Category Archives: Healthy eating

Avoid Stroke with a Better Diet

Eat more fruits and vegetables Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability globally. Preventing stroke with better lifestyle choices has the potential to greatly reduce the incidence of stroke over time. The Working Group for Nutrition and Stroke in Italy conducted a systematic review of meta-analyses that evaluated risk of death from stroke…
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Are Saturated Fats Truly Bad?

Why saturated fats are considered “bad” Saturated fats are widely regarded as “bad” by the medical community. The reasoning goes like this. Eating foods rich in saturated fats, primarily animal products such as meat, milk, cheese, and yogurt, increases intake of cholesterol. Influential studies conducted by Ancel Keys starting in the 1960s, identified cholesterol as…
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Food Form, Texture, and Matrix Matter

What does “food matrix” mean? French researchers Anthony Fardet and Edmond Rock lament the public confusion about the health value of foods. Much of the confusion arises from the focus on specific nutrients to emphasize or avoid. The nutrient-based recommendations, Fardet and Rock opine, reflect a reductionist approach to nutrition that's gone overboard, while ignoring…
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Legumes Can Improve Your Health

Legumes as human food The legume plant family supplies a major fraction of the world’s human food, second only to members of the grass family, such as wheat, corn, and oats. Pulses include legumes that humans eat as dried seeds, including beans, peas, and lentils. Unfortunately, over the last 100 years, pulse consumption has declined…
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