| |
|---|
Local Vegetarian Group Invites You to Dinner! |
Newsletter Summer 2006 |
|
|
Making the Healthiest Food on Earth Even Healthier by Dr. Gregor A quote from the May 2005 issue of the Center for Science in the Public Interest's Nutrition Action Healthletter: "Get a bunch of nutrition experts in a room and the conversation will inevitably turn to dark leafy greens." How true that is. And two new studies just discovered two ways to make your daily (at least!) green leafy salad even healthier. It's not enough to eat healthy food, we also have to absorb it. One of the key components that makes dark green leafies so nutritious are the carotenoid antioxidants, like alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, and lutein. These compounds are lipophilic, though. "Lipo-" is from lipos, the Greek word for fat (as in liposuction); "-philic" is from the word philia, one of the four Greek words for love (as in... well we won't get into that). So these carotenoid nutrients are fat-loving molecules, and as such our body can use ingested fat to entice out these nutrients trapped within our greens. So researchers at Ohio State University paid about a dozen people to eat salads (this is America, you've got to PAY people to eat salad) with or without avocado, one of the healthiest sources of fat, and then measured the amount of carotenoids that made it into everyone's bloodstream. Those eating a salad including half an avocado absorbed about 10 times more carotenoids than those eating the fat-free salad! Would the same hold true for the lycopene in salsa? Lycopene doubles as an extremely powerful carotenoid antioxidant and the red pigment that makes fruits and vegetables like watermelons and tomatoes red. Adding avocado to salsa more than quadrupled the amount of lycopene absorbed by test subjects. (You wouldn't have to pay me to be in that study-yum!) The other salad enhancement study recently took place at the Universitia di Urbino in Italy. With the understanding that it's the antioxidants that give fruits and vegetables their anti-cancer, anti-viral, and anti-inflammation properties, scientists experimented with adding different fresh herbs to salads and measuring their resultant total antioxidant content. They found that adding just a single sprig of fresh herbs (the weight of 3 paper clips worth of thyme, sage or marjoram-a kissing cousin of oregano) literally doubles the antioxidant power of a bowl of salad. It's almost like eating two salads for the price of one! The researchers conclude: "We stress the need to introduce aromatic herbs as a seasoning supplement in the diet of every age group." Right now at farmers' markets and plant nurseries across the country are little pots of herbs desperate for a good home. Take them in, nurture them, then rip off their limbs and eat them. Find this and other health information at: http://www.DrGreger.org/newsletters.html
CHANGE YOUR LIFE FOR THE BETTER:
- part of an ad for Mother Earth News magazine http://www.motherearthnews.com/
Not all Fruits and Vegetables are Alike by Dr. Gregor A major Harvard study of over 100,000 people recently found that fruit and vegetable consumption did not seem to dramatically reduce chronic disease risk, leading to misleading headlines like "Fruits and Veggies No Help Against Cancer." This finding may not be so surprising to those who've attended my lectures on cancer prevention, where I point out that America's favorite vegetables are 1. french fries and 2. iceberg lettuce. When the researchers looked more closely at the data they indeed found that those who ate the most of the healthiest produce (green leafy vegetables) were afforded significant protection against chronic disease, but even then the protection seemed modest. Perhaps this is because their intake was modest as well. Of the 100,000+ men and women studied, those that ate the most green leafy vegetables ate only one and a half servings a day-about 4 outer leaves worth of romaine lettuce. And so they compared that group to those that ate the equivalent of only about half a leaf a day. With a range of intake that narrow it is no wonder a greater difference between disease rates was not found. Again, this is where Dr. Campbell's "The China Study" comes in so handy. Evidence from the biggest study on diet cancer in human history, the EPIC study, which is currently following half a million people across ten countries, has found that indeed high fruit and vegetable consumption is linked to decreased cancer mortality. The USDA recently upped the official Federal recommendation for the minimum daily servings of fruits and vegetables to nine. Nine a day. Thought you weren't doing so good before? Well now you may be really behind! Make sure to take full advantage of this recommendation by including the nutrient superstars of the fruit and vegetable kingdom, dark green leafy vegetables and berries.
Awesome Vegan Ranch Dressing Preparation time: 3 Minutes. Serves 6. Ingredients (use vegan versions):
Mix all ingredients in food processor. I use vanilla flavored soy milk. Sounds unusual, but tastes great. This recipe tastes totally like the regular ranch dressings on shelves in supermarkets. Everybody loves it and they all want the recipe hearing that it is vegan and sooo much healthier for you. I use it on salads, brown rice, baked potatoes, steamed veggies and a little thicker (add a bit more Nayonaise) as a veggie dip for raw vegetables. For the vegetable dip I omit the vegan red wine vinegar. from: http://vegweb.com by way of: http://vegtampabay.newhumanitee.com/
August 22nd Dinner Ajanta Indian Cuisine, 5005 34th St. N. , St. Pete. It will be a vegan buffet, costing $11.50 for members ($13.50 for non-members). The speaker will be Mark Brinson, D.O.M., speaking on "Food as Medicine". Sign-up for our events is required. If you sign up, but then cannot make it, please call us to cancel. Volunteers Wanted: Want to be more involved with Tampa Bay Vegetarians? The organization goes on only with the support of volunteers. Please, just let us know!!! About Tampa Bay Vegetarians Our social group meets monthly, 4th Tuesday, at 7:00 PM at vegetarian or vegetarian-friendly restaurants. Click here for more information. |
|
