1272 results found for: Blood Sugar

SuperFoods: Basil

Derived from the Greek word meaning royal, basil is a versatile herb that has lived up to its pedigree. With its wealth of nutrients, from hefty amounts of vitamin K and calcium, to its high antioxidant oils, basil offers an array of health-enhancing benefits ranging from protection against DNA damage to combating stress. In addition, the peppermint-like leaves of basil are loaded with beta-caryophyllene, an anti-inflammatory compound that may treat conditions such as arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease. An abundance of evidence is emerging to support basil’s reputation as an herbal remedy for thousands of years, making this undervalued herb a formidable opponent against some […]

Can Drinking Coffee Protect Against Stroke?

Every morning, many of us sip our coffee with no real thought given to the beans behind the brew. But coffee beans are extraordinarily complex fruits containing thousands of beneficial compounds — only a handful of which have ever been individually investigated by scientists. Not only is coffee packed with antioxidants, but it’s the greatest source of antioxidants in the American diet. The average American coffee drinker consumes about 3 cups of coffee a day, but extensive research has found that higher volumes — even as high as 12 cups daily — can help prevent most of the age-related diseases that are killing […]

Your Body Needs Many Different Antioxidants for Optimum Health

I see patients all the time who are confused about antioxidants. Often they think if they take vitamin C, they’ve got their bases covered. This just isn’t the case. To understand why, let’s take a deeper look at how your body works. When you eat food, the process your body uses to convert it to energy creates byproducts called free radicals. These free radicals are reactive molecules. When they encounter a healthy cell, they damage it and also create more free radicals. This process happens all through your body both in water-based tissues and in fat-based tissues. Your body uses antioxidants to clean up […]

Carnosine: A Proven Longevity Factor

Mounting evidence documents the ability of carnosine to prevent many of the detrimental effects of aging. In our youth, carnosine shields us from the onslaught of oxidation, glycation, DNA damage, and other reactions that injure tissues and cripple organs. The problem is that as we grow older, carnosine levels in the body decline

Natural Acid Found In Apple Peels Prevents Muscle Loss

One of the concerning issues faced by people over-age 50 is the gradual loss of muscle mass that starts to speed up past this age.  The big medical term for this muscle mass loss is sarcopenia and it only gets worse if you don’t take measures to fight it. One of these measures is a naturally occurring acid that I’d like to tell you about. Causes of Muscle Loss Did you know that people over the age of 30 begin to lose muscle mass? They can lose between 3% and 5% per decade. It speeds up after age 50 and people can lose between […]

Is Breakfast Really the Most Important Meal of the Day?

Author Jonathon Goldstein once said, “Everyone runs around trying to find a place where they still serve breakfast because eating breakfast, even if it’s 5 o’clock in the afternoon, is a sign that the day has just begun and good things can still happen. Having lunch is like throwing in the towel.” Maybe for many of us breakfast represents that “new day dawning” attitude, but is there really something more to it — physiologically speaking? There’s no doubt that one of the most popular statements ever made in nutrition and medicine is that breakfast is the most important meal of […]

Smart Choices Make for a Healthier Diet

Recently, I fielded some questions from a local college student who is in the middle of a research project on health food. She discovered the FoodTrients website and wanted to use me as a source for some of her research. I, in turn, reached out to a nutritionist who works with me in my skilled nursing facilities to help answer the more technical questions. This was an interesting exercise and I thought I would share the results since some of you might have similar questions about nutrition and eating habits. One of the questions dealt with whey protein isolate. Whey […]

Cocoa May Help Aging Brain Function

People who ate high or moderate levels of cocoa flavanols for two months improved significantly in some thinking assessment tests, a U.S. food expert says. “A study in the journal Hypertension found elderly people with mild cognitive impairment given dietary flavanols from chocolate did better on cognition tests,” Phil Lempert, a food industry analyst, trend watcher and creator of supermarketguru.com, said in a statement. “They also experienced a decrease in insulin resistance, which helps regulate blood sugar, as well as improvements in blood pressure, compared with those who consumed only small amounts.” Flavanols are a type of flavonoid — the […]

Forget What You’ve Been Told – All Calories Are Not Equal!

Let’s face it.  When it comes to losing weight and which diet will help you successfully achieve that, there’s some pretty confusing information out there.  You may have heard, or read somewhere, that “a calorie is a calorie”.  That’s just not true.  I’ve been telling my overweight patients for years that all calories are not equal. If that were true, you wouldn’t have to worry about eating a varied diet.  You could just eat one food, say ice cream or pizza all day, and as long as it equaled the amount of calories you needed to either lose or maintain your weight, you’d […]

Do Soft Drinks Cause Cancer?

We know that soft drinks aren’t healthy for many reasons — one of which is triggering weight gain. However, a study conducted in Singapore has us even more concerned. According to the study, drinking two or more sodas a week increased the risk for pancreatic cancer by 85% compared to nondrinkers. Scientists discovered this after tracking more than 60,000 middle-aged people for 14 years. They looked at lifestyle, environmental factors, and diet. We should also note that the study was based in a country whose populace, like ours, tends to enjoy (at least) an occasional soft drink. Soft Drinks Cause Blood Sugar Spikes […]