Love your Brain, Love your Body, Love your Life - Stroke Prevention

May is National Stroke Awareness Month.  Many people don’t realize that 80% of all strokes are preventable. What can you do to prevent a stroke?

According to the CDC, Living a Healthy Lifestyle is the best way to prevent strokes.

• Eat a healthy diet. Choose healthful meals and snack options. Be sure to choose plenty of fresh fruits and veggies. Eating foods low in Saturated fat, cholesterol and foods high in fiber helps prevent high cholesterol, limiting sodium in your diet helps prevent high blood pressure.
• Maintain a healthy weight.  If you know your weight and height, you can calculate your BMI at CDC's Assessing Your Weight Web site.
• Be active. It lower’s cholesterol and blood pressure. A minimum of 30 minutes of moderate exercise most days of the week is the Surgeon Generals recommendation.
• Don’t Smoke.
• Limit Alcohol Use. Too much alcohol causes high blood pressure. No more than 2 servings a day.

Love your Brain, Love your Body, Love your Life - Combining Foods for Optimum Nutrition

Making good food choices is the best thing we can do to stay healthy. Hope you find this helpful.

Research has shown that some food combinations are more nutritious when eaten together.  Here are four powerful pairs that are better together: 

Broccoli & Mustard

Raw broccoli is a good source of the powerful cancer-fighting compound sulforaphane. But cooking destroys the enzyme (myrosinase) in broccoli that makes sulforaphane available to your body. The fix? Combine broccoli with mustard (yes, the condiment) or another raw cruciferous veggie, such as wasabi or arugula—the extra dose of myrosinase will help you absorb more sulforaphane.

Coffee & Sugar

If you take your coffee with sugar, good news—it may make you more productive on the job.  When study participants drank the two together, researchers found that areas of the brain associated with attention worked more efficiently than when sipped solo. If you don’t like coffee, try green tea with a drizzle of honey.

Adzuki Beans & Raspberries

Pairing adzuki beans—classically used in Japanese desserts—with raspberries may bump up the duo’s antioxidant power by 45 percent.  That was the biggest boost researchers saw among 55 combinations of different fruits, veggies and legumes. Top a spinach salad with adzukis; for dessert, dig into fresh raspberries.

Tumeric & Fish

Curcumin (a component of turmeric) and DHA (an omega-3 fat in oily fish) protect against certain cancers by keeping cancer cells from multiplying. Combining the two may slow tumor growth and the spread of a type of breast cancer cells more so than when the compounds interact with the cancer cells separately, researchers think DHA helps cells to utilize curcumin. Rub salmon or trout with turmeric or curry (a spice blend containing turmeric).

More to come on food power couples, so check back :o)

Eating Well Magazine May/June Pg. 18 - Combining Foods for Optimum Nutrition