I just got back from my local produce market and grabbed a couple days worth of groceries. Here’s my tip on where to go for your produce. If there is a large Russian clientele you’re in the right place. Don’t ask me why, all I can tell you is that Russians know where to go!

Here’s what I got: 2 leeks, 1 pint raspberries, 4 limes, 3 yellow onions, 3 kiwis, 2 red peppers, 1 fennel, 5 carrots, 5 Roma tomatoes, 1 cantaloupe, 1 purple cabbage, 1 shallot bulb, 1 bunch of scallions, 1 cauliflower head, 1 eggplant, and 4 bananas. So what’s the grand total?

$17.65

When you eat unprocessed foods you’ll lose a lot of weight, get healthier and save beaucoup money! Of course you could always go to Whole Paycheck aka “Whole Foods” and needlessly blow through a lot of money and have little to show for it.

When you shop like this you’ll be eating healthier and losing weight more effectively than 99.99 44/100 % of all Americans… and all the celebs too!

At the Obesity Society meeting new research was presented that showed people who ate an apple about 15 minutes before lunch consumed almost 190 fewer calories than when they didn’t have the apple.

Well this should not come as a surprise to many. Fruits and veggies are big on volume and fiber, and low on calories. So if you fill up on “big” low-cal foods like apples before you eat (presumably more calorie heavy foods) you’ll eat less and lose weight. Now it’s confirmed in the study.

I’m sure that this would be true of any fruit or veggie. This just as easily could have been the pear diet, tomato diet, bell pepper diet etc. Now an apple a day will keep the weight away but not the celeb diet doctor

Source

I’m sure you’ve heard it before, animal protein is “complete” and plant protein is “incomplete.” Protein is made up of amino acids and 9 amino acids are considered “essential” because they cannot be synthesized by your body and must be derived from the food you eat. Animal protein has been referred to as “complete” because it contains all 9 essential amio acids. Because it is widely believed that plant protein is deficient in some essential amino acids, it has been referred to as “incomplete.”

This “incomplete protein” myth was popularized by Francis Lappe’s book, Diet for a Small Planet, in which she advocated the practice of “food combining” for vegetarians, such as eating rice with beans, so that the essential amino acids from different foods would combine to form a complete protein. She later retracted her belief in “food combining” stating in subsequent editions of the book,

“In 1971 I stressed protein complementarity because I assumed that the only way to get enough protein … was to create a protein as usable by the body as animal protein. In combating the myth that meat is the only way to get high-quality protein, I reinforced another myth. I gave the impression that in order to get enough protein without meat, considerable care was needed in choosing foods. Actually, it is much easier than I thought.

With three important exceptions, there is little danger of protein deficiency in a plant food diet. The exceptions are diets very heavily dependent on fruit or on some tubers, such as sweet potatoes or cassava, or on junk food (refined flours, sugars, and fat). Fortunately, relatively few people in the world try to survive on diets in which these foods are virtually the sole source of calories. In all other diets, if people are getting enough calories, they are virtually certain of getting enough protein.”

Here’s where it gets interesting. The idea that plant based foods were deficient in certain amino acids was based on studies of the growth of young rats done in the early 1900’s. A subsequent study done in 1952, looked at human requirements for essential amino acids and found them to be very different from rats. Additionally it showed that the requirements for all the essential amino acids in humans could be met by many unprocessed plant foods, without combining, in excess of the recommended levels. The bottom line is that plant protein is “complete.” Vegetables and grains contain all essential amino acids and non-essential amino acids in varying proportions, and will supply in excess of what is necessary for your daily needs.

“Revolutionary Fiber Works to Help you Lose Weight – Even When you Feel Like You’re Out of Options”

“You’re about to discover the “mechanical” method to control your weight. Read on and you’ll discover a secret very few know…”

It’s called fiber and here’s how it works. Fiber is delivered in fruits and veggies and it contains practically no calories and is fat free. It’s not a stimulant, a fat blocker, or diuretic. Here’s what it does. When you eat fruits and veggies before any meal, it you fill your stomach within minutes. You will feel full and eat less, usually for hours. It’s that simple. You’re satisfied, without jittery stimulants or tonics with weird side effects.

Gastric Bypass-Fruits and Veggies™ helps you eat less without feeling cheated. You’ll have better control over what and how much you eat. What’s more, the key ingredient in Fruits and Veggies™ contains practically no calories and is safe and easy to use.

Fruits and Veggies™ is not a magic pill that makes you lose weight overnight, but it does help you get control over your eating. Combined with the dietary advice, this can be the winning solution to meet your weight loss goals. Fruits and Veggies™ gives your own willpower a boost, is safe, affordable, and is available without a prescription.

Information about ingredients: Fruits and Veggies™ is a certified natural product and contains no chemically generated compounds, fillers, or additives. Nature uses only the finest certified ingredients in their highest concentrated and digestible compounds to create Fruits and Veggies™.

“How to Use Gastric Bypass- Fruits and Veggies™”
Information about dosage: Each apple, pear or similar fruit and veggie contains fiber and is low in calories. The recommended daily dosage for Gastric Bypass Fruits and Veggies™ is to take one apple or similar fruit and or veggie 30 minutes before breakfast, lunch, and dinner with an eight ounce glass of water.

It was widely reported this week that a diet high in fruits and vegetables provided no added benefit against breast cancer recurrence. In this study published in JAMA, more than 3,000 women (average age 53) who were treated successfully for early stage breast cancer were followed for 6-11 years. Breast cancer recurrence rates were no better for those women who consumed 9 or more daily servings of fruits and vegetables than those who consumed 5. This was surprise to many, and was viewed by the media as a “setback to the hope that better diets can prevent breast cancer recurrence.”

Flawed Study Design
The most important nutritional factor in determining cancer development was not controlled for in this study: animal protein. Without controlling for the amount of animal protein, it is not surprising that no benefit was seen by merely increasing veggie and fruit intake.

Animal Protein Promotes Cancer Development
Dietary animal protein has been shown in animal studies to have dramatic effects on cancer development. Animals feed aflatoxin, a potent cancerous compound produced by mold growing on improperly stored corn and peanuts, will develop liver cancer if fed a diet high in casein, the predominant protein found in milk. All animals administered aflatoxin and fed a diet containing 20% casein developed liver cancer and were dead, or near dead, at 100 weeks. All animals given the same amount of aflatoxin, but fed a diet containing only 5% casein were alive and active at 100 weeks. Just decreasing the amount of dietary animal protein prevented expression and development of liver cancer.

When studies were repeated with diets containing high plant protein sources (20% soy and wheat) there was no cancer development. As if a switch was turned on, cancer growth was dependent on the amount of animal protein in the diet, a finding not seen with plant protein. If you want to read more on this, I suggest you read the China Study by Colin Campbell.

Breast Cancer and Animal Protein
Breast Cancer has been linked with an increased consumption of red meat and high fat dairy products during pre-menopausal years. We also know from population studies that American women have breast cancer rates 400% higher than the Japanese. However, Japanese women who move to the United States soon develop the same elevated risk for breast cancer as Americans, suggesting that there are dietary factors at work here. A likely culprit is animal protein; Japanese women consume more animal protein in their diets once they move to the United States.

Bottom Line
There are strong dietary links between cancer development and animal protein. Without controlling and significantly decreasing the amount of meat and dairy in this study, no improvement in breast cancer recurrence rates would be expected by merely increasing fruit and veggie intake. Only if the women were placed on a strict vegan style diet, which would include higher fruits and veggies but also eliminate meats and dairy, would I expect to see a protective effect against breast cancer recurrence.

The Chinese, who have one of the healthier diets, are getting sick and developing higher rates of breast cancer. The culprit? A Western style diet loaded with meats and sweets. New research, which specifically focused on breast cancer, has added to the growing body of evidence that a diet high in animal products and sugar will increase your risk of several types of cancer, as well as heart disease and diabetes.

Western Diet and Breast Cancer Study Results
This study examined the eating habits of approximately 3,000 women, ages 25-64. Half of this group had been diagnosed with breast cancer and are participating in an ongoing cancer study in Shanghai.  The “meat-sweet” group, who ate red meat, shrimp, fish, candy, desserts, bread and milk, had a 60 percent greater risk of breast cancer compared with the “vegetable-soy” group, who ate tofu, vegetables, sprouts, beans, fish and soy milk.

“We saw the clearest effect when we looked at post-menopausal women who were overweight, so it looks like there’s an interaction between a meat-sweet diet and being overweight,” said study co-author Marilyn Tseng, of Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia.”

Celebrity Diet Doctor Weigh in
This research is really nothing new.  The more animal protein and refined sugar you consume the higher your risk of cancer and other chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, stroke etc.  Eat more fruits and veggies to protect yourself from having the “cancer switch” flipped on by a Western style diet.

Whenever I am cutting onions I am always reminded of the onion chopping scene in a hilarious French indie film Diva, where Jules, the main character, is wearing a scuba mask and snorkel to prevent crying. Crying is good. It means that the onions you are chopping have a lot of organosulfur compounds. These are the same compounds that give garlic its wonderful pungent aroma and are found in the Allium family of vegetables which also include leeks, chives and shallots. The organosulfur compounds found in onions and other Allium vegetables have been linked with anti-cancer benefits.

In terms of antioxidants and anti-cancer properties the more pungent, the more they make you cry, the better. Pungent varieties, such as Shallots, Western Yellow, New York Bold, Northern Red, have more flavonoid and anti-oxidant content and were more effective in limiting liver and colon cancer growth, than less pungent varieties, such as Mexico, Peruvian Sweet, Western white, and Vidalia.  Onions are one the richest sources of flavonoids in our diet. Potent antioxidant compounds found in vegetables, fruit and beverages such as tea and wine, flavonoids are linked with a reduced risk of heart disease and cancer.

You don’t have to don a scuba mask the next time your recipe calls for chopped onions. Simple refrigeration of onions prior to chopping will keep the tears to a minimum.

Tomatoes contain a carotenoid called lycopene which gives tomatoes their red color and has antioxidant properties. Lycopene may be one of the reasons tomato consumption has been linked with lower rates of cardiovascular disease and prostate cancer. Interestingly, tomato sauce consumption has been associated with an even greater reduction in prostate cancer risk compared with raw tomatoes and the availability of lycopene may be responsible.

When we cook tomatoes to make a sauce, lycopene is liberated from the cell walls and is more readily absorbed which may explain the observed reduced prostate cancer risk. In fact cooking tomatoes for just 30 minutes will increase lycopene levels three fold and antioxidant activity will increase by more than half. Blending tomatoes in a food processor or a blender will also help free up lycopene and make it more readily absorbable. Lycopene, like other carotenoids, is fat soluble so a little extra virgin olive oil will help improve absorption.

My mom was always dishing out the nutritional advice during dinner. I was never sure if she really meant it, or it was some ploy to get me, my brother and sister to finish our plates. One popular refrain included, “Eat your broccoli. It’s good for you”.

It turns out that mom was right.

Broccoli belongs to the cruciferous family of vegetables which also includes arugula, cabbage, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, bok choy, collards, kohlrabi, mustard, turnip, red radish and watercress. Cruciferous vegetables are known cancer fighters because they contain powerful antioxidants called organosulfur compounds. Notice the wonderful pepper taste when you eat cruciferous vegetables? These are the organosulfur compounds that are so good for you. Women with the highest levels of these organosulfur compounds had a 50% reduced risk of developing breast cancer. Similarly, men who consume just three or more servings of cruciferous veggies per week had a 41% decreased risk of developing prostate cancer.

So listen to your mom, and eat your broccoli!

With summertime here, it’s time to dust off the grill. Before you do, consider this. While barbeque sauce may not come with a surgeon general’s warning on the label, it does promote the formation of Heterocyclic amines (HAAs) which are the same substances found in cigarette smoke. Beef marinated with barbeque sauce and grilled showed an almost 3 fold increase in HAAs compared with beef grilled without barbeque sauce. These mutagenic compounds, formed when meats are grilled under high heat, have been linked with increased cancer rates so it is reasonable to limit their consumption. Studies suggest that it is the fructose content, found in high fructose corn syrup and honey in many prepared barbeque sauces, which is responsible for the greater HAA formation during the grilling process.

For healthier grilling vinegar and soy based marinades are excellent choices, drastically reducing HAA formation while adding flavor. A vinegar-based marinade (mixture of brown sugar, olive oil, cider vinegar, garlic, mustard, lemon juice and salt) reduced HAA formation by 90% in chicken, compared with un-marinated. Likewise, teriyaki and tumeric-garlic marinades reduced HAAs formation in beef.

Pre-cooking meat in the oven and finishing off on the grill will also help cut out HAAs. You can avoid many of these harmful chemicals and still get great grilled flavor by grilling veggies and fruits too. Fire up the grill and use these simple tips to get your grilling season off to a healthy and flavorful start.