Tasteless Tomatoes by Design

You've probably tasted a fresh, garden grown tomato at some point. And you've probably mentioned how tasteless the typical store-bought variety is more often than your friends want to hear. So you think store-bought tomatoes are tasteless? Well, according to research done at Cornell University and published in the journal Nature Genetics, you are right. But probably not for the reasons you think.

More than 90% of store-bought tomatoes lack a specific gene that is responsible for producing the chemicals that cause their distinctive taste. The tomatoes lost the gene as growers produced varieties selected for their size, color, shape, sturdiness and shelf life.

Your best bet for finding a tomato that still tastes like a tomato is with heirloom varieties.

Mo Pro(biotics)!

Probiotics are all the rage. Between 2007 and 2012 the number of Americans taking probiotic supplements more than quadrupled. As of 2012 that is 4 million adults and 300,000 children. In 2016, the market for probiotics reached $4.3B and was projected to grow by 38% a year through 2021. Probiotics are forecast to outsell all other supplement products by 2020.

Considerable research supports the positive impact of a healthy microbiome - the trillions of bacteria that inhabit our gut, urinary tract, lungs, mouth and skin. Human studies confirm that certain strains of bacteria can alleviate irritable bowel syndrome, stave off the diarrhea sometimes associated with antibiotic use and certain illnesses and enhance our ability to digest the lactose in dairy products.

With that much money on the table and that much projected growth, you will probably be shocked to learn that food and supplement manufacturer's marketing departments are tripping over each other to capitalize on the boom. Equally surprising, many of their claims are bulls....err, questionable.

According to Prevention magazine, there is little evidence that probiotic supplements or additives have any impact at all on healthy people, and most of the benefits touted by the companies that manufacture them are, at best, hypothetical. "There is no compelling evidence that continued consumption of probiotics if you are healthy has any benefit," according to Jack Gilbert, head of the University of Chicago's Microbiome Center. But wait! There's more.

Probiotic manufacturers have a labeling problem. Shocking, I know. In one 2015 study analyzing the content of 16 probiotic supplements from a variety of manufacturers found that only 1 accurately identified their contents on the label.

Taking a page from their fiber playbook, many supplements contain only cheap, common and relatively ineffective bacteria when in fact a dazzlingly wide variety inhabit our innards.

And to ice the cake, many of the supplements sold today pass right on through your gut before the bacteria have any chance at all to replicate there. "You often read that probiotics are supposed to colonize and then reshape the microbiome," says University of Alberta microbiologist Jens Walter. "But there is virtually no evidence that that can actually happen."

This may all change soon. Scientists are developing "cocktails" of organisms that may be more potent and posses more staying power. In the meantime, if you are a basically healthy person and are spending money on probiotics, you are not spending it on something that might actually do you some good.

All this being said, there are things you can do to nurture and care for your microbiome, and you don't need a supplement to do it.

"One of the largest influences on our microbiomes and their activity in our gut is diet," advises Susan Lynch, a microbiome researcher at UCSF. Cultured milk like kefir and yogurt brim with healthy bacteria. And fiber encourages healthy bacteria to multiply, so - surprise! - fruits, vegetables and whole grains will do more than a supplement. Also, skip antibacterial products containing triclosan. Studies suggest that is can severely alter your microbiome, and it is in everything from soap to deodorant to toothpaste.

A Brief History of Diets

The idea of dieting - as opposed to having a diet - is fairly new to human history, not really gaining traction within a mass audience until after World War II. Since then the diet industry has surged (to a $64 billion business in 2014), with this fad and that promising better health and less weight. Recently though the growth trend has begun to reverse as more and more people realize that actual nutritionists have been right all along: a varied, balanced diet is best.

Here is a rundown of 60 years of diets.

1950: The Cabbage Soup Diet
           "Lose 10 - 20 pounds in one week!"
           Well ok, but you do it by basically eating water for 7 days.
           Besides being unhealthy, you can't remain on this "diet" for
           very long.

1965: Weight Watchers
           "Follow our point system to maintain balanced, healthy
            eating habits long term."
           Combined with AA-style support groups and a simple to
           follow system rather than a list of permitted and forbidden
           foods, this is one of the few really sensible diet programs to
           come along.

1990: Diet Shakes
          "Simply replace one meal a day with one of our tasty, easy
           to use shakes, and watch the pounds melt off."
           Slim Fast Foods built a following of 23 million people on this
           promise (and $100 million in advertising). There is little
           evidence that it works long term.

1995: Low Fat Diets
          "Cut out the fat to lose weight and protect your heart!"
          Manufacturers rolled out some 1,300 new fat free and low
          fat foods in response to the government's recommendation
          to adopt a low fat diet. They pretty much all crashed and
          burned because the products were packed with sugar.

2000: The Blood Type Diet
          "Customize your diet to your own unique blood type
           and metabolism!"
          This really was a thing. Sadly there is ample evidence
          showing no variation in nutritional requirement by
          blood type.

2003: The Atkins Diet
          "Ultra-low carbs not only solve blood sugar problems
           but improve your health and energy across the board!"
          It also gave people headaches and fatigue and proved
          too difficult for most people to stick with.

2004: The South Beach Diet
          "The realistic Atkins Diet: low carbs and reduced fat."
          This quickly became the best selling diet book of all time
          and is one of the better approaches and still popular today.

2015: Gluten Free
          "Eliminate this wheat protein from your diet an enjoy
           almost unlimited benefits."
           Perhaps 3% of the US population needs to be on a gluten
           free or reduced gluten diet. The rest apparently just likes
           to eat whatever is popular in Hollywood.

2016: The Paleo Diet
          "If it worked for cave people it will work for us!"
          Experts warn that the diet, which attempts to recreate the
          meat heavy, grain and dairy free diet of our paleolithic
          ancestors is dangerously misguided. The meats available
          to our ancestors is not available to us but were "biologically
          distinct". Also, the food groups eliminated have significant
          nutritional benefits.

2017: The Ketogenic Diet
         "Burn fat instead of carbs!"
         Originally developed as a treatment for pediatric epilepsy,
         this diet forces your body into a potentially dangerous state
         of ketosis. Ketosis occurs when people eat a low- or no-carb
         diet and molecules called ketones build up in their
         bloodstream. It can indeed help you shed a few pounds, but
         Ketosis is actually a mild form of ketoacidosis. Ketoacidosis
         mostly affects people with type 1 diabetes. In fact, it is the
         leading cause of death of people with diabetes who are
         under 24 years of age.

Since 2018, eating plans promoting balance and variety began making headway. The DASH, Mediterranean and Flexitarian diets were ranked #1, #2 and #3 on the US News and World Report diet plan listing. Atkins, Paleo and Ketogenic were the worst three diets evaluated.

Five Foods to Help You Not Feel Hungry

Despite what you might think from all of the miracle diet plans and no-lifestyle-change weight loss programs, the big secret to losing weight is to burn more calories than you take in. And there are two ways to do this: take in less or burn more. For most people a combination of both is the best approach.

One of the things that is probably going to doom your weight loss effort to eventual failure is to restrict your eating to the point where you are always hungry and can hardly think about anything else except for when you are allowed to have your next stick of celery. If you aren't feeling like you are getting enough to eat, your diet is not going to last. This is one reason why exercise is such an important part of successful weight loss, it lets you eat a bit more.

Here are five foods that will help you feel full longer and keep the hunger pangs at bay.

1. Avocados
    The oleic acid in an avocado is a fat contained in very few other
    foods. The body converts oleic acid into a compound that is
    believed to signal satiation (i.e., fullness) to the brain and a recent
    Italian study found that people who ate a breakfast high in oleic
    acid consumed about 250 fewer calories at lunch than those who
    did not. That adds up to about 1/2 pound lost per week, other
    things being equal.

2. Green Bananas
    Yes, green. Slightly unripened bananas contain a starch which is
    more resistant to digestion and acts to help stabilize blood sugar.
    If green is too hard for you, blend it into a smoothie and you won't
    be able to tell the difference.

3. Oatmeal
    No surprise here. Oatmeal's generous helping of both soluble and
    insoluble fiber slows digestion and will leave you feeling fuller for
    longer. I like to make it overnight in a slow cooker with eggnog
    and cranberries.

4. Soup
    The exact type doesn't matter all that much, just be careful of all
    of the sodium. A Penn State study found that people who start
    dinner with 150 calories of soup consumed fewer calories overall
    than those who went straight to the entree. Cream based soups
    are likely to surpass that 150 calorie threshold fast though.

5. Salmon
    Follow up that soup with with a serving of this healthy-fat rich
    fish. The combination of healthy Omega fats and high quality
    protein will make you feel fuller and more satisfied after your
    meal.

Don't starve yourself between meals either. Feel free to graze to keep the edge off any hunger pangs. Just be a little picky about what you snack on. Pretty much any fruits or vegetables are better than "snack food" (aka, crap) and there is plenty to choose from. Besides that celery stick, reach for cherry tomatoes, carrots, an apple or even a stick of mozzarella string cheese. Pick up some hummus as a dip. Vegetables are fiber rich and practically "free" from a calorie point of view.

Remember, if you are so hungry that all you can think about is food, your "diet" is doomed before you even get started.

Unfamiliar Variety

Potatoes are white. Carrots are orange. Bananas are yellow. Asparagus are green. Tomatoes are red. Everybody knows this. And its not wrong. Its just woefully incomplete.

If you have never tasted purple, blue, yellow or red potatoes you are missing out on a tasty change of pace. (And this does not even consider yams and sweet potatoes.) You can cook and eat them the same way as the familiar white potatoes you are used to but the flavor and nutritional content can be noticeably different. Purple potatoes, for example, have about four times the antioxidants of white potatoes.

Red bananas are shorter, plumper and heartier than the average yellow banana. When ripe, it will have a thick, brick red peel and ivory-hued semi soft flesh. Its flavor is sweet and creamy with raspberry highlights. The Red banana has more beta carotene and Vitamin C than yellow banana varieties.

The orange carrot is a relative newcomer. Long before orange, yellow and purple carrots were cultivated. The purple variety contains twice the beta-carotene of the orange.

In Europe, especially Germany, white asparagus (called spargel) is very common. It is very similar nutritionally to the green asparagus we are familiar with but it has a milder flavor which many people prefer.

What is better than a fresh red tomato right off the vine? Maybe try a purple tomato. They have a similar taste with somewhat firmer flesh and higher levels of several antioxidants. And a bonus feature: a longer shelf life.

You can find many of these, and other, varieties of familiar fruits and vegetables in most supermarkets these days. Go ahead and give them a try. Worst case, your plate becomes a lot more colorful.

Health or Hype?

Judging from the packaging and advertising I see, pretty much all food is now healthy, good for you, and backed by "clinical research" that proves it. Even ice cream now boasts of its fiber, and foods with the tiniest trace of some trendy new "superingredient of the month" boast about it as though there were enough of it in their product to make any difference.

For decades, food industry organizations have supplied substantial amounts of cash to fund studies of the health and wellness impact of their products. Just last year Ocean Spray committed $10 million to study the antimicrobal properties of cranberries. Pom Wonderful has spent $35 million on pomegranate research, sparking endless reviews hailing the fruits' antioxidant benefits. It also sparked a warning from the FDA to stop making health claims that the research did not substantiate but somehow that did not generate the same media interest.

Here's the thing. Just because a study is funded by the industry does not invalidate the study. But you need to be wary and skeptical. Any study can be designed to produce the result desired. A New York University review of 168 food industry funded studies found that 156 of them (93%) drew conclusions favorable to their sponsors. "There may be a rare case when a company is motivated by a concern for public health or to advance nutrition science," says Bonnie Liebman, Director of Nutrition at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. "But overall, the purpose of this research is marketing, not science."

Whenever you see claims being made based on "studies", you need to do your part in weeding out the credible from the false. And your very first question should be "Who paid for this study?"

5 Painless Ways to Cut Back on Sodium

Most of us struggle to keep our daily consumption of sodium within the recommended 2,300mg. According to the CDC, the average American is getting 3,136mg daily and a large part of the problem is that most of that - 71% - does not come from our salt shakers. It is mostly hidden away in the prepared foods and restaurant meals that we eat.

Even if you take pains to choose healthy foods, this hidden sodium can add up pretty quickly. Bread and baked goods, canned foods, salad dressings and many other regularly consumed foods contain far more sodium than we imagine.

Here are 5 steps that you can take to cut back without resigning yourself to bland, tasteless meals.

1. Cut back gradually, not all at once.
    Start switching to lower sodium versions of the products you
    already use, and adding just a but less salt to your meals. You
    may not even notice and, if you do, your taste will adjust
    surprisingly quickly. Example: I am a big V-8 fan. When I made
    the switch to the "low sodium" version, it tasted a little flat and
    watery. But within 2 weeks it tasted fine. Now if I try the regular
    version, it tastes like sea water it is so salty. Start slow and as
    your taste adjusts, cut back a little more.

2. Learn the language.
    Food labeling is designed to confuse and mislead you. Learn the
    language so that you know what you are getting. Read the
    nutrition facts label, and remember that everything is listed "per
    serving" so check the serving size. Here is how to decode the
    marketing babble.

    "Low Sodium" means  a serving contains 140mg or less of
     sodium.

    "Salt/Sodium Free" means less than 5mg per serving.

    "No Salt Added" means just that. None was added during
     processing. It does not mean the product contains no sodium.

    "Reduced Sodium" means there is 25% - 50% less sodium than
     is found in the regular product. So a canned soup that may
     have 800mg of sodium will still be providing 400mg to 600mg
     in its "reduced" version.

3. Compare options.
    It pays to compare sodium content across - and even within -
    brands. It can vary by as much as 100%.

4. Rinse canned foods.
    Yes, rinse them. Canned beans and vegetables can be very
    high in sodium. By rinsing them in a colander under water
    you can reduce the sodium constant by as much as 40%.
    Obviously this is a poor strategy for soups and sauces.

5. Don't use any salt in cooking.
    Instead of adding salt for flavor, try different herbs and
    spices. Garlic, oregano, basil, dried peppers, curries,
    turmeric and cumin all add a lot of flavor with no sodium.

If you sometimes think that markets and food companies deliberately try to mislead you, that is because they do. But with a little knowledge and a little effort, you outsmart them. Remember, its your health, not theirs.

3 Foods You Already Love that Promote Eye Health

For most of us, our eyes do not get much attention unless and until we have a problem with them. Perhaps you visit the optometrist every few years for new glasses or to update your contacts. Maybe you have gone the Lasik route and rarely see an eye professional at all. Yet our vision is our primary way of experiencing and interacting with the world around us. Maybe you should think about seeing a real ophthalmologist every 2 or 3 years (more often as you get older).

In the meantime, here are three foods that you probably already consume that are known to provide health benefits for your eyes.

Sweet Potatoes
Sweet potatoes are a rich source of beta carotene (your body converts it to vitamin A), which helps prevent "dry eye" and night blindness. It may also help to slow the progress of macular degeneration - the #1 cause of new blindness. Other foods with high concentrations of beta carotene include carrots, butternut squash and spinach. Milk and eggs are also a good source of vitamin A.

Strawberries
Strawberries are vitamin C powerhouses. Vitamin C is a strong antioxidant that can help reduce your risk of cataracts. Bell peppers, broccoli, cantaloupe and citrus fruits also contain lots of vitamin C.

Salmon
The Omega-3 fatty acids in this oily fish offer protection against "dry eye", while the vitamin D helps avoid or slow macular degeneration. Other good sources of Omega-3s include walnuts and flax seeds, while milk and orange juice can help ramp up your vitamin D.

"See" you again soon!

Dairy No Magic Bullet for Weight Loss

Have you heard recently that dairy might help boost weight loss? A study funded by the Danish dairy industry concluded that it did after randomly assigning people to low calorie diets either low or high in dairy products.

They forgot to mention that after 6 months there was no difference in weight or body fat loss between the groups.

Want to lose weight? Don't expect dairy to speed the process along. Consume fewer calories in your diet or burn more through activity.

Bone Broth

Bone broth is a soup stock made from animal bones and cartilage that has become very popular due to its perceived health benefits. According to Tod Cooperman, MD, of ConsumerLab.com, it can in fact be a healthful food. But as often happens, as soon as anything gets a reputation - deserved or not - for being healthful we start to see it on our grocery store shelves and the commercial version often delivers far less of the healthy ingredient than what is needed to have any impact.

The health benefits of bone broth derive from the significant amount of the protein collagen that it contains when traditionally prepared (i.e., when you make it yourself at home). The problem is that store bought versions can vary significantly in the amount of collagen that they actually deliver. Collagen levels are not required to be listed on nutrition labels and so - surprise!! - they rarely are. The nutritional information that companies do provide clearly comes from their marketing departments and is often wildly inaccurate.

What to do if you want to make bone broth a part of your diet? Make it yourself. Its pretty simple, here is a basic recipe to get you started.

If you prefer to buy your broth at the grocery store, do a little research first. There are some good ones out there but you want one that delivers lots of collagen for the price and you want that verified by an independent testing lab.
Here are two that, according to ConsumerLab, you can trust:

Jarrow Formulas Beyond Bone Broth Spicy Beef Ramen Flavor (powder).

Pacific Organic Bone Broth Chicken (liquid).

Debunking the Paleo Fad

The theory behind the "paleo" diet is that since our paleolithic ancestors ate a diet heavily oriented toward meat and supplemented by whatever plant foods they could find, we are designed to eat that way and will be healthier today if we do. The digestive abilities of anatomically modern humans, however, are different from those of Paleolithic humans, which undermines the diet's core premise. In addition to that, meat today is not what it was then. Even if we accept that we are genetically adapted to eat meat - for the sake of argument, not because it is true, what kind of meat are we adapted to eat? There was no paleolithic grain-fed beef or pepperoni.

According to Dr David Katz, a preventive medicine specialist at the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center in a recent interview in Bottom Line Personal, a typical cut from a grain-fed steer gets about 35% of its calories from fat, much of which is saturated fat. That same cut has almost none of the healthy polyunsaturated fat - omega-3 fatty acid - that reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease.

In contrast, steak from wild game contains almost no saturated fat and a significant amount of omega-3s.

Conventional grain-fed beef and wild game are both technically "red meat" but are radically different nutritionally. Wild game is free ranging, lives off a wide variety of wild plants and gets the exercise that it needs. The next best thing to truly wild game would be bison, which is nearly always grass feed and free range.

Most of the world's longest living people live in areas - the so-called "blue zones" - where the typical diet includes meat as an occasional part but consists primarily of beans, lentils and fish as their primary protein source. How many of our paleolithic ancestors lived to be 100 years old?

In the Bag

Washed, prepared and prepackaged greens and basic salads have become a popular item among busy people who are trying to get more vegetables into their diets. They certainly offer convenience. But do they have the same nutritional content as whole ingredients that you prepare yourself?

According to Sharon Palmer, a registered dietitian in Duarte, CA, all vegetables lose some of their vitamin content as they age. But the precut, packaged ones lose some vitamins like C, B vitamins and folate faster than whole vegetables and greens. This happens because the leaves undergo chemical changes that deplete vitamins more quickly because of the cut surfaces.

Still, there is nothing "bad" for you in the packaged greens, just less good. And anything that helps you to eat more of them is, on balance, a good thing. So go ahead and buy by the bag if that helps you consume more healthful greens and vegetables. To minimize the nutritional losses, refrigerate them immediately upon returning home and try to eat them within 2 or 3 days. If you intend to do any additional chopping, wait until right before you are going to use them.

Here is one case where you do not have to sacrifice healthful for convenience.

Five Menu Items to Avoid

The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit watchdog and consumer advocacy group that advocates for safer and healthier foods, has just released its 2018 Extreme Eating Awards. Since eating out is such a nutritional minefield, between misleading menus, gigantic portions and limited nutritional information, I though I would share their five "winners".
You've been warned.

1. Worst Way to Start Your Day Award

Restaurant: The Cheesecake Factory

Item: Breakfast Burrito

Main Offenses: 2,730 calories, 3 1/2 days worth of saturated fat and 2 days supply of sodium.

Comparison: Equivalent to 7 McDonnalds Sausage McMuffins.


2. Worst Special Effects Award

Restaurant: Yard House

Item: Vampire Taco Combo

Main Offenses: 2,040 calories, 1 1/2 days worth of saturated fat and 1 2/3 days supply of sodium.

Comparison: Equivalent to eating 9 Taco Bell Beef Tacos plus 3 cans of Budweiser.


3. Worst Cinematic Snack

Restaurant: AMC Theaters

Item: Bavarian Legend Soft Pretzel

Main Offenses: 1,920 calories, 1/2 day worth of saturated fat (a relative bargain so far, but wait for it!) and 4 days supply of sodium.

Comparison: Equivalent to eating 6 Auntie Annie's Original Soft Pretzels.


4. Least Creative Mashup

Restaurant: Chili's

Item: Honey-Chipotle Crispers & Waffels.

Main Offenses: 2,510 calories, 2 days worth of saturated fat, 2 days supply of sodium and a special bonus, 2 days worth of added sugar.

Comparison: Equivalent to eating 5 Krispy Kreme glazed doughnuts smothered in 30 McDonalds Chicken McNuggets with 5 packages of BBQ sauce.


5. Worst Adapted Pizza

Restaurant: The Cheesecake Factory

Item: Chicken Parmesan Pizza Style Chicken

Main Offenses: 1,870 calories, a 3 day supply of saturated fat and 2 1/2 days worth of sodium.

Comparison: Four pieces of Popeye's Fried Chicken plus 4 bisquits.


With 1,800 - 2,000 calories being roughly what a healthy human being needs per day, it is no wonder nearly 40% of Americans are obese with items like these being sold every day. And these totals do not count your sugary beverage or desert.

Apple Cider Vinegar and Blood Sugar

Apple cider vinegar has gained enormous popularity as a home remedy for just about anything that ails you. From easing arthritis to erasing skin blemishes, apple cider vinegar is said to do it all. There is only a single benefit that is scientifically proven however, and its an important one.

For people dealing with diabetes or prediabetes, consuming vinegar with a meal has been shown to reduce post-meal blood sugar spikes by as much as 40% compared to people having the same meal without the vinegar. Much of the metabolic damage caused by diabetes is caused by these blood sugar spikes so this is significant.

It is the acetic acid in the vinegar that has the beneficial effect, blocking the absorption of carbohydrates and helping to clear excess sugar from the blood. Any vinegar will do this, not just apple vinegar.

It doesn't take a lot to get the benefit. In the studies confirming the effect, a dose of 2 tablespoons was used. Less was not as effective, and more did not seem to have any added benefit. Consuming the vinegar at or near the start of the meal seemed to be most effective.

If you are struggling to manage your blood sugar, try building some vinegar into your meals. Making your own vinaigrette salad dressing is a good way to do it. (Mix 1 part olive oil with 1 part red wine vinegar and add some herbs or a little mustard. This is less oil and MUCH less sodium than a store bought dressing). You can also use a flavored vinegar as a dip for bread in place of butter.

And you don't have to become a fanatic and do this every time you eat (although there would be nothing wrong with doing that). As with most things, even once in a while is better than not at all.

Certification for Aquaculture

Having heard about problems with "farm raised fish" such as the quality of the feed used, depletion of fresh water supplies and issues with runoff contamination, I have passed it by in favor of the "wild caught" label. This costs me significantly more than comparable farm raised offerings, but I care about what I eat and I want to support sustainable wild fishing.

As it turns out, there may be more to the story than that.

"Wild fish supplies are just not there any more," says Aaron McNevin, Director of Aquaculture for the World Wildlife Fund (an eco-friendly organization if ever there was one). "Some 80% - 85% of wild fish stocks are fished out or are at their capacity. To make matters worse, modern fishing techniques are causing damage to the oceans beyond just depletion of fishing stocks, such as damage to the sea floor by trawling or 'bycatch' - species caught unintentionally in the nets which are then destroyed."

I hadn't though about that. But wait! There's more!

Many environmental organizations now recognize that aquaculture -  the breeding and harvesting of marine animals in all types of water environments for food - must play an increasingly important role in supplying seafood to a hungry world. "For aquaculture, just like any other type of farming or ranching, there are good producers and bad producers," says McNevin.

How are consumers supposed to tell the difference? Fortunately, there are certification programs - as we see in the organic farming world - that give us a reliable method of determining if farmed fish is produced responsibly and sustainably. Here are two that you can depend on.

Seafood Watch, a program of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, offers a grading system and their web site provides guidelines for choosing safe, sustainable seafood - both wild caught and farm raised.

The Aquaculture Stewardship Council, has established measurable standards for responsibly farmed seafood. Look for the green ASC seal on farm raised seafood that meets the standards.

As for me, I plan to give farm raised fish another look.

Six Foods with Proven Health Benefits

Long before there were pharmaceuticals, there was food. Countless cultures have treated illness and promoted good heath using what they found in the world around them. Hippocrates, "the father of medicine", around 400 BCE famously advised, "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food".

This is still good advice almost 2,500 years later. Unlike drugs, food contains a symphony of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients that can interact to help us fend off disease. Unfortunately, well designed clinical studies are often hard to find because they can be very expensive to do (and there is not much of a return on investment in proving that kale can make you healthier). And evidence or not, marketing departments breathlessly promote the latest miracle food.

Here are six foods for which the evidence of health benefits is convincing, any or all of which you can conveniently add to your diet.

1. Berries.
    Berries of all sorts are a rich source of nutrients and research
    suggests they     they can have a powerful effect on human health
    by reducing chronic inflammation and cancer risk. Plus,
    blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and strawberries all taste
    great. Toss some on your morning cereal.

2. Cruciferous Vegetables.
    George H. W. Bush may hate them but you shouldn't. Broccoli,
    cauliflower,     cabbage, Brussels sprouts, bok choy (Chinese
    cabbage) and kale are known to     reduce "oxidative stress"
    which helps with cardio-vascular health, blood sugar
    management and cancer prevention. If you are like me and the
    very mention of these foods provokes a gag reflex, there is
    hope. You don't have to cook them the way my mother did (boil
    them until they could be eaten with a straw). They can be roasted,
    stir fried or tossed raw into salads. Try Google to find recipes
    that you will find appealing.

3. Fish.
    Any fish. Sure some are better than others but all are better than
    meat and poultry. The Omega-3 fatty acids in fish are effective
    anti-inflammatories that help protect your heart.  Find a few
    varieties that you enjoy and then do so once or twice a week.
    (There is more to the Fish Story but that is for another day.)

4. Fermented Foods.
    Unless you are living in a cave without WiFi, you've heard about
    the benefits of prebiotics and probiotics. This refers to the biome
    of healthy bacteria that inhabit our bodies, the digestive tract in
    particular, and which account for about 3% of your body weight.
    Eating fermented foods such as yogurt, sauerkraut, kimchi,
    tempeh and miso provides a favorable environment for these
    microorganisms which in turn improved digestion and strengthens
    your immune system.

5. Green Tea.
    The epugallocatechin gallate (you can gall it EGCG) in green tea
    has been shown to have anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory effects
    and possible heart-health benefits as well. The only real drawback
    is that you have to drink a lot of it. If you enjoy the taste, try
    making green iced tea to replace the sugary drinks in your diet.

6. Nuts.
    Numerous studies have shown that consuming nuts aids in
    cardiac function, blood sugar management and weight control.
    Use roasted, unsalted nuts to replace less healthy snacks, you
    only need a small handful a day to get the benefits.

As with most all diet advice, you do not need to dive right in to the deep end of the pool. Add some of these foods to your existing meals, try different varieties and recipes, find what you enjoy. Any step forward is progress.

Arsenic in Your Food

Do you remember the film "Arsenic and Old Lace"? This was director Frank Capra's classic 1944 film about two elderly sisters in Brooklyn and their ongoing effort to permit lonely bachelors to die with smiles on their faces - by serving said bachelors elderberry wine spiked with arsenic.

It turns out that here in 2018 you don't have to add the arsenic, you can find it already in your food.

Arsenic is used as an additive in chicken and pig feeds to promote faster growth and a Johns Hopkins study found that the arsenic-based drugs fed to poultry remains in their flesh and is transformed into cancer-causing inorganic arsenic (iAs) when cooked. Manure from arsenic treated birds is often used as a fertilizer which then gets into our ground water and crops.

Arsenic has been found in a variety of crops including apples, Brussels sprouts, beets, carrots and wheat. But rice seems particularly adept at absorbing arsenic from groundwater. Rice and many products made from rice have arsenic levels "significantly" higher than the 5ppm set by the EPA as an acceptable limit, according to Consumer Reports.

More bad news? Men who had 2.5 beers per day had arsenic levels more than 30% higher than nonconsumers, and women who drank five to six glasses of wine per week had levels 20% higher than nonconsumers. The arsenic may be coming from the water used to brew these beverages, but beer and wine producers also use a filtration material, diatomaceous earth, that's known to harbor arsenic.

While the FDA assures us that arsenic levels in our food are safe, you may want to take reasonable steps to limit your exposure.

Don't just cook your rice, rinse it well first. When cooking, double the water to rice ratio to 6::1 and discard the excess after cooking. Brown rice tends to have higher arsenic levels that white rice does. Rice grown in California, India and Pakistan normally has lower arsenic levels than rice grown elsewhere.

Consume less conventionally raised chicken.

As always, you cannot depend on the government, let alone the producers, to keep your food safe. Its on you.

Five Foods that Fight Inflammation

"Low-grade" inflammation can be present in your body at the cellular level for years without any notable symptoms. But such constant irritation can eventually manifest itself as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis and allergies - among other things.

Here are five foods that you can include in your diet that will help to tame the inflammation threat.

1. Broccoli

The antioxidants in broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables like kale and Brussels sprouts are strongly linked to lower levels of cellular inflammation according to the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Don't let the fact that you loathed eating them as a kid rob you of their health benefits. There are ways of preparing them that you mom never heard of that are both easy and tasty. Yes. Even Brussels sprouts.

2. Wheat berries

The "gluten free" fad notwithstanding, whole wheat and the polyphenol antioxidants it contains are an ally in the fight against inflammation. Toss them on salads and into soups, stews and even chili.

3. Extra virgin olive oil

In addition to the proven benefits of its monounsaturated fats, olive oil contains oleocanthal, a naturally occurring anti-inflammatory mimicked by NSAID drugs like Ibuprofen.

4. Salmon

The Omega-3 fatty acids in salmon are well known for their anti-inflammatory power. Plus salmon tastes fantastic.

5. Grapefruit

A Harvard study concluded that women with a higher intake of flavenoid antioxidants from grapefruit had significantly lower inflammation levels than those who ate little or no grapefruit.

Grapefruit can interact negatively with several prescription medications. So if you are taking any, check with your doctor or pharmacist before adding grapefruit to your regular diet.


“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”
― Hippocrates

5 High Fiber Foods that Don't Taste like Cardboard

Dietary fiber is one of the most lacking components of the Standard American Diet (SAD). It is generally recommended that men consume at least 38 grams of fiber per day and 25 grams for women. On average, men consume about 18 grams and women about 15 grams. Lack of dietary fiber is strongly linked to a variety of serious health conditions such as cancer, diabetes, hypertension and high blood cholesterol levels.

Unsurprisingly, the paucity of fiber in the SAD is a result of the consumption of large amounts of highly processed foods and small amounts of fruits and vegetables and whole grains. So what is someone to do if they are not huge fans of oatmeal or beans?

Here are 5 foods that taste great and add significant amounts of fiber to your diet.

1. Avocados. 9g per medium fruit.

2. Raspberries. 8g per 1 cup serving.

3. Almonds. 6g per 1/2 cup serving. (Go for unsalted ones.)

4. Sweet Potatoes. These nutritional powerhouses give you 6 g of fiber per
    medium size potato. Cook and use them the same way you would use white
    potatoes.

5. Popcorn. 1g per cup, popped. (Go easy on the salt, but who eats popcorn with
    no salt, right?)

Try adding a few of these foods to your everyday diet. You will be doing yourself a big favor.

The Mac & Cheese Burger? Really?

With 70% of adults and 33% of children now classified as either overweight or obese, it would seem to me that the last thing the USA needs is a new 1,710 calorie burger. TGI Fridays' disagrees.

"Casual dining, " says CEO Aslam Khan, "needs to be more imaginative... especially around product innovation." Fridays' latest innovation? The Mac & Cheese Burger!

How did they manage to innovate a burger with 1,710 calories, 38 grams of saturated fat and 4,580mg of sodium? By imagining a 14oz (nearly a pound) burger covered with beer-cheese sauce, bacon and, yes, a hockey puck size slab of deep-fried mac and cheese. That is the equivalent of two McDonald's Big Macs covered with a half pound of melted Velveeta.

Its true enough that they are not forcing anyone to eat this heart attack on a plate. But most people have no idea what they are consuming. And it isn't fair to single out only Fridays'. Applebee's, Ruby Tuesday, Red Robbin and the rest all have their own versions of such absurdly excessive fare.

In the end, its up to you to know what you are eating and make good choices. After all, the chain restaurants will still be imagining and innovating long after you are dead.