BREATHE EASIER WITH BROCCOLI

Combat COPD with Indirect Antioxidants

November is Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Awareness month, and while you're probably aware of COPD drugs, which are endlessly advertised on television, you may be less aware of how nutrition may impact COPD, which is the fourth-leading cause of death in the U.S. That's why we're so excited about new research indicating broccoli's ability to fight COPD.

Affecting 24 million Americans, COPD encompasses bronchitis and emphysema and manifests as a thickening of lung walls, making it difficult to breathe. Normally, your lungs have their own antioxidant enzymes which clear out toxins, but smoke -- from cigarettes, marijuana or even incense -- disables this defense system. The result: The toxins enter your defenseless lungs, ultimately killing healthy cells. Researchers from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health found that when cigarette smoke inactivated the antioxidant enzymes in lung tissue, 30% of the cells self-destructed. But they discovered that compounds in broccoli re-activate your lung's antioxidant defense systems, reducing cell death to a mere 5%. If broccoli has such a dramatic effect against deadly cigarette smoke, imagine how much smoke-free lungs would be able to benefit!

Broccoli's protective powers extend far beyond your lungs. The same compound can help protect diabetics' blood vessels from the kind of damage that quadruples their risk of heart disease. Eating just a half cup of broccoli a week could halve prostate cancer risk. Broccoli also helps strengthen the blood brain barrier, which protects the brain in the event of a head injury.

Bonus: Bananas may also help you breathe easier -- one study found that kids who ate a banana a day were 34% less likely to develop asthma.

H1N1 vaccine dangers

experimenting

Lunch today:

brown rice with cooked chopped carrots

black beans heated up

chopped/sliced hard-boiled egg 

fresh baby spinach leaves in abundance on top

warm the rice and beans, add egg and spinach on top, and sprinkle a little rice vinegar over top if you think you need the little extra zing. I ate half with the vinegar, half without and enjoyed it both ways. 

Filling, nutritious, and packed with nutrients and vitamins

Is milk dangerous?

The USA and Sweden are the countries that consume the most dairy milk. We are the only creation that drinks another's milk... some food for thought. We are also the leading countries in osteoporosis and brittle bone disease and breast cancer, yet milk is supposed to be good for us, strengthening our bones, due to the calcium found in it. Green leafy vegetables provide far more calcium than dairy milk. Do we need calcium, yes, but we can find higher contents, in forms free of hormones and other harmful additives, in vegetables and nuts.

Calcium can be found in: cabbage, almonds, turnip greens, broccoli, okra, bok choy, collards, kale, figs, spring greens, parsley, and orange juice to name a few.

Dairy products are known/proven to create more mucus in the body, creating ear infections, respiratory infections, etc. And, unless you buy organic and do your research on specific farms/producers, you're risking infusing your body with an abundance of hormones your body wasn't meant to have. 

Great substitutes for your breakfast or to accompany the warm cookies out of the oven: rice milk and/or almond milk. I personally enjoy the vanilla flavor.

an apple a day...

...keeps the doctor away! Right, isn't that what we've been taught? What is in an apple that makes them so special to keep the doctors away? [We will explore this later.] Is nutrition and what we eat really all that important, or is it another marketing hype in our culture? We know, given the choice, a piece of fruit would be the better option over a Twinkies, but what other things should we be taking into consideration?

Americans are some of the unhealthiest and most depressed people on the planet. Studies over many, many years have shown the direct correlation between nutrition and disease prevention; along with that comes a happier people.

There are many factors that contribute to our health, nutrition and exercise being the two we hear more frequently. My hope and desire is to educate you, encourage you, help open your eyes to things you did not know you didn't know, and walk you along a journey of better health and peace knowing you are being a good steward with the life and body (God's temple) He's given you by living a healthier lifestyle... one step at a time. Be encouraged friends, better health is yours - as long as you want it. May the lives we live and the legacies we leave be those of good stewardship, encouragement, and honoring the One whom gives us life each day.