| It is best to eat carbohydrates in their natural form, in fresh fruits and vegetables and whole grains, rather than in the huge quantities found in refined sugar, flour, and cereal products that your body was not really designed to assimilate.
Other, lesser-known complex carbohydrates include pentoses (found in oats and brewer's yeast) such as ribose, one of the bases of RNA; and raffinose and stachyose, found in legumes. They are another reason why your diet should always be varied enough to assure your body of every food element needed for day-to-day optimum health. |
| Good carbohydrates are abundantly available to all of us as unrefined or "whole" grains in the form of breads, cereals, and sprouts, as fresh fruits and root vegetables, as lettuces and other leafy green vegetables, as fresh or dried peas, and as lentils and beans. This diet, which seems so old-fashioned to us, is what many authorities believe spared our grandparents from such twentieth-century killer diseases as diabetes, cancer, and coronary heart disease. It is worth returning to if a long, healthy life is your goal for yourself and your family. |
| He got almost none of the complex sugars that exist in plentitude in fresh fruits and vegetables and grains. He got a meager supply of the vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and other essential nutrients that we need to survive. In its natural and original form, his food possessed everything he needed. However, by the time he ate it, its nutrients had been stripped away.
What Jimmy ate instead were a few traces of vitamin additives, a whole storehouse of preservatives and other chemicals, several hand-fuls of refined starch—and about thirty teaspoons of table sugar. |
| When potassium deficiency is the cause of muscle cramps, whether of the extremities or of the internal muscles, the cure is simple, inexpensive, and enjoyable: eat more fresh fruits and vegetables. Even very weak or partially paralyzed muscles have responded quickly to increases in potassium intake.31
And don't forget: the heart is also a muscle. If potassium deficiency causes this muscle to cramp, the result can be a heart attack.32'35 It is foolish to take that risk, when prevention is a simple matter of eating correctly. |
The Life Extension Editorial Staff
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 Keeping the bowel bacteria in balance by taking probiotics such as Lactobacillus acidophilus on a regular basis is also recommended.
Soy Estrogens Versus Estrogen Drugs
Based upon records of dietary soy consumption in Japan, where breast cancer incidence is very low, daily soy isoflavone intake has been estimated to be about 50 mg a day. On the other hand, the typical Western diet provides only 1-5 mg a day of the soy isoflavones that may protect against several forms of cancer. |
Dr. Mary Dan Eades
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 Add to that a wide selection of fresh fruits and vegetables, concentrating primarily on the dark green leafy vegetables, green vegetables, yellow-orange vegetables, richly pigmented fruits, and such starches as rice, whole grains, and oats. Don't avoid but try to limit your intake of concentrated starches such as potatoes and refined wheat starch. And keep your fat intake to about 30% of your total day's calories, with two-thirds of that fat coming from such oils as olive oil, canola oil, sunflower oil, and safflower oil. |
| You should aim for the dietary percentages given there: 30% of your day's total number of calories from protein; 40% from low-starch vegetables, whole fresh fruits, rice and oats; and 30% from fats and oils. Avoid or sharply reduce your intake of nutritionally blank foods, such as refined sugars: table sugar, com syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, molasses, and products made with these substances. Make your nutrition count. |
John Heinerman
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 They subsisted that entire winter on nothing but ship's provisions, which was mostly hardtack (hard flour biscuit) and salted meat. No fresh fruits or vegetables of any kind were ever consumed. It wasn't long before scurvy set in, claiming large numbers of their party. |
Mark Stengler, N.D.
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 Once the scourge of sailors and arctic explorers who had to go long periods without any sources of vitamin C (such as fresh fruits and vegetables), scurvy has virtually been eliminated because vitamin C is so easy to get under normal condition. If you get at least the RDA of vitamin C, it's a virtual guarantee that you'll never have a problem with a vitamin-C-deficiency problem such as scurvy.
The criticism of the RDA by nutrition-oriented doctors like me is that it often does not promote optimal health or take into account the nutritional requirements of each individual. |
| Historically, humans experienced great suffering before learning about vitamin C Severe vitamin C deficiency caused scurvy, a condition that devastated people who didn't have access to fresh fruits or vegetables (the best natural sources of vitamin C). Sailors on long voyages, who went months without eating fresh food, often had all the symptoms—bleeding gums, skin hemorrhage and easy bruising, weakened bones, poor wound healing, susceptibility to infection, and depression. Numerous shipboard deaths were attributed to scurvy, even before the cause was known. |
Elson M. Haas, M.D.
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 O WHAT IS OUR BEST APPROACH TO FOOD ADDITIVES*
First, we must try to reorient ourselves to the natural diet of our ancestors and eat more wholesome foods, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, beans, and range-fed animals. To find and purchase the organic produce and organically fed poultry and beef, and thus support those farmers and ranchers (and our own health) who raise them, will make these foods more available and at a better price. |
Michael Castleman
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 Nutritionists say that as long as your overall diet is low in fat, high in fiber and based on whole grains, legumes and fresh fruits and vegetables, individual foods don't matter. They counsel variety, and they're right. Broccoli is terrifically nutritious, but an all-broccoli diet is not as healthful as one based on a variety of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes.
The Winning Foods
However, given a diet based on a healthy variety of nutritious foods, some foods still stand out as particularly valuable for the prevention and
The Healing Foods treatment of specific conditions. |
Earl L. Mindell, R.Ph., Ph.D.
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 Normally you can get all the EFAs you need from eating plenty of fresh fruits, vegetables and whole grains and fish a few times a week.
Bee Remedies
Bee pollen may give some people relief, but try just a little bit first in case you are one of the few who are allergic to it. If you can buy fresh local honey at the farmer's market or health food store, you can try that instead. The local pollens in the honey can desensitize your hay fever reactions.
Carry allergy-fighting supplements with you so that as soon as you feel an allergic reaction coming on you can nip it in the bud. |
Bill Gottlieb
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 Even most fresh fruits and vegetables, clearly the most nutritional foods in the American diet, are suspect: Only 1 percent of the U.S. produce is organic, grown without the use of cancer-causing pesticides and other dangerous chemicals.
When a food is processed or refined, it loses its nutritional punch. There are fewer vitamins and fiber, more fat and more sugar, says Elson Haas, M.D., director of the Preventive Medical Center of Marin in San Rafael, CaHfornia, and author of Staying Healthy with Nutrition. And that spells trouble. |
Earl L. Mindell, R.Ph., Ph.D.
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| Eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables.
Other Tips on These Drugs
They can skew the results of many blood and urine tests.
Loop Diuretics Bumetanide (Bumex)
Ethacrynic Acid (Edecrin)
Furosemide (Lasix)
Torsemide (Demadex)
What Do They Do in Your Body?
Increase urination, reduce fluid and water retention, largely by reducing sodium chloride (salt) uptake in your cells.
CAUTION!
Signs of a mineral imbalance:
Dizziness
Dry mouth
Low blood pressure
Muscle pains or cramps
Nausea and vomiting Rapid heartbeat Sleepiness and confusion Weakness
What Are They Prescribed For? |
| This means eating plenty of whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables.
Avoid Infection, Speed Healing and Boost the Immune System
Infection is a major risk of surgery. The sooner you get yourself out of the hospital the lower your risk of getting an infection. You can help avoid infection and speed up the healing process by keeping your immune system strong. In addition to the vitamins you're taking as part of the Six Core Principles for Optimal Health (see Chapter 8), you will support your body if you take the following supplements. |
| Good foods for vitamin C: most fresh fruits and vegetables, such as apricots, asparagus, cantaloupe, cauliflower, citrus fruits, guava, mango, strawberries, broccoli, mustard greens and tomato juice.
Vitamin E: The Heart and Blood Vessel Helper
The Shute brothers, both M.D.s, recommended vitamin E in the 1940s as a prevention against heart disease and were nearly thrown into jail for their trouble. Today, wonder of wonders, we are scientifically proving that vitamin E prevents heart disease. |
| The average American doesn't eat nearly enough antioxidant-rich fresh fruits and vegetables to counteract these environmental toxins. Our bodies are in double oxidant jeopardy, which makes taking antioxidant supplements an important part of preventing heart disease.
Antioxidants come in many forms, from teas and herbal tinctures to foods and vitamins. Their marvelous power gives a shielding, protective effect against heart disease. Some work better than others to protect against heart disease.
Ginkgo biloba extract is made from the tree of the same name. |
Michael Castleman
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| Meanwhile, as consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables increases, risk of every major cancer decreases.
Gladys Block, Ph.D., formerly an epidemiologist at the National Cancer Institute and now professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the University of California at Berkeley School of Public Health, analyzed nearly 200 studies of diet and cancer risk. Every study showed that fruits and vegetables protect against all the major cancers—breast, ovarian, cervical, lung, colon, throat, oral, stomach, bladder, pancreatic and prostate. |
Earl L. Mindell, R.Ph., Ph.D.
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| One of the best ways to do this is to eliminate processed and packaged foods from your diet and concentrate on whole foods such as whole grains and fresh fruits and vegetables. When you do buy processed foods, read labels carefully. Many low-fat or sugar-free foods add lots of salt or MSG to improve taste.
What Nutrients Do They Deplete or Throw Out of Balance?
Minerals, especially sodium, chloride, potassium, calcium and magnesium. Zinc is one of the important minerals that can be lost along with the other minerals. |
Elson M. Haas, M.D.
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| In addition to a healthy diet containing fresh fruits and vegetables, I recommend that the average person consume at least one and a half to two quarts of water daily, because I also suggest a physically active lifestyle with daily exercise.
Water is best consumed at several intervals throughout the day—one or two glasses upon awakening and also about an hour before each meal. Water should not be drunk with or just after meals, as it can dilute digestive juices and reduce food digestion and nutrient assimilation. |
Sheldon Saul Hendler and David Rorvik
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 Foods low in vanadium include fresh fruits and vegetables, oils and beverages.
Tetravalent vanadium compounds are sometimes designated as vanadium (IV) and pentavalent vanadium compounds are designated as vanadium (V).
ACTIONS AND PHARMACOLOGY
ACTIONS
Vanadium salts have insulin-mimetic activity, and vanadium compounds are being studied as potentially orally active replacements for insulin. |
| About 5% to 10% of the total vitamin C content of fresh fruits and vegetables is comprised of dehydroascorbic acid. In the case of processed foods, dehydroascorbic acid makes up about 30% of the vitamin C content. D-ascorbic acid (erythorbic acid or isoascorbic acid), the epimer of L-ascorbic acid, is frequently added to food as an antioxidant preservative. Erythorbic acid has very low vitamin C activity. |
Rebecca Wood
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 Of all fresh fruits, commercial cherries, apples, and grapes generally contain the most toxic chemical residues. Favor organic cherries whenever possible.
Use A superior dessert fruit, most cherries are enjoyed raw, but they're also an excellent addition to salads and compotes. Enjoy them fresh, dried, juiced, or in preserves. They work in a pie, although sour cherries are preferred.
See Fruit; Sour Cherry. |
Michael Castleman
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| The following foods are allowed: vegetables, beans, whole-grain breads, potatoes, rice, milk, most cheeses, butter, noncaf-feinated teas, most fresh fruits (the exceptions are listed below), fresh, unprocessed meats and fish, unsweetened juices and cereals without sugar or artificial coloring. |
| Only the following foods are allowed: fresh vegetables, potatoes, beans, most fresh fruits (the exceptions are listed below), nuts you usually eat only occasionally, rice (unless you eat it often), vegetable oil, noncaffeinated teas, lamb, turkey, pork, duck and rabbit. All the meats you eat must be fresh and unprocessed. |
| If you're MSG-sensitive, you can avoid it by eating a diet based on whole grains and fresh fruits and vegetables. Read labels carefully and avoid processed foods and fast foods. When planning to dine at Asian restaurants, call first and ask if they use MSG.
Many people who react to MSG are also sensitive to aspartic acid, an ingredient in the artificial sweetener NutraSweet and in Equal, the sugar substitute that contains NutraSweet. Try eliminating NutraSweet and see how you feel. |
Ronald Klatz and Robert Goldman
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 The study broke down the Mediterranean diet into eight components:
• a high ratio of monounsaturated to saturated fats
• moderate ethanol consumption (alcohol)
• high consumption of cereals, fruits and vegetables
• low intake of meats and dairy products
According to these components, for every unit increase there was an astounding 17 percent reduction in overall mortality. |
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