Bright-colored vegetables such as carrots, peppers, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, winter squash, red onions, and eggplant provide similar vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants to help fight various diseases.
These vegetables, which should cover at least half of your plate, also contain fiber which slows down their absorption helping to delay the emptying of the stomach and thereby smoothing out the absorption of sugars into the blood.
Vegetables provide anti-glycemic and anti-cancer health benefits along with other health benefits for the heart, brain, liver, kidneys, pancreas, and other organs in the body.
Avocado is excellent because it contains monounsaturated fat, magnesium, potassium, folate, antioxidants such as Vitamin E, and fiber, which helps to remove cholesterol from the blood and improve bowel regularity and the health of the colon.
Fruits such as apples, berries, cherries, grapefruit, and pears also contain fiber to help slow down the absorption of the sugar. In addition, fruits provide antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and other key nutrients that help to nourish and protect the cells from excessive oxidative damage.
Dietary fiber (insoluble and soluble) in vegetables, fruits, legumes, and some organic grains help to lower cholesterol, normalize blood glucose levels, and maintain bowel regularity. Insoluble fiber passes through the digestive tract relatively unchanged to keep us regular. Soluble fiber dissolves to form a soft gel that helps to lower our cholesterol and control blood sugar. Some familiar foods that contain soluble fiber (pectins, gums, and mucilages) include apples, apricots, citrus, oats, lentils, dried beans and peas.
Fiber-rich vegetable sources include broccoli, string beans, turnips, lima beans, Brussels sprouts, mushrooms, kale, collards, winter squash. Fiber-rich legume sources include black beans, garbanzo beans (chickpeas), kidney beans, lentils, pinto beans, split peas, navy beans, and yams. Fiber-rich nuts and seeds include almonds, cashews, chestnuts, filberts, flaxseeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, walnuts. Fiber-rich fruits include avocados, dried figs, blackberries, prunes, raisins, apricots, apples (with skin), and pears (with skin). Other dietary fibers include inulin, oligofructose, and psyllium seed husk.
Note: Inulin belongs to a class of fibers known as fructans that is a special storage form of partly indigestible starch found in many root vegetables including onion and garlic. Inulin sails straight through our small intestine and becomes pet-food for the bacteria that inhabit our large intestine. Our bacteria love the stuff, chomping away furiously on it and converting it into gases and fatty acids (which we then absorb into our blood stream). Consequently, inulin acts as food (prebiotic) for the good bacteria in our gut. Food sources include asparagus, leek, onions, and garlic. Higher concentrations exist in herbs such as dandelion root, elecampane root and chicory root. But, avoid the man-made inulin found in processed foods such as bread, baked goods, and dairy products.
Sea vegetables (such as kelp/kombu, nori, wakame, and arame) are an excellent source of iodine and vitamin K, a very good source of the B-vitamin folate, and magnesium, and a good source of iron and calcium, and the B-vitamins riboflavin and pantothenic acid. They also contain measurable amounts of vitamins C and E. Sea vegetables are well-researched as containing a variety of anti-inflammatory and antioxidant compounds, which may help to prevent some cancers such as breast cancer and prostate cancer.
Marine alagae (chlorella, spirulina) is a true superfood that provides a plethora of vitamins, minerals, EFAs, antioxidants, etc. that help to strengthen the immune system and detoxify the body.
Filtered Water: Water helps to hydrate the cells to transport nutrients throughout the body. Also, water is the medium that keeps tissues soft and permeable, helps to regulate body temperature and helps to ensure proper bowel movement. And, because water is so important to the proper functioning of all systems of the body, you want to provide your body with filtered water only. Given that many people are dehydrated and have thick, sticky blood due to the high blood glucose levels, drinking filtered water is a necessity.
But, do not get carried away with drinking too much water, which can cause frequent urination, depleting the body of important minerals such as magnesium and potassium. It is just as important to get water from the green, leafy and bright-colored vegetables and some fruits.
Lean protein foods: These lean protein foods increase the production of growth hormones, stimulating the production of testosterone and muscle while burning fat. Some of these foods (beans, lentils, mushrooms) also provide fiber, which helps to slow down the amount of glucose that enters the bloodstream preventing a high rise in the blood glucose and insulin levels.
In addition, the fermented foods such as homemade yogurt, miso and tempeh help to improve the intestinal flora balance, build the immune system and generate new nutrients including Omega-3 fatty acids, digestive aids and the trace mineral GTF chromium. Wild salmon contains Omega-3 EFAs, high quality protein and the antioxidant astaxanthin.
Sardines (from the Mediterranean) contain Omega-3 EFAs, CoQ10, potassium, calcium, and, being small fish, they contain very little mercury. Lean organic beef and wild game provide the essential amino acids and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), which may help to metabolize fat.
Raw organic eggs from free-range chickens provide folic acid, choline and Omega-3 EFAs to help the cardiovascular system. Organic soy protein (with the isoflavones genestein and daidzein) can provide cardiovascular and anti-cancer health benefits, but soybeans, which contain hemaglutinins (that cause red blood cells to clump) and high levels of phytic acid, can increase the production of bad estrogen, leading to prostate and breast cancers.
Monounsaturated fat, Omega-3 EFAs: Monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) and essential fatty acids (EFAs), especially the Omega-3 EFAs, are critical to cardiovascular and mental health but cannot be made in the body. For this reason, it is essential that we acquire these fats from vegetable and plant oils.
MUFAs and EFAs are needed for heart and brain function, immune system support, healing, growth and development, bone health, joint health, muscle growth, stimulation of skin and hair growth, regulation of metabolism, control of inflammation, fat burning, and maintenance of reproductive processes.
EFAs bring oxygen and vitamins to the tissues, repair cell membranes, keep cells supple, generate electrical currents, are crucial to the electrical reactions of cells, and are involved in generating the electric currents that maintain a regular heartbeat. EFAs act as solvents to remove hardened fat and are crucial for weight loss; and, appear to regulate chromosome stability.
EFAs contain anti-inflammatory properties and do not clog the arteries or make the blood thicker like the oil or fat from animals or dairy products. These EFA oils lubricate the joints and arteries and keep the blood thin, preventing ailments such as arthritis and high blood pressure. They are also typically high in Vitamin E, providing antioxidant protection.
Since fats make up sixty percent of the brain and the nerves that run every system in the body, the higher the quality of the fat in the food, the better the brain and nerves will function. The brain sends chemical messengers throughout the body, telling each organ how to work. An important group of these chemical messengers are the prostaglandins (so-called because they were originally discovered in the prostate gland). Prostaglandins initiate the body’s self-repair system. The body needs both Omega-3 and Omega-6 fats to manufacture healthy brain cells (the message senders) and prostaglandins (the messengers).
Specifically, the body uses the Omega-3 EFAs to make the beneficial Series 3 prostaglandins, which regulate platelet stickiness, arterial muscle tone, the inflammatory response, sodium excretion, and the immune function. All of these regulatory functions are reversing the fight or flight stress-related response in the body, so if the body is deficient in Omega-3 EFAs, it cannot wind down normally from the stress response, which may lead to anxiety, depression, or chronic fatigue – ailments that are prevalent in many people.
Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) are better obtained from marine life (crustaceans known as krill) and from cold water fish such as wild salmon, sardines and tuna. Fish oil has been proven in many clinical studies to provide numerous health benefits to the cardiovascular, neural, joint, gastrointestinal, brain, skin, ocular, and immune systems.
EPA specifically protects the cardiovascular system by promoting normal cholesterol and triglyceride levels, increasing blood flow and enhancing immune function.
DHA specifically supports the cell membranes of the eyes, nerves and brain, which is 60% fat and predominantly DHA fat. Because ocean-raised wild salmon feed on smaller fish that eat EPA-and DHA-rich algae, they are an excellent source of the EPA and DHA oils. (But, farm-raised salmon, which are fed grain and other contaminants, do not contain much of these oils).
Flaxseed delivers the full benefits of Omega-3 EFA (alpha linolenic acid), the Omega-6 and Omega-9 EFAs, plus all of the fiber, protein, lignans, vitamins, minerals and amino acids, which are important nutrients for overall good health. Lignans are a type of natural plant chemical contained within the cell matrix of the flaxseed that act as plant hormones. When bacteria in the digestive tract act on plant lignans, these compounds are converted into potent, hormone-like substances, known as a phytoestrogens.
Research findings have concluded that the chemical release of these phytoestrogens is able to block the action of certain cancer-causing substances associated with breast, colon and prostate cancers.
Similar to seeds, many nuts also provide the Omega-3 fats and quality fiber, which helps to slow down the body’s absorption of the nut’s carbohydrate content.
(Some) Organic whole grains: Some organic whole grains may provide some benefits because of the insoluble fiber (roughage), which helps to increase stool bulk, speeds the passage of stools through the bowel, and may help to prevent bowel cancer, diverticulitis, and irritable bowel syndrome. Insoluble fiber is also important in suppressing hunger since, with fluids, it helps to provide a feeling of fullness.
To summarize, these “live” super foods provide vital nutrients and exert less strain on the gastrointestinal system and other organs because they contain organically-active nutrients, good bacteria, antioxidants, fiber, amino acids, essential oils, enzymes, vitamins, and minerals.
As a result, the body requires less energy to “break down” live foods and has the necessary energy and raw materials to strengthen the immune system and protect the body from oxidation, toxicity, acidity, inflammation, infection and the various systemic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.
And, if you already have one of these diseases, these nutrients help to perform other biochemical functions that facilitate healing and reversing the disease in your body.
Reference: Death to Diabetes Website
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