Posts Tagged ‘fruits’

All things related to health are related to nutrition. Any eye health guide has to emphasize this connection.

Vision 

Your eyes may the window to your soul; they are also a reflection of your health. Many eye problems are a refection of your nutritional status. As people age they may experience vision loss due to cataracts, macular degeneration (AMD) and other sight problems.

Eye Health Study   

Agricultural Research Service (ARS) – funded scientists at the Laboratory for Nutrition and Vision Research are finding that healthy eating can reduce health costs by protecting the vision and the quality of life. The laboratory study directed by Allen Taylor is part of the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutritional Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston. Mass.

One study indicated that regularly consuming a combination of protective nutrients and a low-glycemic-index, or “slow carb,” diet provided an AMD protective effect. A food’s glycemic index is an indicator of how fast the carbohydrate it contains will spike blood sugar levels. The macula is a 3-millimeter-wide yellow spot near the center of the retina responsible for the central field of vision.

For the study, the researchers analyzed dietary intake and other data from more than 4,000 men and women, aged 55 to 80, who had participated in the long-term Age-Related Eye Disease Study, or AREDS. Led by Chung-Jung Chiu, the researchers ranked intake of each of several nutrients consumed during the AREDS study, then calculated a compound score to gauge their combined dietary effect on the risk of AMD. The scoring system allowed them to evaluate associations between individual – and combined – dietary nutrients.

The nutrients that were found to be most protective in combination with the low-glycemic-index diet were vitamins C and E, zinc, lutein, zeaxanthin, and the omega-3 fatty acids known as DHA and EPA. The 2009 study was published in Ophthalmology

No Surprise

It’s no surprise that every cell, function, and organ is dependent on the nutrition that you supply them with. It is simply, disease can’t take root as easily in a healthy body. The way to good vision is by consuming a nutrient rich diet.

Most fruits and vegetables supply vitamin C in ample amounts. This list includes oranges, grapefruit, strawberries, papaya, green peppers, and tomatoes. Vitamin E is found in nuts, seeds, and wheat germ. Lutein and Zeaxanthin are found together in many foods. Dark green leafy vegetables are a good source. It is also found in smaller amounts in broccoli, orange peppers, corn, peas, persimmons, and tangerines.

These are delicious ways to both general health and vision health.  Achieving the benefits of good eyesight supports vascular health within the eye and improves visual acuity. It has been found than carotenoids protect against free-radical induced DNA damage. The density of your macular pigments composed (composed of Lutein, Zeaxanthin, meso-zeaxanthin) is essential to proper vision.

These may be big words, but all one has to know is eating lots lutein and zeaxanthin containing vegetables can help maintain the structural integrity of the macula.

As We See It

Plant compounds halt the progression of both macular degeneration, and cataracts. These are a significant cause of decreased vision. To halt vision loss with nutritional interventions is a very attractive solution.

Phytonutrients your personal pharmacy means that it doesn’t take a hike to the Pharmacy; just a few steps to your garden will help heal what ails you.

phytonutrients

Phytonutrients are compounds that naturally occur in plants and provide a range of potential health benefits. It’s believed that the health benefits come from the pigments in fruits and vegetables that give them their vibrant colors. By boosting phytonutrient intake, it can help decrease the risk for certain chronic diseases, including cardiovascular, cancer, and diabetes.

A study, supported by the Nutrilite Health Institute and presented at the Experimental Biology Meeting, April 25, in Anaheim, California, found that despite the availability of a wide range of foods that contain phytonutrients, many Americans are getting phytonutrients from a relatively small number of specific foods that are not necessarily the most concentrated sources.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise; processed food is the food group of choice. With that being the main stay of the American diet, eating has become risky. There is no understanding of what are the primary foods for the human body to function at peak performance.

The next generation will have no compelling evidence, because this is seldom stated as the cause of ill health. The drop in plant consumption has resulted in many of the chronic health conditions plaguing us.

Produce Intake Among Americans

A previous study conducted by the Nutrilite Health Institute concluded that 8 in 10 Americans have a Phytonutrient gap, which translates to a lack of fruit and vegetable intake. If such great things come in small packages that could result in better health you would think that we would partake of it.

If fruits and vegetables were pharmaceuticals we would have the medical community touting the remarkable results that it produced.

Common drugs accelerates mental and physical decline in the elderly. Yet, changing to a good diet curtails both of these events. Pulling all the research together shows that produce promotes health and longevity.

Phytonutrients offer powerful protection optimizing digestive, circulatory, hormone function, bladder, liver, pancreas and vision function.

With all the health giving benefits produce intake which is the foundation of health is quite low. This is more than an apple a day will keep the doctor away. It literally is the fountain of youth that everyone is so intent on seeking. It is right in front of your nose, the plant food that lines the produce department of super-markets, and the farmers markets that spot the landscape.

A Short List of Potential Live Extending Produce

Beta-carotene – carrots

Beta-cryptoxanthin – oranges/orange juice

Lutein/zeaxanthin – spinach

Ellagic acid – strawberries

Isothiocyanates- mustard

For each of these phytonutrients, however, there is a more highly concentrated food that could be chosen instead:

• Beta-carotene – sweet potatoes
  Sweet potatoes have nearly double the beta-carotene compared to carrots in a single serving.
• Beta-cryptoxanthin – papaya
  A serving of fresh papaya has roughly 15 times the beta-cryptoxanthin of an orange.
• Lutein/zeaxanthin – kale
  By substituting cooked kale for raw spinach, it is possible to triple lutein/zeaxanthin intake.
• Ellagic acid – raspberries
  Serving per serving, raspberries have roughly three times the ellagic acid compared to strawberries.
• Isothiocyanates – watercress
  Just one cup of watercress as the basis for a salad has about the same level of isothiocyanates as four teaspoons of mustard.

The subject of vegetarianism usually centers on compassion for all the Earth’s creatures. This is noble and commendable. However, it is an illusion. While we concede that an animal is considered a higher form of life than a plant, we can’t negate the fact that a plant is a life form. This is the basis for the vegetarian dilemma.

Actually

Actually plants are more complex than we think. They like all living things want to survive and react to treats. It is known they respond to their environment. Playing music and talking to plants is not an uncommon practice.

Scientifically Speaking

“Plants are not static or silly,” said Monika Hilker of the Institute of Biology at the Free University of Berlin. “They respond to tactile cues, they recognize different wavelengths of light, they listen to chemical signals, they can even talk” through chemical signals. Touch, sight, hearing, speech. “These are sensory modalities and abilities we normally think of as only being in animals,” Dr. Hilker said.

Plants can’t run away from a threat but they can stand their ground. “They are very good at avoiding getting eaten,” said Linda Walling of the University of California, Riverside. “It’s an unusual situation where insects can overcome those defenses.”

“I’m amazed at how fast some of these things happen,” said Consuelo M. De Moraes of Pennsylvania State University. Dr. De Moraes and her colleagues did labeling experiments to clock a plant’s systemic response time and found that, in less than 20 minutes from the moment the caterpillar had begun feeding on its leaves, the plant had plucked carbon from the air and forged defensive compounds from scratch.

“Even if you have quite a bit of knowledge about plants,” Dr. De Moraes said, “it’s still surprising to see how sophisticated they can be.”

Fruitarians Argument

Fruitarians are known to take the high moral ground. There argument is when fruit is ripe it falls to the ground, without our help. This is for the most part true. Ripe fruit will leave the branches when fully done. Now the real argument is this healthy for long term sustenance for the human race?

In reality the vegetarian dilemma was not a part of the dialog of early man. You ate to survive, and survived on what was around.

Morally and Ethically

Our focus is to be stewards of the planet. Before we concede more, we must realize that what goes into soda pop, cookies, pastry, and processed food is where the argument should be. Pharmaceuticals are in our lakes, and drinking water. The more scientist invent the more we change the environment.

Grazing cows, deer, goats, and bison live off the pastures. Now if we want to be morally right we can consume the animals and leave the plants alone. Ethically living is to appreciate and not plunder the land. Cattle are not to be fed garbage so they become fatter faster.

The Wrong Argument

The argument that most of these groups ponder is neither going to solve or save the resources. The argument is usually among the groups that already believe in conservation. Fruitarians will try to up vegetarians who will then go on to up the people on paleo (cave man) diets. These are considered the diets of our distant ancestors, that roamed the earth eons ago.

Since most of us were not around to confirm this information, it would make sense to say that a whole food natural diet is fine. We always aspire to do the right thing and at the same time win the argument.

We are at a crossroad and semantics will not save the environment. We can’t dismiss the fact that we may never see eye to eye. What we need is to stop arguing among ourselves and engage in going forward together and find opportunities to steer the planet in the right direction. We can’t afford to be fighting while trying to survive on a planet in peril.