Eat Beans..The Great Way To Stay Healthy and Trim This Winter

Its winter, time to pull out the "one size bigger and baggier" clothes. The holidays are coming along with lots of sugar and a bigger waistline.

However, having a larger waist (over 34 inches for women) and (over 39 for men) increases your chances of chronic conditions like cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. Trying to trim your waistline is difficult, especially in the winter months when we tend to crave simple carbohydrates and comfort food, but what can you do?

Help is here! There is one super food that is high in antioxidants, fiber and protein, that when added to a healthy diet helps to trim the waistline. That super food is beans.

In fact, a recent study showed those individuals who eat beans were not only slimmer in the waist but also 7lbs lighter than those people who avoided eating beans. The study showed also those who ate beans consumed and average of 200 calories more a day more than the non-bean eaters.

What is in beans that helps them assist in keeping us trim and why is it better to replace red meat with beans?

First, the daily recommended dose of fiber for adult women are (21-25 grams) and adult men (30-38 grams.)  One cup of beans has 12 grams of fiber. Red meat has none.

The beans are digested much slower because of the fiber content. Unlike red meat which digests quickly, beans give you get less of an insulin spike which prevents you from being hungry more quickly.

Beans also are full of plant base antioxidants that help fight free radicals. According to the Oxford dictionary, free radicals can damage tissues and delicate cell membranes. They can also damage DNA, disrupting our store of inherited information; this may lead to the initiation of certain cancers.

A study done by the Department of Agriculture measuring antioxidant levels of 100 top common foods showed beans in the top four. Those beans were, red beans, red kidney beans and pinto beans. Black beans, black-eyed peas and navy beans made it to the top 40.

It is no wonder that beans have been labeled the "perfect food."

So take a challenge, start now by eating 1-3 cups of beans three times a week in replacement of red meat. Avoid those beans canned with sugar or lard and see a trimmer, healthier you by Christmas.

At A Glance:
Healthy bean recipes:
http://www.self.com/fooddiet/2011/10/bean-recipes-slideshow#slide=1
http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes_menus/collections/healthy_bean_recipes
Having a hard time digesting beans..try this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beano_(dietary_supplement)

BREAST CANCER AWARENESS: A LOOK AT PREVENTION

The National Cancer Institute states that one in eight women have a risk of developing breast cancer and as much as 80 percent of cancer cases are preventable. Risk factors for breast cancer are family history, genetics and diet.

Since the 1950’s breast cancer has been on the rise and so has obesity. The food industry which consists of publicly traded corporations has only one thing in mind, it is to make money and increase their profits. In order to do this they have made their product (food) cheaper by genetically engineering, spraying chemicals poisons over crops, loading the soil with chemicals to help plants grow faster, and pumping animals with growth hormones. They started adding chemical additives to food that increases your appetite and makes it physically addicting.

The problem is most chemical additives are toxic to the body, when the body is overloaded with these toxins it is unable to fight disease. Studies have shown eating a diet high in preservatives, animal products, saturated fat and dairy is linked to breast cancer.

A Harvard Medical School study of more than 90,000 women revealed that women who ate the most meat were nearly twice as likely to develop breast cancer as those who did not eat much meat.

The number one thing that you can do to prevent breast cancer is maintain a healthy diet.

Deleting packaged foods, lowering your consumption of sugars, dairy, and hormone filled meats can help prevent you from getting breast cancer. Stay away diet drinks  and all artificial sweeteners including saccharin, Nutrasweet, Splenda, and sucralose to name a few.  Artificial sweeteners are just that- artificial chemicals- and are considered carcinogenic in humans. If you must have something sweet, consider Stevia which is a natural sweetener.

Important supplements in the fight against breast and other forms of cancer are vitamin D, lycopene and quercetin.

Adding Vitamin D in the form of dark green leafy vegetables, mushrooms, fish oil, and soymilk and rice milk can also assist in boosting the immune system which makes it more effective in destroying tumors. Another way to get vitamin D is through sunlight.  Sun exposure stimulates vitamin D production in the skin, fair skinned individuals should get at least 15 minutes of sunlight per day and dark skinned at least one hour. However, in the winter months it is imperative to take a vitamin D supplement.

Lycopene is also an important in the prevention of cancer. Lycopene which comes from the red in tomatoes helps counter-act the effects of cell-damaging free radicals. Adding olive oil to fresh diced tomatoes during cooking gives the body the most readily absorbable form of lycopene.

Quercetin is a proven antioxidant that can protect cell structures from cell- and tissue- damaging free radicals. Small amounts of quercetin can be found in vegetables, beans, cabbage, garlic, grapefruit, grapes, green tea, onions, pears, red wine, and spinach.

Turn over a new leaf today. Start by eating whole not processed foods; avoid high sugar and high fat meals including dairy and red meats. Go organic as much as possible. Stay away from artificial sweeteners.

Get educated… while helping to find a cure is a great idea, the world needs to start with prevention. It is the key to living a life without breast cancer.

At a Glance:
Increased risk of breast cancer for teen girls and how to prevent it: http://www.webmd.com/video/teens-sex-hormones-cancer-study
Dangers of artificial sweeteners:
http://www.womentowomen.com/healthyweight/splenda.aspx
Taking Vitamin D for breast cancer:
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=4873786&page=1