the brain fed by tiny blood vessels, Greger explains. It’s been well-established that hardening of the arteries, or atherosclerosis, is a risk factor for these strokes.
Only recently has a similar connection been made to the other major type of dementia, however. “It turns out that the risk of Alzheimer’s is not only tied to these same risk factors; but if you treat them, you can actually make a difference,” Greger says. In recent findings, people with Alzheimer’s who were treated for high cholesterol or blood pressure did better. “It didn’t stop the disease; it didn’t reverse the disease,” he says. “But it slowed the progression.”
Brain-artery scans done on people with Alzheimer’s or earlier-stage cognitive decline show that patients with the least hardening of those arteries remain more stable over time, Greger says. “But those with more cholesterol buildup [and] the most blockage rapidly decline in their ability to think, their ability to carry on activities of daily living.”
Cholesterol-Flushing Fiber
When it comes to cutting cholesterol, Greger says, the more whole plant foods in your diet, the better. “They contain fiber, which pulls cholesterol out of the body and kind of flushes it away,” he says. “We’re not talking about processed plant foods or refined foods like white flour, pasta or bagels. We’re talking whole plant foods: fruits and vegetables, beans, whole grains, peas, lentils.”
Berries not only fight free radicals – they can also combat cholesterol. “Berries have a lot of soluble fiber,” Greger says. “That’s why they gel up when you’re making your Thanksgiving cranberry sauce, with the pectin. So berries can offer the best of both worlds.”
Fasting for Your Brain?
Challenge your brain cells with a short fast, suggests Mark Mattson, chief of the Laboratory of Neurosciences at the National Institute on Aging and a professor of neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Going 16 hours or so without food could benefit your brain in several ways, he says.
Eating three meals a day plus snacks sends energy to your liver, where it’s stored as a form of glucose called glycogen, Mattson says. If you don’t eat for 10 to 12 hours, that depletes those energy stores in your liver, he explains. Instead, you mobilize fat from your fat cells, which are converted to compounds called ketones.
“Ketones are a really good thing for your brain,” Mattson says, pointing out that ketogenic diets are used for people with hard-to-treat epilepsy. “From an evolutionary standpoint, it makes sense that your brain should work well when you haven’t eaten for a long time,” he says. “Because if your brain isn’t working well, you’re not going to figure how to get food and compete with your competitors for available food sources.”
Even during short fasts, nerve cells are more active in the brain, researchers are finding. “Also, the cells in the brain respond adaptively to what may be considered the mild stress of not having food for an extended period of time,” Mattson says. Brain cells do this by increasing their ability to cope with stress, he says: “And, we think, to resist age-related diseases like Alzheimer’s.”
Intermittent fasting is a possible form of prevention, not treatment. “This is more risk reduction, [something] that people would be have to be doing for their adult life, from their midlife on,” Mattson says. “Similar to the exercise benefit in midlife as you get older. We find that fasting does similar things to brain cells as does exercise.”
When you’re not fasting, eating fruits and vegetables can help your brain, Mattson says – but that could be due to evolution, he adds. “Chemicals in fruits and vegetables are actually toxins from an evolutionary perspective, produced by plants to keep insects and other organisms, including humans, from eating them,” Mattson says. He suggests that plants containing chemicals with bitter or hot tastes – such as caffeine, or chemicals in vegetables like broccoli, or curcumin (in the curry spice turmeric) – may help build brain resilience. He explains the theory further in the July issue of Scientific American.
Diet Diversity
By eating a varied diet, you can draw from a cognitive portfolio of foods that may boost different parts of the brain, according to NutritionFacts.org. To improve executive function, speed of perception, overall cognition and fact-based memory, total vegetable intake seems most important. For autobiographical memory and visual-spatial skills, however, total fruit intake is the key, according to the website. Carrots may benefit one brain domain, Greger says, while mushrooms could help in another.
Overall, a diverse, healthy diet is likely your best bet. “We can’t eat a standard American diet [and just] throw some berries onto our bacon,” Greger says. “It may not be so much a magic bullet, but this arsenal of foods we eat for better brain health.” Eating for Your Brain as a Senior
Eating for Your Brain as a Senior
It’s easy to grab a bag of chips or a handful of cookies to give yourself a boost of energy to make it through the day. But those choices aren’t always the most nutritious. It is possible, however, to make better snack choices that actually taste good, and are good for you.Wholesome Snacking for Everyone
Registered dietitian and author Kate Geagan, MS, RD, says, “Snacks can play an important role within a healthy diet. Selecting a tasty, nutritious snack or two can help you stay energized and keep you from overeating at your next meal. If you plan ahead, you can ensure that you have satisfying choices you can feel good about.” Geagan suggests planning a mid-afternoon snack and water break.
“Whole foods and those that are made with minimally processed, whole food ingredients are great snack choices,” she says. “Try to include a serving of fruits or vegetables for added vitamins, antioxidants and fiber, as well as a source of protein or calcium, like cheese or yogurt.” There are plenty of delicious options to keep you going from morning to night.
Geagan recommends snacking on SOYJOY bars instead of granola bars made with artificial ingredients, preservatives, and additives. SOYJOY bars, made with real fruit and USA grown non-genetically modified ground whole soy, are a tasty snack option perfect for any time of day. They are just the right size to keep in your desk drawer, gym bag, or pack in your child’s lunch box.
Geagan is also a fan of making flavorsome snack pairings. For example, she likes to enjoy a creamy Mini Babybel cheese with multi-grain crackers or apple slices. These individually wrapped cheeses are the perfect portion size, and they combine the irresistible taste of an indulgent treat with the nutrition of a wholesome, everyday snack. For a fun snack for kids, Geagan also suggests making mini skewers with a rolled up turkey slice, Mini Babybel White Cheddar, and a cherry tomato.
Pre-pack nutritious on-the-go snacks. If you plan ahead and divide up single servings into snack-sized resealable bags or storage containers, you’ll always have a good-for-you snack ready to grab and go.
- 1 cup edamame (or 1/2 cup shelled edamame)
- 1 ounce in-shell pistachios
- 2 tablespoons almond butter on apple slices
- Whole wheat pita chips with guacamole or hummus
- Create your own trail mix with kid-friendly ingredients like popcorn, fruits and nuts
Great tasting snacks can also be good for you – offer a variety of nutritious choices and the whole family will find a snack they love. For more snacking tips and recipes visit www.soyjoy.com andwww.thelaughingcow.com.
Thirty million (or one out of four) Americans age 40 and older suffer from some level of vision loss. Yet only 30 percent of Americans indicate they incorporate specific foods or supplements into their diet to help improve eye health and vision, according to the American Optometric Association’s American Eye-Q survey, which assesses public knowledge and understanding of a wide range of issues related to eye and visual health.
Six nutrients – antioxidants lutein and zeaxanthin; essential fatty acids; vitamins C and E; and the mineral zinc – have been identified as helping to protect eyesight and promote eye health. Since the body doesn’t make these nutrients naturally, it’s important to incorporate them into a daily diet and, in some cases, supplement with vitamins.–
Consuming a variety of the following foods can help protect your eyes for the future:
- Lutein and zeaxanthin: To help reduce your risk of developing age-related macular degeneration (AMD), eat one cup of colorful fruits and vegetables such as broccoli, spinach, kale, corn, green beans, peas, oranges and tangerines four times a week.
- Essential fatty acids: Studies suggest omega-3 fatty acids such as flax or fleshy fish like tuna, salmon, or herring, whole grain foods, lean meats and eggs may help protect against AMD and dry eye.
- Vitamin C: Fruits and vegetables, including oranges, grapefruit, strawberries, papaya, green peppers and tomatoes, can help minimize the risk of cataracts and AMD.
- Vitamin E: Vegetable oils, such as safflower or corn oil, almonds, pecans, sweet potatoes, and sunflower seeds are powerful antioxidants that can slow the progression of AMD and cataract formation.
- Zinc: A deficiency of zinc can result in poor night vision and lead to cataracts; therefore, consuming red meat, poultry, liver, shellfish, milk, baked beans, and whole grains on a daily basis is important.
It’s also important to remember that all foods are not created equal in their nutritional value. The Eye-Q survey also showed that nearly half of all Americans (49 percent) still believe carrots are the best food for eye health. While carrots do contain nutritional value by supplying beta-carotene, which is essential for night vision, spinach and other dark, leafy greens are the healthiest foods for eyes because they naturally contain large amounts of lutein and zeaxanthin.-
The AOA encourages consumers to make small dietary changes in order to experience a big impact with vision. Another good way to monitor eye health and maintain good vision is by scheduling yearly, comprehensive eye exams with an eye doctor. Senior.com also sells some fabulous vision enhancing products.