Have You Eaten Your Purple Today?

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Misty L. Trepke

http://www..com

 

Have You Eaten Your Purple Today?

 

" Ancient man ate over 800 varieties of fruits and vegetables, and

modern man eats three: iceberg lettuce, French fries, and ketchup, "

says Heber, author of the book What Color Is Your Diet?. The problem

with such a limited diet, he says, is that " studies from the American

Institute of Cancer Research ... show that populations that eat over

seven servings a day of fruits and vegetables have a 50% reduced risk

of the common forms of cancer. "

 

Heber has developed a simple system to help people eat well: Just

look at your plate.

 

" If your plate is beige and brown, you're in deep trouble, " he says.

You need to eat at least one food from each of the following color

groups every day:

 

Red: Foods in this group include tomatoes and tomato products and

contain lycopene, which inhibits breast cancer growth and has an

antioxidant effect.

 

Green: Broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, and bok choy are all in

the green group of foods, which contain isothiocyanates. These

stimulate enzymes in the body to scavenge and remove pesticides and

carcinogens.

 

Green/yellow: These foods include spinach, kale, collard greens, and

mustard greens, and contain lutein, which helps prevent blindness and

inhibits tumor cell growth.

 

Orange: Packed with beta and alpha carotenes, foods like butternut

squash and carrots have anti-cancer and antioxidant effects and are

good for vision.

 

Orange/yellow: This is the citrus fruit group and should be eaten for

their flavonoids and vitamin C content. The skins of these fruits

also contain limonoids, which fight cancer.

 

Red/purple: This popular food group includes red wine, raspberries,

blueberries, and strawberries. They contain polyphenols, which fight

cancer.

 

White/green: This group, which includes garlic and onions, contain

cancer-fighting allyl sulfides.

 

" By eating from each of these seven groups every day, " says Heber,

" you reduce your caloric intake and you benefit in terms of cancer. "

His book contains menus and recipes that cover two weeks of eating

right.

 

How Super Is Your Food?

 

Dubbed " America's Healthiest Mom " by the Ladies' Home Journal,

author, personal trainer, and lifestyle trainer Jyl Steinback has

just finished her eighth cookbook, Superfoods: Cook Your Way to

Health, published by QVC. She agrees with Heber that many of the most

colorful foods are the healthiest, and her focus is also on eating

lots of fruits and veggies.

 

" Superfoods are everyday foods with an abundance of nutrition, " she

says. " My [food] pyramid is a little different from the regular

pyramid. ... The bottom level is fruits and vegetables. You need to

have six to nine [servings of] fruits and vegetables a day. ...

Excluding bodybuilders and things like that, all the [protein] you

need is about two servings a day. "

 

That may sound like a lot of produce, but keep in mind that a serving

of fruit or vegetables is half a cup cooked or one cup raw. A serving

of protein is about the size of a deck of cards, and servings of side

dishes like potatoes and rice should be about the size of your fist.

 

For cancer prevention, Steinback's top superfoods are garlic,

soybeans, cabbage, ginger, carrots, celery, parsley, and licorice

(not licorice candy -- there's no real licorice in that).

 

There's been some controversy on whether soy really does protect

women from breast cancer. Both Steinback and Heber say it does. Wu's

research has also shown that eating soy, like keeping your weight

down, may also reduce levels of female hormones and thus reduce the

risk of breast cancer.

 

Making the Change

 

Are you a junk food and soda addict who wants to eat right? Steinback

recommends making changes that you can live with. If you can't

survive without soda, limit yourself to one a day. Love juice? Stick

to juices that have actual fruit juice as the first ingredient and

limit yourself to one glass a day or cut it with water and have two

glasses a day.

 

Do your grocery shopping at the periphery of the store, where most of

the natural products like fruits and vegetables are. Avoid high-fat,

packaged, and processed food as much as possible.

 

Always have fruits and veggies cleaned, cut, and ready to eat in the

refrigerator. Steinback even invests in pre-cut veggie trays and adds

healthy dips made with fat-free cottage cheese, sour cream, or tofu.

 

And give it time.

 

" It takes 21 days to make a habit and 30 days to make a lifestyle

change, " she says.

 

source:

http://aolsvc.health.webmd.aol.com/living_better_content/her/article/

1689.51625

WebMD with AOL Health - Can You Eat Yourself Healthy?

 

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