Eggs: Cholesterol Time Bomb, or Nature’s Wonder?

With a single egg nearly reaching the recommended daily limit of dietary cholesterol, including them in the diet will cause your cholesterol level to skyrocket. Right? According to modern research, it appears that is not the case. The latest research seems to indicate that consuming eggs produces little, if any, risk of raising cholesterol levels.

Cholesterol in the diet does not necessarily produce high cholesterol levels in the blood. Unhealthy fats raise cholesterol levels in the blood. Cholesterol in the diet is actually necessary for many bodily functions. If we don’t get cholesterol in our diet, the liver will be forced to produce it.

Eggs have a high nutritional value, and contain all 9 essential amino acids needed to make a complete protein. In fact, eggs set the standard by which all other protein sources are rated. One large egg contains about 6 grams of protein, only 70 to 80 calories, and is low in fat.

Eggs contain lecithin, which helps break down cholesterol; methionine, which aids in preventing buildup of fats in the arteries; and manganese which helps the body metabolize fats. Including eggs in the diet is believed to help lower the risk of breast cancer, cataracts, and macular degeneration.

Free range eggs tend to be lower in cholesterol and higher in some vitamins than commercially produced eggs, depending on the quality of feed (junk in, junk out). Free range eggs also tend to be higher in healthy omega-3 fatty acids.

To avoid salmonella, cook eggs thoroughly. Also, eating raw egg whites interferes with the body’s absorption of biotin. Raw eggs should never be eaten by children, pregnant women, the elderly, or anyone in ill health.

John Ritter is a research writer for ounceofprevention.info, a free online encyclopedia concerning herbs and other healing foods used in nutritional healing and disease prevention.

The Ugly Truth About Food

At any grocery store in North America right now, there are shoppers cruising the isles, making thoughtful choices about their family’s nutrition. Armed with the latest information about health, choosing foods high in nutrition is a primary goal. Unfortunately, no matter how carefully one shops, there is often little nutrition in the foods we consume. In fact, it is nearly impossible to consume adequate nutrients through diet alone in our modern world.

What causes our foods to be devoid of nutrition? There are many causes, primarily modern farming, storage, and preservation methods of food. Let’s take a look at why this happens.

First, it is widely acknowledged that soils in North America have been depleted of many nutrients since the 1930’s due to loss of topsoil and reliance on chemical fertilizers. Farmers replace the nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus depleted by agriculture in order to achieve optimum plant growth. However, little attention is paid to replacing trace minerals lost in soils.

Consumer demand for attractive produce also plays a role. This demand has resulted in plant breeding for appearance and storage longevity, ignoring nutritional quality. Fruits and vegetables are often picked in the green stage, ripening in transit to the store. Again, this prevents the production of nutrients which often occurs in the ripening stage while on the plant itself. One example of this is seen in fruits, where the cartenoid levels increase as fruit ripens naturally.

Produce now travels an average of 1500-2000 miles from farm to market, often in refrigerated trucks. There have been few studies done on the effects of storage on produce, especially in the area of overall phytonutrient levels. However, what we do know is most fresh vegetables steadily loose nutrients when stored in cold, dark conditions. Some types of produce are more vulnerable to these losses than others, losing fifty percent or more of phytonutrients in as little as five days storage.

Food preservation methods often play a role in nutrient depletion. When properly blanched prior to freezing, most-but not all-foods retain more nutrition when frozen as compared to canning methods. Interestingly, the container used in canning also makes a difference. Foods preserved in cans often retain more nutrients than those in glass or plastic containers as many nutrients are depleted by exposure to light.

Preparation methods further affects nutritional quality of food. Chopping, grinding, and heating foods depletes nutrients. Common preservatives added in processing cause depletion of nutrients and the use of antimicrobial preservatives may decrease the bacteria normally present in the colon, impeding the body’s ability to absorb what nutrients are left in food after processing.

There has been very little research done comparing nutrients in food before and after processing. The result is that nutritional labels are calculated from unprocessed foods using what are called “nutrient retention factors”. However, these formulas do not consider all aspects of nutrient loss and have been shown to be inaccurate in representing nutrient levels in foods after processing.

So what can be done to ensure adequate nutrition in our diets? The most sensible approach would be to eat only fresh, organically raised fruits and vegetables picked from the garden just prior to consumption, eaten in the whole, raw state. Of course, this is not possible for the vast majority of people. While eating foods as close to the ideals is a goal, it is no longer realistic to expect diet alone to provide adequate nutrition. Some form of supplementation is necessary.

In order to incorporate the proper nutrients, in the optimal amounts in ratio to other nutrients and in the most bioavailable form, great care must be taken in the selection of all supplements. Price is not necessarily an indication of quality. Taking the maximum amount safely possible is not a guarantee of maximum benefit, either. Due diligence is required in the selection process. Know that what you are taking is truly of benefit to your body.

Good nutrition is essential for healthy living, but obtaining sufficient nutrition from diet alone is nearly impossible due to modern farming, storage and preparation methods demanded by consumers. Careful use of supplementation is therefore a requirement for health.

Karen Walker is a wellness consultant and author. She works from her home in western Montana. She and her husband, Lynn McCormick, maintain a website to help those whose lives have been upset by catastrophic health events.
http://www.keephealthkeepwealth.com

Food Combining: Learn the Tips on this Necessity for Better Health Today (part 1)

Eating is one of the many sources of enjoyment given to us by Nature. Though it was intended for this activity to be a source of nourishment for the body, since most modern day dietetic innovations avoid proper food combining methods, they tend to do the exact opposite.

In a traditional diet, everything is mixed together in every possible way. Ease of digestion is not the goal, but rather the excitement of the senses in one meal. Dr. Tilden used to say that Nature never produced a sandwich-a modern dietetic abomination. Such protein-starch combinations are of recent origin and like most modern meals today, instead of feeding the body, they actually poison it.

Bad Food combining creates indigestion, fermentation and gas. Food is fermenting and putrefying in the intestines, which is one of the main causes of constipation, a clogging up of the bodily tissues.

Therefore, simplicity of a meal should be the goal when eating for health. This includes first and foremost, proper food combining principles, consuming the right quantity at a time and eating only when truly hungry.

Certain foods take longer to digest than others and therefore should not be eaten at the same time as ones that would leave the stomach quicker. Ideally, eating one kind of food (fruit or vegetable) at a time would be the most ideal, but granted, we live in a society where success at certain things might hinge on enjoyment of the practice.

Variety is one sure way of increasing enjoyment but when it comes to food, especially for the health seeker, this should be approached with care.

Food combining: Classification of Foods

Foods (when eating for health) can be classified as follows.

Fruit:

1. Sweet Fruits: Tropical fruits, Bananas, Mangoes, Papaya, Dates, Dried fruits, Sweet apples.

2. Acid Fruit: Citrus, Lemon, Tomatoes, Berries, Pineapples.

3. Sub-Acid Fruit: Most tart apples, Pears, Grapes,

4. Melons: Cantaloupe, Honey-Dew, Water Melon etc

5. Fatty: Avocadoes, Olives, Durian, Young coconuts

Nuts and Seeds

1. Non-Starchy Foods:

Green leaves, Carrots, Fruit Vegetables e.g. Cucumber, Bell Peppers, Zucchini

2. Starchy: Cooked Vegetables (roots), Grains (if necessary)

3. Lettuce and Celery:

Listed above are foods in their various categories, in the next part of the article on:

“Food combining: Learn the tips on this necessity for better health today.”

I will ensure to go over the details of food combining principles for eating right.

Boy, would it have been easier if we just ate like apes eh? Eat a mono-meal of fruit and a few leaves and call it a day. Well, in this present age, that is close to impossible for most people, hence the need to at least learn better food combining methods for health.

See you in part 2 of this article.

Foras Aje is an independent researcher and author of Fitness: Inside and out, a book on improving physical and mental health naturally. For more information on natural health and wellness visit http://www.bodyhealthsoul.com