If you’ve ever felt sick after eating undercooked beans or rice, you know how it feels to ingest lectins, a family of proteins that act like a natural insecticide.
Eating too much undercooked lectin can cause nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.
According to a new study, just 30 calories a day of dark chocolate will lower your blood pressure by a couple of points without weight gain.
That’s about one Hershey’s Kiss a day.
I don’t mean to rain on anyone’s 2- or 3-point parade. But who in the world can eat only one Hershey’s Kiss or its equivalent every day?
Isn’t that like trying to eat one Lay’s Potato Chip?
It sounds like something to get excited about.
Functional foods have added ingredients to boost your immunity or improve your health or quality of life.
There are margarines and even a new pizza to lower cholesterol, yogurts to improve digestion, and soft drinks and bottled water to energize you, give you more vitamins, or even help you to lose weight.
Here’s the problem…
Obesity may be associated with major eye diseases like cataracts, macular degeneration, glaucoma, and diabetic retinopathy.
Weight-related factors like high blood pressure, diabetes and lack of exercise are apparently what set these problems in motion.
Eating fruits and vegetables can help to prevent these conditions.
Foods with high levels of omega-3 fatty acids and dark green, leafy vegetables like spinach are especially helpful.
I had previously talked about the importance of certain nutrients for vision in “Low Fat Diets: The Hidden Dangers.”
Lutein, which is found in egg yolks and spinach, can reduce the risk of macular degeneration. This eye disease affects your central vision with symptoms such as blurred vision, straight lines appearing to be crooked, and small blind spots.
Zeaxanthin, which is found in corn and egg yolks, protects your retina from the damaging effects of light. This reduces your risk of developing cataracts or age-related macular degeneration.
Exercise can also help to lower your risk for macular degeneration.
So protecting your vision appears to be another reason to eat right, exercise, and lose weight.
Technorati Tags: obesity, macular degeneration, cataracts, glaucoma, diabetes, high blood pressure
You may have heard that the ad campaigns suggesting milk can help you lose weight are ending. But did you hear about the spots?
Sounds good, but how does it taste? And does it really work?
In another example of functional foods — which are foods that provide a health benefit beyond basic nutrition — The Heart Healthy Road Pizza may soon roll out to your grocer’s shelves or your local pizzeria.
If they agree to distribute this new product.
I believe that our current obsession with “healthy eating” is unhealthy.
I also believe it’s the reason so many people have trouble losing weight and keeping it off.
Here’s why:
You gotta love the government’s strategy to help us “eat healthy.”
City after city in the U.S. has banned trans fats like they’re trying to protect us. Of course, they neglect to tell us that trans fats are being replaced mostly by a type of fat that could be even worse.
But I’ve already blogged about that in Ban Trans Fats, Increase Diabetes?
Clogging your arteries is so yesterday.
No, today I’d like to talk about the dunderheads who decided it was healthy to put arsenic in our food.
It could also kill you. Or just make you very sick. But it’s children who usually die.
So why don’t the experts issue a public warning about this danger?
Yesterday, I blogged about extreme weight loss methods causing hair loss.
Today, a new study in Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology, claims that weight loss surgery may cause memory loss, mental confusion, uncoordinated movement, and uncontrollable eye movements.
Patients may also experience weakness, tingling or numbness, seizures, or hearing loss.
