Good foods
Yogurt
Yogurt should be on the top of the list of Good Foods. Yogurt has been considered a miracle food from time immemorial. Russian Biologist Ilya Mechnikoff, won the Nobel Prize for medicine in 1908 for his studies on Yogurt. He was the first modern scientist to seriously study the effects of yogurt on longevity. He was curious as to why the Bulgarian peasants lived so much longer than other people. His research led to the discovery that these peasants consumed a large quantity of yogurt daily. Further research made him conclude that the 'probiotics' or the living bacteria in the yogurt are responsible for making people live longer. He identified the main bacteria in yogurt and named it ‘Lactobacillus Bulgaricus’ in honor of these long living Bulgarians.
Dr. Ilya Mechnikoff’s theory was that the good, friendly bacteria in yogurt (probiotics) neutralizes the disease causing bacteria and thus prolong life span. This theory has been given some credibility when scientists of the US Department of Agriculture researching on the effects of yogurt on salmonella infections in mice, discovered that the mice on a yogurt diet, not only beat the salmonella infection, but they lived much longer than the mice not on yogurt.
Apart from the long life, other benefits attributed to yogurt include: lowering cholesterol, prevent colds and allergies, strengthen the body’s immune system, fights diarrhea and other intestinal diseases, useful in vaginal infections, mouth ulcers, and many more such benefits are attributed to this miracle food. Whether all of these claims are true or not, there is no harm in us including a good portion of yogurt in our daily diet.
Probiotics Yogurt Brands like Danone Activia
It is the live bacteria (probiotics) in the yogurt that does us good. So make sure that the yogurt you buy has live bacteria in it. Danone Activia is Yogurt with probiotic live bacteria and is available in most of the Supermarkets. Probiotic Yogurt benefits have already been explained above, so make sure when you buy yogurt that it contains live bacteria or live probiotics in it.
How to make Yogurt at Home
It is very easy to make Yogurt at home by culturing milk with any Yogurt which contain the live probiotics Lactobacillus and Acidophilus. Just add about 2 tablespoon of Yogurt to about 2 to 4 cups of milk in a vessel. The milk should be warm - just a little warmer than our body temperature, should just feel warm to the touch, like someone having a slight fever. In cold climates you will have to keep it insulated or incubate it. One way is by keeping the milk vessel being cultured, in a plate half full of slightly warmer water than the milk. Then cover both vessels with a thick cloth like a Bathing Towel. The idea is that the water in the plate, under the milk vessel, will keep the milk warmer for a longer time.
For starting the yogurt culture you will need yogurt with live bacteria lactobacillus and acidophilus in it. You could try Danone - Activia as the starting culture. It takes about 12 hours for the good bacteria to fully culture and turn the milk into yogurt. For daily supply of yogurt you need to culture fresh milk today for the next day’s supply of yogurt. Yogurt will keep fresh in the fridge for a few days. You need about half a cup of live yogurt as the stating culture for 4 cups of milk. The milk can be made with milk powders like 'Nido'. Once you get the process started, you can take the half cup starter yogurt from today's yogurt and use it to culture the milk for tomorrow's yogurt.
Why Are Eggs Good for you
For a long time eggs have been off the list of good foods, because of the Eggs Cholesterol Myth, that Eggs contain high Cholesterol. Now researchers are finding out that eggs may not be that bad. As mentioned in our ‘Cholesterol’ page, our bodies make its own cholesterol. The cholesterol that we eat, called dietary cholesterol, may not play as big a role in increasing our blood cholesterol.
Cholesterol is found in every cell of our body and it is essential for the production of sex and other hormones in our body. Most of the cholesterol in our body is made in the liver and only a part of it comes from the food we eat. Overproduction of cholesterol by our own body is responsible for the high cholesterol in our blood stream.
Many research projects carried out to study the effects of eggs in our diet, point to the fact that eating up to 2 eggs per day will not harm us, on the contrary, it may be beneficial for us. Eggs provide many nutrients which our bodies require.
The article titled “Eating two eggs a day could CUT your cholesterol and help you lose weight”in the UK paper ‘Daily Mail’ is an interesting read.
".......research to be published in The European Journal of Nutrition found that those who ate two eggs per day while on a calorie-restricted diet not only lost weight - but also reduced their cholesterol levels.
A team from Surrey University, led by Dr Bruce Griffin, fed two eggs per day to almost 50 overweight but otherwise healthy volunteers for 12 weeks. They also had to follow a reduced-calorie diet recommended by the British Heart Foundation.
>Another group followed the same diet, but cut out eggs altogether. Both groups lost weight and saw a fall in the average level of blood cholesterol.
Dr Griffin said: 'There is no convincing evidence to link an increased intake of dietary cholesterol or eggs with coronary heart disease. Indeed, eggs make a nutritional contribution to a healthy, calorie-restricted diet.'
It is thought that eating eggs for breakfast contributes to weight loss by making people-feel fuller for longer.
This research provides evidence to support the scientific consensus that saturated fat, found in pastry, processed meats, biscuits and cakes, is more responsible for raising blood cholesterol than cholesterol-rich foods, such as eggs, which are low in saturated fat.”
What are Essential Fatty Acids
Essential Fatty Acids (EFA) are an important type of polyunsaturated fat. Our body cannot make it, so they must come from food. Essential Fatty Acids or Omega Acids provide a number of health benefits, like reducing and even preventing Cardiovascular and Alzheimer's Disease. Research also suggests that it may be of benefit to people with depression, schizophrenia, type-2 Diabetes and Arthritis. With so much promise of health benefits, you should add Essential Fatty Acids, especially Omega-3 in the form of oily fish to your diet. Also consider taking Omega-3 supplements in the recommended doses.
There are two Essential Fatty Acids called Omega-3 and Omega-6. They were discovered in 1923 and were originally called Vitamin ‘F’ but later were classified as Essential Fats. The best Essential Fatty Acids foods are from oily fish like Sardines and Mackerel. Other Foods that contain Essential Fatty Acids or Foods high in Essential Fatty Acids are in plant oils, like canola oil, soybean oil, sunflower oil, etc. But the EFA in vegetable oils are Omega-6 EFAs. The ratio of Omega-3 to Omega-6 EFAs is important. It is believed that the Omega-3 Omega-6 ratio in the diet of early humans was 1:1, but now the Omega-3 Omega-6 ratio in our typical modern diet is almost 1:10 due to increased use of vegetable oils rich in Omega-6. Many scientific researches suggest that increasing the amount of Omega-3 in your diet will have very beneficial health effects.
Dietary Fiber and What are High Fiber Foods
Fiber in the food plays an important part in providing bulk and helping the movement of food through our digestive system. Apart from helping in preventing Constipation, some of the fibers, called soluble fibers, in food help in reducing our cholesterol. Other benefits attributed to dietary fibers include improving diabetic symptoms and preventing some cancers in the lower colon of our digestive system. Dietary fiber is contained only in foods from plant sources. Foods like meat, fish or eggs have no dietary fiber.
There are two types of dietary fibers; ‘soluble fiber’ and ‘insoluble fiber’. Soluble fiber absorbs water and swells up to become jelly like, where as the insoluble fiber has no reaction in water. High Dietary Fiber Foods helps in the movement of food through our digestive system and keeps the stools soft and helps to get it out easily. Foods with lots of fiber are whole grain flour, bran, nuts and many vegetables are the best sources for insoluble fiber.
Soluble fiber helps in lowering low-density lipoprotein or the bad cholesterol and also helps in lowering the blood glucose levels in diabetic patients. Some of the foods high in soluble fiber are oats, lintels, beans, fruits, potatoes, carrots, barley and psyllium. Soluble fiber ferments in the large intestine, producing short-chain fatty acids which are good for health. These short-chain fatty acids helps in stabilizing blood glucose levels, lower low-density lipoproteins (LDL) or "bad" cholesterol and increase the good bacteria in our large intestines.
Cooking Oils
Cooking oils can be classified into 3 groups, Saturated, poly-unsaturated and mono-unsaturated oils. Almost all edible oils consist of a mixture of the 3 types, but are classified on the basis of which group is most in a particular oil.
Saturated oils: Oils of Coconut, Palm and Animal fats like lard, butter, etc.
Poly-unsaturated oils: Oils of Canola, Soy, Sunflower, etc.
Mono-unsaturated oils: Olive oils.
Saturated oils are not at all good for us, because the body converts it into the bad cholesterol.
Poly and mono unsaturated oils are not only good for us, but should be an essential part of our daily diet in limited quantities, because it increases the good cholesterol in our bodies
Remember all oils have the highest calories among foods. Olive oil, which is consumed regularly in the Mediterranean Region, has become famous in the Mediterranean Diet which is very good for a healthy, long and fit life. It is recommended that about 25 grams of unsaturated vegetable oils are consumed daily.
Also some of these oils contain an essential nutrient for humans, the Essential Fatty Acids (EFA), discussed above.
Why is Olive Oil good for you
Extra Virgin Olive Oil is the premium Olive Oil which is obtained from the first pressing of the olives and has the best Olive flavour and all the benefits of all the best health beneficial ingredients of like antioxidants. Olive oil is rich in monounsaturated fat which is beneficial to health. The famous Mediterranean diet contains a lot of vegetable oils which are used liberally as salad dressings and also in cooking. It is an anomaly that in the Mediterranean region where they consume a lot of oil, mainly Olive Oil, their rates of diseases such as cardiac diseases, atherosclerosis, asthma, diabetes, and arthritis are low compared with other parts of the world they consume much less oils other than Olive Oil. Research on Olive Oil has revealed that LDL Cholesterol formed with monounsaturated fats of olive oil are resistant to oxidation and does not stick to arteries to form plaques which lead to blocks and heart attacks.
Many studies have shown that the healthy effects of Olive Oil are due not only due to its high content of monounsaturated fats, but also to its high concentrations of antioxidants like polyphenols tyrosol, Omega 3 Essential fatty acids, carotenoids, Vitamin-E, etc. For the full benefits of Extra Virgin Olive Oil, it is best consumed raw, that is without heating like in salad dressings.
Artificial Sweeteners
The sweeteners commonly available are Sucralose (Splenda) and Aspartame (Equal, NutraSweet, Canderel). All artificial sweeteners, at one time or another, been accused of being not good for health. But after extensive studies, Sucralose (Splenda) and Aspartame (Equal, NutraSweet, Canderel) have been declared not to harm health and been approved for use by all the advanced nations of the world. When comparing Sucralose vs Aspartame, Sucralose is considered the safest of the lot and is stable when heated and can therefore be used for cooking or baking. The best known brand of Sucralose is 'Splenda' and Splenda Health risks are almost non existent.
Sweeteners are a great way of helping us enjoy our coffee, tea or porridge without thinking about the calories. It is wise to be careful and not to go overboard with the use of sweeteners. Limit the daily use of sweeteners to a maximum amount equal to what would be required for six cups of coffee per day
Food habits of our Ancestors - the evolving Humans
Scientists estimate that humans branched off from the Monkey or the chimpanzees (closest relative of human beings) about 5 to 7 million years ago. What did these ancestors of ours eat while they were evolving? Think of it, cultivation of grains like rice, wheat, barley, corn etc. was only started by humans about 5000 years ago. So for millions of years the evolving humans were eating off the land, nuts and fruits from trees, eggs from bird’s nests, and whatever else they could find. Meat eating and cooking of food by humans were only started after humans learnt how to make weapons, about a hundred thousand years ago. Humans learnt to make a fire from about the same time.
So the human bodies have evolved on fruits, nuts, eggs (may be a Dinosaur egg once in a while!!) and wild grains off the land for most of the last 5 million years. Meat was introduced into the human diet for not more than a hundred thousand years, that is one fiftieth the period of the evolution of humans. Grains came into the human diet for not more than 5000 years. So humans used grains only for a period of about one thousandth of the period during our evolution.
Remember that our bodies produce our own cholesterol. We can have high cholesterol even if we are completely on a cholesterol and fat free diet, eating only grains like polished rice. This is because our body turns the excess energy into fat - saturated fat, the bad fat. Our liver will convert this bad fat into bad cholesterol. So just eating a fat free carbohydrate diet of cereals is not good. Nuts on the other hand, is a balanced food, containing the required proteins , carbohydrates and the good oils – mono and polyunsaturated fats which are turned into good cholesterol.