Natural Food for Better Health

Doctor finally prescribed sleeping pills after I argued my case about exercise and my job and lifestyle. Looking forwards to passing out at a reasonable time tonight. Finally.

And finally, we get to talk about meat. For the first time too. What is it? Is it pork chops? Is it steak? Nope. Let’s talk salmon.

Okay, so fish is like a fake meat. It’s not red and juicy, it sometimes tastes and smells unpleasant. By all means fish pales in comparison to better meat, like beef, pork, mutton, and even chicken. Give me a fast food place over your fancy seafood fine dining any day. But salmo

n, even people who dislike fish (like me) can at least appreciate salmon (I even had it for lunch and didn’t gag very much).

So let’s see what changes we’re making to Jack’s diet today.

Everyone has heard the good news about Salmon. Omega 3 fatty acids. Researchers, scientists and doctors have been raving about these since the 90s. Omega 3 fatty acids fight off inflammation, and inflammation is the root to so many afflictions. From heart disease and diabetes, to some cancers and arthritis. It prevents blood clots and thus stroke, and

it may help slow down dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. It’s good for your heart health, your brain health, and your overall health. Plus people who eat the right amount of Omega 3′s are less likely to be depressed and suicidal, as well as less aggressive and unpleasant. Meaning we could make a nicer dystopia by forcing everyone to eat more salmon.

But that’s not all. It’s high in protein for those looking to gain muscle, and it has a whole host of vitamins and minerals. That often get overlooked in all the hubbub about Omega

3s. A serving of wild salmon provides roughly a full day’s requirement of vitamin D (probably related to the depression negating thing). It also provides much of the necessary vitamin B12, niacin, selenium, vitamin B6, and magnesium. Finally, if you eat the bones, or canned salmon, you also get a lot of calcium.

Also, new research seems to show that salmon has even more added benefit in the form of bioactive peptides. These proteins help maintain joint cartilage, help increase insulin effectiveness, and help control of inflammation in the digestive tract

There have also been recently bad news for salmon, they say that farmed salmon are more fatty and may contain contaminants in that fat. They say that they have found elevated amounts of mercury and carcinogens in salmon and similar fish that should be avoided by pregnant women at the very least. Now this is all true, but the cons don’t outweigh the pros even though the cons sound scarier. Salmon is still good for you. It is overwhelmingly healthy, and even with elevated amounts of bad stuff it’s worth the “risk” of eating it over say a hamburger.

Besides, what doesn’t contain carcinogens these days?

My new favorite nut, the almond is shaken from the almond tree and is a good healthy snack, as long as it’s not being saturated in salt. And as long as you’re not deathly allergic.

Fell asleep in the office for the first time in a long time. My doctor couldn’t find anything wrong with me, but suggested that I should start an exercise regime as well. He also expressed concern about how I was losing weight. I thought it was a result of being a healthy eater, but apparently twenty pounds in two weeks is far too much.

When am I going to have time to do exercise when I’m constantly going off for business reasons and I have barely enough time to actually consider my diet?

Speaking of which, I’ve discovered a new joy, Almonds. Lightly roasted, no salt.

So let’s see what changes are being made to Jack’s diet today.

I have a feeling Almonds taste so good because they’re really high in fat, but it’s all monounsaturated fat, the kind that lowers your bad cholesterol without affecting your good cholesterol. This is yet another item in my new pantry that will prevent my heart from turning on me. Lower chances of heart disease for me due to its high Vitamin E again. Actually, combining food that lower cholesterol makes their effect additive. They’re even more healthy for your heart if you keep the skins on, even if they’re scratchy on the throat, it greatly increases the Vitamin E and flavonoids. Maybe that’s what’s causing my insomnia. My heart’s too healthy and it’s keeping me awake.

Almonds also have a wonderful amount of magnesium and potassium. Magnesium will lower blood pressure and strengthens blood vessels, and potassium is good for muscles and nerves.

There actually have been studies done that suggest that almonds will help you lose weight, despite its high fat nature. Nut consumption in general seems to stop weight gain, if not reverse it. This is definitely not the cause of my weight loss though. It’s too much too soon, the doctor says it may be dangerous even. Death by weight loss, it’s got to be someone’s ideal way to go out.

Much like seed consumption, there is some evidence that chewing on nuts like almonds will clean and strengthen the enamel on your teeth. So Almonds have the whole upper half of your body covered. Lose weight, pump more blood, have better teeth. What more could you want?

Took a sick day off, trying to catch up on sleep. It helped a bit, but it’s not something I can afford to do every week. What happened? I’d been sleeping like a baby and now I can’t sleep at all again. I’m scheduled to meet with the doctor this afternoon, so we’ll see.

Anyway, this is a food blog, not a sleep blog.

So let’s see what changes are being made to Jack’s diet today.

One major change that I’ve taken in eating better that I’ve been overlooking is oatmeal in the mornings. Probably because it was nondescript and something I’ve done irregularly in the past. Writing these after lunch has its particular biases.

Oatmeal is of course extremely healthy for you because if it is done right, it is incredibly simple. You buy oats from the store. You pour water and milk on them. You put them in the microwave for a while, you take them out and frown as you fill your mouth with hot runny goop. It has a wide array of vitamins and minerals, antioxidants, complex carbohydrates, iron, protein, all sorts of good stuff. And yet. It is quite difficult to not taste bland and …oatmeal like.

I’ve made it more palatable by putting several kinds of fruits and berries into the mix when possible. Blueberries, strawberries, apples, bananas, basically everything besides citrus fruits and watermelon. But that’s just because I don’t have watermelon, and I can’t exactly finish an entire one by myself before it goes bad.

Anyway, oatmeal is yet another thing that reduces high blood pressure. With everything else I’ve been eating, my blood pressure must be something ridiculously low now. My bad cholesterol is probably just non-existent at this point, because oatmeal also lowers cholesterol. And on top of all that, it reduces your chances at developing heart disease.

Now how all of this is supposed to help me sleep at night, I’m not sure. Maybe to reassure me that I won’t get heart failure anytime soon?

I’ve been getting really tired recently. Just when I thought it would be getting better for good. I’ve been eating healthy, haven’t even looked at a fast fast food restaurant in the last two weeks. What the heck?

I’ve scheduled another appointment with my doctor. Maybe he’ll tell me what I’m doing wrong.

What have I been eating differently… Oh right. Fruits and berries. Namely Kiwis.

So let’s see what changes are being made to Jack’s diet today.

Kiwis are often used to make a fruit salad more exotic, and are said to taste of strawberries, melons, bananas, and its own flavor. Personally, I don’t taste the bananas, but a friend said that he didn’t think it tasted of melons. At least we agree there’ something strawberry like in it.

Anyway, this fruit has more than 100% of your recommended Vitamin C if you eat an entire one, which is pretty amazing for something roughly the size of an egg. This Vitamin C overdose is really good for the gums. Without enough Vitamin C, the cellulose in the gum weakens and the gums become more susceptible to bacteria and rot. A kiwi a day thus definitely helps prevent gum diseases, improving your oral health overall.

What’s interesting is that the Kiwi is known to protect cells from DNA damage by oxygen. Scientists are still not sure how this happens, but they’re sure it’s has to do with its powerful antioxidant properties. Kids who eat kiwis are less likely to develop respiratory problems as they get older. That’s right, the kiwi does wonders for your lung health. Kiwi can lessen the symptoms of asthma, and can help out with coughing, wheezing, and shortness of breath. This definitely has something to do with the anti-oxidants in it, but it’s hard to say why or how at this point.

Kiwis also contain a good deal of fiber which may reduce high cholesterol, helps maintain or lower high blood pressure, and is generally good for the digestion, pushing bad things out of the body quickly.

It’s quite interesting how they got to be called Kiwis, they originated from China and were known as “Chinese Gooseberries” for a while (despite the fact that they do not resemble Gooseberries at all). Then, missionaries in China picked up seeds and left for New Zealand, where they flourished and became quite popular. They started calling them kiwis after the bird because it was more marketable than “Chinese Gooseberry” and the kiwifruit does have a passing resemblance to the kiwibird. The rest is history. Like the several kiwis I bought a few days back. All gone within a day of their ripening. Perhaps I should go buy more.

They were having a special on Middle Eastern food this week, so yesterday I picked up some hummus for lunch. I vaguely recall having it before at some point in my life, but I don’t recall when. Anyway it was pretty good despite the fact that I ended up eating it with sesame bread. I read now that I was supposed to pick up some of that pita as well.

So let’s see what changes are being made to Jack’s diet today.

Hummus is pretty good for you, though it’s high in fat. It’s kinda funny, the main ingredients (Chickpeas, Sesame, Lemon, Garlic) have been found in its region of origin for millennia. Hummus is definitely the result of some person who wanted all of it at once, or someone who mashed it all together as a joke, and then was completely surprised by how good it tasted. Anyway, the point of this blog is not the hummus I probably ate too much of today, Sesame, one of its main ingredients, is quite something for a tiny seed that you barely notice on bread and in salads.

First of all, when you physically chew on the sesame seed, despite its ability to get stuck in your teeth, it’s actually quite good for the teeth themselves, foods like seeds remove plaque from teeth and build up tooth enamel simply from being chewed over. And the sesame seed is high in calcium, meaning they are exceptionally good for someone trying to preserve their teeth. And everyone should be trying to preserve their teeth. Dental health can be used as an indication of overall bodily health after all.

The sesame seed is also rich in iron, magnesium, manganese, zinc, and copper. Copper, in particular, is known to provide relief for rheumatoid arthritis as it is an important part of several anti-inflammatory and antioxidant enzyme systems. And it’s necessary in collagen and elastin, ground substances that provide structure, strength, and elasticity to blood vessels, muscles, and joints. Magnesium is good for the heart and lungs, it prevents asthma attacks and migraines, it lowers high blood pressure, it helps with menopausal symptoms. Zinc is also good for bones as increases bone density, thus reducing the likelihood of getting osteoporosis.

Also, sesame seeds contain lignans, such as sesamin, which is found exclusively in sesame seeds. It has both antioxidant and anti-cancer effects, and may even lower cholesterol.

With all of these things that help lower cholesterol and serve as antioxidants and everything, it becomes hard to imagine something that actually makes these things worse. Well I guess it’s a good reason why I’d probably never review beef or pork here (the meat to most dinners, so to speak), and all of those processed lab created chemicals that taste sweeter that our bodies aren’t able to digest properly…

It almost makes you want to crumple society into a ball and start over as an agrarian society, doesn’t it?

Anyway, if you buy a container of sesame, you can sprinkle it on almost anything for an added subtle nutty crunch.

I am Jack’s inability to think of a good title. How do you write about cheese without being cheesy?

The boss says I may be turning over a new leaf. All things considered, my productivity is up, and apparently I’m looking so much more alive than I was before. That’s wonderful news, I guess. If only the boss knew about half of it.

On a whim, I went out and bought a whole bunch of expensive cheeses. It’s almost always turned out that the most expensive foodstuffs in the supermarket were either healthy or exquisite or both. Wine. Spice. Seafood. Cheese.
But if I thought onions smelled bad…

So let’s see what changes are being made to Jack’s diet today.

It does turn out that cheese is healthy for you. Or at least, the more expensive and older cheeses.

In general cheeses are low in carbs and have high calcium and a lot of phosphorus. This is wonderful for the mouth, the combination (with the protein casein) balances the mouth’s pH to avoid having acid wear away at the enamel. It preserves and rebuilds tooth enamel, it causes the mouth to produce more saliva, for body regulated care and defensive of the mouth, and it kills bacteria that causes cavities and gum disease. Overall, Cheese is great for your oral and dental health. So I assumed that it was probably best to chew it like gum and then spit it out. After all, there’s all this bad press about the fat in cheese, all this unhappiness about how it can cause all sorts of ailments and is generally unhealthy. It’s why there’s so many fat-free/low fat cheeses out there. Ha.

I am Jack’s Growing Skepticism About low price fat-free/low fat products.

The thing is, while they suck out all of the fat out of cheese, they suck out a lot of its nutritional value. That cheese that you have in your grilled cheese may have less fat, but it’s not doing a whole lot for you at all. But the thing is, when researchers in Denmark subjected men to a regimen of 10 servings of 1 ounce of full fat cheese a day, their LDL cholesterol (the bad kind, if you recall) didn’t budge. It’s not exactly recommended that you only eat cheese, but it’s not something you can’t enjoy every so often, like a good red wine.

So what else is good news about cheese? It may help prevent cancers, cheese contains Conjugated Linoleic Acid and Sphingolipids. It also has nutrients like vitamin B12, vitamin A, riboflavin, and zinc, all of which are necessary for proper nutritious balance and to ward off diseases. All the calcium in cheese is also good for bone health and can help people with osteoporosis control their bone density loss. They are also good for (surprise) weight gain, because cheese contains the proteins, fat, calcium, vitamins, and minerals necessary for healthy muscle building and bone strengthening.

Speaking of heart health, it is rare to find a cheese that’s good for the heart, but there are some low-fat low sodium cheeses that can be good for hypertension sufferers, especially because cheese has vitamin B.

What they don’t tell you is that eating too much cheese will give you constipation. But that’s a topic for a different day, and a different blog.

Okay yeah bad pun, forgive me. I guess I turned out to be the kind of guy who who makes corny jokes. (I should probably do corn one of these days.)

Getting good nights of sleep more often now. People have been commenting on how color’s returned to my face and stuff. It’s working, I guess.

So let’s see what changes are being made to Jack’s diet today.

I had myself a sandwich with fresh guacamole in it. No chips because they’re absolutely covered in salt and fried to a delicious but unhealthy perfection. But guacamole is good stuff. I did the research last night.

Besides containing over 20 vitamins and minerals per bite, the avocado is powerful preventative measure for several ailments. The Hass avocado is the kind most commonly found in supermarkets today (I bought two over the weekend on a whim), and is the most researched of the over 500 varieties.

The avocado has a lot of monounsaturated fat, the kind that lowers LDL cholesterol levels and raises HDL cholesterol levels in the blood, decreasing your chances of having hypertension and high blood pressure. Avocados also allow for the absorption of other carotenoids, such as beta carotene and lycopene, which are essential for heart health. At this rate my heart will be healthier than it has ever been in my life. I am Jack’s macho heart, come at me bro.

Recent studies have shown that guacamole may prevent oral cancer by stopping the growth of precancerous cells, or flat out killing precancerous cells, without targeting normal, healthy cells at all. That’s right, your Monday Night Football dip is fighting off your post-game victory cigar. If you have a cigar after a win. I don’t know. I don’t watch football. It seems that the phytochemicals from avocados regulate the signals cell death in precancerous cells where it would not occur usually, thus ridding the mouth of cells that threaten to become cancer. It would seem that regular cells are not effected because they still respond to their own signals that tell them to live and die. As more research is done, it is becoming apparent that the avocado is not the only fruit with phytonutrients that help fight cancer, but it is worth mentioning that the avocado was among the first to be found with these properties.

These signals do make me wonder if there’s some sort of macrosignal for people that tells them when to live and die. Boop. Start puberty. Boop. Become an adult. Boop. Start being responsible. Boop. Undergo Mitosis. Boop. Die.

Anyway, the avocado is not limited to oral cancer and prolonging oral health, it can also help fight prostate cancer and breast cancer. It may help with a dry cough as well. And there are claims that avocados are good for healthy hair as well (I don’t know how, hopefully you don’t rub the avocado on your hair). A guacamole spread is delicious and more healthy than other spreads like butter or mayonnaise. Though it may not be appropriate on your morning toast, for example, it can be used in sandwiches (like mine) and salads for healthier and still delicious results.

Well, today was interesting. My office uncovered a case of insurance fraud by a certain individual. And well, I suppose it’ll be in the news soon, so I won’t say anymore.

First day I’ve had any real fun in the office in a long while. First day after a good night’s sleep too. It might be eating healthier working for me. It might be other things.

So let’s see what changes are being made to Jack’s diet today.

I went to go eat at a Chinese restaurant with a friend today, and while the food wasn’t too great, their tea was amazing. I had like six cups of it. And when I got back I started doing research on it because I had to make sure those six cups weren’t going to kill me. (I am Jack’s creeping hypochondria.)

But apparently there wasn’t any reason to worry. What doesn’t green tea do? The unfermented tea is filled with a whole brew (harhar) of antioxidants with various health benefits. It’s good for your digestive system, it may help you live longer, it may help you lose weight,  it helps protect against cancer and reduces tumors, it boosts your immune system, and it is good for your heart and your teeth. Wow. Color me amazed.

When you drink green tea, you consume polyphenols that inhibit germs that cause bad breath, and prevent plaque and bacteria from sticking to the teeth. Green tea has also been proven to reduce periodontal disease; periodontal pocket depth, clinical attachment loss of gum tissue, and bleeding of the gum all decreased for every cup consumed per day in men aged 49 to 59 when tested in the lab. This lab was in Japan, obviously. Those Asians know what they’re doing. It seems that the cause for this dental healthiness is the flavonoid catechins, which is abundant in green tea.

I’ve started to throw around all of these words in real life too. Polyphenols. Flavonoids. I sound like a nutritional facts panel for some horribly processed food. I guess it sounds better than saying “chemical” all the time, because we’ve been programmed to think of all chemicals as Bad For You.

What else does green tea do? Let’s see. Regular green tea drinkers have a reduced risk of heart disease, as the antioxidants in green tea block the oxidation of LDL (bad) cholesterol, increases HDL (good) cholesterol, and improve artery function. A study showed that in regular green tea drinkers, there was a 46%-65% reduction in hypertension risk as compared to non-drinkers. Green tea may also strengthen the cells lining the walls of blood vessels, providing for overall cardiovascular health.

Yeah I’m kinda gunning for heart disease now, huh.

Sources vary on how many cups of tea are necessary per day, to get these health benefits, some say three, some say as many as seven. Whatever, it’s more water than I’m currently drinking (Right now I’m sipping a soda which should be off limits. Oops) and it’s a lot more trips to the bathroom. The problem with having green tea in the office is that the health benefits apply to freshly brewed green tea more than anything else, with open leaves or in a bag. And it’s a hassle to keep a kettle here. I’ll look into it. Maybe I’ll just chug it at home.

Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly, the various bottled or canned varieties of green tea, despite what the labels say, are not nearly as healthy as the freshly brewed stuff. They are also likely to contain sweeteners like high fructose corn syrup, and these sweeteners can effectively negate the benefits of green tea.

Well, sleep still isn’t easy, but I’ve been feeling better. There are some moments when I’m not tired all the time.

I tried asking the doctor for sleeping pills, but he was adamant about using them as an last resort. So many other things I could change, he said, at least try them before going for the chemical route.

Alright. But I’d say the chemical route has to be easier.

So let’s see what changes are being made to Jack’s diet today.

I bought myself a salad during lunch. Lettuce, chickpeas, black beans, tomatoes, carrot shards, other green rabbit food. Picking through all of it, soon I was left with the onions.

Call me picky and vain, but I’d rather not spend the rest of the day with horrible breath, so I usually avoid onion. But apparently, that’s just me being picky and vain. Onions are apparently really healthy despite the halitosis. (Which isn’t actually halitosis, as halitosis is caused by bacteria, okay, sure. I’d say that the halitosis is caused by chemicals that the bacteria produces, and replacing one chemical with another is all the same.)

It causes bad breath because it contains sulfur compounds, which are also surprisingly antibacterial. Maybe it shouldn’t be, the bacteria just can’t stand it either. These antibacterial properties are strongest when the onion is freshly peeled and raw, which is unfortunate, because the smells is worse then. In fact, some people on the internet recommend chewing on raw onions for a few minutes a day to cleanse the mouth of bacteria. Huh. Since my job requires me to meet with people, I think I’ll stick to brushing my teeth, but if I’m ever stranded in the middle of a farm for a few days, I’ll keep that in mind.

They also use onions as temporary relief for tooth pain. Peel the onion, apply it to the tooth, instant relief. I’ve never even heard of that. What does the onion even do for teeth? It’s definitely a folk remedy and not medically approved, but there are even testimonials that claim it works. That’s kinda cool I guess.

The onion is also rich in vitamins E, B12, C, and B6, as well as folic acid, and it contains potassium. Hm I guess my multivitamin is less useful now that I’ve switched to being healthy. Could all this good press for this onion be an attempt to raise it’s popularity? Where are the celebrities advocating eating onions? I guess it’s a rather humble vegetable. (I am Jack’s sad attempts at comedy booed off the stage.)

Not only that, onions contain a bioflavonoid called quercetin that has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. It almost makes me wish I had heart disease or something so I could feel like I was saving myself. So the potassium regulates or lowers blood pressure and the quercetin reduces or stops inflammation and hardening of the arteries. They also say quercetin’s antioxidant effects may slow or even stop heart disease in its early stages. Okay, so I guess it can be preventative. I’ll look into eating more onions. I did bite the bullet and eat all my onions from lunch, and popped a few breath mints, which are apparently terrible for my teeth. Whatever.

I looked up some onion recipes (not onion rings though, unfortunately) and apparently, when cooked, a lot of the onion’s healthiness is lost, into the water when boiled, for example. So for the most benefits, eat them raw. Great. Or if in a soup, as long as you drink the soup, I guess.

Hello World. This is the first post I’ll be making here.

Let me say right now that this is not what I consider fun. I grumbled audibly when my doctor recommended that I excise everything I enjoyed eating (and I mean basically everything), but to be honest, I’m desperate. My constant insomnia has gotten so bad that I can only get to sleep when I’m completely exhausted, and then only for a few hours. Not healthy. I could hear it in the back of my head: “I am Jack’s failing health, soon I will go belly up and so will he.” Yikes. If the doctor says that dietary changes are necessary or recommended, I’ll give it a shot. After all, it’s not like I’m cutting back, I’m just cutting differently.

So let’s see what changes are being made to Jack’s diet today.

Here’s one, instead of getting chips to go with my (somewhat pitiful) sandwich today for lunch, I got raisins. A little baggy of raisins. Let me just put it out there now, raisins are not an ample replacement for chips, but they aren’t bad. They’re tasty, sweet, and succulent at times. They’re also all natural, it’s nice to see only one ingredient under the nutritional facts for once. But I hate how they get stuck on my teeth. They always make me feel like I should brush afterwards. But I don’t, because I’m lazy and I never eat raisins.

It turns out, after I did a little research to feel better about myself (I am Jack’s growing self pity), that raisins are actually pretty good for you. It turns out that they are high in fructose and glucose, but not sucrose, which does the most damage to your teeth and oral health. And recent research shows that the raisin may actually help the mouth out, actually improving dental hygiene. Dr. Christine D. Wu, lead author in a study on raisins (that must look great on a resume), has stated that raisins contain phytochemicals that suppress oral bacteria like Streptococcus Mutans and Prophyromonas Gingivalis, two species of bacteria that are the leading causes for cavities and other dental problems.

Not only that, the stickiness is actually good, raisins have olenolic acid, which protects tooth enamel and gum tissue. And unlike other acids, the longer olenolic acid has exposure to the teeth, the longer it has to work on improving your oral hygiene. Raisins also have calcium which is great for building and maintaining tooth enamel. Finally, raisins contain boron, which also has antibacterial properties and is beneficial for healthy bones and teeth. Good stuff.

What else? Well, raisins are also beneficial to heart health. They are rich in potassium which is important for regulating blood pressure, and are high in antioxidants which help lower cholesterol, certainly a boon for someone with heart disease. They also contain iron, for those who suffer from anemia. Also, Raisins are high in fiber and contain tartaric acid, both of which are beneficial to digestion.

So everything turned out better than I had expected. This might turn out well. (I am Jack’s growing optimism.)