Tag Archives: minerals

Soy Foods – Controls Your Weight

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This highly versatile food is loaded with beneficial nutrients, like fiber, omega-3 fatty acids,
low-fat protein, and a series of important vitamins and minerals. Also, it’s low in saturated fat,cholesterol and calories. When you take soy you get many of the health benefits you usually find only in fruits and vegetables. Soy can lower your risk of heart disease, and because it contains less fat and calories than meat, it can also help to control your weight.
Once hidden in Asian supermarkets and health food stores, soy is decidedly mainstream.
Sales of soy foods in the United States have skyrocketed – from $300 million in 1992 to $3.9 billion by 2004.

The new bottom line on soy? Choose it if you are looking for new alternatives to high-fat
mainstream protein products like meat and cheeses.
Skip it, if you never loved the taste of it.
And if you are at risk for breast and prostate cancer, be cautious ( the jury’s still out on
whether plant hormones in soy might stimulate tumor cells).Here’s what you need to know.

Soy foods faced big setbacks in 2005, when a US government panel decided that there was
protect bones from osteoporosis. In response, the National Institute of Health said it would
stop paying for new soy studies. That fall, soy producers withdrew a petition that asked
the FDA to permit food labels to claim that soy protein helps prevent cancer.
Behind these changes were new studies that put soy foods in perspective.

Modest cholesterol benefits
An American Heart Association review of soy research concluded that a daily dose of soy
might cut cholesterol by just 3%. The panel said the slight drop was probably due to the
fiber in soy and low fat, not to estrogen – like isoflavones in the beans.

No significant help for hot flashes
Out of eight randomized controlled trials of soy foods, only one found a significant reduction in the frequency of hot flashes, according to a report from the Oregon State University’s Linus Pauling Institute. While three out of five studies of soy isoflavone extracts found that isoflavones did help, they only cooled hot flashes by about 10% to 20%. And soy didn’t
improve vaginal dryness at all.

Doubt about cancer protection
While eating soy foods in childhood may help protect against breast cancer in adulthood,
studies have found that eating soy as an adult didn’t seem to help at all, according to Linus
Pauling Institute experts. Researchers had thought that the plant estrogens – called isoflavones- in soy could protect against breast cancer, triggered by more potent human estrogens, but studies showed that it doesn’t seem to help.

Soy Safety
Experts advice to be careful with soy products – especially for women who’ve had breast
cancer or are at risk. Because the isoflavones, which researchers worry, could have an impact on estrogen-fueled breast cancers.According to soy experts from the National Cancer Institute there is not enough evidence to say whether soy foods or supplements increase risk for developing breast cancer, or having a recurrence. Prostate cancer survivors
should be cautious too, say Tufts University cancer experts.
Even if you like soy and have no cancer risk you shouldn’t have more than 50 to 70 milligrams of isoflavones per day. That’s the equivalent of 1 to 2 (8-ounce) cups of soy milk or 6 to 9 ounces of tofu

Good reasons to Try Soy
For most people, soy foods like tofu, tempeh, and other meat replacements made with soy,
can be a healthy replacement for higher fat content meats and cheeses. “There are lots of reasons to add soy to your diet just from a basic nutritional perspective,” says prominent
soy researcher Mark Messina, PhD, of Loma LInda University in California.
For example, a half-cup of tofu provides about 20 grams of protein, or 40% of the Daily
Value (DV). The same half cup supplies about 258 milligrams of calcium, or more than 25%
of the DV, and 13 milligrams of iron, or 87% of the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA)
for women and 130% of the RDA for men.

While soy foods are moderately high in fat, most of the fat is polyunsaturated.
Soy foods contain little of the artery-clogging saturated fat found in meat and many dairy foods, says Dr. Mesina.

How to Eat Tofu
You can eat tofu anyway you like. It has little taste of its own but it takes on the flavor
of whatever you cook it with. You can use it in soups, vegetable dishes or desserts.
There are two main types of tofu.

Firm Tofu
It has most of the water removed, making it more solid.
Soft (or silken) tofu
It contains more water, giving it a soft, creamy texture.
It is often used for salad dressings and desserts.

Rinse both types with cold water before using.
Keep it submerged in fresh water or frozen.
Remove excess water which will help the tofu to maintain its shape during preparation.

Tempeh
These are chunky, tender cakes, made from fermented soybeans, that have been laced
with mold, giving them their distinctive smoky, nutty flavor.
You can grill tempeh or add it to spaghetti sauce.

The Many Health Benefits of Flaxseed

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Flaxseed has been used for many years for making linen. It’s also known as linseed, one
of the ingredients in paint. The closest it came to being food was its use for livestock feed.
It’s only about a decade ago that science discovered the many health benefits of flaxseed.

Flaxseed is a rich plant source of omega-3 fatty acids. Apart from supporting good vision,
omega-3 also fight weight gain by increasing metabolic rate and they protect against
cancer growth. Flaxseed contains a different type of omega-3 than fish. This type reduces
the incidence of blood clotting, which can increase the risk of heart disease and stroke.
In addition, the omega-3 also appears to help prevent atherosclerosis, increase good HDL
cholesterol, lower levels of dangerous LDL cholesterol, and reduce inflammation.
They may also help to reduce depression.

Apart from omega-3, flaxseed is also a rich source of compounds called lignans.
While many plant foods contain lignans, flaxseed contains by far the most, at least 75 times
more than any other plant food. For example, you have to eat 60 cups of fresh broccoli
or 100 slices of whole-wheat bread to get the same amount of lignans in ¼ cup of flaxseed.
Lignans are important because of their powerful antioxidant properties to help blocking the cell-damaging effects of free radicals.
Food rich in lignans can lower the risk of heart disease. A Finnish study of almost 2,000 men found that those men with the highest lignan intake were significantly less likely to die from heart disease than those with the lowest intake.

Flaxseed also shows some potential of reversing kidney damage caused by lupus.
A condition by which the immune system produces harmful substances that attack and
damage healthy tissues.
When researchers at the University of Western Ontario gave flaxseed to nine people with
lupus related kidney disease, they discovered that several kidney functions, including
the ability to filter waste, quickly improved. The researchers believe that the lignans and
omega-3 in flaxseed fight inflammation in the tiny, very fragile arteries that supply blood
to the kidneys, helping reduce the artery-clogging process that can lead to kidney damage.

Apart from the health benefits of the lignans in flaxseeds to protect your heart, they also
fight cancer in your body. Lignans subdue cancerous changes once’s they have occurred,making them less likely to run out of control and develop into full-blown cancer.
Studies at the University of Toronto shows some promise for battling certain types of
cancer, in particular preventing typical female cancers, like breast- and ovarian cancer.

Two additional properties of the omega-3 in flaxseed, apart from its cancer-fighting power,
is the ability of limiting the body’s production of chemicals called prostaglandins.
The importance of prostaglandins is that they speed up tumor growth in large amounts.

To top it all up, flaxseed is also very high in fiber. Three table spoons of seeds contains
three grams of fiber, which is about twelve percent of the Daily Value.
The important role of fiber in your diet is the ability to block the harmful effects of
compounds that over time may cause changes in the intestine that can lead to cancer.

Whole flaxseed provide little benefit. Flaxseed is the one food that provide more
nutritional benefits when processed. So instead, buy the cracked or milled forms, which
readily give up the nutritious goodness packed inside.
Don’t buy the oil. Most of the lignans in flaxseed are found in the non-oil part of the seed.
While the oil may contain some lignans, it doesn’t provide as much as the other healthful
compounds found in the seeds, such as fiber, protein and minerals.

Nutrition: The Key to Fitness

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The key to fitness is nutrition and everyone of us has previously ‘lain in his own platter’.
We are mainly what we eat and, in the words of Cervantes, ‘the stomach carries the heart and not the heart the stomach.’

It is true that exercise, restful sleep, peace of mind, regular habits of elimination, bathing, etc., are all factors in keeping fit, but these will avail us nothing if our nutrition is at fault.

Modern research scientists no longer regard germs as the primary cause of disease, and their study of the body’s chemistry and the part played by nutrition in health and disease, is opening up important new vistas of research.

It is now recognized that most common illnesses are closely associated with nutrition and arise from lack of vitamins and minerals, just as some more serious ailments, which where dominant in the old days, such as scurvy, rackets, anaemia, beri-beri, pellagra, and nerve trouble are equally deficiency ailments, and respond to appropriate vitamin therapy.

Periodically, new and successful uses of vitaminss in diseased conditions are reported in the world’s medical journals and more and more physicians are prescribing vitamins instead of drugs.

Many people wonder why the terrible epidemics which formerly ravaged the earth – typhus, yellow fever, typhoid, cholera, malaria, etc. -have largely brought under control, yet the degenerative diseases, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, hardening of the arteries, stomach ulcers, nervous breakdown, colitis, cataract, and kidney and liver ailments are all on the increase.

The reason is that the plague or ‘dirt’ diseases, spread by vermin, mosquitoes and human contact, are disappearing owing to improved methods of hygiene and sanitation.

The degenerative diseases arise primarily from man’s continual tampering with natural foods, thereby depriving them of vital nutrients that Nature, in her wisdom, incorporates in our foodstuffs to ensure good health.

It is a tragic commentary on these times that most people only begin to take an intelligent interest in their health, after they have lost it. Nature requires that we co-operate with her, and we cannot escape the consequences of our refusal to do so. Postponement merely increases the severity of such consequences.

You can read more about nutrition by visiting my blog post: Phytonutrients, compounds
from the garden.  Also: Facts about Healthy Foods

The Importance of Minerals

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Minerals are as bio-catalysts of vital importance, necessary for numerous parts of the metabolism of cells.

Because of the total molecular/cellular complexity of all our organs and tissues, and their inter dependency, it is impossible for a single nutrient to heal or correct any condition.
Our normal internal environment, called homeostatis, must be maintained at all times. Our body’s incredible intelligence will go to any length to save our life, even at the expense of stealing certain crucial nutrients from one organ or tissue to supply the greater need of another.

Since the brain is our body’s master controller, it’s life must be maintained above all else. To do this, the brain requires the lion’s share of oxygen and glucose to keep it functioning at optimal level, even at the expense of the supply to other organs. The equal sharing of necessary minerals and other nutrients with the rest of the body, takes second place.

Through the little understood process of biological transmutation, our body is capable, if necessary, to change or “transmuting” some minerals into other minerals, when certain minerals are in short supply. For example, if little or no calcium is available, our body can change silica into calcium to meet the calcium need. However, it’s not possible for our body to transform every nutrient into any others we happen to be deficient in at any moment of time. It is therefore of the upmost importance to supply our body with the raw materials from which it can build and repair all of the tissues and organs.

Some important minerals are: calcium, magnesium and kalium.

Dr. Bob’s Book – The Magic of Minerals

Health & Nutrition

“The Magic of Minerals” is the latest of numerous books that Bob L. Owen , Ph.D., D.Sc., C.R. (or, as he prefers, “Dr. Bob”)
has published. And at 81 years young, he has no plans of slowing down. As an expert in minerals, Dr. Bob realized the importance of an easy to understand book for people who need to know about minerals.

These important nutrients are so poorly understood; and a shortage of minerals is responsible for so much misery  in those who don’t know about minerals. He is busy drafting more books that will help us to understand how to easily create programs of disease prevention for your body. He believes this is the only way to conquer cancer
and other disease epidemics that are so out of control in our modern world.

Dr. Bob began his journey into the health and nutritional  while serving his country in the U.S. Maritime Service during World War II. Even though his medical background at that time consisted solely of one year in a nurses  training program, when the captain on his first ship took a quick look at his resume, he decided Ensign Owen would be the ship’s “doctor”.

From those early days of often being in over his head, through being sidetracked into other areas and obtained degrees in Religion, journalism, Psychology, and Education, Dr. Bob always knew that he wanted to return to his first loves: physiology, health and healing.
While attempting to keep up with busy writing/editorial schedules, he began to experience health challenges.
He was advised to slow down or suffer the consequences.

In the process of “slowing down”, he was able to research, and consequently heal his own health challenges.
During this time he earned his Ph.D. in Nutritional Science  and used his experience from his publishing days to write his first book concerning the challenges of health and healing – Roger’s Recovery from AIDS, which has spanned the globe and has been published in at least thirteen languages.