Shallots
Shallots (Allium ascalonium) grow in clusters of bulbs. Like garlic, they contain cloves, usually only two, but sometimes up to ten. Shallots can be grey or reddish, or more commonly coppery-brown, and have a more tapered shape than their onion cousins. They are a very good source of vitamin A, vitamin B6 and manganese and a good source of vitamin C, folate and potassium. (6)  Shallots are a favorite for gourmet cooking, with a flavor that is sometimes described as a combination of sweet onion and garlic.

This luscious garlicky green sauce takes only five minutes to whip up in a blender or food processor. AICR’s version uses summer–fresh basil, garlic and tomatoes, as well as healthful spinach, nuts and olive oil. You get a wide variety of cancer–fighting phytochemicals—ranging from flavonoids in basil and lutein in the spinach to phenols in olive oil and organosulfur compounds in the garlic.

Overweight children tend to become overweight adults, so prevention of weight-related illness and disease should begin during childhood. If your child or teen has a weight problem:

• Seek professional advice from your doctor and a registered dietitian. Together, determine an approach that’s right for the nutritional and developmental needs of your child.
• Encourage physical activities your child enjoys and make it a family affair. When role models are active, kids are usually active, too.
• Avoid referring to foods as “good” or “bad.” Let your child know all foods fit into a healthful eating plan.
• Encourage your whole family to eat healthfully, not just your overweight child. Don’t make your child feel singled out.
• Fill your kitchen with healthy snack options such as cut fruit and vegetables and low-fat dairy products.

For more information on nutrition and healthy weight information for your child, visit the Nutrition for Kids and Teens and Healthy Weight sections.

Produced by ADA’s Public Relations Team

By Margaret Furtado, M.S., R.D.

Those super-heavy, “all-natural” loaves of bread may look and sound like they’re healthy, but their density signals that they probably contain more calories than most other loaves. Plus, they’re typically made with simple sugars like high-fructose corn syrup, dextrose, and maltose that will add even more calories.

If you’re watching your weight and wondering, “Can I eat bread?”–don’t despair. I’m here to tell you that you really can have your bread and eat it too without automatically putting on weight. There’s a simple rule–the weight and starch connection–that will help you choose a loaf wisely.

What’s the weight and starch connection?

Starches, such as breads and baked goods, usually contain a standard amount of calories by weight, about 80 calories per ounce, whereas heavier breads are going to contain a higher calorie count. Most slices of regular bread weigh about an ounce (80 calories); a single slice of dense, “all-natural” bread, however, might weigh 2 or even 3 ounces (160 to 240 calories).

So if you’re looking for a low-cal bread, start by assessing how much the loaves weigh. Pick up two different loaves, holding one in each hand; the one that is lighter is generally going to be the one with fewer calories. It’s that simple.

Muffins and most other baked goods, like banana breads and plain cakes, contain roughly 125 calories per ounce. So if you pick up a “healthy,” “all-natural” bran muffin and it feels like a brick, consider the caloric consequences: A standard 4-ounce muffin weighs in at around 500 calories, almost the equivalent of 7 slices of standard bread.

Remember to “weigh in” on breads and starches before you buy them–it’s easy, free, and could perhaps save you a ton of calories in the long run!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Always wash produce

At this point, though, there is no evidence that pesticide exposure can actually cause ADHD, stated the authors of a paper appearing in the June issue of Pediatrics.

Certainly parents and children shouldn’t swear off fruits and veggies, said study lead author Maryse Bouchard, an adjunct researcher in the department of environmental and occupational health at the University of Montreal and at Sainte-Justine University Hospital Centre. However, “I think it’s safe to say that we should as much as possible reduce our exposure to pesticides,” she said.

That would meaning going organic, buying at farmers’ markets and washing fruits and vegetables thoroughly before consuming them, she said.

“I always encourage my families to embrace healthy lifestyles in general,” agreed Dr. Nakia Scott, clinical assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine and a child psychiatrist with Lone Star Circle of Care. “I think it’s much more important that they’re eating fruits, vegetables, nuts and grains instead of sodas and fast foods and I’m not saying that they’re not going to eat any produce because it might contain pesticides.”

Previous research has shown an association between both prenatal and postnatal organophosphate exposure and developmental problems in young children.

But most prior studies have focused on excessive rather than average exposure to organophosphates.

“Organophosphates are one of the most widely used pesticides in agriculture to protect crops and fruits and vegetables,” Bouchard noted. “For children, the major source of exposure would be the diet — fruits and vegetables in particular.”

In their study, Bouchard and her colleagues analyzed data on pesticide exposure and ADHD in more than 1,100 American children aged 8 to 15.
Children with higher pesticide levels in their urine were more likely to have ADHD, the team found.

“The analysis showed that the higher the level of exposure [as measured by metabolites in the urine], the higher the odds of having ADHD,” Bouchard added.

Just how might pesticides harm brain development? According to the authors, high doses of organophosphates may inhibit acetylcholinesterase, a nervous system enzyme. Lower doses of the pesticide may affect different growth factors and neurotransmitters.
The findings, if replicated, may provide another clue into the causes of ADHD, a condition which affects three to seven percent of school-aged children, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“We do have a fair amount of evidence about other causes of ADHD,” Scott said. “We know that ADHD is a highly heritable disorder. At least one-third of fathers who have had ADHD in their youth have a child with ADHD.”

“There are also prenatal risks such as tobacco exposure and alcohol exposure,” she added. “There’s also a possibility that children who are exposed to high levels of lead prior to the age of six may develop ADHD.”

In my business, I see a lot of diabetics or folks that just want to lose weight and want to know the best foods to eat. When it comes to grains, I always let them know that the less processed the better because whole grains provide more nutrients such as vitamins, minerals plus more fiber than ground grains. The following is an excellent article explaining the digestive benefits of whole grains — Lori

By Diana Mirkin
co-author of The Whole Grains Cookbook

When grains are processed into flour or cereals, the primary concern is loss of nutrients. However, if you grind your own grains or use products that are made from the whole grain without discarding anything, you get all or most of the nutrients of the original grain. But grains that have been broken apart in any way will be digested quicker. That’s a big disadvantage for diabetics and dieters.

Carbohydrates are long chains of sugars, and only single sugars can be absorbed from your intestines into your bloodstream. The foods that cause rapid rise in blood sugar are those that are digested most quickly; the worst offenders are sugar and anything made from flour.

When you eat whole grains (seeds), it takes a long time to break apart the capsule, separate the carbohydrates from the fiber, and completely digest each grain. Your blood sugar rises slowly, stays slightly elevated for a long time (so you don’t feel hungry again soon after eating) and never reaches the high levels that come from sugar or flour.

Grains that are eaten as whole seeds are also more filling and satisfying because they have more bulk and take longer to break down. Part of their bulk comes from water: each seed swells up when it cooks and soaks up water, which is carried in the grain until it is completely broken down in your digestive tract.

The water you drink, on the other hand, is absorbed directly from your stomach almost as soon as it gets there. Water and other liquids do not “fill you up.” Processed grains absorb some water when you cook them, but less than the whole seeds; and the water is separated out more quickly during the digestive process.

Most people can easily eat two or three cups of pasta, but you will find that you feel full with just a cup of whole grains, or even less.

The whole grains are chewy and take more time to eat. Some of the seeds are broken apart by your chewing, but not all of them. Some of the grains may even pass through your system undigested.

On the other hand, anything made from flour or grains that have been cut, flaked, rolled or shredded has been thoroughly pre-chewed and pre-digested for you. You may get all the nutrients of the whole grains, but you don’t get the full benefits of bulk and slow transit through your digestive system.

Whole grain pastas, breads and cereals are certainly better than refined grain products, but to get ALL the benefits of whole grains, eat the seeds themselves.

Diana Mirkin, wife of nutrition expert Dr. Gabe Mirkin, is the director of Dr. Mirkin’s DASH-Plus Cooking School. She has taught thousands of people how to make healthy foods taste delicious. She is co-author with Dr. Mirkin of The Healthy Heart Miracle, The Whole Grains Cookbook, The 20/30 Fat and Fiber Diet Plan, and Fat Free, Flavor Full. She has developed hundreds of recipes that follow Dr. Mirkin’s guidelines for healthy eating, featuring whole grains, beans, vegetables and fruit.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The number of Americans with diabetes will nearly double over the next 25 years, rising from 23.7 million in 2009 to 44.1 million in 2034, according to a study by the University of Chicago.

In the same period, medical costs associated with treating the disease will triple from 113 billion dollars to 336 billion dollars, even without a rise in the incidence of obesity, according to the study published in the December issue of Diabetes Care.

“If we don’t change our diet and exercise habits or find new, more effective and less expensive ways to prevent and treat diabetes, we will find ourselves in a lot of trouble as a population,” said lead author Elbert Huang.

The study said its projections, despite being significantly higher than other recent estimates, may be too conservative because they assume the rate of diabetes and obesity, a risk factor for the disease, will remain stable.

In 1991, scientists projected that the number of Americans with diabetes would reach 11.6 million people in 2030, but some 20 years before that date the figure is already double that.

The study’s authors acknowledge that obesity rates have risen steadily in past years, but predict that they will level out over the next decade and then decline slightly from the current 30 percent level to around 27 percent in 2033.

The US health program Medicare, which provides health care for older Americans, spends some 45 billion dollars a year on diabetes treatment for 8.2 million people.

By 2034, the number of people with diabetes covered by the program is expected to rise to 14.6 million, according to the study, with associated costs rising to 171 billion dollars a year.

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Cancer is becoming more prevalent in our society. You’ve not just read about it, but you’ve seen it among those you know or perhaps experienced it yourself.

It’s tough news to hear even in the best of circumstances. But this article might provide a boost to your commitment to battle the affliction, whether personally or vicariously — Lori Drummond, R.D., L.D..

Dr. Dean Ornish and other research physicians recently published a randomized controlled trial showing that the progression of early-stage prostate cancer may be stopped or perhaps even reversed by making similar changes in diet and lifestyle.

This was the first randomized controlled trial showing that the progression of any type of cancer may be modified just by changing what we eat and how we live. What’s true for prostate cancer may be true for breast cancer as well.

Recent studies by the Preventive Medicine Research Institute continue to show how dynamically lifestyle changes can improve our health and well-being, even on a genetic and cellular level.

In November 2008, The Lancet Oncology published PMRI’s study showing that changing lifestyle significantly increases telomerase and, thus, telomere length. Telomeres are the ends of our chromosomes that control how long we live.

As your telomeres get longer, your life gets longer. This is the first time that any intervention, even drugs, has been shown to significantly increase telomerase.

This is the same cohort of patients reported changes in gene expression in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in May 2008. After only three months, over 500 genes were beneficially affected—upregulating (“turning on”) disease-preventing genes, and downregulating (“turning off”) genes that promote cancer, heart disease, inflammation, and other illnesses.

This is the first time that comprehensive lifestyle changes have been shown to beneficially affect gene expression in men with prostate cancer.

These studies show how powerful comprehensive lifestyle changes can be, how dynamic these mechanisms are, and how quickly benefits may occur. It’s not all in our genes.

When you make comprehensive lifestyle changes, most people find that they feel so much better, so quickly, it reframes the reason for changing from fear of dying to joy of living. Joy and love are powerful, sustainable motivators, but fear and deprivation are not.

You have a full spectrum of nutrition and lifestyle choices. It’s not all or nothing. To the degree that you move in a healthful direction along this spectrum, you’re likely to look better, feel better, lose weight and gain health.

Can healthy eating habits combat depression? According to recent research from the University College London it’s very possible.

Many people eat diets that are high in fat, but are comprised mainly of trans fat or saturated fat from fried or fast foods. Not good, says Dr. Martinez-Gonzalez.

“The membranes of our neurons are composed of fat, so the quality of fat that you are eating definitely has an influence on the quality of the neuron membranes, and the body’s synthesis of neurotransmitters is dependent on the vitamins you’re eating,” Martinez-Gonzalez said.

It’s important to eat fats, but choosing the right type of fats is key. In simple language, fats are essential for the utilization of vitamins that assist with proper brain function. Our brains use fatty acids from fat to create the specialized cells that help us to think and feel.

We need a balance of fats so that our diets are comprised of 20% of total fats, with only 10% of total fat coming from the saturated kind like milk, coconut oil, butter or fats that are solid at room temperature. (Read more by Lori on this topic after the article below).

LONDON (AFP) – A diet heavy in processed and fatty foods increases the risk of depression, according to British research published on Monday.

Researchers at University College London also found that a diet including plenty of fresh vegetables, fruit and fish could help prevent the onset of depression.

They compared participants — all civil servants — who ate a diet largely based on “whole” foods with a second group who mainly ate fried food, processed meat, high-fat dairy products and sweetened desserts.

Taking into account other indicators of a healthy lifestyle such as not smoking and taking physical exercise, those who ate the whole foods had a 26 percent lower risk of depression than those who ate mainly processed foods.

People with a diet heavy in processed food had a 58 percent higher risk of depression.

The researchers put forward several explanations for the findings, which are published in the British Journal of Psychiatry.

Firstly, the high level of antioxidants in fruits and vegetables could have a protective effect, as previous studies have shown higher antioxidant levels to be associated with a lower risk of depression.

Secondly, eating lots of fish may protect against depression because it contains high levels of the sort of polyunsaturated fatty acids which stimulate brain activity.

And they said it was possible that a “whole food” diet protects against depression because of the combined effect of consuming nutrients from lots of different types of food, rather than the effect of one single nutrient.

The researchers concluded: “Our research suggests that healthy eating policies will generate additional benefits to health and well-being, and that improving people’s diet should be considered as a potential target for preventing depressive disorders.”

The study was carried out on 3,486 people with an average age of 55, who worked for the civil service in London.

Each participant completed a questionnaire about their eating habits, and a self-assessment for depression.

(Lori’s comments continued from top of article)…

 

Trans fats are the fats that have been under high heat and the molecular structure has been changed. These altered fats end up “clogging” our arteries and should be avoided.

Food is the brain’s primary link to its environment and to its healthy function at the chemical level. What you eat affects the brain chemicals that influence your mood, behavior, thought processes and emotional reactions that ultimately create the story of your life.

Fortunately, though, what you eat is within your power to control. The more you know about the food-brain connection, the more empowered you are to make dietary decisions that benefit your brain and combat depression.

Eat healthy fats and the next time someone calls you “fat head,” you can be proud!