Portrait on the Mantel

Alyson Mitchell, Associate Professor and Food Chemist at U C Davis, states its time that consumers and the marketplace find ways to reward farmers for the nutritional quality of their crops.

Apparently, there is a dramatic difference in conventionally grown crops and those grown organically:

Plant nutrients are classified into 2 broad categories: Primary metabolites (fats, carbs, amino acids and simple sugars) and Secondary metabolites (phenolic acids, flavonoids, alkaloids and terpenoids).  According to Ms Mitchell, plants have a fairly equal amount of both primary and secondary metabolites.

Conventionally grown crop’s primary metabolites are maximized. However, their secondary ones are diminished because farmers substitute the mechanism which allow these metabolites to flourish, like pesticides.

Organic crops conversely have excellent primary and secondary metabolites because they are stressed by pests and the weather.  They respond by increasing their production of defensive secondary metabolites.  The extra stress results in a less attractive product but nutritional values are far superior.

As the global farmers are pushing more and more half grown products on all of us, it is imperative that we begin to rethink what we’re eating.  Because it takes so much fossil fuels to transport produce around the world, it time we all begin to by local.

I’ll be the 1st to admit, it will you cost more.  But let’s face it, medical cost aren’t going down and in a few years the cost of fuel will be on the rise again and you can actually save money by not going to the movies.  Hollywood isn’t producing anything new or wonderful and they haven’t in a long time.  So you might as well eat nutritiously, feel better and boost your local economy.

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Here is a bit of FYI that I find useful but in the hands of the wrong person could be taken to the extreme.

AGE and PAH are known carcinogens which form when foods are cooked predominately by grilling, frying and baking.  Advanced Glycation Endproducts (AGE) are formed when sugars stick on fats or proteins and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) are formed when Amino Acids bind to Creatin.

A group of researchers from Poland is reporting that people who consume large amounts of fried potatoes (french fry’s or chips) experience elevated levels of LDL and markers which show inflammation which can be associated with increased risk of cardiac arrest.  As we age (60’s) our bodies do not remove high levels of AGE’s which predispose us to greater risk for heart and cancer type diseases.

The researchers imply that one should only cook in water to avoid elevated AGE’s and PAH’s levels.  While I certainly agree that one should take their own personal health in consideration, I do believe that some moderation need be factored.

Maybe the problem is that those individuals studied ate more fried, baked, or grilled foods and less of other types of foods.  A diet which consists of some grilling and plenty of fruits and veggies might have provided a different conclusion. 

Eating a western diet of processed foods cooked over flames may have a difficult time with avoiding high levels of AGE’s and PAH.  However, these people are playing Russian Roulette anywaz so what’s the point.

For those of us who eat a variety of foods and EXERCISE we would no doubt look differently under the microscope.

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It is estimated that 60% of the 65 and older crowd is either pre diabetic or diabetic, many don’t know because they’ve not been diagnosed.  Additionally, for the over 65ers diabetes has been linked to increase risk of dementia and loss of brain function.  If you or anyone you know has any of the following risk factors you should be check out soon:

• Fat stored predominately around your midsection.
• You are overweight
• You exercise less than 3 times per week.
• When you workout you don’t break a sweat.
• You have a family history of diabetes.

If you have any combination of these risk factors, get a check up soon.  Good news exercise and proper nutrition are low cost cures.  Unfortunately, don’t ask your doctor for recommendations on these cures; they only know how to prescribe drugs.

Here is what you need; 1 pair of sneakers, lose fitting clothes and room to move.  If you’re very overweight and the only exercise your muscles have gotten in the past few years is when you walk to the kitchen, place of work, store, bath room and to bed find a friend who can bring you a towel or dial 911.

Seriously, with those sneakers and lose fitting clothes proceed toward the outside of your dwelling or office and walk.  It’s important that you don’t stop walking for 30 minutes before you turn and walk back to where you started.  Do this 4 times per week, increasing your pace as the shock wear off.

As for nutrition: if you can order why sitting in your car or prepare it in a microwave stop eating it.  Make a shift toward food.  If you can’t pronounce the ingredients on the label it’s not food.

If this is too draconian, see your physician for as many pills, needles or other methods of pumping your body full of drugs.

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Recent study revealed that increasing your consumption of fruits and veggies to twice the amount currently recommended by the FDA, can lower risk of recurrent breast cancer by 1/3.  However, it only seems to affect certain women.

Additionally, the study seems to imply that doubling the FDA requirements for fruits and veggies could lower levels of estrogen in cancer survivors, thereby limiting possibilities for relapse.

After undergoing conventional breast cancer treatment, women who experienced hot flashes have lower levels of estrogen as compared to those who do not have the hot flashes.  The reduced risk of breast cancer recurrence based on this particular study only seem to apply to women who do not experience hot flashes after conventional cancer therapy.

Thus diets high in fruits and veggies, which have been shown to reduce estrogen levels, may only be important among women who have elevated estrogen levels above some threshold, according to John Pierce from U of C San Diego.

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Raw Chocolate is higher in anti oxidants than green tea and wine.  It also contains protein, fats, calcium, iron, carotene, thiamine, riboflavin and magnesium.

Cacao, which is what chocolate is made from, also contains caffeine.  Interesting to note about raw chocolate is that it seems to affect different people differently.  Some say it gives them plenty of energy and they feels great, while other complain that the boost in energy is too much for their system.

Raw Cacao powder can be a 1st line of defense against cravings for sugar but because it’s raw its actually good for you.

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Physical fitness seems to slow damage to your brain’s memory, this from a study conducted at the University of Kansas Medical Center.  Alzheimer’s patients who practice some form of daily exercise show less damage to brain that controls memory as oppose to those who are more sedentary.

Other research is revealing similar findings, dementia patients who participate in daily exercise programs experience higher quality of life and have less falls.

According to Sam Gandy, chairman of the Alzheimer’s Association, “The message is clear if you have Alzheimer’s disease, it’s not too late to start an exercise program.”

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Mistakes made in the supermarket by millions of American seem to help create the overweight and obesity epidemic which we face today.  Here are 3 supermarket shopping mistakes many people make;

1. Lingering in the Grocery store aisles – these aisles are filled with processed, chemical laden foods in boxes.  Instead spend most of your time in the produce section and/or the frozen food sections.
2. Stop reading the packages of Grocery store items – these are mere marketing claims designed to lure you to purchase.  The most important information is the list of ingredients.  If you need a dictionary to read a label, it’s not food so don’t eat it.
3. Don’t overlook Organic foods – conventional farms grow foods in depleted soil.  Organic foods are grown in nutrient rich soil. These vitamins and minerals are essential for health.

The key seems to rest in turning the old food pyramid on its side, instead of eating more grains which in many cases are processed in the grocery stores.  Thus rendering them useless in our bodies health.  We should focus our attention back toward fruits and veggies and make these foods a majority of our diets.

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The American Journal of Physiology Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology researched the affect of exercise on 2 hormones; Ghrelin which stimulates the appetite and Peptide YY which suppressses it.

It has been well established that exercise can help us lose weight by increasing the number of calories we burn.  What it’s spoken of as much is that exercise can also suppress our appetite.

One area this research confirmed is that diet alone without exercise is much less effective than diet and exercise.  Therefore, regular vigorous exercise both cardiovascular and resistance training not only help us burn calories but it can actually suppress our appetite leading to eating less.

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An active lifestyle can decrease your chances of colon cancer by up to 40% when compared to sedentary people.  Researchers have identified up to 14% of all colon cancer cases in the U.S. is caused by a lack of physical activity.

However, only 15% of a study group says listed exercise as a way to reduce their risk of colon cancer.  It appears that primary care physicians are failing to inform their patients that physical activity can greatly reduce their chance of developing colon cancer.

There is a growing body of evidence which shows that regular exercise reduces the risk to cancer; specifically breast, colon, prostate, ovaries and endometrial.  Examples women who exercise have a 23% lower risk of developing premenopausal breast cancer than sedentary women.  Women should exercise the equivalent of 3 1/4 hrs per wk of running or 13 hrs of walking.

A Japanese study showed that people who exercise regularly are 13 to 16 percent less likely to develop any kind of cancer.

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Apparently, regularly wearing a bra prevents lymph drainage and circulation. The lymphatic and circulatory systems are responsible for both delivering vital nutrients and clearing out toxins.  When the body does not have access to nutrients or when it is under attack from toxins, this can increase risk of developing breast cancer.

The European Journal of Cancer studied factors for breast cancer; they discovered that premenopausal women who do not wear bras are less than 1/2 as likely to develop the cancer as those who wear a bra regularly.  This include even the lightest of material.

Chronobiology International published in 2000 that regular bra wearing decreased melatonin production.  Melatonin is a natural antioxidant and hormone that regulates sleep, boost the immune system and fights aging.  Melatonin is essential for the body to fight many types of cancer.

Singer and Grismaijer observed over 4,000 women and their bra wearing practices; an amazing 3 out of 4 women who wore their bras 24 hrs per day developed breast cancer.  Women who wore their bras more than 12 hrs per day had a 1 in 7 chance of getting breast cancer; 1 out of 152 women who wore their bras less than 12 hrs per day and 1 out of 168 women who rarely or never wore a bra developed breast cancer.

An interesting note a very small number of men do develop breast cancer, exactly the same number as women who go braless.

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