Foods to Fight Disease

When it comes to food, we can't ignore the facts - or the science. You need a healthy diet for a healthy life.

Research shows a healthy diet could help or prevent a number of health problems, including cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. And that number keeps growing as researchers learn more about how nutrition affects your health.

What You Should Know

Adopting a disease-fighting diet is easier than you think. When you shop, choose fruits, vegetables, beans, and whole grains, such as brown rice and whole-wheat bread. Avoid foods high in sugar and fat.

Here are some tips for arming yourself against disease with good-for-you foods:

Follow the Food Guide Pyramid

This guide tells you what foods to include in your diet each day and in what portions. It shows you how to have a balanced diet by eating foods from all the basic food groups:

• milk, yogurt and cheese (two to three servings; one cup of milk or yogurt would be one serving)

• meat, poultry, fish, dry beans, eggs, and nuts (two to three servings; one serving would be two eggs, ½ cup of tuna fish, or about ½ of a skinless, cooked chicken breast)

• fruit (two to four servings; one serving would be a medium-sized apple or banana, ½ cup of canned fruit, or ¼ cup of dried fruit)

• vegetable (three to five servings; one serving would be ½ cup of raw or cooked vegetables or one cup of raw, leafy vegetables, such as spinach or lettuce)

• bread, cereal, rice, and pasta (six to 11 servings; a slice of bread, ½ bagel or English muffin, or ½ cup of pasta would be a serving)

Think colour

When it comes to fruit and vegetables, eat lots of deep-coloured produce. Oranges and dark berries, like blueberries and cranberries, are especially rich in natural plant chemicals that can protect you against diseases like cancer and heart disease. Orange and dark green vegetables, such as carrots, sweet potatoes, and spinach are also rich in these plant chemicals.

Remember fibre

Eating lots of fruits and vegetables will give your body extra water and fibre, which will help keep your digestive tract clean and healthy. Beans, bran, whole-grain breads and brown rice, and high-fibre cereals are also good sources of fibre.

Make good bacteria your friend

Fermented foods like yogurt are especially good for you as you get older because they contain "good" bacteria that keep your digestive tract healthy. Check food labels for these bacteria.. The good bacteria in these foods also fight the bad bacteria that can enter your body through spoiled food and make you sick.

Eat fatty fish

Your body needs some fats to stay healthy, and the fats found in fish like salmon and tuna are good for your heart. Fish also provides a rich source of protein without the large amount of unhealthy fat you get from red meat.

Try soya

Eating about one to two ounces of soya protein daily can help lower cholesterol and unhealthy fat in your diet and protect you from heart disease. You can find many different soya products, which come from soyabeans, in your food store. The most popular are tofu, soya milk (in different flavours), soya burgers and hot dogs, soya ice cream, soya nut butter, and soya flour.

Drink plenty of water

To stay healthy, drink at least eight glasses of water daily. Pay special attention to drinking enough because your thirst decision dulls with age, and remember that if you're thirsty, you're already dehydrated.

Don't abstain if you don't have to

Beer and red wine, in moderation, are another rich source of plant chemicals. This means no more than one glass of beer or red wine a day for women, two for men.

Following a healthy diet, along with regular exercise, will prevent you from gaining weight, which is important for good health. Losing 10 percent of your body weight, for instance, could be enough to lower your cholesterol. Choose healthy foods for a longer and healthier life!

Don't lose out, watch this space for regular updates!

About The Author

Jon Wickham is the owner of Mabels?Maintaining Bygone Times, containing numerous articles thoughtfully researched mainly for the older person. You may access these articles by visiting http://www.mabels.org.uk/ - You will learn about the best tips to improve your health, fitness, finances, safety as well as information on nostalgic topics, places to visit & leisure & lifestyle.

Letter: Many lifestyle doctors well-versed on nutrition Albany Times Union Ms. DiMarzio wrote that she and her health professional colleagues provide accurate nutrition information to clients, not opinions based on a belief system. I interpret this to mean that any dietitian who shares the Physicians Committee's belief that ...

Another View: Bad nutrition is not just a matter of money, but also behavior Press Herald It is argued that General Assistance should not be cut, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program should be funded and commodity crops should not be subsidized (since doing so raises the cost of more nutritious fruits and vegetables). The editorial ...

New era of fisheries policy needed to secure nutrition for millions - Science ... Science Daily (press release) May 17, 2013 — A new study published in PNAS argues that for fisheries policies to be effective they must take in to account not just fish stock conservation and environmental issues, but also research data on the patterns and dynamics of fish trade ...

Food and Nutrition Policy Welcome AllAfrica.com The launch of the Food and Nutrition Security Policy by President Mugabe on Thursday is a move in the right direction for the nation. Yet, the policy has placed a high demand on Government to ensure that practical action is taken for the country to ... and more »

Nutrition tip of the week: Make the most of grocery dollars Lakenewsonline.com With everything costing more these days, it can prove difficult to provide your family with nutritious, inexpensive meals. Although it seems that junk foods may be a better bargain than fruits and vegetables, junk foods lack the essential nutrients ...

Daily Mail

Keep calm and eat like a granny: Nutrition advice given to Britons during ... Daily Mail A stuffed baked potato can be a course in itself. Bridget Benelam, a scientist at the British Nutrition Foundation, says: 'A medium-sized baked potato, with skin, provides a third of the recommended daily amount (RDA) of Vitamin C – twice that of an apple.

Funding nutrition: a moral imperative, an effective investment UNICEF (press release) PARIS, 15 May 2013 – An international conference to fight child malnutrition called by UNICEF ended today in Paris with a call to hasten world progress on child nutrition and the funding for it. “The Paris conference produced a very strong consensus on ...

Floyd County Nutrition Coalition hands out 1000 tomato plants Newsandtribune NEW ALBANY — It will take a little digging and watering, but the Floyd County Nutrition Coalition provided residents with a way to eat healthier without having to visit the grocery store. The organization recently handed out 1,000 free tomato plants ...

OregonLive.com

Mrs. Oregon Tara Arnold uses crown to promote exercise, nutrition OregonLive.com Mrs. Oregon Tara Arnold fights childhood obesity Pediatric nurse Tara Arnold entered the Mrs. Oregon pageant with the idea that she could use the platform to combat childhood obesity. After winning, she set off on her "Movin' It With Mrs. Oregon ... and more »

Working to improve nutrition in schools - Washington Post Washington Post (blog) First lady Michelle Obama visited the U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) earlier this month and praised the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, the 2010 law designed to make school lunches more nutritious. Audrey Rowe, the administrator of the USDA's ...