October 2021 Newsletter
Since I was ten years old… I have had to pay attention to my food intake in order to maintain a healthy weight. The positive aspect of this is that I have studied nutrition most of my life, trying to understand the ins and outs of both losing weight, and then keeping it off.
Eighteen years ago, when I battled mantle cell lymphoma, I studied food for its potential to be helpful or harmful in my fight. The power of using nutrition to aid and promote healthy responses in the body has been given more research as of the last decade, particularly to figure out more about what will help those with diabetes. Earlier this month, I listened to continuing education classes on anti-oxidants (AO). Anti-oxidants fight off “free- radicals” (FR), which can cause damage inside the body. FRs are like graffiti spewing vandals in the body. Chemically, they pro-offer extra electrons to molecules, which can break up strands of DNA in the cells. The result is increased inflammation, decreased circulation, increased blood pressure and clouded thinking. On a different note, I also learned that there are two hundred and sixty different medications to lower blood pressure.
Sometimes the research seemed silly. Almonds were compared to potatoes and rice for their ability to help with bones. Potatoes, and rice had no effect, but within hours of eating one-third of a cup of almonds, the osteoclasts activity (the breakdown of old bone) was reduced by twenty percent, while the osteoblast activity, which is the bone building activity, increased by forty percent. I would not even have thought of potatoes and rice as bone enhancing foods, that seemed bogus to me in the first place. On the other hand, I never saw almonds as a bone building food, either.
Anti-oxidants are the superheroes of the body, ‘gobbling up’ the free-radicals’ extra electrons and then rendering them impotent to do any harm. The imbalance of FRs to AOs = cell damage.
The two main sources of AOs are vegetables and nuts. In the nut category, almonds, peanuts, walnuts do an especially great job. In the vegetable category, broccoli, pomegranate were the champions. Green tea is also an excellent anti-oxidant. Coffee and dark chocolate were in the running, but not champions. Following is my summarization of some of these studies. Maybe it will encourage you to increase your consumption of foods that are rich in anti-oxidants.
First, let me caution that dairy is the AOs’ kryptonite. The casein in high-protein dairy foods attaches itself to the anti-oxidants and obliterates their ability to soak up the free radicals’ electrons. That means smothering broccoli in cheese sauce, or drinking coffee with cream erases the AO benefit.
Eat nuts to help the flow of blood? Nuts relax your artery walls. One study had people eat an artery “stiffening” meal and then measured flow mediated dilation (FMD). The placebo group just ate a salami and cheese sandwich. The study groups ate nuts and the same salami and cheese sandwich to see if the nuts could counter the artery stiffening effect. The artery relaxing effect was: almonds by forty percent, peanuts by sixty percent, and walnuts by eighty percent (English walnuts were more artery relaxing than black walnuts).
In 2010, the subject of consuming broccoli to help the bladder was studied by the Journal of Mutagenesis. For ten days, test subjects ate one stalk of raw broccoli a day (this is five times the national average). The result was a forty-one percent decrease in the level of oxidized DNA lesions in the bladder. Also, resistance to strands of DNA breaking up went up twenty-three percent. Even one serving of broccoli a month showed a decreased incidence of bladder cancer. Other studies have shown that eating broccoli also helps smokers and breast cancer in this way.
The different studies point to sulforaphane as a key compound that does this. It is in broccoli, cabbage, Bok choy & Brussel sprouts.
Let me focus now on just broccoli. Sulforaphane is made when you chew raw broccoli (or chop it up before cooking). When you do either of these things, myrosinase and glucoraphanin combine to make sulforaphane. Less than one cup of broccoli decreases inflammation in human cells. Each serving ‘powers up’ the liver enzyme induction, which helps the detox processes be more effective: it detoxes airborne pollutants, toxic heavy chemicals, and benzene. At Baylor university, acute lymphoblastic leukemia cancer cells died when exposed to sulforaphane in a
petri dish. It is a potent weapon against H-pylori bacteria too (a cause of stomach ulcers). In colon cancer, researchers studied micro-RNA-21-human telomerase – reverse transcriptase. Sulforaphane changed the cell morphology. The natural and healthy process of apoptosis occurred in deformed cells like it should (apoptosis is the cell exploding itself).
Cooked broccoli that was chopped before cooking maintains its potency of sulforaphane, as it is stable even with heat once it has formed. Frozen broccoli is less potent because they blanch it before freezing and this inactivates the enzyme myronsinase.
Then there are broccoli sprouts. These have one hundred times more sulforaphane per serving than just broccoli. This peaks at 5 days from the start of sprouting. The sprouts have sulforaphane without chewing up until day five. If you freeze the sprouts on day five, this increases sulforaphane potency five-fold.
If the sprouts are baked, the potency is increased by three times. Add one teaspoon of sugar to the cup of water that is used to wash over the sprouts on days four and five and then harvest the sprouts, this also increases sulforaphane potency.
Here’s a recipe for a non-dairy broccoli soup that I have simplified the best I can.
Broccoli Soup (non-dairy)
Ingredients:
2 Tbsp oil
1/3 cup carrots, chopped
1 small onion, diced
1 one small Yukon gold potato, diced
1 cup celery, chopped
1/2 cup raw cashews
1 pound broccoli flowerets, chopped
4 cups vegetable broth
1½ tsp of apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard –
1 Tbsp lemon juice.
1/3 cup fresh dill, salt and use fresh pepper to taste.
Directions:
Place a bit of oil in a large pot and sauté the onion, celery, carrots and potatoes until softened. Add broth, cashews and broccoli, then simmer until the broccoli is cooked. Add vinegar, mustard, lemon juice and seasonings. Blend this to a creamy smooth. Enjoy!
Since I was ten years old… I have had to pay attention to my food intake in order to maintain a healthy weight. The positive aspect of this is that I have studied nutrition most of my life, trying to understand the ins and outs of both losing weight, and then keeping it off.
Eighteen years ago, when I battled mantle cell lymphoma, I studied food for its potential to be helpful or harmful in my fight. The power of using nutrition to aid and promote healthy responses in the body has been given more research as of the last decade, particularly to figure out more about what will help those with diabetes. Earlier this month, I listened to continuing education classes on anti-oxidants (AO). Anti-oxidants fight off “free- radicals” (FR), which can cause damage inside the body. FRs are like graffiti spewing vandals in the body. Chemically, they pro-offer extra electrons to molecules, which can break up strands of DNA in the cells. The result is increased inflammation, decreased circulation, increased blood pressure and clouded thinking. On a different note, I also learned that there are two hundred and sixty different medications to lower blood pressure.
Sometimes the research seemed silly. Almonds were compared to potatoes and rice for their ability to help with bones. Potatoes, and rice had no effect, but within hours of eating one-third of a cup of almonds, the osteoclasts activity (the breakdown of old bone) was reduced by twenty percent, while the osteoblast activity, which is the bone building activity, increased by forty percent. I would not even have thought of potatoes and rice as bone enhancing foods, that seemed bogus to me in the first place. On the other hand, I never saw almonds as a bone building food, either.
Anti-oxidants are the superheroes of the body, ‘gobbling up’ the free-radicals’ extra electrons and then rendering them impotent to do any harm. The imbalance of FRs to AOs = cell damage.
The two main sources of AOs are vegetables and nuts. In the nut category, almonds, peanuts, walnuts do an especially great job. In the vegetable category, broccoli, pomegranate were the champions. Green tea is also an excellent anti-oxidant. Coffee and dark chocolate were in the running, but not champions. Following is my summarization of some of these studies. Maybe it will encourage you to increase your consumption of foods that are rich in anti-oxidants.
First, let me caution that dairy is the AOs’ kryptonite. The casein in high-protein dairy foods attaches itself to the anti-oxidants and obliterates their ability to soak up the free radicals’ electrons. That means smothering broccoli in cheese sauce, or drinking coffee with cream erases the AO benefit.
Eat nuts to help the flow of blood? Nuts relax your artery walls. One study had people eat an artery “stiffening” meal and then measured flow mediated dilation (FMD). The placebo group just ate a salami and cheese sandwich. The study groups ate nuts and the same salami and cheese sandwich to see if the nuts could counter the artery stiffening effect. The artery relaxing effect was: almonds by forty percent, peanuts by sixty percent, and walnuts by eighty percent (English walnuts were more artery relaxing than black walnuts).
In 2010, the subject of consuming broccoli to help the bladder was studied by the Journal of Mutagenesis. For ten days, test subjects ate one stalk of raw broccoli a day (this is five times the national average). The result was a forty-one percent decrease in the level of oxidized DNA lesions in the bladder. Also, resistance to strands of DNA breaking up went up twenty-three percent. Even one serving of broccoli a month showed a decreased incidence of bladder cancer. Other studies have shown that eating broccoli also helps smokers and breast cancer in this way.
The different studies point to sulforaphane as a key compound that does this. It is in broccoli, cabbage, Bok choy & Brussel sprouts.
Let me focus now on just broccoli. Sulforaphane is made when you chew raw broccoli (or chop it up before cooking). When you do either of these things, myrosinase and glucoraphanin combine to make sulforaphane. Less than one cup of broccoli decreases inflammation in human cells. Each serving ‘powers up’ the liver enzyme induction, which helps the detox processes be more effective: it detoxes airborne pollutants, toxic heavy chemicals, and benzene. At Baylor university, acute lymphoblastic leukemia cancer cells died when exposed to sulforaphane in a
petri dish. It is a potent weapon against H-pylori bacteria too (a cause of stomach ulcers). In colon cancer, researchers studied micro-RNA-21-human telomerase – reverse transcriptase. Sulforaphane changed the cell morphology. The natural and healthy process of apoptosis occurred in deformed cells like it should (apoptosis is the cell exploding itself).
Cooked broccoli that was chopped before cooking maintains its potency of sulforaphane, as it is stable even with heat once it has formed. Frozen broccoli is less potent because they blanch it before freezing and this inactivates the enzyme myronsinase.
Then there are broccoli sprouts. These have one hundred times more sulforaphane per serving than just broccoli. This peaks at 5 days from the start of sprouting. The sprouts have sulforaphane without chewing up until day five. If you freeze the sprouts on day five, this increases sulforaphane potency five-fold.
If the sprouts are baked, the potency is increased by three times. Add one teaspoon of sugar to the cup of water that is used to wash over the sprouts on days four and five and then harvest the sprouts, this also increases sulforaphane potency.
Here’s a recipe for a non-dairy broccoli soup that I have simplified the best I can.
Broccoli Soup (non-dairy)
Ingredients:
2 Tbsp oil
1/3 cup carrots, chopped
1 small onion, diced
1 one small Yukon gold potato, diced
1 cup celery, chopped
1/2 cup raw cashews
1 pound broccoli flowerets, chopped
4 cups vegetable broth
1½ tsp of apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard –
1 Tbsp lemon juice.
1/3 cup fresh dill, salt and use fresh pepper to taste.
Directions:
Place a bit of oil in a large pot and sauté the onion, celery, carrots and potatoes until softened. Add broth, cashews and broccoli, then simmer until the broccoli is cooked. Add vinegar, mustard, lemon juice and seasonings. Blend this to a creamy smooth. Enjoy!
