Carotenoids, more than meets the eye.

Photo: Peddhapati

Did your mother bribe you to eat your carrots to protect your eyes?

"Here honey, these mushy canned vegetables are magic!"  Ya right mom.

Here's the lowdown on carotenoids...

They need fat to be absorbed.  Olive oil anyone ;)

Carotenoids simplified = orange vegetables. (Eat the rainbow!)

They have Vitamin A activity and convert to retinol. 1 Cup of pumpkin has 245% of your daily value of Vitamin A.  Wo!

Vitamin A boosts your immune system

They also act as antioxidants

In your eyes carotenoids stop blue and near-ultraviolet light from being absorbed to protect your retina. These lights can also cause cataracts. Dang it my mom was right! The degeneration of the retina is the leading cause of blindness in adults.  Protect those eyes! Don your giant sunglasses and eat those orange vegetables.

Carotenoids help your cells to communicate with each other.  This is especially important because cancerous cells lose this ability.

Carotenoids may protect against Cardiovascular Disease as they are very fat soluble and travel with lipoproteins in your bloodstream.  They have shown some reduction in IMT halting or reversing atherosclerosis. (sorry, big science words...are you still here? whew!)  This seems to indicate an anti-inflammatory effect, which is one of our highest goals to fight our modern diseases.

Eat up!

Eat raw vegetables and gently cooked too.  To absorb all the nutrients you can.

Alpha-Carotene Content of Selected Foods
Food	Serving	Alpha-Carotene (mg)
Pumpkin, canned	1 cup	11.7
Carrot juice, canned	1 cup (8 fl oz)	10.2
Carrots, cooked	1 cup	5.9
Carrots, raw	1 medium	2.1
Mixed vegetables, frozen, cooked	1 cup	1.8
Winter squash, baked	1 cup	1.4
Plantains, raw	1 medium	0.8
Collards, frozen, cooked	1 cup	0.2
Tomatoes, raw	1 medium	0.1
Tangerines, raw	1 medium	0.09
Peas, edible-podded, frozen, cooked	1 cup	0.09

Beta-Carotene Content of Selected Foods
Food	Serving	Beta-Carotene (mg)
Carrot juice, canned	1 cup (8 fl oz)	22.0
Pumpkin, canned	1 cup	17.0
Spinach, frozen, cooked	1 cup	13.8
Sweet potato, baked	1 medium	13.1
Carrots, cooked	1 cup	13.0
Collards, frozen, cooked	1 cup	11.6
Kale, frozen, cooked	1 cup	11.5
Turnip greens, frozen, cooked	1 cup	10.6
Pumpkin pie	1 piece	7.4
Winter squash, cooked	1 cup	5.7
Carrots, raw	1 medium	5.1
Dandelion greens, cooked	1 cup	4.1
Cantaloupe, raw	1 cup	3.2

2.

Now where will we find some orange vegetables around here?

Photo: Liz West

Warnings:

"additional β-carotene from supplements is unlikely to be beneficial and may actually be harmful" 1.

Sources:

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2601/2

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carotenoid

2. http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/phytochemicals/carotenoids/

Tomatoes- How to preserve them and how they preserve you!

Photo: Francesco Bartaloni

There's a chance that you are knee deep in tomatoes right now- in a panic about what to do with all these tomatoes!  It's a love hate relationship.  You hate grocery store tomatoes and so you labor all summer to babysit those crimson globes until you have to drop a half a day to harvest and preserve all those beauties.

Today, we have great ideas to quickly save them all and nutrition notes so that you're motivated to do it all again next year!

How to save tomatoes...

The easy way...

-Bring a very large pot to a rolling boil.  
-Place a large bowl of iced water next to it.
-Drop in whole tomatoes (as many fit in a single layer.)
-Boil for 1 minute then drop into ice water while you refill your boiling water.
-Pull tomatoes from ice.
-Squeeze tomatoes gently to remove skin and remove most of the water.
-Pull tops off and drop into gallon ziplock bags.
-Freeze flat.


Photo: Klearchos Kapoutsis
The yummy way...

-Cut tomatoes in half and line a jelly roll pan.
-Drizzle with olive oil and salt.
-Roast at 425 degrees until sweet. ~ 20-40 minutes (depending on size)
-Eat lots and freeze the rest flat in bags.

The aren't I sustainable way...

Canning Tomatoes

This opens up a lot of options once you've learned it because it doesn't require a freezer and thus no thawing. Which is great because I forever forget to thaw things I need for dinner.

Head over to Pretty Prudent for great directions with pretty pictures to help.

Tomato nutritional benefits...

Now the motivation to do it all over. Or to go buy a bunch of in season tomatoes and heal yourself while you pretend you grew them.  'The yummy way' of cooking tomatoes (above) works all winter long, with all states of crappy tomatoes. fyi.

Tomatoes are full of vitamins A and C and folic acid.

They are high in antioxidants- which protect and heal your cells. Learn all about them here.

They are high in carotene- a "flavonoid compound, beta carotene has powerful antioxidant functions, helps the body scavenge free radicals, thereby limiting the damage to cell membranes, DNA and protein structures in the cell."1.

They pack a cancer fightin' Lycopene punch. Especially protective against prostate cancer.

They contain alpha-lipoic acid can aid in blood glucose control, improve vasodilation and protect against retinopathy in diabetic patients and may even help preserve brain and nerve tissue.2

Tomatoes are high in fiber which helps both heart disease and diabetes.

Alright, enough reading.  Those tomatoes are waiting.  You're burning daylight!

sources: 

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/273031.php
1. http://www.nutrition-and-you.com/beta-carotene.html
2. http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/supplement/alphalipoic-acid

Antioxidant- Your New Superhero

Photo: Ano Lobb

Antioxidants are man-made or natural substances that may prevent or delay some types of cell damage.1 (oxidation)  They may prevent and heal colds, flus and even diseases such as cancer, coronary heart disease and even altitude sickness.2.

Look for Beta-carotene, lutein, lycopene, selenium, vitamin A, vitamin C and vitamin E.

You find them in foods that usually have lots of other health benefits too.

Here's a list of foods to chow down on as we embark upon cold and flu season.

To your health!

Paprika

Peppers, red

Red Wine

Rose Hips

Tomato

Watermelon

Apricot

Cantaloupe

Carrots

Egg Yolk

Pumpkin

Squash

Sweet Potatoes

Taro Root

Tumeric

Cabbage

Plums

Blackberries

Blueberries 

Asparagus
Avocado-
Broccoli
Chamomile tea
Coriander
Green Tea
Greens
Olives- Peas

Pistacios
Thyme, 

Almonds

Hazelnuts

Horse Radish

Oats

Onions

Wheat germ- (careful it goes bad quickly)

Help your body absorb more antioxidants by adding fat.  Add walnuts, walnut oil,  olive oil, avocado, etc. to your berry parfait, salad or sweet potato.

High doses of antioxidant can be dangerous, so be careful with supplements.  Just overload on the berries instead!

sources:

1. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/antioxidants.html 

2.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antioxidant

Baby Steps To Protect Against Prostate Cancer

Dear to my heart, from grandfathers to father-in laws to protecting a wonderful husband...

Steps to incorporate into your eating to arm your body to fight and to heal your cells now.

-Tomatoes 2x week, reduces your risk by 23% (find more carotenoids)

-Fish oil can increases the ratio of omega 3 to omega 6 in your blood- which reduces cox-2 inflammation (the bad guys) and slows progression of prostate cancer.

-Incorporate lots of foods high in Vit. E- nuts, seeds, spinach, peppers and olive oil

-Avoid- high glycemic foods, processed meat, red meat

-Cruciferous veg- especially broccoli- 1 times a week can cut aggressive stage III & IV by 45%.It's an anti carcinogen, sulforaphane, turns on the liver enzymes to detox carcinogens, alkalinize urine and to accelerate carcinogen excretion.

-Drink pomegranate juice- 8oz daily, to slow tumor doubling time.(yay flavonoids!)

-Adding flax meal (3 heap T) daily reduced 30-40% tumor growth in 4-6mo.  Recommended daily in 1/2-1T unless you have a family history of prostate cancer or have already been diagnosed.  Then up the amount and don't worry about the calories.

-Soy- isoflavinoes (organic soybeans are the best source.) lower hormone production & inhibit production cancer cells. Read more about them here... http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/phytochemicals/soyiso/

sources: http://fightinfoods.blogspot.com/p/sources-addictions.html

Protect Your Heart

You can protect yourself and significantly reduce your risk of heart disease.

Diet (& exercise) can help greatly.

Here are some fighters you want in your corner…



Almonds & Almond Butter
· High in poly & mono-unsaturated fats which sweep LDL into liver when they replace saturated fats.
· Almond Butter- maintains cholesterol levels

Avocado
· High in poly & mono-unsaturated fats which sweep LDL into liver when they replace saturated fats.

Bison
· High in Omega 3 which reduces LDL & raises HDL

Cereals with Vitamin B6 & B12
· Protect blood vessel walls

Fats
· Omega 3 & Omega 6
· Cold or Expeller Pressed

Flaxseeds
· High in omega 3, which keeps cell membranes flexible


Oats
· Rich in antioxidants called phenols which protect against damage to LDL. (Damaged LDL sticks to artery walls)

Olive Oil (Extra Virgin & Cold Pressed)
· Omega 3
· Monounsaturated good fatty acids
· High antioxidant

Parsnips
· High in potassium
· High fiber

Pumpkin Seeds
· High in omega 3, which keeps cell membranes flexible

Red red wine
· Increases cardiovascular function- Reduces heart attack risks
· Reduces heart disease risk by 25-40% (1 glass women 2 men)
· Raises HDL (good cholesterol)
· High in antioxidants
· Contains resvetatrol which appears to stop arteries from getting blocked by fat deposits

Salmon
· Omega 3 which reduces LDL & raises HDL
· Lowers triglycerides
· Protects against heart arrhythmia
· Increases flexibility of arteries
· Regulates blood pressure

Soba Noodles (Japanese Noodles)
· High in Rutin- halts and lowers body fat.
· Buckwheat extract- regulates blood sugar
· (!Watch sodium content of soba noodles!)

Tuna
· High in omega 3, which keeps cell membranes flexible

Quinoa (pronounces keen-wa) grain like rice
· High protein (8grams per cup)
· Magnesium, folate, iron
· fiber

Vegetables- Vivid
· Like Red Peppers, Tomatoes & Carrots- rich in Carotenoids which reduce risk of heart disease. (Add a small amount of ‘good fats’ to increase absorption of Carotenoids)

Vegetables- Green Leafy
· ? High in omega 3, which keeps cell membranes flexible

Walnuts
· High in omega 3, which keeps cell membranes flexible

Whole Grains
· Soluble Fiber- Lowers Cholesterol (LDL) and flushes it.
· Fiber (adding 10g a day reduces risk of heart disease by 17%)
· Fights inflammation
· Increases oxygen delivery during exercise.
·

Resources:
1. Eat This and Live- Don Colbert
2. Runners World