Jean Carper
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 In fact, vitamin C in fruits and vegetables is a powerful preventive medicine against high blood pressure, argues hypertension expert Dr. Christopher J. Bulpitt of the Hammersmith Hospital in London. He points to a string of evidence showing that high blood pressure and stroke fatalities are highest among people who eat the least vitamin C. Researcher Paul F. Jacques, at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, agrees that a low intake of foods rich in vitamin C predicts high blood pressure. |
Earl Mindell, R.Ph., Ph.D.
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 And although the National Cancer Institute recommends that people eat five to eight servings of fruits and vegetables daily, less than 10 percent of the population actually does so. Sadly, on any given day, 80 to 90 percent of the population is deficient in one or more of the vitamins and minerals listed in the RDAs.
I am a great believer in healthy eating and in fact am a careful eater myself. I eat only fresh food and never touch junk food. Unlike many folks, I avoid colas with phosphate, which can literally wash minerals out of the body. |
The Complete Book of Alternative NutritionSelene Y. Craig, Jennifer Haigh, Sari Harrar and the Editors of PREVENTION Magazine Health Books
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| Nutrients to Watch
At the same time, those on a raw diet need to do some careful planning to make sure they're getting enough protein, which fruits and vegetables do not contain in great abundance.
The best protein sources on a raw diet are sprouts—the small, tender shoots that emerge from the seed when a grain or bean plant begins to germinate. Sprouts are easy to grow and contribute valuable protein to salads and other raw dishes.
Another nutrient that you'll need to round out a raw foods diet is vitamin B12, which is found only in foods of animal origin like meat, eggs and dairy products. |
| It's also a good idea to eat a few servings of raw fruits and vegetables each day, as single servings or in salads.
Above all, remember that true lifestyle changes take time. "It may take you six months to make the transition, but so what?" says Dr. Klaper. "It took you 30 or 40 years to develop your present eating habits. You don't have to change them overnight."
Ancestral Nutrition
Following in the Footsteps of Early Man
Before fast food and frozen entrees. Before vitamin supplements and meal-replacement shakes. Before breakfast cereals—and even before bread—human beings got by. |
Frances Darragh and Louise Darragh Law
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 Best foods are fresh fruits and vegetables. Avoid dairy products, sweets, and wheat products as these can create excess mucous.
DESCRIPTION
WHAT TO DO
HERBS
Make a tea, combining your choice of the following:
For fever: Lemon Balm, Elder Flower, or Boneset.
To loosen and help remove phlegm: Comfrey, Elecampane,
Mullein, or Hyssop. To purify the blood: Red Clover, Thyme, or Poke Root. To soothe the inflamed surfaces: Licorice, Marshmallow, or
Slippery Elm.
Inhalation:
Two drops of Thyme, Lemon, and/or Peppermint oils can be added to steaming water. |
Carol Krucoff and Mitchell Krucoff, M.D.
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 Eat a nutritious, well-balanced diet that includes five servings of fruits and vegetables and six servings of grains each day. Avoid foods that are high in saturated fat.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
* The American Heart Association has numerous brochures and fact sheets about cholesterol and heart disease. Call 800-AHA-USA1 or visit the Web site: www. americanheart.org.
* The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's Information Line offers free material about cholesterol and heart disease to consumers and health professionals. |
| Instead, follow these simple guidelines:
Eat five servings of fruits and vegetables and six servings of grains each day.
^ Choose fish, skinless poultry, and lean cuts of meat. Eat moderate portions—no more than about six ounces per day (a three-ounce portion is the size of a deck of cards).
* Choose low-fat or non-fat dairy products.
* Eat only enough calories to achieve and maintain a healthy weight.
Remember that all adults age twenty and over are advised to have their total blood cholesterol levels and HDL-cholesterol levels checked at least once every five years. |
| Maintain adequate intake of dietary potassium (approximately 3,500 mg), preferably from fresh fruits and vegetables, such as apricots, bananas, prunes, orange juice, spinach, dry peas, and beans. If you are taking diuretics for your blood pressure, consult your physician about taking sea salt or potassium supplements.
* Maintain adequate intake of dietary calcium and magnesium from foods such as low- and nonfat dairy products and whole grains, leafy green vegetables, nuts, seeds, and beans. |
| The impulse to reach for fruits and vegetables instead of chips may come from physiologic cravings triggered by an active body's desire for nutritious fuel.
Improving sleep. Since regular exercise helps people get to sleep more easily and deepens sleep, it helps people "recharge their batteries" more effectively so that they function better and can make better health choices throughout the day.
* Promoting "hardiness." Just as your high school coach told you, exercise builds character. |
Gary Null, Ph.D.
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 Here are some beneficial fruits and vegetables from which to choose:
•Apple...Apple helps to correct skin and liver disorders. It has a laxative effect, and is a valuable aid in digestion and weight loss.
•Beet...Drink beet juice to nourish the liver, one of the most important organs of the body, as it has hundreds of different functions. If your liver is functioning well, most likely everything else in your body is, too.
•Cabbage...Cabbage is high in vitamin K, as well as cancer-fighting indoles. It is excellent for alleviating stomach ailments, especially when combined with comfrey. |
Earl Mindell, R.Ph., Ph.D.
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| Even though I try to eat fresh, organic produce, I am aware that modern farming practices have depleted the soil of nutrients, which in turn, can strip fruits and vegetables of their valuable vitamins and minerals. The storage and shipping of food can also sap it of its nutrients. I take supplements to ensure that I am getting all of the micronutrients I need to maintain optimal health, and I advise others to do the same. |
Isadore Rosenfeld, M.D.
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 If you are disabled and living alone, you may not be able to do your shopping often enough to buy fresh fruits and vegetables; the arthritis can affect your jaw or the temporomandibular joint (just below the ear on each side), making chewing difficult and painful. You may need liquid nutritional supplements until the acute stage of the disease is controlled.
In summary, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis are the two most common joint disorders affecting adults. |
Neal Barnard, M.D.
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 Citrus fruits, like many other fruits and vegetables, are rich in vitamin C.
• Be careful about iron. Iron accelerates heart disease, apparently by acting as a catalyst for the production of free radicals that can damage cholesterol and increase the risk of plaque formation.14,15 Your red blood cells do need some iron to carry oxygen, but excesses can be risky.
There are advantages to getting your iron from plant sources— green, leafy vegetables and legumes—rather than from meat. |
| In particular, they are low in fruits and vegetables, compared to others.32 In a research study in England, doctors asked one group of patients to eat more whole-grain bread, brown rice, fruits, and vegetables, and to reduce the amount of sugar, white flour, and white rice they consumed, while leaving patients in another group to their habitual diets. Over the next five years, thirty-two patients in each group were followed. |
| You can get an extra immune boost from beta-carotene, found in orange vegetables, such as carrots and sweet potatoes, from vitamin E, found in grains and beans, and from vitamin C, which is in many fruits and vegetables.
ADENOMYOSIS
Adenomyosis is a condition in which the cells that normally line the uterus are found in pockets within the muscle layer of the uterus. This occurs to some extent in up to 40 percent of women and will probably cause no symptoms at all unless it goes fairly deep into the muscle layer. |
| But if the smoker has a high intake of fruits and vegetables, or even vitamin C supplements, his risk drops to 7 percent.55
Vegetarians have a 40 percent lower cancer risk compared to meat-eaters. If a vegetarian diet also omits dairy products and fried foods and includes plenty of fresh vegetables, it may well reduce cancer risk even further.
STRENGTHENING IMMUNITY
Recent research indicates that part of the strength of certain foods against cancer comes from their effect on your immune defenses. |
| OTHER DIGESTIVE TRACT CANCERS
People who eat plenty of fruits and vegetables have lower rates of many types of cancer, including those arising in the esophagus, stomach, pancreas, and colon.54
The esophagus has to cope with some special challenges, particularly alcohol and tobacco, which work synergistically to increase cancer risk. Frequent use of very hot beverages or pickled foods is also linked to a higher risk of esophageal cancer.
Stomach cancer is linked to smoked and salt-pickled foods. |
Earl Mindell, R.Ph., Ph.D.
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| Many of these new products are phytochemicals, extracts of disease-fighting compounds found exclusively in fruits and vegetables, which have only recently been isolated and packaged as supplements. Other new products popping up on the shelves include proteins, amino acids, enzymes, natural hormones (like DHEA and melatonin), and other substances that are produced by the body but that decline as we age and need to be replenished. Still other new supplements are herbs that have been widely used in other countries, but not—until now—in the United States. |
Gayle Reichler, M.S., R.D., C.D.N.
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 I try to eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables each day. I do not drink caffeine. With my meals, I take the vitamins and flaxseed as recommended in the Active Wellness Guidelines. Occasionally, I have a dessert that is low in sugar and fat—my favorite is the Active Wellness Fat-Free Chocolate Truffles.
* Running and Weight Training: I jog every other day for 45 minutes, accompanied by a 10-minute stretching routine. I may vary my jogging routine by bicycling, rollerblading, or taking a cross-training class. On alternate days, I do weight training and yoga. |
Earl Mindell, R.Ph., Ph.D.
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| There are more 500 different carotenoids in plants, and about 50 can be found in edible fruits and vegetables.
Of the entire carotenoid family, the most famous is beta carotene. Scientists have primarily focused their research on beta carotene because of its pro-vitamin A activity; that is, it is converted into vitamin A as the body needs it. Until recently, it was widely believed that betacarotene itself was useless and could be used by the body only after its conversion into vitamin A. We now know that carotenoids such as beta carotene may each offer particular advantages. |
Earth RightH. Patricia Hynes
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| Further, the estimates of what adults eat were based on food patterns in the late 1960s, which have substantially changed; people eat more fresh fruits and vegetables now than they did two decades ago. The NRDC calculates that children's consumption of cranberries is underestimated fourteenfold; grapes, sixfold; apples and oranges, fivefold; apricots, fourfold; strawberries, threefold; carrots and broccoli, twofold. |
Kathi Keville
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 Even some very common fruits and vegetables, such as figs and carrots, can cause this reaction. Don quai, the related angelica and yarrow are potential herbal culprits. Lo-vage causes photosensitivity in animals but apparently not in people (although anyone with weak kidneys should not use it). Applying bergamot essential oil to your skin can also cause this reaction, unless you get a version of the oil from which the reactive compound, berg-aptene, has been removed (it will say "bergaptene-free" on the label). |
| After all, the herbal pharmacy includes many fruits and vegetables that have medicinal properties. Herbalists even count juices and oatmeal among their remedies! Teas sweetened with fruit juice can be transformed into fizzy drinks or frozen into enticing popsicles. (Note: Don't use honey as a sweetener for children under two years of age— there is a microorganism in honey, which is otherwise quite innocent, that sometimes makes them ill. Alternatives include barley and fruit-based sweeteners.)
Sometimes a little parental creativity is more effective than the tastiest sweeteners. |
| Be sure to get plenty of nutrients from fresh fruits and vegetables and whole grains and go easy on saturated fats. According to the American Academy of Dermatology, hair needs a steady supply of protein. Malnutrition and even heavy dieting can cause hair loss, but don't go overboard in planning a high-protein diet to save your head. Nutritional expert Carl Pheiffer of the Brain-Bio Institute in Princeton, New Jersey, found that although hair requires protein, it is actually more likely to fall out when your diet is more than 20 percent protein. |
Sharol Tilgner, N.D.
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 Make sure the fruits and vegetables are fresh and ripe.
• Eliminate chemical sensitivities in your environment.
• Nourish, tonify, and enhance organ systems that are depleted or not functioning properly.
• Discontinue recreational drug use.
• Decrease prescription drug use as much as possible under the guidance of your physician.
• Get adequate exercise.
• Rest and meditation.
• Drink 6-8 glasses of clean water each day.
• Breath clean air.
• Get sunshine.
• Enjoy the benefits of massage and hydrotherapy.
• Include joyful activities in your day. |
| Adjunct therapy:
• Eat fresh organic fruits and vegetables.
• Exercise daily.
• Get rest, relaxation and partake of joyful activities. Profiles of herbs used in this formula:
Gotu kola, Centella asiatica, stimulates circulation, increases endurance and energy, eliminates sluggish digestion and improves memory. It has a calming, supportive effect on the nervous system. Research has shown gota kola reduces stress-induced ulcers, reduces stress-induced adrenal enlargement and accelerates healing time in wounds. |
Gabriel Cousens, M.D.
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 This is done by eating a diet high in fruits and vegetables.
In my clinical observations on myself and my clients with closely monitored urine pHs, the sprouting of nuts, seeds, beans, and grains turns them closer to a neutral or alkaline pH. Most sprouted seeds and grains eventually become alkaline because they turn into vegetables, which are alkaline. There still is not sufficient data on the effects of sprouting on seeds and nuts to make a definitive statement.
Effects of Supplements and Medicines on Acid-Base Balance
A nother common cause of acid-base imbalances is the supplements
JT\. |
the Editors of PREVENTION Magazine Health Books
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 Does your diet consist mainly of low-calcium foods like fruits and vegetables? Then make a special point of seeking out low-fat yogurt and low-fat milk," recommends James G. Penland, Ph.D., a psychologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Human Nutrition Research Center in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
At least four different studies have shown that calcium offers strong relief from menstrual cramps. Yet, on average, American women tend to consume only about 600 milligrams of calcium daily. (The Recommended Dietary Allowance is 800 milligrams.)
In one USDA research project, Dr. |
Earl Mindell, R.Ph., Ph.D.
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| In fact, studies show that only 10 percent of the population eats five servings of fruits and vegetables daily, as recommended by the National Cancer Institute. Try to eat as many carotenoid-rich foods as possible,
I Ht MOT HUNDRED such as dark green leafy vegetables, and red and orange fruits. To cover all your bases, however, I recommend taking a broad-spectrum antioxidant with alpha and beta carotenoids, plus two other Hot 100 supplements, lycopene and lutein. (Lycopene has been associated with a reduced risk of prostate cancer; lutein may help protect against macular degeneration. |
Gary Null, Ph.D.
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 Like scientists worldwide, he has found that people whose diets are heavy in fruits and vegetables have lower rates of most cancers. Limonene in citrus fruits, for example, is known to increase the production of enzymes that help the body dispose of potentially carcinogenic substances. Even the National Cancer Institute estimates that one in three cancer deaths are diet related and that 8 of 10 cancers have a nutrition/diet component.
Phytochemicals have been actively used by pharmaceutical companies in making many of their products. |
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