Healthy Foods

Doctor of Chiropractic, Dr. Alexander Jimenez takes a closer look at turmeric and its benefits.

Is the herb turmeric actually the new wonder drug? Or can it be just that recent scientific studies have demonstrated North Americans that there really may be something to the claims. This relative of ginger has been touted as a cure for everything from osteoarthritis to ringworm to depression. A study has linked it to delayed onset of type 2 diabetes and, other information suggests it may help patients with cancer.

How Turmeric Relieved My Back Pain

My first introduction for this wonder spice was in the whispering of a fellow customer at physical therapy—a lovely dancer recovering from knee surgery. While she was hobbling around on crutches, she never stopped grinning. Make that laughing and smiling. I wondered what her secret was. I mean come on—I have chronic back pain resulting from degenerative disc disease, and the favorable mind-set tactic had attempted, but that wasn’t always easy.

One morning during our daily exercises we began to speak. She told me turmeric was her go to drugs for inflammation. At the time, I discounted it and distinctly remember thinking—“Yeah, right How could something as easy as a spice that may be easily added to any diet be powerful enough to remove pain and stiffness?

Months passed. Physical therapy became a distant memory. The stiffness in my own back diminished but still lingered. I was too young to feel this damn old! The exact instant of action is uncertain to me now but somewhere along the way I woke up stiff yet again, along with thinking of turmeric came dashing over me. A light bulb have been turned on that wasn’t burning out. “Why not?” I presumed. What do I have to reduce?

Turning To Turmeric

I started with nutritional supplements and added one 450 mg capsule (about a teaspoon full) from Nature’s Bounty to my day-to-day yogurt. I dumped it in and just broke it open. I liked it so much I began adding the spice to my food—sprinkling it liberally on my salads, yogurt, mashed potatoes, soup…you name it. And sure enough, my back was even less stiff than before.

Please note, it may possibly not be helpful or safe to others while turmeric has worked wonders for me. Much like the ramifications of over the counter and prescription anti inflammatory medications, turmeric may thin the blood. In the event you take nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medication such as ibuprofen, adding turmeric to your own diet may not be advisable.

I began looking more deeply into my remedy as I used myself as a guinea pig for testing. I had been utterly fascinated by the wide-ranging research behind this wonder drug. Turmeric has been used in India and over years for over 2,500 4,000 years in Ayurvedic medicine!

One of my favorite recipes is Butter Chicken and Rice (Recipe below). Not only does the recipe call for turmeric in the butter as well as on the chicken, however you can sprinkle it on your own rice, also. I’ve even discovered that substituting turmeric for salt provided new chances to add the spice to my food with a lot less sodium!

Turmeric’s Active Ingredient

Curcumin is the active substance that provides turmeric its distinctive golden color. Combined with the vibrant, shining color it provides, in my experience, the medicinal properties are equally as lovely. Turmeric’s anti-inflammatory potentially Alzheimer’s Disease, Crohn’s disease, and effects imply it can benefit patients with arthritis.

Head, my health and my body rejoice and have already been glad to the superpower spice ever since. Approach and my energy level are among the most noticeable changes. When you’re able to move and exercise more, a confident approach is much more easy to adopt. When you get the key to alleviating it, your life changes, as anyone who has endured quietly with chronic pain can tell you. Without pain, you become alive. I discuss this story hoping turmeric will help to release other long-time sufferers from their prisons. Stay tuned for turmeric upgrades in my personal blog.

Fragrant Indian Butter Chicken Recipe

As a miracle spice, turmeric is touted since early time. The crucial compound, curcumin, gives turmeric it’s vibrant, golden colour and well-being boosting super powers and is being used to take care of many anti-inflammatory ailments. Try this recipe that uses turmeric for a delicious, wholesome dinner!

2 Tbsp butter
1-1/2 cups chopped onion
2 teaspoon minced garlic
1 Tablespoon grated gingerroot
1-1/2 teaspoon chili powder
3/4 teaspoon turmeric, ground cinnamon, ground coriander cumin and
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
1-1/2 cups reduced sodium chicken broth
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt and freshly ground pepper
1 whole cooked rotisserie chicken, skin removed and meat cut up
1/3 cup light sour cream
1 Tbsp minced cilantro
Hot cooked basmati (optional)

Melt butter in a deep 10-inch skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and onions. Cook slowly, stirring often, until onions are soft. About 5 minutes. Add turmeric, coriander, ginger root, chili powder, cinnamon, and cumin. Cook 1 more minute.
Add brown sugar, chicken broth, tomatoes, salt and pepper.

Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add cut up chicken and sour cream. Simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro. Serve over hot basmati rice, if desired. Sprinkle a little turmeric directly on the rice also for much more health benefits.

Lots of people report feeling improvement in their condition and/or general well being taking dietary, vitamin, mineral, as well as /or herbal nutritional supplements. In most cases, an appropriate diet and also a “multiple vitamin” will provide the necessary health supplements for many people.

Just before taking additional dietary, vitamin, mineral, and/or herbal supplements it is strongly recommended that patients consult with their private doctor to discuss their specific supplement requirements.

Food products that claim to have no-fat, no-sugar, low-fat or reduced-salt aren’t necessarily healthier, researchers say.

The study authors looked at more than 80 million food and beverage purchases from 2008 to 2012. The purchases were made by more than 400,000 U.S. households. The researchers found that 13 percent of food and 35 percent of beverage products were marketed as having no, reduced or low levels of sugar, fat or salt.

Juicing may be a popular health fad, but evidence suggests it could actually be detrimental to a good diet. The same goes for coconut oil, which is loaded with saturated fat but has emerged as another dietary craze in the United States. And a gluten-free diet likely has little positive health benefit for people who do not have gluten sensitivity or celiac disease.

These conclusions are part of a new review of the latest scientific evidence on food and nutrition that was conducted to shed some light on the latest diet fads.

“There is widespread confusion in terms of nutrition. Every day someone says something is good, and then the next day they say it’s bad,” said review lead author Dr. Andrew Freeman, co-chair of the American College of Cardiology’s Lifestyle and Nutrition Work Group. “Our purpose was to do our best to give clinicians the tools they need to help their patients,” said Freeman, who is also director of cardiovascular prevention and wellness at National Jewish Health in Denver.

He and his colleagues reviewed medical evidence related to overall healthy eating patterns and specific dietary fads that are currently popular in the United States.

El Paso, TX. Chiropractor Dr. Alex Jimenez discusses clean eating.

When it comes to eating clean, it’s often much easier than you think. Plus, you rarely have to alter the essence of your favorite dishes to achieve a cleaner plate. The key to turning them into  a “clean” dish is to start from the root—the ingredients.
To build a cleaner plate, it first starts in the market where you choose your produce, whole grains, dairy, proteins, and other items. Look for ingredient lists that are short and contain no preservatives, artificial colorings, added sugars, and other processed ingredients.
Make sure you balance your plate by filling at least half with fruits and veggies, choosing whole grains for a fourth of your plate, and lean, clean meat for the remaining fourth.

To Convert A Recipe To Clean Recipe Look At The Ingredients & Substitute

Here are your basic substitutions:

• Sugar > organic maple syrup / organic honey
• Baked goods > white whole-wheat flour / whole-wheat flour / almond flour / coconut flour
• Grains > unprocessed, dry quinoa / farro / brown rice / oats / homemade whole-wheat bread (or whole-wheat bread from a local baker /  7 Sprouted Grains Bread)
• Dairy > organic, unprocessed cheeses, milk, Greek yogurt
• Protein > Choose leaner meat, and limit meat portions such as pork and red meat to 3 ounces and chicken to 4.5 ounces per day. Seafood and plant-based proteins are encouraged. Look for meat that is grass-fed and raised without antibiotics or hormones.
• Condiments, dressings and salsas > Make your own, and nix the added sugars and excess salt.

Video: Targeting Obesity 

Get Creative With Fruits & Veggies:

Here’s an example of a recipe we’ve converted to clean, Chicken Kebabs and Nectarine Salsa.
While this recipe is almost completely clean, the marinade calls for brown sugar. For a cleaner sugar, replace 1½ teaspoons of maple syrup for the 1 tablespoon of brown sugar.
 
More from Cooking Light:

Clean Eating Weeknight Meal Planner
A Month of Clean Eating
What Is a “Processed” Food?

How to Eat Clean in 6 Simple Steps

If you want to add years to your life, 10 daily servings of fruits and vegetables may be the best recipe you can follow, a new analysis suggests.

The benefits appear to come through lower rates of heart attack, stroke, cancer and early death. And if everyone found a way to get 10 daily servings of produce, 7.8 million premature deaths would be avoided each year worldwide, the British researchers estimated.

Exactly how much in the way of fruits and vegetables is that? Anywhere from 10 small bananas or apples to 30 tablespoons of cooked spinach, peas, broccoli or cauliflower — or roughly 800 grams of produce, the researchers said.

At least five servings (400 grams) of fruits and vegetables each day is what is currently recommended by many health agencies.

El Paso, TX. Chiropractor Dr. Alex Jimenez takes a look at the Mediterranean diet.

I eat a wide variety of delicious foods every day including pasta dishes, curries, cheese and chocolate. I also drink red wine most days. Yet I’m in the best shape of my life and I’ve never felt healthier.

What’s my secret? Actually it’s not a secret at all. You’ve no doubt heard many good things about the Mediterranean diet. You probably also know that Asian diets, such as the Japanese diet, are also extremely healthy. All I did was combine the best parts of these traditional and highly appetising diets into one ‘MediterrAsian’ diet — so I literally get the best of both worlds.

I didn’t come up with this concept alone. In fact it was an extraordinary set of circumstances that led me to follow a MediterrAsian way of eating in the first place.

My parents are both medical doctors, so I’ve always had a natural interest in health and healthy living. But it wasn’t until I was introduced to authentic Asian cuisine by my Chinese-Malaysian sister-in-law in my late teens that I discovered that healthy food and delicious food could be one in the same. This was a revelation to me, and I’ve been hooked on Asian food ever since.

Then, in my early twenties, I met and fell in love with Ric. Like me, Ric was very interested in health and healthy living. That was mainly because he’d lost his own health following a near-fatal motorcycle accident six years earlier. After lots of struggle and pain, he only fully regained his health by adopting a Mediterranean diet. When we met, I introduced Ric to Asian cooking and he introduced me to Mediterranean cooking. We ended up bonding over pad Thai and paella!
 
We also discovered there were so many benefits to eating a combined diet of Mediterranean and Asian foods. One of the biggest benefits was for our taste buds! So many of the world’s most mouth-watering foods originate from Mediterranean and Asian regions, including pasta, pizza, risotto, sushi, curries, and stir-fries. So we never felt deprived. And the health benefits were also extraordinary. From getting us in the best shape of our lives to improving our cholesterol and blood pressure, and giving us bucket loads of energy.

What Exactly Makes MediterrAsian Eating So Health Giving?
 
Actually, we’ve discovered there are a number of important reasons. Unlike modern Western diets that are full of highly processed foods, traditional Mediterranean and Asian diets are based on a foundation of minimally processed plant foods. These vegetables, fruits, grains and beans are bulky and filling but are generally low to moderate in calories. Fish and shellfish, which are also traditional Mediterranean and Asian staples, are also quite low in calories and are a good source of hunger-suppressing protein. So, these foods fill us up long before they fill us out. They also more than counter-balance the higher calorie foods we do eat, such as olive oil, nuts and cheese. This means we end up feeling comfortably full after a meal, without consuming more calories than our bodies need.

Traditional Mediterranean and Asian foods are also overflowing with health-promoting compounds including dietary fibre (which also happens to be one of nature’s best appetite suppressants), omega-3 fatty acids, phytochemicals and antioxidants.

But there’s another big reason why combining Mediterranean and Asian eating practices make so much sense. And it comes down to how the foods in these traditional diets affect our genes.

Scientific research in recent years has found that many foods common in Mediterranean and Asian diets (such as olive oil, red wine, turmeric, green tea, dark chocolate and soyfoods) are rich in natural plant compounds that activate a type of gene in the body called sirtuins. Studies have found that sirtuins play a fundamental role in extending cellular life and the repair of DNA. They also inhibit fat storage and increase fat metabolism.

That’s why a diet rich in sirtuin-activating foods, or “sirtfoods,” is being recommended by a growing number of health experts. In fact, Adele credits much of her dramatic weight loss with following a diet rich in sirtfoods.

So if you want to get healthy and in shape, reduce your risk of chronic disease and live longer — all while enjoying a wide range of delicious foods — we highly recommend you give a MediterrAsian way of eating a go.
 

— Trudy Thelander is co-author of the acclaimed cookbook, The MediterrAsian Way, and co-creator of the newly-released mobile cooking app, The MediterrAsian Table.

Nearly half of all deaths from heart disease, stroke and diabetes in the United States are associated with diets that skimp on certain foods and nutrients, such as vegetables, and exceed optimal levels of others, like salt, a new study finds.

Using available studies and clinical trials, researchers identified 10 dietary factors with the strongest evidence of a protective or harmful association with death due to “cardiometabolic” disease.

“It wasn’t just too much ‘bad’ in the American diet; it’s also not enough ‘good,'” said lead author Renata Micha. “Americans are not eating enough fruits, vegetables, nuts/seeds, whole grains, vegetable oils or fish,” she said.

Micha is an assistant research professor at the Tufts University School of Nutrition Science and Policy in Boston.

Many grease-resistant fast-food wrappers and boxes contain potentially harmful chemicals that can leach into food, a new study contends.

Testing on more than 400 samples from restaurants nationwide revealed that nearly half of fast-food wrappers and one out of five paperboard food boxes contained detectable levels of fluorine, said lead researcher Laurel Schaider. She's an environmental chemist at the Silent Spring Institute in Newton, Mass.

Previous studies have linked some fluorinated chemicals such as perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) to kidney and testicular cancer, low birth weight, thyroid disease, decreased sperm quality, pregnancy-induced high blood pressure, and immune system problems in children, the study authors said in background notes.

Eight, 8 oz. glasses of water a day: it’s a rule that’s been burned into our brains for years as the ideal amount of fluid to drink each day. Yet no matter how many times experts say that’s not quite accurate, many still believe “8×8” is the magic amount.

The truth: How much water you should drink each day really, truly depends on the person, Robert A. Huggins, PhD, of the University of Connecticut explained to Health. “Fluid needs are dynamic and need to be individualized from person to person. Factors such as sex, environmental conditions, level of heat acclimatization, exercise or work intensity, age, and even diet need to be considered.”

What this means is that simply listening to your thirst is the best way to gauge when to drink. Another way to monitor hydration is to look at your pee before you flush. You want it to look like lemonade; if it’s darker than that, you should down a glass.

People who want a healthy heart should be mindful of not only what they eat, but when they eat, according to a new scientific statement from the American Heart Association (AHA).

The report is a response to the growing evidence that timing matters when it comes to heart disease risk, said Marie-Pierre St-Onge, the lead author of the statement. The various organs of the body have their own “clocks,” St-Onge explained, and that may affect how we handle food at different times of the day and night.

“For example, later in the evening, it’s harder for the body to process glucose [sugar], compared with earlier in the day,” said St-Onge, an associate professor of nutritional medicine at Columbia University in New York City.

The new statement highlights what’s known — and what’s not — about meal timing and heart health. The statement lacks specific rules, such as “Never eat after 8 p.m.,” or “Everyone should eat breakfast.”

It does, however, suggest that people spread out their calories over a “defined” period of the day — as opposed to either eating a lot over a short period, or grazing from morning until night. Based on the evidence, the AHA says, it’s probably a good idea to get a large share of your calories earlier in the day.

Switching to whole-grain foods might help keep your weight in check as much as a brisk 30-minute daily walk would, a new research study suggests.

Whole grains seem to both lower the number of calories your body absorbs during digestion and speed metabolism, explained study author J. Philip Karl. He’s a nutrition scientist who did the research while a Ph.D. student in nutrition at Tufts University in Boston.

While other studies have found that people who eat whole grains are slimmer and have lower body fat than those who do not, Karl said it has been hard to separate the effects of whole grains from regular exercise and a healthier diet overall. So, for the new study, “we strictly controlled diet. We didn’t let them lose weight,” he said. The researchers did that by pinpointing the specific caloric needs of each of the 81 men and women, aged 40 to 65, in the study.

Getting overweight adults to adopt new heart-healthy eating habits is an uphill battle. But giving them a handout about nutrition may be better than nothing, new research suggests.

“There’s an urgent need for innovative approaches to support the implementation of current dietary advice,” said Dr. David Jenkins, lead author of the new study from the University of Toronto. To prevent chronic disease, U.S. nutrition guidelines recommend diets rich in fruits, vegetables and whole grains, plus foods that lower cholesterol such as oats, barley, nuts and soy.

Jenkins, who is chair of nutrition and metabolism at the university, and his team tried three ways of encouraging these healthy habits. The researchers randomly assigned more than 900 overweight adults to one of four groups.

We can deny it until the mad cows come home, but we start deteriorating even before middle age. It’s not going to get better and we’re not going to start remembering where our keys are. The good news is that a healthy diet, akin to the famous Mediterranean one, can significantly protect our memory performance, say Canadian scientists who helpfully published a Brain Health Food Guide to help adults over 50 preserve their thinking and memory skills.

While about it: Dietary patterns similar to the Brain Health Food Guide are associated with a 36 percent decrease in the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, the scientists add.

No, there is no such thing as a superfood for superlative memory. The brain diet is less about specifics and more about generally eating healthy, focusing on classes of foods, explains the team from Baycrest’s Rotman Research Institute.

Legumes are key. Green beans don’t count in that category, though they do count as a vegetable, so they’re good. Cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and Brussels sprouts are good too.

And: Eat fish, beans, beans, beans and nuts several times a week, and choose healthy fats from olive oil, nuts and fish. Did we say beans? Add the legumes to everything but your vanilla shake.

Eat lots of berries, and yes, strawberries do count in that context, Dr. Carol Greenwood reassures Haaretz. That is fortunate because Israel doesn’t really have many other berry types. (Mulberries are endemic but never did catch on here culinarily.)

While the recommendations were penned for Canadians, they apply to everybody, Greenwood also reassures.

“Our work was, in part, to address the ‘holy grail’ that the Mediterranean diet has in Canada — it is absolutely a healthy diet, but does not necessarily meet the cultural needs of all individuals,” she wrote in an email interview. “Rather, we position the Mediterranean diet as one example of a brain healthy diet, but argue that there are fundamental principles which can be adopted across all cultures and ethnic groups.”

She also wanted to debunk the reams of misinformation out there about “brain food,” says Greenwood, co-author of the Brain Health Food Guide. “In Canada, there are lots of claims around supplements and individual foods, where there really is no data to support the claims.”

GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD ICE CREAM

It’s hard to pinpoint “brain foods.” By the same token, removing a single component from the diet — such as sugar or wheat — isn’t going to solve the problem of a deteriorating memory, Greenwood believes. “The answer will never be as easy as pointing to an individual food which is either harmful or helpful — it is the global qualities of the diet which are important. This cannot be packaged into an individual pill/supplement or individual food.”

That said, she elaborates, there is a general consensus that diets and lifestyles that lead to the development of insulin resistance and other chronic disorders, such as hypertension, will contribute to poor cognitive retention and increased dementia risk.

What causes insulin resistance? Foods in that category include highly processed offerings, especially foods with lots of refined sugars. Steak and other red meat are in this category too, she says.

“I think the important message is that we need to limit our intakes of these foods and not promote abstinence — making something a ‘forbidden fruit’ only makes people crave it more and we don’t have the evidence to argue that small quantities are harmful,” Greenwood says. “You can still enjoy a small scoop of ice cream on special occasions as long as you don’t make it a daily item or eat the entire container at once.”

DO OR DASH

The Baycrest recommendations draw primarily on two randomized control trials, a Spanish one using a diet intervention based on the Mediterranean diet, and a U.S. trial using a diet intervention based on the “DASH” diet, which is a long-term approach to healthy eating designed to help prevent or treat high blood pressure.

The team set out to see where these two dietary approaches overlapped (for instance, legumes) and diverged (the Mediterranean diet places much more emphasis on fish), to form the basis of the dietary intervention.

Fats were a puzzler. “There is no consensus across the epidemiological studies as to the negative contribution of a high-fat diet per se, rather the consensus is across fat quality — hence these recommendations focus more on fat quality rather than quantity,” Greenwood explains. And finally, data across a number of different international epidemiological studies was also used to inform the recommendation, Greenwood told Haaretz.

Apropos fats, fatty fish are generally considered to be best for the brain diet because of the high content of omega fats. “In Canada, the intake of fish is so low, that getting individuals to consume any type of fish is better than consuming no fish at all. This may not be the case in Israel,” Greenwood says, and she’s right — Israelis eat a lot of fish.  “For instance, in the Spanish study, it was difficult to show benefits of meeting our recommendation for fish intake simply because most individuals were already naturally consuming relatively high levels of fish in their diet before entering the study.” And so it is in Israel too.

Post-workout nutrition has three specific purposes: replenish glycogen, decrease protein breakdown and increase protein synthesis. If done correctly, a good post-workout nutrition protocol can help improve recovery, lead to less muscle soreness, increase the body’s ability to build muscle and improve immune function.

If you’ve been around the fitness industry for any length to time, you’re bound to have heard people talking about the “window of opportunity.” What they are referring to is a “window” of time, when your muscles are primed and ready to accept nutrients that stimulate muscle repair, muscle growth, and muscle strength. Sounds serious, right? Well, it really does matter, especially if you want to recover and be ready for your next bout of exercise.

According to Cynthia Sass, RD, CSSD, sports nutritionist and author of Slim Down Now: Shed Pounds and Inches With Pulses-The New Superfood, “Exercise puts stress on your muscles, joints, and bones, and your body uses up nutrients during workouts; so post-workout foods help to put back what you’ve lost, and provide the raw materials needed for repair and healing,” she says. “In fact, it’s the recovery from exercise that really allows you to see results in terms of building strength, endurance, and lean muscle tissue,” adds Sass.

Unhealthy diets may have contributed to as many as 400,000 premature deaths from heart disease and strokes in 2015, a new study estimates.

And, it’s not just the things you should be avoiding — such as salt and trans fats — that are contributing to these deaths. The excess deaths may also be caused by what’s missing in your diet — namely, nuts and seeds, vegetables and whole grains, the researchers said.

“Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death in the United States, killing more people in 2015 than any other cause,” said lead researcher Dr. Ashkan Afshin of the University of Washington in Seattle. He’s an acting assistant professor of global health at the university’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. “Poor diet is the top risk factor for cardiovascular disease death and, therefore, deserves attention from decision-makers in the U.S. when setting health agendas,” Afshin said.

Eating lots of fruits and vegetables is good for everyone — and may even help current and former smokers avoid chronic lung disease, a new investigation reveals.

Apples, pears, green leafy vegetables and peppers appear to offer protection against COPD, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,, stated researchers led by Joanna Kaluza, of the Warsaw University of Life Sciences in Poland. And the more servings of fruits and vegetables consumed regularly, the greater the protection, Kaluza and her colleagues found.

The study can’t actually prove that diet prevents the debilitating lung disease. However, “we would argue that clinicians should consider the potential benefits of a healthy diet in promoting lung health, and advocate optimizing intake of fruits and vegetables, especially in smokers who are unable to stop smoking,” said the authors of an editorial accompanying the study. Smoking is the main risk factor for COPD. This term applies to a group of breathing conditions, including emphysema, caused by the narrowing of airway passages.

If you’re eager to save money while eating right, stick close to your own kitchen, researchers say.

“Frequent eating out was associated with lower diet quality, more ’empty calories’ and higher diet costs” compared to home cooking, said study author Adam Drewnowski.

The troublemakers for regular restaurant-goers are solid fats, calories, alcohol and added sugar, added Drewnowski, who directs the University of Washington’s Center for Public Health Nutrition. The findings come from surveys of more than 400 Seattle-area residents.

The healthier-at-home results shouldn’t come as a surprise, said Lona Sandon, a Dallas nutritionist who wasn’t involved in the study.

“Preparing your food at home gives you control over what goes on your plate,” said Sandon, an assistant professor of clinical nutrition at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.

El Paso, TX. Chiropractor Dr. Alex Jimenez investigates if garlic works for back pain.

Test It Out yourself! Spaghetti, Oil & Garlic.

In my never-ending quest to learn everything I can about the best way to reduce back pain, I conduct research online frequently. Everything from tried and true remedies—like yoga, the latest scientific studies about nutrition as well as foods that promise to possess anti-inflammatory properties — are all on my radar. My intention is always to leave no stone unturned in the event the advice I uncover can reduce someone’s suffering.

So, the other day, when several pages of results turned up, I Googled “natural remedies for back pain” and wasn’t surprised. Granted, not everything you read on the Internet is accurate—in fact, finding information that is credible needs some sophistication. Briefly, it makes sense appraise the purpose of the source, to find out the source and look at the domain name when making a judgement call about it.

All of us know that pain can be alone triggered by inflammation, so minimizing or controlling it may be effective. If it’s accurate that in addition to truly being a vampire repellant, garlic is also an antiinflammatory power food (as some are promising), I’m game to start adding more to my diet.

On my way down the research rabbit hole, I came across some amazing facts from the Journal of Immunology (1), Journal of Immunology Research (2) and the University of Maryland Medical Center (3).

• Plants of the genus Allium are known for his or her creation. Among these, garlic (Allium sativum) is one of the very broadly used.
• Isolated and when expressed, these compounds display a broad spectrum of effects that are beneficial against microbial diseases and therefore are employed to safeguard against cardiovascular disease.
• Garlic is now being analyzed because of its ability to boost the immune system and potentially fight with cancer.
• Garlic contains allicin, a strong, sulfur-based compound that is in charge of the distinctive smell, but may also be the basis for ’s antibacterial properties that are garlic.

Don’t Rush The Rose

Garlic, frequently known as the “stinking rose does seem to have a full bouquet of health benefits. But preparation questions. Research supports that heating garlic soon interferes with the health-boosting benefits of allicin.

Cooks Take Note:

Be sure to let minced, chopped or crushed garlic to sit down for 5 to 10 minutes before warming. If you throw it into boiling water or that hot olive oil too soon and are inpatient, you’ll deactivate the valuable enzyme. Patience is definitely a virtue as it pertains to preparing this gold nugget!

Another Advantage Of Garlic, It’s Affordable!

At my last trip to the grocery store, a great-size bulb of garlic was priced at 99 cents. Paradise for under a dollar! All this adds up to what looks just like a total no-brainer to me. Add garlic to my diet. Obtain numerous health benefits. It couldn’t be more or considerably simpler cost-effective than that.

Over summer time, I made a decision to create a concerted effort to consume more garlic, and you also know what? I’ve found I have significantly more energy and feel better. Now it might be pure coincidence, but I’m going to continue my regime of taking one clove in the morning (I just chop the garlic, wait for allicin to activate, then consume the little sections with water). I’ve also been incorporating it to the main meal of the day. All things considered, except for ice cream, what doesn’t taste better using a tiny garlic?

Therefore I encourage you to give it a try and, as the famous, Greek philosopher Hippocrates once said: “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”

I’d love to hear your experiences with garlic are going. Please fill me in on how it helped you, or if it didn’t. Share your comments on our Facebook page. Recipes additionally welcomed!

Meanwhile, enjoy this healthful and simple meal that is deliciously. And contemplate giving garlic a standing invitation to your own dinner table!

Spaghetti, Oil and Garlic. Buon Apetito!

• Cook spaghetti according to directions
• Save 1 cup of starchy pasta water when you drain it.
• Chop 4 gloves of garlic—allow to breathe 5 to 10 minutes and then brown in olive oil
• Add pasta water to help produce a sauce that may stick to the pasta.
• Transfer pasta noodles to garlic and oil
• Mix and top using a sprinkling of parsley and lemon zest
• Add freshly -grated Parmesan cheese to taste. Enjoy!

Wondering exactly how much protein you should be consuming each day? The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA), which is the minimum amount you need to be healthy, is 0.8 grams per kilogram (0.36 grams per pound) of body weight per day—46 grams for an average woman. That equals as little as 10% of daily calories. If you’re not super active, that’s likely adequate, and you’ll hit the target effortlessly if you follow a typical Western diet.

To get your personal protein “RDA,” multiple the number 0.36 by your weight in pounds. (For a sedentary 150-pound woman, that would be 54 grams.) Double it if you’re very active or aiming for “optimal protein,” which can help you maintain muscle as you age and support weight loss.

American women already eat about 68 grams a day, according to the latest data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. “There’s no reason to go out of your way to get protein,” says Dariush Mozaffarian, MD, dean of the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science & Policy. “Just eat a variety of fish, nuts, beans, seeds, and dairy, including yogurt.” However, increasing your protein well above the RDA may make sense if…

RELATED: 17 High-Protein Snacks You Can Eat on the Go

YOU’RE VERY ACTIVE

That means getting at least 35 to 40 minutes of moderate exercise four or five days a week, including resistance training two or more times a week. Consider eating 1.2 to 2 grams of dietary protein per kilogram (or about 0.5 to 0.9 grams per pound) of body weight each day, says Nancy Rodriguez, PhD, professor of nutritional sciences at the University of Connecticut. That amount is best for rebuilding muscle tissue, especially if you do a lot of high-intensity workouts, research suggests.

RELATED: The Best Vegan and Vegetarian Protein Sources

YOU’RE TRYING TO LOSE WEIGHT

Protein takes longer to digest than carbs, helping you feel full, and also pushes your body to secrete the gut hormone peptide YY, which reduces hunger. “When you bring protein to about 30% of your daily calories, you’ll naturally eat less,” says Lauren Slayton, RD, founder of Foodtrainers, a nutrition practice in New York City, and author of The Little Book of Thin. “Protein decreases appetite and also, in my experience, helps you manage cravings.”

While studies are mixed about whether consuming more protein leads to weight loss, research is pretty clear that protein can help you retain more of your lean muscle as you lose fat. One 2011 study suggests amping up protein to as much as 1.8 to 2 grams per kilogram (roughly 0.8 to 0.9 grams per pound) of body weight per day to stave off muscle loss when restricting calories. Cut back on refined carbs to balance out the extra calories from adding protein.

RELATED: 3 Delicious Protein Pancake Recipes

YOU’RE IN MIDDLE AGE

Eating more protein as you get older may help you maintain muscle and ward off osteoporosis, “so you can stay stronger and more functional,” says Rodriguez. In a 2015 study, adults over the age of 50 who roughly doubled the RDA (eating 1.5 grams of protein per kilogram, or 0.68 grams per pound, of body weight) were better able to rebuild and retain muscle after only four days, compared with control groups eating the RDA.

Doubling the RDA gives you “optimal protein,” a concept that Rodriguez and more than 40 nutrition scientists advanced at a recent Protein Summit, the findings from which were published in 2015 in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Optimal protein works out to be about 15% to 25% of your daily calories, still below the level recommended by many popular high-protein diets. Over a day, that could look like 20-30 grams per meal and 12 to 15 grams per snack, for a total of 90 to 105 grams daily.

Governments could boost the consumption of healthy food by making it cheaper, as well as requiring that unhealthier food be more expensive, a new review suggests.

The findings are based on an analysis of 30 studies. Eleven studies looked at what happened when unhealthier foods were taxed. Nineteen studies explored what people choose to eat when subsidies lowered the price of healthier food. The collection of studies found that food prices really do matter.

“Our results show how 10 percent to 50 percent changes in price of foods and beverages at checkout could influence consumers’ purchasing behaviors over a relatively short period of time,” said study co-first author Ashkan Afshin, a former postdoctoral fellow at Tufts University in Boston. He is now at the University of Washington.

When most people think of injury or inflammation, they think of a sprained ankle or injured low back due to acute trauma.

However, inflammation is a far more serious health issue.

In fact, it can be said that inflammation is the root of all disease.

One may not even notice the immediate affects of chronic inflammation, but it can be there, particularly if you don’t eat properly or exercise constantly.

That’s because inflammation is actually the body’s natural response to stress—be it physical, dietary,  environmental and/or even emotional. Once your body starts to become inflamed, it places you at risk for everything from weight gain, allergies, migraines, and susceptibilities to more serious illnesses such as heart disease, stroke, gout, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease and even cancer.

Even the healthiest among us will have some type of inflammation—if you live in today’s fast and toxin-filled world, you have inflammation. The real question is what do you plan to do about it?

WHERE DOES INFLAMMATION START?

The process of inflammation actually begins in your gut!

People tend to overlook their digestive system as a source of disease, but it makes sense when you consider that our guts are home to about 70 percent of our immune system and where 80 percent or more of our IgA cells (immune cells) live.

Where inflammation comes in is when the permeability of this organ starts to vary depending on different chemicals and conditions.

This, in turn, allows things like toxins, viruses, and bacteria, even undigested food, to enter your bloodstream through the larger holes in this lining. This condition, known as a leaky gut syndrome (LGS), is key to inflammation and where things can start going downhill—fast.

Constant damage to your intestinal lining from the leaky gut syndrome eventually will destroy the essential microvilli – tiny projections that exist in, on, and around the cells in your intestine and help with absorption and secretion.

When damaged the microvilli are unable to process and utilize the necessary nutrients and enzymes for digestion, which means your digestion eventually becomes disabled. When this happens, your body essentially sends out an alarm and starts an attack on the foreign bodies, such as the undigested food particles or viruses, yeast, etc.

And as part of this response, it becomes inflamed, causing allergic reactions and eventually other symptoms (diseases).

COMMON INFLAMMATION TRIGGERS

More and more, research is linking food to disease. We know that certain foods are clearly not healthy, while others have shown to promote healing.

But there are also some foods—mainly the majority of those that make up the standard American diet—that can be considered “inflammatory foods.”

Today, there are food additives in basically anything that isn’t organic. And now, we are starting to realize that even some foods that would otherwise seem “natural” can also be triggers.

These inflammatory triggers include such things as refined sugar, chemical additives, GMOs, artificial dyes and anything processed. All of these essentially trigger inflammation in your gut and can lead to devastating health issues.

THE BIGGEST CAUSE OF INFLAMMATION

Food and chemicals are not the only triggers.

Stress is also one of the biggest causes of inflammation.

Probably one of the reasons we don’t always link stress to disease is that it takes time for it to wreak havoc on our bodies. But anyone who has been under long-term stress will tell you that is can be deadly.

Eventually, your body starts to give out and break down. But now that you know this, you can limit the damage by recognizing the 14 most common signs of inflammation before they get out of hand.

14 WARNING SIGNS OF INFLAMMATION


1. Chronic fatigue

2. Acne

3. Food cravings

4. Binge eating

5. Unexplainable weight gain (not associated with eating more)

6. Bloating

7. Water retention

8. Diarrhea or constipation

9. High blood pressure

10. Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)

11. Joint pain

12. Stiffness



HOW TO TREAT INFLAMMATION NATURALLY

Diet is the most important stuff to look at when addressing inflammation. Before the invasion of drugs to treat everything imaginable, the food was considered medicine.

Hippocrates said, “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” These are words to live by, literally.

The only caution is that the food must be fresh, unprocessed and as natural as possible. The type of food you eat also determines the types of microbes that will grow and live in your gut.

Good microbes are necessary for proper digestion and absorption of the vitamins, minerals, and nutrients in your food. Processed foods are the main cause of inflammation, so you will need to start by eliminating all of these from your diet.

Refined sugar and wheat are also big contributors. And if you have food sensitivities, which is highly likely if you have inflammation, foods such as gluten, and cow’s milk can trigger further inflammation.

A diet based on fresh, mostly raw vegetables, salads, good sources of protein, such as eggs, seafood, organic or grass-fed meat and poultry, as well as healthy fats that include omega-3 fats, fresh fruit and plenty of nuts and seeds (again raw is better) and plenty of probiotics, is what is going to heal inflammation for good. As a good rule of thumb, try to avoid any food that comes pre-packaged.

There are also many foods that have been shown to be especially good for fighting inflammation. Choosing as many of these as possible will help to speed the healing process.

PROVEN ANTI-INFLAMMATORY FOODS:

• Fruits
• Vegetables
• Whole and cracked grains
• Beans and legumes
• Healthy fats (organic coconut oil, cold pressed olive oil
• Flaxseed and hempseed
• Fish and seafood
• Mushrooms
• Grass-fed lean meats, organic cheese and yogurt
• Spices (turmeric, ginger, curry, garlic, chili peppers, cinnamon, etc.)
• Probiotics and fermented foods (kefir, kombucha, sauerkraut, yogurt)

INFLAMMATORY FOODS TO AVOID COMPLETELY:

• Processed foods
• Certain dairy
• Processed meats
• Refined sugars
• Trans fats
• Gluten
• Soda
• Lard
• Caffeine
• Alcohol

OTHER TIPS

Drink plenty of filtered water as water helps flush toxins out of your body and keeps you hydrated. Try to reduce, if not eliminate all stressors in your life as much as possible. Make sure to get regular exercise and try things like meditation, aromatherapy, massage, and soothing music to relax your mind and body. And above all else, get enough sleep!

BONUS RECIPE

The #1 Anti-inflammatory  smoothie

Ingredients:

1/2 cup frozen pineapple or mango
1 banana
1 cup coconut milk
1 teaspoon chia seeds
1/2 teaspoon ginger
½ teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon maca root powder (optional)

While most of us know that good nutrition is vital in assisting us reach our optimum health and feel our best; finding time to eat a balanced diet on a daily basis seems a formidable job in this fast paced, affluent society. Though your life may be frantic, there are still many good tasting, healthful alternatives which can assist you to lose weight and enhance your health. This information is designed to be a practical guide in finding those alternatives whether you are at a friend’s home, on the job, on the road, or at home. The good news is that by taking charge of your diet plan, you can improve your well-being while reducing your own risk of “lifestyle” diseases including heart disease or cancer.

A nice spot to start is defining what constitutes a “healthy” diet. The “Four Food Group” Plan of yesteryear meant that foods in the Meat, Dairy Product, Breads and Vegetable Fruit group were identical in their contribution to a healthy diet. Today, researchers show that diets rich in complex carbohydrates and low in saturated fats may reduce our risk of chronic disease. Health professionals designed the “Food Pyramid” guide to translate these recommendations into a food strategy for daily living.

COMPLEX CARBOHYDRATES

Complex carbohydrates are present in cereals, whole grain breads, starches and fruits and vegetables. These foods are not just rich in B vitamins and trace minerals, but they also contribute dietary fiber that has been shown to reduce risk for helping in weight control, lowering cholesterol levels and developing specific cancers.

Six to twelve servings of cereals, breads and starches may seem like a lot of food, but if you consider one cup of rice is three servings of cereal, you can see that fulfilling these guidelines isn’t that difficult.

FRUITS & VEGETABLES

Similarly for vegetables and fruits. The majority of people gag in the thought of eating four to seven servings daily until they find one medium piece of fruit is two servings.

PROTEINS

Proteins are observed in the meat and dairy group.

Foods in the dairy group not only provide protein, nevertheless they also bring other essential nutrients needed for synthesizing teeth and healthy bones, Vitamin D and calcium. They could be a significant source of saturated fat, so picked two to three helpings of the low-fat (1% fat or less) milks, yogurts and cheeses.

The meat group includes nuts, fish, chicken and beans or legumes. A three ounce serving is around approximated by a deck of cards and also you need at least two portions a day. These foods provide magnesium, zinc and iron which, along with protein, are used by the body in creating hemoglobin and slender body tissue. These foods may also contribute to a raised intake of saturated fat, so picked lean cuts of meat like round or flank steak, pork tenderloin, ham and leg of lamb. Jump the skin on chicken or turkey and you’ll miss much of the fat and cholesterol.

FATS & SUGAR

Sugars, fats and alcohol have the least amount of surface area on the pyramid for a reason. They bring more than calories to the dietary plan and they will be squeezed by your body into a fat cell. Yet, your body will really create another fat cell until they may be burned off, to harbor them,

Many health organizations, like the American Heart Association and also the American Cancer Society, agree that limiting your fat intake to less than 30% of calories goes a ways to protect you from life threatening ailments. That isn’t much fat, as a gram of fat has nine calories. You are better off to avoid adding fat to your food as there’s some fat in dairy products and meat, chicken and fish. Fortunately, there are numerous good tasting low-fat or nonfat salad and sandwich spreads which make the task of averting added fat a lot easier.

Yes, certain fats are essential to good nutrition (like linoleic acid), but these are seen in ample numbers in whole grain breads, cereals and vegetables. Corn, for instance, is where mother nature initially set corn oil. Why don’t you bypass the margarine and merely eat corn?

OVERVIEW

In a nutshell, good nutrition means eating a wide selection of foods from each of the five food groups. The Food Pyramid reveals us that by eating more complex carbohydrates and not as total fat and saturated fat, we can become empowered by the good life and not fall victim to it.

A healthy heart begins with what you eat, and one way to shop for groceries wisely is to start with a list, a cardiologist recommends.

Reducing the amount of fat, sugar and salt (sodium) in your diet can help reduce your risk of obesity, heart attack, type 2 diabetes and other diseases, according to Dr. Susan Smyth. She’s medical director of the University of Kentucky’s Gill Heart Institute.

“Make your meal healthier by substituting foods with lots of color from natural sources [not artificial colors] for foods that are white or brown. Start in the produce section with fresh fruits and veggies, which are high in vitamins and fiber and low in fat,” Smyth said in a university news release.

Many people in the United States will experience back pain at some point in their lifetime, whether it’s a temporary or chronic issue. However, a great percentage of individuals with this debilitating complication are overweight or obese.

Fortunately, research has demonstrated that weight loss can have a considerable effect towards relieving symptoms of back pain. Weight loss programs can be very helpful for patients with weight problems and back pain. While there are a variety of programs available, not every program is the same and it may be difficult to find the best one for each individual. Some are commercialized and others are managed by a physician. Some weight loss programs recommend the use of supplements while others prescribe medications. Others may or may not be covered by insurance companies.

THINKING ABOUT GOING VEGAN OR PALEO?

Proponents of specific food class-centric diets such as paleo, vegan, gluten-free, ketogenic, or the Mediterranean diet often but not always tend to prescribe their plans for everyone. Not so fast, says a group from the University of California, Berkeley. Biologists at UC Berkeley and other institutions around the world have published research that shows genetic differences from natural selection based on dietary changes in Europe, Ars Technica reports.

According to the research, for example, if you live in Europe, and particularly in southern Europe, your body is optimized to digest and process plant-based diets. Natives of Greenland, specifically the Inuit, are better at processing meat fat.

More: Looking for a paleo or gluten-free meal kit? Sun Basket delivers the goods

The researchers compared genomes from hundreds of contemporary humans and 101 genome sequences from Bronze Age humans who lived in Europe 5,000 years ago. They found DNA changed significantly in the last 5,000 years.

The science behind the studies is based on examining two genes that regulate how fatty acids in foods are converted into the “long-chain” form used by humans for tissue health, including the brain and muscles. Plants such as wheat and vegetables provide “short-chain” fatty acids and must be converted to the long-form type in order for the human body to use them.

In its genome studies, the researchers found that southern European genomes mutated to produce more long-chain fatty acids from the shorter variation. This change, they argue, is due to evolutionary “pressure” from a diet that changed to accommodate more plant-based foods. The Inuit genome, however, had no such influence, which means Inuit genes aren’t equipped to convert as great a quantity of long-chain fatty acids because they don’t as much need it.

The general take on this research: There is no one best diet or nutritional bias for all people. If your ancestors are all from the 10 countries that make up northern Europe, for example, the study indicates you could be more likely better equipped to thrive on a diet having a higher proportion of meat. People of southern European ancestry, however, might do better with diets that lean toward plant-based foods.