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" . . . The quality of the fruits and vegetables available at grocery stores is terrible. Most are laden with toxic substances, such as sulfates on grapes, pesticides . . . many times fruits and vegetables are imported from foreign countries that use toxic pesticides that are illegal in the United States."
As stated by Dr. Ronald Steriti in our article Antioxidants and Organic Foods

10 Tips for Heart-Healthy Organic Eating

May 21st, 2009 - Barbara Feiner

Recently updated statistics from the American Heart Association (AHA) reveal 80 million Americans—almost 27% of us—suffer from some form of cardiovascular disease (most frequently, high blood pressure).

Heart-healthy cooking is critical in a country that worships fast food. The good news? It’s not as difficult as some readers may think. You needn’t give up most of your favorite natural/organic foods or feel deprived.

Roger Blumenthal, MD, a professor of cardiology at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and coauthor of The Betty Crocker Healthy Heart Cookbook, offers 10 tips:

Get an oil change. Switch to mono- and polyunsaturated oils for eating and cooking. Canola, soybean and olive oils are heart-healthy choices.
Go fish. Gradually increase fish consumption to at least twice a week, per AHA guidelines. Try new recipes to determine which ones are keepers. (Tune in tomorrow for a special recipe from the cookbook, Graham-Crusted Fish Fillets.)
Color your menu. Add veggies to rice, pasta and small portions of pizza. Leave fruit on the counter for quick snacks. Add dried fruit to breakfast oatmeal. Serve fresh fruit for dessert.
Greens are golden. Eat a salad with dinner. Include vegetables and legumes like cucumbers, bell peppers, broccoli and green beans.
Think your drink. Drink water, herbal teas and unsweetened flavored waters.
Tap the moo machine. Drink skim milk daily (adults and kids).
Go with the grains. Include whole-grain cereal, bread, oatmeal, barley and brown rice in menus.
Green-light some red meat. As long as your overall diet is low in saturated fat, small lean cuts of meat served with heart-friendly foods are OK occasionally.
Give good fats a hand. Snack on a handful of walnuts, almonds or avocado slices. They contain monounsaturated fat, which is good for your heart.
Hold the bottom line. If you really want it, you can eat it—in moderation. Small amounts of butter are OK from time to time. Serve ice cream for special occasions, but otherwise reach for yogurt.

Tags: cookbooks, heart health, Organic Food
Posted in Health, Organic Food | 4 Comments »

The War on Trans Fats (Part 2)

November 8th, 2006 - Barbara Feiner

As reported yesterday, the New York City Board of Health is considering a citywide ban on the sale of restaurant food made with trans fats.

The proposal would bar cooks at the city’s 24,600 foodservice establishments from using ingredients that contain the artery-clogging substance, commonly listed on food labels as partially hydrogenated oil.

Needless to say, the restaurant industry isn’t pleased with the idea, contending that it would ban a legal ingredient found in millions of American kitchens. But many experts believe this is great news for those committed to organic living and eating well, not to mention the public at large.

“Trans fat is found in foods such as vegetable shortening, margarine, pie crusts and kosher baked products labeled ‘pareve.’ It is used because it imparts the flaky texture that is desirable in many baked goods and is often used for deep frying because it is shelf-stable without needing refrigeration,” explains dietitian Andrea Boyar, PhD, chair of the Department of Health Sciences at Lehman College in Bronx, NY. “But the problem with trans fat is that it raises LDL, or bad cholesterol, and lowers HDL, or good cholesterol. It is also considered to be a pro-inflammatory molecule that can raise the risk of heart disease. So, as a nutritionist, I feel this is a bold, forward-thinking prohibition that will benefit the millions of New York City restaurant patrons.”

Others, however, fear the ban could lead to worse alternatives.

“We need to educate the public about these fats and make sure that a label is placed on all foods that contain any amount of trans fats,” says Mary Ellen Renna, MD, founder and president of Next Generation Fitness. “[But] have we banned the use of tobacco? Have we stopped making soda? We are aware of the problems that come with consuming these foods or smoking. If we completely ban the use of these fats, chances are some chemically altered new product will replace it, and it will take years before we identify the harmful effect it has on humans. For now, we know the enemy, so we know how to avoid it—just make sure all products label trans fats as they would if they contained peanuts in this highly peanut-allergy world.”

Let us know what you think.

Tags: fast food, Health, heart health, trans fat
Posted in Health | No Comments »

Healthy Alcohol Consumption May Reduce Heart Attack Risk

October 24th, 2006 - Barbara Feiner

One of the top medical stories dominating press coverage this week focuses on men who drink moderately and their lower risk of heart attacks. It’s a topic OrganicAuthority.com has covered before in stories like A Great Reason to Buy Organic Wine and Nutrition & Gender.

Yesterday’s Archives of Internal Medicine reported that men with healthy lifestyles who drink moderate amounts of alcohol may have a lower risk of heart attack, compared with those who drink heavily or not at all. Previous studies have confirmed this finding.

Researchers suspect these individuals have increased levels of HDL (“good” cholesterol”) in their blood. But because there are many risks associated with heavy drinking, physicians do not typically recommend that patients begin consuming alcohol to reduce their heart disease risk. Instead, they focus on other proven lifestyle interventions, including diet and exercise. These habits, however, are not mutually exclusive, according to Dr. Kenneth J. Mukamal and his colleagues at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.

“For individuals who exercise, abstain from smoking, maintain optimal weight and adhere to an appropriate diet, there may be few other standard lifestyle interventions to lower risk,” they write. “Whether alcohol intake is related to a lower risk for myocardial infarction [heart attack] in such individuals is unknown.”

The 8,867 men in Dr. Mukamal’s study had healthy lifestyles, defined as not smoking, having a body mass index (BMI) of less than 25, getting at least 30 minutes of exercise per day and eating a healthful diet, including large amounts of fruits, vegetables, fish and polyunsaturated fats, with low amounts of trans-fats and red meat.

Between 1986 and 2002, 106 of the men studied had heart attacks. This included eight of the 1,282 who drank 15 to 29.9 grams of alcohol per day (about two drinks). This group had the lowest risk for heart attack; those who did not drink at all had the highest.

“There is a complicated mix of risks and benefits attributed to moderate drinking in observational studies, and the individual and societal complications of heavy drinking are well known,” the authors conclude. “It is easy to understand why clinical guidelines encourage physicians and patients to concentrate on seemingly more innocuous interventions, despite the relative paucity of effective, straightforward and generalizable methods for encouraging regular physical activity, weight reduction and abstinence from smoking in clinical practice. Our results suggest that moderate drinking could be viewed as a complement, rather than an alternative, to these other lifestyle interventions, a viewpoint espoused by some authors.”
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Tags: alcohal, alcohal consumption, Health, heart health, Organic Wine, wine
Posted in Health, Organic Wine | 4 Comments »