HealThySelfCures.com: February 2012

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Healing Foods Feature: Watercress

Watercress

Not only is watercress extremely nutritious, it’s about as close as you can get to a calorie-free food. Calorie for calorie, it provides four times the calcium of 2 percent milk.

Ounce for ounce, it offers as much vitamin C as an orange and more iron than spinach. It’s packed with vitamin A and has lots of vitamin K, along with multiple antioxidant carotenoids and protective phytochemicals.

The nutrients in watercress protect against cancer and macular degeneration, help build the immune system, and support bone health.
The iron helps red blood cells carry oxygen to your body’s tissues for energy.
The phytochemicals in watercress battle cancer in three ways: killing cancer cells, blocking carcinogens, and protecting healthy cells from carcinogens.
They’ve also been shown to help prevent lung and esophageal cancer and can help lower your risk for other cancers.

In Chinese medicine, watercress is thought to help reduce tumors, improve night vision, and stimulate bile production (improving digestion and settling intestinal gas). It’s used as a remedy for jaundice, urinary difficulty, sore throat, mumps, and bad breath.

How much:
Make a conscious effort to add watercress to your daily diet. In some regions, it’s more widely available during the spring and summer, when it’s cultivated outdoors. But since it can also be grown hydroponically in greenhouses, you can find it year-round in many grocery stores and at your local farmer’s market.

Tips:

You can cook it, but watercress is better for you when you eat it raw. Tuck it into a sandwich in place of lettuce.
Toss it with your favorite vegetables and eat it in a salad.
Watercress is great in pesto and soups...just replace the basil with watercress.
Use watercress as a wonderfully detoxifying ingredient in a juice or smoothie.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Healing Foods feature: Kiwi Fruit

Kiwifruit

This tiny, nutrient-dense fruit packs an amazing amount of vitamin C (twice the amount found in oranges), has more fiber than apples, and has more potassium than bananas!

The unique blend of phytonutrients, vitamins, and minerals found in kiwifruit helps protect against heart disease, stroke, cancer, and respiratory disease. Kiwifruit’s natural blood-thinning properties work without the side effects of aspirin and support vascular health by reducing the formation of spontaneous blood clots, lowering LDL cholesterol, and reducing blood pressure.
Multiple studies have shown that kiwifruit not only reduces oxidative stress and damage to DNA but also prompts damaged cells to repair themselves.

Kiwi-fruit is often prescribed as part of a dietary regimen to battle cancer and heart disease, and in Chinese medicine it’s used to accelerate the healing of wounds and sores.

How much: Aim to eat one to two kiwifruit a day while they’re in season, for the best taste and nutrition.
California-grown kiwifruit are in season from October through May, and New Zealand kiwifruit are available between April and November.

Tips:

Kiwifruit contains enzymes that activate once you cut the fruit, causing the flesh to tenderize. So if you’re making a fruit salad, cut the kiwifruit last.
The riper the kiwifruit, the greater the antioxidant power, so let them ripen before you dig in.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

E. Coli and UTIs from eating Chicken? YES!

Bladder and Urinary Infections from Eating Chicken

How we treat animals can sometimes have public health implications.
Who can forget the Humane Society of the United States investigation in which dairy cows too sick and crippled to walk were bulldozed by forklifts and dragged with chains to slaughter by a leading supplier of beef to the federal school lunch program?
The investigation triggered the largest meat recall in U.S. history for violations of regulations meant to keep the public safe from mad cow disease.

In response, California passed a law to strengthen protection of downed farm animals from abuse, but it was largely nullified by the Supreme Court last month at the behest of the pork industry, who would stand to lose the most if downed animals were removed from the food supply.

Last week, a new undercover investigation of leading pork producers—including a supplier of Walmart—uncovered institutionalized abuses, including the confinement of pregnant pigs in “gestation crates,” virtually immobilizing them their entire lives.

What impact might this have on human health?
In collaboration with the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, a prestigious body that included a former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, concluded that industrialized animal agriculture posed “unacceptable” public health risks and specifically called for an end to gestation crates, noting that “practices that restrict natural motion, such as sow gestation crates, induce high levels of stress in the animals and threaten their health, which in turn may threaten our health.”

Half of retail poultry samples were found contaminated with strains of E. coli linked to human urinary tract infections. How contaminated is the American meat supply with fecal matter overall? See what the USDA found in my NutritionFacts.org video Fecal Bacteria Survey.

On January 1, 2012, all 27 nations of the European Union banned the use of barren battery cages for egg-laying hens. And January 1, 2013, the EU will also ban the lifelong confinement of pregnant pigs in gestation crates. Please consider sending a message to U.S. pork producers to follow suit for the health and welfare of both the animals and consumers.

In health,
Michael Greger, M.D.

Healing Foods Feature: Beans

Beans

Beans are a miracle food. They lower cholesterol, regulate blood sugar and insulin production, promote digestive health, and protect against cancer. If you think of fiber, protein, and antioxidants and immediately think whole grains, meat, and fruit, think again — beans offer all three in a single package.

An assortment of phytochemicals found in beans has been shown to protect cells from cancerous activity by inhibiting cancer cells from reproducing, slowing tumor growth. Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health reported that women who consumed beans at least twice a week were 24 percent less likely to develop breast cancer, and multiple studies have tied beans to a reduced risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and breast and colon cancers.

Beans deliver a whopping amount of antioxidants, which help prevent and fight oxidative damage. In fact, the USDA’s ranking of foods by antioxidant capacity places three varieties of beans (red beans, red kidney beans, and pinto beans) in the top four — and that’s among all food groups. Beans are a great source of dietary fiber, protein, and iron.

They also contain the amino acid tryptophan ; foods with high amounts of tryptophan can help regulate your appetite, aid in sleep, and improve your mood.
(Tryptophan is the substance in turkey that makes you want a nap after over-indulging)

Many beans are also rich in folate, which plays a significant role in heart health. And depending on the type of bean you choose, you’ll also get decent amounts of potassium, magnesium, vitamin B1 and B2, and vitamin K. Soybeans are a great source of omega-3 fatty acids.

In Chinese medicine, various types of beans have been used to treat alcoholism, food poisoning, edema (particularly in the legs), high blood pressure, diarrhea, laryngitis, kidney stones, rheumatism, and dozens of other conditions.

How much: Aim for a minimum of two servings of beans per week.

Tip:

Adzuki and mung beans are among the most easily digested; pinto, kidney, navy, garbanzo, lima, and black beans are more difficult to digest.

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Healing Foods: Guavas

Guavas

Guavas are a small tropical fruit that can be round, oval, or pear-shaped. They’re not all that common, so they might be hard to find, depending on where you live. But if you can track them down, it’s more than worth it.
Guavas contain more of the cancer-fighting antioxidant lycopene than any other fruit or vegetable, and nearly 20 percent more than tomatoes. Our bodies can’t process much of the lycopene in tomatoes until they’re cooked; the processing helps break down tough cell walls.
However, guavas’ cell structure allows the antioxidant to be absorbed whether the fruit is raw or cooked, and the whole fruit offers the nutrition without the added sodium of processed tomato products.

Lycopene protects our healthy cells from free radicals that can cause all kinds of damage, including blocked arteries, joint degeneration, nervous system problems, and even cancer. Lycopene consumption is associated with significantly lower rates of prostate cancer; in addition, men with prostate tumors who consumed lycopene supplements showed significant improvements, such as smaller tumors and decreased malignancy.

Lycopene has also been found to inhibit the growth of breast cancer cells, and research suggests that this antioxidant may also help protect against coronary heart disease.
This strange-looking little fruit is also packed with vitamin C and other antioxidants.

Serving for serving, guava offers more than 60 percent more potassium than a banana, which can help protect against heart disease and stroke. In fact, the nutrients found in guavas have been shown to lower LDL and boost HDL cholesterol, reduce triglycerides, and lower blood pressure.

How much: Aim to eat fresh guavas as often as you can when you can find them in stores. They’re not commonly available in the freezer section; and most guava juices are processed and sweetened, so they don’t provide the same superior nutrition that the whole, fresh fruit does. One to two guavas a day is a good goal.

Tip:

Opt for the red-fleshed variety if you can; both are loaded with antioxidants, but the red type has more than the white-fleshed apple guava.

Healing Foods Feature: Cherries

Cherries

Cherries boast a laundry list of healing powers. For starters, they pack a powerful nutritional punch for a relatively low calorie count.
They’re also packed with substances that help fight inflammation and cancer. As if that weren’t enough, in lab studies, quercetin and ellagic acid, two compounds contained in cherries, have been shown to inhibit the growth of tumors and even cause cancer cells to commit suicide — without damaging healthy cells. Cherries also have antiviral and antibacterial properties.

Anthocyanin, another compound in cherries, is credited with lowering the uric acid levels in the blood, thereby reducing a common cause of gout. Researchers believe anthocyanins may also reduce your risk of colon cancer.
Further, these compounds work like a natural form of ibuprofen, reducing inflammation and curbing pain. Regular consumption may help lower risk of heart attack and stroke.

In Chinese medicine, cherries are routinely used as a remedy for gout, arthritis, and rheumatism (as well as anemia, due to their high iron content). Plus they’re delicious.

How much: Aim for a daily serving while they’re in season locally. And keep a bag of frozen cherries in your freezer the rest of the year; frozen cherries retain 100 percent of their nutritional value and make a great addition to smoothies, yogurt, and oatmeal.

Tip:

Buy organic, since conventionally grown cherries can be high in pesticides.

Superfoods Feature: Lemons

If you’re not getting fresh lemons into your diet, you may want to reconsider after reading the many health benefits of lemon juice, pith (the 'meat'), or zest (skin).

Here are a few of the amazing healing powers of lemons:

Bowel-Cleansing: The bitter of lemon gives this fruit the ability to increase peristalsis–a pumping-motion in the bowels–which helps to eliminate waste from the bowels and improve regularity. Add the juice of one lemon to warm water and drink first thing in the morning.
Cancer: Lemons contain 22 anti-cancer compounds, including limonene—a naturally-occurring oil that slows or halts the growth of cancer tumors in animals. Lemons also contain a substance called flavonol glycosides which stop cell division in cancer cells.
Colds and Flu: Lemons are rich in vitamin C and flavonoids that work in conjunction for a serious punch against infection.
Liver: Fresh lemon juice added to a large glass of water in the morning is a great liver detoxifier.
Nutrition: Lemons contain vitamin C, citric acid, flavonoids, B-complex vitamins, calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and fiber.
Balances Body Chemistry: While lemons are acidic they interact with the body’s metabolism to have an alkalizing effect on the bodily fluids helping to restore balance to the body’s pH.
Allergies: Lemons contain the phytonutrient hesperetin which has been shown in studies to alleviate allergic symptoms.
Brain and Nervous System Disorders: Containing the potent phytonutrient tangeretin in the peel, lemons have been proven to be effective for brain disorders like Parkinson’s disease.
Eye Disorders: Rutin, found in lemons, has been shown in research to improve the symptoms of eye disorders, including diabetic retinopathy.
Anti-Viral: In addition to being effective against cold and flu viruses, terpene limonoids found in lemons have proven anti-viral effects on other types of viruses.
Diabetes: In addition to improving eye problems linked with diabetes, lemons contain hesperetin which lowers blood sugar levels (when they are high).
Gall and Kidney Stones: The citric acid found in lemon juice helps to dissolve gallstones, calcium deposits, and kidney stones.
Anti-Aging: The vitamin C found in lemons helps to neutralize free radicals linked to aging and most types of disease.

Mammograms cause breast cancer (and other cancer facts you probably never knew)

Groundbreaking research finding shows that exposure to light during sleep promotes breast cancer while darkness prevents growth of tumors

Pink Ribbons, Inc. - movie trailer - NaturalNews.tv

Pink Ribbons, Inc. - movie trailer - NaturalNews.tv

Ground breaking documentary reveals the corporate scams behind the pink ribbons...

Even pediatricians want suicide warning placed on ADHD drugs

Even pediatricians want suicide warning placed on ADHD drugs

Both ADHD's diagnosis and treatment with mild altering psychiatric drugs have been frequently contested topics. Much of the vague criteria for diagnosis is highly subjective, as many of the symptoms associated with the "disorder" are obvious consequences of forcing young children inundated with fast past entertainment to sit still in a boring class room. Equally, many other causes linked to the condition (food dyes and sodium benzoate for instance being major dietary culprits) are excluded from conventional discussions on the disorder.

Like many other psychiatric conditions ADHD has been medicalized with treatments centering around drugs of dubious safety or efficacy. Diagnoses of ADHD have skyrocketed in recent years, with 3-5% of the global population now carrying the label. A harsh class of psychiatric drugs has in turned follow to address this epidemic.

Ritalin for instance, an amphetamine shown to be more potent than its pharmacological cousin cocaine, is prescribed to roughly 75% of those diagnosed with ADHD here; with the US accounting for 86% of global consumption. Beyond enriching the pockets of pharmaceutical executives, Ritalin has been linked to suicide, increased blood pressure, cancer and brain damage. Unfortunately it is but one of many drugs prescribed for the condition.

Focoalin, another common FDA approved ADHD medication has a known history of exacerbating psychosis and documented cases of creating suicidal thoughts. On January 30th an advisory panel of pediatricians recommended the FDA to mandate Focalin contain a warning label against the suicidal thoughts.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/034873_suicide_warning_ADHD_drugs_pediatricians.html#ixzz1lXcue4rZ

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Superfood Feature: Fennel Seeds

Fennel seed nutrition facts

Sweet, anise-flavored fennel seed along with mugwort, nettle, thyme etc, has been revered as one of nine Anglo-Saxon sacred herbs for its health benefits. The spice is one of the most sought after ingredient in many popular cuisines all over the Mediterranean regions.
Tender perennial fennel is a member of parsley or umbelliferae family, a broad family of herbs and spices which has some common members such as caraway, dill, anise, cumin… etc. Scientific name of fennel is Foeniculum vulgare var. dulce.

Health benefits of fennel seeds

Fennel symbolizes longevity, courage, and strength. In addition to its use as medicinal values, fennel has many health benefiting nutrients essential compounds, anti-oxidants, dietary fiber, minerals and vitamins.
Fennel seeds indeed contain numerous flavonoid anti-oxidants like kaempferol and quercetin. These compounds function as powerful anti-oxidants by removing harmful free radicals from the body thus protect from cancers, infection, aging and degenerative neurological diseases.
Like caraway, fennel seeds are rich source of dietary fiber. 100 g seeds provide 39.8 g of fiber. Much of this fiber is metabolically inert insoluble fiber, which helps increase bulk of the food by absorbing water throughout the digestive system and easing constipation condition.
In addition, dietary fibers bind to bile salts (produced from cholesterol) and decrease their re-absorption in colon, thus help lower serum LDL cholesterol levels. Together with flavonoid anti-oxidants, fiber composition of fennel helps protect the colon mucus membrane from cancers.
Fennel seeds have many health benefiting volatile essential oil compounds such as anethole, limonene, anisic aldehyde, pinene, myrcene, fenchone, chavicol, and cineole. These active principles in the fennel seeds are known to have antioxidant, digestive, carminative, and anti-flatulent properties.
Fennel seeds are concentrated source of minerals like copper, iron, calcium, potassium, manganese, selenium, zinc, and magnesium. Copper is required in the production of red blood cells. Iron is required for red blood cell formation. Zinc is a co-factor in many enzymes that regulate growth and development, sperm generation, digestion and nucleic acid synthesis. Potassium is an important component of cell and body fluids that helps controlling heart rate and blood pressure. Manganese is used by the body as a co-factor for the powerful anti-oxidant enzyme, superoxide dismutase.
The seeds indeed are storehouse for many vital vitamins. Vitamin A, vitamin E, vitamin C as well as many B-complex vitamins like thiamin, pyridoxine, riboflavin and niacin particularly are concentrated in the fennel seeds.

Medicinal uses
Fennel has long been used as a remedy for flatulence and indigestion in traditional medicines.
Fennel seed decoction or added as spice in food has been found to increase breast milk secretion in nursing mothers.
Fennel gripe water used in newborn babies to relieve colic pain and help aid digestion.
Fennel seed oil is used to relieve coughs, bronchitis and as massage oil to cure joint pains.

Fennel seeds exude anise like sweet fruity-aroma when rubbed between fingers. Its herb parts including soft growing tops, root-bulb, dried stalks, and seeds are used extensively in wide variety of cuisines all over the world.

In order to keep the fragrance and flavor intact, fennel seed is generally ground just before preparing dishes or whole seeds are lightly roasted before using them in a recipe.

Here are some serving tips:

Fennel seed is widely used as a savory spice. It is principally added in cooking as a condiment and flavoring base.
They are widely used in fish dishes, cheese spreads, and vegetable dishes.
In India, its seeds are being used as part of curry powder (Bengali paanch pooran). In addition, sugarcoated seeds (saunf) used as after food chewing condiment to improve digestion in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Like caraway, fennel seeds are used to flavor breads, dough, cakes, biscuits, and cheese.
Along with anise, fennel is an important ingredient used in absinthe, an alcoholic beverage.

Safety profile

Fennel seed should be avoided in large doses. Compounds in fennel may be neuro-toxic in higher concentrations and may cause hallucinations and seizures. It may exacerbate estrogen receptor linked cancer conditions like endometrial, breast, ovarian... etc due to estrogenic compounds in it. Pregnant women may be advised to avoid eating fennel in large amounts.

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