Chocolate treats – But don’t eat them

Easter is upon us, and the array of chocolate stretches to infinity and beyond, but not everyone can eat chocolate – or indeed wants to.

If you are, or know, someone like that then can I suggest a couple of healthy alternatives – and no it is not carob, because however virtuous carob may be, it cannot be a substitute for chocolate. I have yet to think what it might be a substitute for, but give me time.

First, let me commend you to those wonderful people at Lush who hand make a range of beauty treats from all-natural ingredients at incredibly low prices. The two you might want to consider as gifts are: Soft Coeur – if you don’t’ have elementary French, think Soft Heart or as the wonderful Lush Times describes it,’The Honeymooner’.

If you are looking for a messy massage bar made from honey, cocoa and natural butters this is a real treat – just don’t forget to massage with it and not masticate it.

Secondly, the other product of theirs I can highly recommend is the Cupcake facemask, which is recommended for oily, congested, skin. Something you might well have if you have over indulged in the real chocolate Easter treats. It is an anti-microbial cleansing mask made from Rahassoul mud – which gives it the chocolaty colour from which it takes its name, and sandalwood, spearmint and peppermint oils to give your skin a boost. Buy from their stores or online at www.lush.com.

Finally, there is a great craze for raw chocolate at the moment, and one way to get your fix is with another face pack, this time from organic skin care company Raw Gaia. They have launched the world’s first raw chocolate face pack and like all their products it is hand made, organic, vegan and cruelty-free. It contains raw chocolate powder, the highest known source of antioxidants in the world, plus red clay, organic turmeric and organic amla (an Ayurvedic herb) fruit powder.

The nutritional content of raw chocolate powder is amazing: there are over 25,200 antioxidants in a single spoonful of the stuff and raw chocolate powder contains 367% more antioxidants than its cooked version. You can buy it from good health food shops or online from Gaiaa. It costs £8.20 for 50grams and won’t put a single extra ounce of weight on your hips – honest. www.rawgaia.com.

Bees needed for ice cream production

No I didn’t make it up. Apparently in order to produce ice cream you have to have a good healthy bee population. In the US, giant manufacturer Haagen-Dazs has warned that disappearing bee colonies may affect the ice cream supply. Apparently one-third of the U.S. food supply depends on pollination from bees and Haagen-Dazs said bees are responsible for a staggering 24 of its 60 flavours, including strawberry, toasted pecan and banana split. However, don’t panic if any of those are your favourites as Haagen-Dazs is donating $250,000 to two universities to fund research into the bee colony collapse disorder (CCD). Really, that is what they are calling it – there will be a lapel button or coloured ribbon to wear to show your solidarity with it next I am sure. They are also trying to raise consumer awareness of the problem by launching a new flavour called Vanilla Honey Bee, which I would have thought was a bit counterproductive, but they plan to use part of the sales from this flavour help the honeybees.

Altogether now, aaaah!

Junk food surprise?

Something that is a constant amazement to me is how keen researchers are to prove what we already know – somebody must be giving them grants but in this case I strongly suspect it wasn’t McDonalds or Burger King. This particular study has taken place in Sweden at Linkoping University and made the amazing discovery that just one month of too much junk food and too little exercise can significantly harm the body.

I know we could all have told them that, but they put their volunteers on a diet where they ate fast food twice a day for 30 days and not surprisingly gained 14lb on average, with one volunteer putting on two stones in two weeks.

As a believer in a varied diet, I don’t have a problem with the occasional junk food meal, but how many people eat it twice a day every day? If you know anyone then pass on to them that the biggest initial problem, besides putting on weight, being constipated and prone to spots, all of which are enough to put most people off, then they are also prone to suffer damage to their livers as most of the Swedish study did. Varuna Aluvihare, a consultant hepatologist at King’s College Hospital in London, said that for him the most startling thing about the study is how fast it (liver damage) happens.

Prostate health and Zinc

As I am a great believer in pro-active health care, there is another story about prostate health that came up this week that I thought might prove revealing. The risk of prostate cancer is increased if a man is exposed to enough cadmium, a toxic heavy metal that many people are regularly exposed to. It is present in cigarette smoke, so anyone exposed to that – even secondhand – is at risk.

Cadmium is also an environmental pollutant, pumped into the air by various industries and the burning of coal and household wastes. Once airborne, cadmium can travel long distances, eventually falling to ground or into water. We can then ingest it through our diet; particularly from fish and shellfish or vegetables grown in soil that has absorbed cadmium from the air water. According to the Department of Health and Human Resources, “Cadmium stays in the body a very long time and can build up from many years of exposure to low levels. However, it is not all doom and gloom because just adding a little of the mineral zinc to your diet can counteract its effects as US researchers at Rochester have found. Apparently, zinc prompts the production of a protein that binds cadmium to help move the toxin out of the body. Plus, zinc enhances your immune system, helps repair damaged tissues, inhibits the abnormal clotting that contributes to cardiovascular disease, assists in maintaining healthy vision, and is one of the key elements required for DNA reproduction and repair. Sounds like it’s worth increasing in your diet doesn’t it? Good dietary sources of zinc include cabbage, red meat, poultry, beans, nuts, whole grains, and dairy products.

BREAK OUT THE POMEGRANATES!

Every supermarket chiller has pomegranate juice as it is the new ‘superfood’ and studies have shown numerous health benefits ranging from protection against prostate cancer, slowing cartilage loss in arthritis, and potentially preventing Alzheimer’s. Although I personally don’t drink it as it doesn’t suit my ‘blood group’ type there is even more evidence that it can be good for you. According to the results of a new study done in China – where they seem to have cornered the market in anti-ageing as I presume they glug the stuff down while doing their early morning tai chi – pomegranate juice is more effective than apple juice in boosting the body’s antioxidant defences, which decline naturally with age.

They gave their research subjects (average age 63) a 250ml glass of pomegranate juiced every day for a month and found that the anti-oxidant capacity of their blood was increased by almost 10% while a control group, who drank apple juice, showed negligible changes.

Smoothies go green

Breakfast is always a difficult meal for me as I don’t like cereals and am not mad about yoghurt or fruit or vegetables. It is a miracle I am as healthy as I am, and part of that miracle is that I take in my daily 5 in liquid form from my juicer or blender. Now in colder weather I am not so keen on chilled fruit smoothies, but I have found a way to have a healthy breakfast in minutes that gives me healthy carbohydrates, fibre, vitamins, minerals and chlorophyll – sound dreadful but it can be made to taste great with the addition of fruit.

I also find as I have got older I need protein in a morning so I add a scoop of protein powder for a complete meal. If you want to get out the blender this recipe could help you be bright eyed and bushy tailed whatever time of day you drink it – in fact it is a great pick me up for that mid-afternoon slump too.

If you want to have a go, the rule of thumb when making green smoothies is to use slightly more vegetables than fruits, say about 60/40 in favour of the green stuff. What goes in it? Well good greens to use might be romaine lettuce, kale, spinach, and chard. For the sweetness you might add fruit peeled and chopped fruit such bananas, pears, apples, blueberries, mangos, papayas, and pineapples.

Put your favoured fruit and veg into a good blender and add just enough water to allow the blender to bring vegetables and fruits together into a smoothie-like consistency. Personally I don’t use water, but cranberry juice as its slight tartness seems to bring out the flavour and I don’t like my drinks too thick so I add a good glug – personal taste so experiment to see what you like.

If you feel you need some extra antioxidants in your diet then you could also add a teaspoon or so of acerola cherry powder and then just drink it down. Don’t let it stand as the ingredients will separate and you get the most goodness immediately it has blended. If you do like a cold drink, then add some ice.

Key point: If you don’t have any problems digesting fruits and vegetables, you can mix and match any combination of the vegetables and fruits listed above. If you have a sensitive digestive tract, it is best to combine only one vegetable and one fruit at a time.

Cranberries – Not just for sauce

For many of us, cranberries are forever associated with turkey and Christmas, but this small red berry has a range of health benefits. Research conducted by Tel Aviv University professor Itzhak Ofek and his colleagues is revealing a surprising array of benefits beyond their well-known role in helping prevent urinary tract infections, Dr Ofek has discovered that cranberry juice can help prevent cavities, fight influenza, and reduce the recurrence of gastric ulcers. However, the berries appear to provide a greater benefit to women than men. Apparently it is a compound known as non-dialyzable material or NDM in the berries that appears to coat some of the body’s surfaces which prevents the adherence of infectious agents while not affecting the body’s beneficial bacteria.

In simple terms what this means is that there is specific inhibitor in cranberry juice that doesn’t let infections adhere to a woman’s bladder. Many women drink cranberry juice as a precaution against bladder infections, and if you can find it then try to get one without artificial sweeteners or an unsweetened one and add honey to taste.

A trial at Tel Aviv University’s School of Dental Medicine has revealed other benefits as they found that NDM inhibits oral bacteria from sticking to tooth surfaces and this helped reduce the number of cavities in the mouth, and therefore the number of fillings too.

Last June in the journal of Molecular Nutrition & Food Research, an article coauthored by Dr Ofek described how effect of cranberries helped reduce or get rid of H. Pylori, the bacteria that causes ulcers. Though again the benefits only seem to apply to women – sorry chaps.

Celebrate Sardines!

Although National Sardine Day falls on the 25th of November 2008, yes really, I thought I would encourage you to look ahead and plan for later in the year to celebrate this remarkable fish. The humble sardine isn’t something people usually rave about, but in terms of the health benefits per square inch they really are quite something. Whether you opt for the fresh fish, delicious grilled and stuffed with lemon, or the tinned variety in oil – not sauce – they are packed with inexpensive, high- yielding health benefits and nutritional value.

For such a small fish they can have a big impact as they contain substances that are proven to benefit your skin, joints, memory, and even boost your energy. Sardines are rich in omega 3 fatty acids — the crucial long chain variety you can only find in seafood, not vegetable matter high – and also have good levels of calcium and vitamin D.

Sardines also contain high levels of Coenzyme Q10 which is essential for so many important functions in the body. It is a supernutrient that’s great for heart health, energy, immune support, and healthy brain function. It is also an effective antioxidant and has been used for decades in Cancer treatment.

CoQ10 is also very important for cardiovascular health as it has many of the antioxidant properties of vitamin E. Inadequate levels of CoQ10 have been linked to heart attacks, strokes, high blood pressure, atherosclerosis and arrhythmias. In addition, CoQ10 is believed to lower blood pressure, prevent the oxidation of low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL), and help with irregular heartbeat. CoQ10 is also good for the teeth and gums, helping to fight oral infection.

Sardine sandwich anyone?

Lets hear it for nuts!

This is another natural food that can get a bad press. They are shunned because people – particularly those on a diet – believe that they are bad for you as they are high in natural fats and oils, but this is far from being the case. Raw, not processed or salted, nuts can help fight depression, heart disease and bad cholesterol. That last one may be a bit of a shock, but although it is true that nuts in general contain as much as 80 per cent fat, but there are good fats and bad ones. The type of fat found in nuts is unsaturated fat – specifically monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat and both of these unsaturated fats are known for their ability to reduce low-density lipoprotein (LDL), also called “bad” cholesterol, when consumed in moderation.

A few months ago in the USA, a survey examined and reported on the diets of more than 31,000 Seventh Day Adventists – chosen for the similarity of their lifestyle choices – and it was found tha t those who ate nuts more than four times per week experienced 51% fewer heart attacks compared to those who ate nuts less than once per week.

If you want to stick to the most healthy nuts around, these are the top 5 to go for:

1 Pistachios can produce a 10 point drop in your triglycerides and a 16 point decline in your LDL (bad) cholesterol, according to the Journal of the American College of Nutrition.

2 Walnuts Contains omega 3s which may help ward off depression and heart attack, according to Harvard research. Maybe you should stuff those sardines with lemon and walnuts for extra benefit!

3 Brazil nuts contain selenium, a mineral linked to prostate cancer protection, according to scientists at the University of Arizona.

4 Pecans have the most antioxidants of any nut. Could help reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer’s disease.

5 Hazelnuts a handful daily boosts HDL (good) cholesterol levels by 12 percent, according to a study in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Testosterone for women?

Testosterone for women may seem like a strange idea, but it is being used increasingly to help women improve their sex drive and perk up their libido. You may be surprised to learn that women have testosterone, but it is one of the three main hormones in our bodies along with oestrogen and progesterone.
When women reach menopause, their progesterone and testosterone levels may drop by as much as 50 percent but before you rush to talk to your doctor about it (though your partner may try and beat you to it) remember that all hormones are powerful substances and not to be taken lightly.

The method of taking testestorone currently is orally in pill form, but the medical authorities have recently declined approval of a testosterone patch designed for women. The product was found to be only slightly more effective than a placebo patch, while the side effects included liver dysfunction, acne and unwanted hair growth. You might want to try some more natural, and safer, ways of boosting your sex drive first.

Fortunately, there are a number of plants and herbs that have been shown to enhance sexual drive and enjoyment by helping to maintain balanced hormone levels, including testosterone. For instance, saw palmetto (commonly used to promote prostate health) has been prescribed for centuries as a sexual stimulant for both women and men. The ancient Mayans used an herb called damiana to energize sexual vitality and it is freely on sale in my local health shop, along with Siberian ginseng which has the reputation for arousing sexuality and enhancing stamina in women. Anyone for Nettle tea? This also has been used as an aphrodisiac for centuries though you might want to add some honey to it first!

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