Norfolk Nutrition Examiner: A fat American is money in the pocket, part two
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Wednesday
Tuesday
The Veggie Factor
The ideal veggie schedule
Your goal: 14 cups a week
That might seem like a lot, but it's easier than it sounds. Researchers have divided the entire vegetable spectrum into five "groups" (yes, beans are a veggie!) and broken down your exact weekly needs.
Dark greens
You need: 2 cups per week
Spinach; broccoli; romaine; mesclun; collard, turnip and mustard greens
Payoff: Better lung health, stronger bones, a stronger immune system, lower blood pressure, reduced inflammation and a healthier brain.
Orange vegetables
You need: 1 ½ cups per week
Carrots, sweet potatoes, winter squash, pumpkin
Payoff: Better vision, blood sugar control, and lung health; high in cancer-fighting carotenoids.
Beans
You need: 2½ cups per week
Pinto beans, kidney beans, black beans, lentils, edamame, chickpeas, tofu
Payoff: Lower rates of heart disease, high blood pressure, breast and colon cancers, and type 2 diabetes.
Starchy vegetables
You need: 2½ cups per week
White potatoes, corn, green peas
Payoff: The nutrients in this group range from vitamins A, C, B6, and folate to potassium and magnesium, and each vegetable is rich in unique antioxidants, such as cancer-fighting isoflavones in peas and blood pressure–lowering kukoamines in potatoes.
Wildcard
You need: 5½ cups per week
Artichokes, asparagus, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, eggplant, green beans, mushrooms, onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, wax beans, zucchini
Payoff: This eclectic group ensures a broad spectrum of nutrients and antioxidants that protect every system in your body, including beta-carotene in bell peppers and quercetin, a natural anti-inflammatory, in onions.
http://health.msn.com/health-topics/cancer/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100217880&page=1
Saturday
FDA: Irradiating spinach, lettuce OK to kill germs
Radiation destroys phytochemicals in plants. Phytochemicals are cancer-protective, heart disease-protective, inflammation-protective. In the same way that microwaving broccoli destroys the majority of its cancer-fighting nutrients (which the FDA does not admit to) irradiating food (and not telling us when it is) will deprive us of the vital nutrients that Americans should have complete access to in the face of the horrible diet of processed junk food, fast food, meat and milk that has become the “sad” standard to which most of the population has come to accept and is also the reason why we are the most unhealthy and obese civilized population in the world today. Shame on the FDA for continuing to make us the victims of corrupt business practices.
Please read article below
FDA: Irradiating spinach, lettuce OK to kill germs
AJC Health News
By LAURAN NEERGAARD
Associated Press
Friday, August 22, 2008
WASHINGTON — Consumers worried about salad safety may soon be able to buy fresh spinach and iceberg lettuce zapped with just enough radiation to kill E. coli and a few other germs.
The Food and Drug Administration on Friday will issue a regulation allowing spinach and lettuce sellers to take that extra step, a long-awaited move amid increasing outbreaks from raw produce.
It doesn’t excuse dirty produce, warned Dr. Laura Tarantino, FDA’s chief of food additive safety. Farms and processors still must follow standard rules to keep the greens as clean as possible — and consumers, too, should wash the leaves before eating.
“What this does is give producers and processors one more tool in the toolbox to make these commodities safer and protect public health,” Tarantino said.
Irradiated meat has been around for years, particularly ground beef that is a favorite hiding spot for E. coli. Spices also can be irradiated.
But the Grocery Manufacturers Association had petitioned the FDA to allow irradiation of fresh produce, too, starting with leafy greens that have sparked numerous recent outbreaks, including E. coli in spinach that in 2006 killed three people and sickened nearly 200.
The industry group wouldn’t name salad suppliers ready to start irradiating. But it expects niche marketing to trickle out first — bags of spinach and lettuce targeted to high-risk populations such as people with weak immune systems “who right now may be afraid to eat uncooked produce,” said GMA’s chief science officer Robert Brackett.
“It’s one big step forward in improving the safety of fresh produce,” he added.
California-based produce giant Dole Food Company confirmed it is considering irradiated lettuce. “We are currently doing extensive testing with irradiation and it looks to be very promising,” said spokesman William Goldfield.
A leading food safety expert said irradiation indeed can kill certain bacteria safely — but it doesn’t kill viruses that also increasingly contaminate produce, and it isn’t as effective as tightening steps to prevent contamination starting at the farm.
“It won’t control all hazards on these products,” cautioned Caroline Smith DeWaal of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
She questioned why the FDA hasn’t addressed her agency’s 2006 call to require growers to document such things as how they use manure and ensure the safety of irrigation water. Irrigation is one suspect in this summer’s nationwide salmonella outbreak attributed first to tomatoes and then to Mexican hot peppers.
“We are not opposed to the use of irradiation,” DeWaal said. But, “it’s expensive and it doesn’t really address the problem at the source.”
Won’t zapping leafy greens with X-rays or other means of radiation leave them limp? Not with today’s modern techniques and the right dose, the FDA decided.
The FDA determined that irradiation can kill E. coli, salmonella and listeria, as well as lengthen shelf life, without compromising the safety, texture or nutrient value of raw spinach lettuce — the first greens studied.
E. coli actually is fairly sensitive to radiation, while salmonella and listeria require more energy. While irradiation doesn’t sterilize, the FDA ruled that food companies could use a dose proven to dramatically reduce levels of those germs, a dose somewhat lower than meat requires.
But consumers shouldn’t consider irradiation a panacea, either. While E. coli and salmonella tend to affect more people and make bigger headlines, consumer advocate DeWaal has found that norovirus contamination is a leading cause of produce outbreaks.
The irradiation rule goes into effect Friday. The FDA still is considering industry’s petition to allow irradiation of additional produce. The grocery manufacturers group will push for other greens, such as Romaine lettuce, to be next, so that producers could irradiate bags of salad mixes.
While irradiated foods initially caused some consumer concern, FDA’s Tarantino stressed that the food itself harbors no radiation.
“There is no residue, there’s nothing left and certainly no radioactivity left,” she said.
Monday
Quick Tip of the Day
Recent studies show that supplementing with 300 mg of Co-Q10 and 10 to 15 grams of D-riblose daily reduces muscle injury and speed recovery in people who engage in intense, prolonged exercise-think running, tennis, or martial arts.
Natural Solutions Mag
Sept 2008
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