Doctor's Little Black Bag
Healing Foods
The right foods will protect you from most common ailments.
Ever major medical condition is affected by the foods we eat. In fact, eating right - in combination with proper preventive medical care - is often the most effective defense we have against disease.
Keep your heart healthy
Arteriosclerosis - hardening of the arteries - leads to the most common form of heart disease, which is the leading cause of death and disability in the UNITED STATES.Arteriosclerosis refers to the cholesterol and other deposits that block the coronary arteries feeding the heart muscle. Blockage prevents the passage of blood, which has oxygen and other nutrients needed by the heart to beat efficiently. These obstructing plaques are what cause heart attacks.
Self-defense:
Reduce your intake of both saturated fat and high cholesterol foods. The most common source of saturated fat is animal and whole milk dairy products. Bacon and other meats "marbled" with fat are the worst offenders. Caviar, pate and egg yokes are loaded with cholesterol.Eat no more than six ounces of animal protein including fish daily. Concentrate the rest of your diet on fresh fruits and vegetables that are prepared without oil, butter or cream and whole grains, breads and muffins that don't contain eggs or coconut as major ingredients.
Helpful:
Aim for at least seven daily servings of fruits and / or vegetables and six servings of whole grains.When cooking, limit oils to two tablespoons of monounsaturated oils, olive or canola and etc. per day.
Important:
Before altering any diet, see your doctor for test on your HDL ("good" cholesterol), LDL ("bad" cholesterol) and triglyceride courts. The ratio between total cholesterol and HDL should not exceed 4.5 - and the lower, the better.Examples:
Someone with total cholesterol of 300 and HDL of 75 has a ratio of 4 (300 divided by 75) someone with total cholesterol of 200 and HDL of 30 has a ratio of 6.7 (200 divided by 30).PREVENTING CANCER
Lung, colon, breast, uterine, oral and skin cancer account for more than half of the deaths from cancer.
Self-defense:
You can lessen your risk of developing them through dietary and lifestyle changes. Strategies*
Reduce your consumption of saturated and polyunsaturated fats, which are in vegetable and animal oils. Also, use monounsaturated fats found in olive and canola oils, but in moderation. The American Cancer Society recommends you get no more than 30% of your daily calories from fat, but most cardiologists suggest no more than 25% of daily calories from fat.