Doctors Choice Wellness
Updates and Insights in Wellness
6 Ways to Boost Your Immune System and Live Longer
Jan 28th
This year has shed light upon our need to boost our immune system, without having to rely upon vaccinations that may or may not be available (i.e. Swine Flu!) Read on and
Be well!
Dr. S.
After the age of 50, the immune system declines, and it grows less efficient with each passing year. There is evidence that as we age, our immune system produces an excess of harmful chemicals that trigger inflammation. We see the results of this overproduction in autoimmune diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and even heart failure.
Fortunately, we know many things that will help boost your immune system. Here are some things you can do:
• Drink six 12-ounce glasses of pure water each day to flush out urinary bacteria. Despite many reports that claim our drinking water is cleaner and healthier than ever, viruses and parasites may be lurking in your water supply. To learn more about what’s in the water you’re drinking, read my report.
• Eat at least five servings of fresh vegetables a day. Wash all veggies thoroughly, and choose organic produce whenever possible.
• Avoid foods containing immune-suppressing oils such as corn, soybean, safflower, sunflower, peanut, and canola. Instead, include healthy omega-3 oils in your diet.
• Take a multivitamin with minerals. (We take Phytovite!) If you are having surgery, you might want to select a vitamin that has iron and vitamin K.
• Take vitamin C (buffered calcium or magnesium ascorbate) and vitamin E (natural forms of mixed tocopherols) each day.
• Be sure to take daily supplements of CoQ10 if you are over 50 or have a history of heart disease. This will strengthen your heart and boost immunity.
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Lose Weight Before Weight-Loss Surgery
Jan 19th
Dr. Dennis Sandler
You may have noticed that many of my blog entries in 2010 revolve around the subject of weight loss. That’s because a majority of you who made New Years resolutions on January 1st made a resolution to lose weight. I am dedicated to bringing you information that can help you keep those resolutions. If you have a significant amount of weight to lose, you may be contemplating a surgical solution. I am re-printing an article I found on Reuters that shows that you can improve your outcome by losing some weight before your operation. As is expected, the article talks about changing your diet and exercising. Easily said, not so easy to execute! That’s why I recommend that people find a pharmaceutical-grade, high quality supplement that can work to help achieve those goals by safely boosting your metabolism and suppressing your appetite.
Weight Management
Read on and Be Well,
Dr. S.
Having weight-loss surgery? Shedding a few pounds before the surgery might reduce your risk of having surgical complications, a new study hints.
A look back at the medical records of 881 patients who had weight-loss surgery found that the more weight patients lost before surgery, the less likely they were to suffer post-op complications, such as infections, blood clots, and kidney problems.
Preoperative weight changes varied among the 881 patients, ranging from modest weight gain to weight loss of more than 10 percent of excess body weight.
The post-surgery complication rate was nearly twofold higher in patients who gained weight before surgery relative to those who lost weight before surgery, Dr. Peter N. Benotti of the Saint Francis Medical Center in Trenton, New Jersey and colleagues report in the Archives of Surgery.
All of the patients had undergone open or “keyhole” Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery. With this procedure, staples are used to create a pouch in the stomach that can hold only a small amount of food at a time; then, a portion of the small intestine is attached to the pouch so that food bypasses the rest of the stomach and part of the small intestine.
Patients who had the more-invasive open surgery were at increased risk of post-op complications, regardless of whether they gained or lost weight before the surgery, the researchers found.
The popularity of weight-loss surgery has increased in recent years and so too have the numbers of patients seeking surgery who are older and sicker, the researchers note.
As more of these high-risk patients seek out surgical weight-loss options, doctors are facing a need to identify risk factors and help prepare patients for successful surgery. The current study, the researchers say, suggests that pre-surgery weight loss may be one step that will help those having weight-loss surgery to achieve a more favorable outcome.
Some surgeons who perform weight-loss surgery mandate that certain high-risk patients lose some weight before having the surgery, Benotti and colleagues note. However, others believe that mandated pre-surgery weight loss “may be a deterrent to surgery.” In addition, the long term effect of shedding a few pounds before weight-loss surgery is also unclear.
In a telephone interview with Reuters Health, Benotti said patients need to know that weight-loss surgery “is not a definitive treatment.” A healthy diet, lifestyle change, and behavior modification are essential for maintaining weight loss after surgery, the researcher said.
“Surgery is a carrot; it provides motivation for people knowing they will have help,” Benotti said.
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Walking Off Fat — Fast!
Jan 13th
Dr. Dennis Sandler
Was one of your New Year’s resolutions to EXERCISE? If it was, have you started yet? Or have you started and quit already? Well, join the crowd. Speaking of crowds, when I went for my usual workout at the Pacific Athletic Club in Carmel Valley on January 2nd, I had to return at a later time because the parking lot was full! Apparently, you weren’t the only one who made that resolution to get back to exercising. My goal for 2010 is to find some USEFUL and PRACTICAL tips for people like you, who want to keep those resolutions. I like this article I found in Dr. Oz’s newsletter. It really brings home a point I’ve been stressing in my blog – don’t set yourself up for failure by getting in over your head – start slow and set make realistic goals!
Be well!
Dr. S.
Saying you’re too heavy to exercise is like saying you’re too skinny to eat. Your body needs exercise just as your body needs food. And walking may be one of the best-kept secrets of weight loss. Many people who have succeeded in losing a lot say that walking every day was a key factor.
No matter how overweight you are, you can do something to start the process of losing fat, strengthening your bones, and relieving your joints of the load that they’re carrying. Just follow our six steps to the perfect walking program and you’ll be walking off the fat in no time.
6 Steps to the Perfect Walking Program
1. Think: Every day, no excuses
You must make walking a priority every day. And that’s walking — not gardening or house cleaning or hitting golf balls. You can do those things, too, but they can’t take the place of your daily walk. Use a calendar to keep track of your walks.
2. Think: Small
Walk just a few minutes a day if that’s all you can do right now. Then, increase by 1 or 2 minutes every few days. And go slowly at first. You’ll still burn the same number of calories as a smaller person walking more quickly, because your body is carrying a bigger load. And walking slowly can reduce stress on the knees by up to 25%. Once you’ve built up your stamina, aim for 30 minutes every day (you can break it into three 10-minute walks if you like).
3. Think: Warm-up
Warm-ups prepare your body, physically and psychologically, for the upcoming workout. For walking workouts, a slower walk is the warm-up. So start by walking slowly for several minutes. You will know you are ready to go at a faster clip when you start to feel a little warmer and your heart beats a little faster.
4. Think: Pleasant
For most people, strenuous exercise is no fun. Odds are, if you work out so hard that you don’t enjoy it, you’ll probably stop. So cut yourself some slack, and keep the pace enjoyable. This will save you from overuse injuries, too. If you feel pain, do your body a favor: Listen, and let up.
5. Think: Crank it up (gradually)
Once you’ve been walking for a while, and you’re feeling good and enjoying more energy and stamina, increase your activity: Go faster or farther. But do not increase it more than 10% in any week, no matter how good you feel.
6. Think: Stretch, stretch, stretch
Great health without stretching is like trying to look good without combing your hair — it ain’t gonna happen. Set aside 2 or 3 minutes to stretch when you’re done walking. Stretching the muscles you just used allows them to be ready for the next time you want to use them. It’s not clear if stretching decreases soreness afterward, but it definitely improves and maintains joint range of motion. Here are some stretching basics:
- Move slowly into the stretch position until you feel a gentle (not painful) pulling sensation.
- Hold the stretch for 10 to 30 seconds without bouncing.
- Repeat each stretch at least two or three times. (If you cut corners and only do it once, hold the stretch for at least 20 seconds.)
- Do one stretch for each muscle group you exercise.
- Stop immediately if you feel pain in a joint when performing a stretch. Stretches should be felt in the muscles, not the joints.
More Walking Wonders
Walk not only for the physical effects but also for the psychological boost. Remember where self-esteem comes from: the ability to overcome obstacles and achieve goals. Walking accomplishes both! And if you learn to enjoy your stretching sessions and indulge in them, stretching may become as much of a benefit to your body and psyche as walking.
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Let’s start off 2010 with positive thinking!
Jan 9th
Susan E. Sandler
Happy New Year everyone! Many people have started the year with the resolutions to lose weight and improve overall health. I can certainly help you with that @ www.doctorschoicewellness.com . However, I believe the first thing to work on is our mental attitude and focus. It is actually very easily accomplished with a little adjustment to our “self talk”. I like this article because of it’s simple, straight-forward approach. Remember, “attitude is everything”!
Be well, Susan
10 simple ways to save yourself from messing up your life
- Stop taking so much notice of how you feel. How you feel is how you feel. It’ll pass soon. What you’re thinking is what you’re thinking. It’ll go too. Tell yourself that whatever you feel, you feel; whatever you think, you think. Since you can’t stop yourself thinking, or prevent emotions from arising in your mind, it makes no sense to be proud or ashamed of either. You didn’t cause them. Only your actions are directly under your control. They’re the only proper cause of pleasure or shame.
- Let go of worrying. It often makes things worse. The more you think about something bad, the more likely it is to happen. When you’re hair-trigger primed to notice the first sign of trouble, you’ll surely find something close enough to convince yourself it’s come.
- Ease up on the internal life commentary. If you want to be happy, stop telling yourself you’re miserable. People are always telling themselves how they feel, what they’re thinking, what others feel about them, what this or that event really means. Most of it’s imagination. The rest is equal parts lies and misunderstandings. You have only the most limited understanding of what others feel about you. Usually they’re no better informed on the subject; and they care about it far less than you do. You have no way of knowing what this or that event really means. Whatever you tell yourself will be make-believe.
- Take no notice of your inner critic. Judging yourself is pointless. Judging others is half-witted. Whatever you achieve, someone else will always do better. However bad you are, others are worse. Since you can tell neither what’s best nor what’s worst, how can you place yourself correctly between them? Judging others is foolish since you cannot know all the facts, cannot create a reliable or objective scale, have no means of knowing whether your criteria match anyone else’s, and cannot have more than a limited and extremely partial view of the other person. Who cares about your opinion anyway?
- Give up on feeling guilty. Guilt changes nothing. It may make you feel you’re accepting responsibility, but it can’t produce anything new in your life. If you feel guilty about something you’ve done, either do something to put it right or accept you screwed up and try not to do so again. Then let it go. If you’re feeling guilty about what someone else did, see a psychiatrist. That’s insane.
- Stop being concerned what the rest of the world says about you. Nasty people can’t make you mad. Nice people can’t make you happy. Events or people are simply events or people. They can’t make you anything. You have to do that for yourself. Whatever emotions arise in you as a result of external events, they’re powerless until you pick them up and decide to act on them. Besides, most people are far too busy thinking about themselves (and worry what you are are thinking and saying about them) to be concerned about you.
- Stop keeping score. Numbers are just numbers. They don’t have mystical powers. Because something is expressed as a number, a ratio or any other numerical pattern doesn’t mean it’s true. Plenty of lovingly calculated business indicators are irrelevant, gibberish, nonsensical, or just plain wrong. If you don’t understand it, or it’s telling you something bizarre, ignore it. There’s nothing scientific about relying on false data. Nor anything useful about charting your life by numbers that were silly in the first place.
- Don’t be concerned that your life and career aren’t working out the way you planned. The closer you stick to any plan, the quicker you’ll go wrong. The world changes constantly. However carefully you analyzed the situation when you made the plan, if it’s more than a few days old, things will already be different. After a month, they’ll be very different. After a year, virtually nothing will be the same as it was when you started. Planning is only useful as a discipline to force people to think carefully about what they know and what they don’t. Once you start, throw the plan away and keep your eyes on reality.
- Don’t let others use you to avoid being responsible for their own decisions. To hold yourself responsible for someone else’s success and happiness demeans them and proves you’ve lost the plot. It’s their life. They have to live it. You can’t do it for them; nor can you stop them from messing it up if they’re determined to do so. The job of a supervisor is to help and supervise. Only control-freaks and some others with a less serious mental disability fail to understand this.
- Don’t worry about about your personality. You don’t really have one. Personality, like ego, is a concept invented by your mind. It doesn’t exist in the real world. Personality is a word for the general impression that you give through your words and actions. If your personality isn’t likeable today, don’t worry. You can always change it, so long as you allow yourself to do so. What fixes someone’s personality in one place is a determined effort on their part—usually through continually telling themselves they’re this or that kind of person and acting on what they say. If you don’t like the way you are, make yourself different. You’re the only person who’s standing in your way.
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Guess What? We All Make Mistakes – Don’t Let it Defeat You!
Dec 24th
Dr. Dennis Sandler
Have you enjoyed a few forkfuls of a coworker’s cake or picked at your friend’s fries? That’s OK.
You’re going to make wrong turns. You’re going to be tempted by not-so-good-for-YOU foods. Does that mean you should steer off the dietary cliff and fall into the fatty crevasse of destructive eating? Of course not. Instead of falling into a defeatist mentality by drop-kicking healthy eating the moment you make one bad choice, confront it. How?
Repeat the YOU Diet Mantra:
“At the next available moment, make an authorized YOU-turn.”
Say it three times, put down the tub of cookie dough, and get back on the right road.
Regain Control
What kills any regimen of healthy eating isn’t the occasional brownie or slice of pizza; it’s the cascade of behavior that happens after the initial indulgence. Use the YOU Diet Mantra to steer yourself back — and understand that you can make mistakes, but that you can correct them with some nonjudgmental coaxing. Why does it work?
• It gives you a mental crutch to carry when you’re faced with difficult eating situations.
It reminds you to be confident, to be positive, to know that the harm isn’t in the first mistake, it’s in not figuring out how to deal with it.
Here are five simple ways to protect your emotional well-being:
1. Value Your Daily Diversions
When you’re adding items to your to-do list, don’t forget the good stuff. If you look forward to reading in bed, going out to breakfast, taking long walks, listening to music, or just sitting quietly outside, make time for at least one of your favorite diversions every day.
Consider crossing out pesky items on your list that you keep saying you’re going to do but haven’t gotten to in over a year, like alphabetizing your bills or organizing your sock drawer. Or get rid of a time-consuming chore that isn’t enhancing your life one bit.
2. Build Your Strength and Independence
We all have low-energy days, but if you can resist the urge to skip your daily workout when you’re feeling low, you’ll be rewarded both now and later. Try this trick: Tell yourself that you need to do only 10 minutes of exercise. Once you’re up and moving (and feeling better) you’ll most likely want to finish your workout. Even if you can’t push past the 10-minute mark on the occasional bad day, you’ll feel good about doing at least a little something. Sticking with an exercise plan helps you feel good about yourself, strengthens your immune system, and enhances production of mood-boosting hormones.
3. Squash Your Stressors
Defuse daily hassles by practicing stress-reduction strategies. Try taking deep-breathing breaks throughout the day, inhaling through your nose and then exhaling slowly through your mouth. Repeating this action three or four times allows more oxygen to get into your bloodstream, creating a feeling of calm. Progressive muscle relaxation, yoga, and meditation also are effective ways of reducing tension, stress, depression, and anxiety. And a brisk 10-minute walk will do far more to dissipate your stress and lift your spirits than eating the bad-for-you snacks you might crave when feeling frantic.
4. Celebrate and Share Your Skills
Volunteer at a local school, club, or community organization. Not only will sharing your unique talents and expertise benefit others, but research shows that volunteering can make you happier and improve your well-being, too. Feeling engaged and involved in your local community is good for your emotional health. It’s also an opportunity to learn new skills and meet new people. Win-win.
5. Appreciate the People Around You
Unwind and share a few laughs with your family or friends at least once or twice each month. The openness and trust you share with the important people in your life can help give you the perspective you need to cope with everyday challenges. These regular connections will also have a positive impact on your health, especially when you share a good laugh. Laughing lowers blood pressure, reduces stress hormones, and releases endorphins that can ease pain.
Also, don’t neglect relationships at work. Colleagues and coworkers can provide valuable support and keep your blood pressure under control during stressful situations. .
Feeling satisfied and fulfilled with your life is an essential part of your emotional and physical well-being. As you grow to appreciate your time, independence, self-assurance, skills, and relationships, you will be amazed at just how good you feel, both in body and in spirit.
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Teach Your Teens To Wash Their Hands!
Dec 18th
Dr. Dennis Sandler
Be well!
Dr. S
When preparing frozen foods, adolescents are less likely than adults to wash their hands and are more susceptible to cross-contaminating raw foods while cooking, according to a Kansas State University study.
“While half of the adults we observed washed their hands after touching raw chicken, none of the adolescents did,” said Casey Jacob, a food safety research assistant at Kansas State. “The nonexistent hand-washing rate, combined with certain age-specific behaviors like hair flipping and scratching in a variety of areas, could lead directly to instances of cross-contamination compared to the adults.”
Food safety isn’t simple, and instructions for safe handling of frozen chicken entrees or strips are rarely followed by consumers despite their best intentions, said Doug Powell, Kansas State associate professor of food safety who led the study.
As the number and type of convenience meal solutions increase — check out the frozen food section of a local supermarket — the researchers found a need to understand how both adults and adolescents are preparing these products and what can be done to enhance the safety of frozen foods.
In 2007, Kansas State researchers developed a novel video capture system to observe the food preparation practices of 41 consumers — 21 primary meal preparers and 20 adolescents — in a mock domestic kitchen using frozen, uncooked, commercially available breaded chicken products. The researchers wanted to determine actual food-handling behavior of these two groups in relation to safe food handling practices and instructions provided on product labels. Self-report surveys were used to determine whether differences exist between consumers’ reported food handling practices and observed behavior.
The research appeared in the November 2009 issue of the British Food Journal.
Beyond the discrepancy between adult and adolescent food safety practices, the researchers also found that, even when provided with instructions, food preparers don’t follow them. They may not have even seen them or they assume they know what to do.
“Our results suggest that while labels might contain correct risk-reduction steps, food manufacturers have to make that information as compelling as possible or it will be ignored,” Chapman said.
The researchers also found that observation with discreet video recording is far more accurate than self-reported surveys. For example, although almost all of the primary meal preparers reported washing hands after every instance in which they touched raw poultry, only half were observed washing hands correctly after handling chicken products in the study.
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Reduce Stress Levels
Dec 14th
Dr. Dennis Sandler
Stress is all around us. The news, the highways, our credit card bills. So we have to take every opportunity available to reduce our stress levels, since all of the studies link elevated levels to many ailments, not the least of which is heart disease. Here are some useful tips.
Be well, Dr. S.
Many people believe that stress comes only in physical form (something like exhaustion or injury), while others recognize different traumas, including mental stress. Only relatively recently have physicians and neuroscientists accepted the fact that mental stress is a legitimate source of harm to the body. My report “Anxiety, Panic Disorder & Migraines: Fight Back Using Nature’s Elixirs. You can reduce stress by:
- Reducing your intake of fats, especially saturated fats and omega-6 fats (vegetable oils such as corn, safflower, soybean and canola).
- Taking magnesium. Magnesium is the body’s natural calmative agent. It reduces excitotoxicity, and when taken at bedtime, it aids sleep.
- Drinking white tea. White tea contains a flavonoid called epigallocatechin gallate. This flavonoid has been shown to calm the brain and reduce anxiety. For more information on the healing powers of tea, read my special report “Miracle Tea: Protects Your Heart and Brain While Preventing Cancer.”
- Exercising. Regular exercise relieves stress and improves antioxidant defenses. The best exercises include moderate callisthenic-type exercises, brisk walking, and weight-resistance exercises.
Simple, huh? Just do it!
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Giving Health for the Holidays!
Dec 11th
Susan E. Sandler
Okay, so Thanksgiving has passed, we’ve enjoyed our friends and family, and the turkey and stuffing are trying to attach themselves to our thighs and stomachs. Now is the time everyone starts getting serious about holiday gifts. Most give it a lot of thought and try to give each loved one the special thing that will make them happy.
This year, consider giving the GIFT OF HEALTH…14 years ago I was given the gift of BioLean. I lost 35 pounds and have kept it off all these years. That small gesture was an amazing gift to me—it truly changed my life! I had always struggled with extra weight and the frustrations that go with that. All of a sudden, it was no longer an issue for me. Talk about a “weight” being lifted off my shoulders! Since that time I have had the opportunity to give similar gifts to others—BioLean for energy, weight loss, and overall health; WinOmega3 for joint pain and inflammation; or anti-aging skincare. It’s a wonderful feeling to give a gift that is not only appreciated, but leaves that friend or family member healthier and feeling great!
Who isn’t looking for a little extra ENERGY and FOCUS?! Instant Energy without the sugar rush and crash.
Anti-aging skincare with amazing benefits is always well received!
Or, how about a plant-based comprehensive multi-vitamin, mineral, and anti-oxidant supplement? Many claim they actually FEEL BETTER after a few weeks taking these vitamins. .
How about natural, safe WEIGHT LOSS and weight maintenance? Try the BioLean II—a product formulated for overall good health and well-being. The “weight loss that stays lost” is a fab side effect! For optimal results try the BioLean II weight loss package at a discount!
How about Omega3 Fish Oil for heart, joint and brain health? I use Fish Oil instead of Prescription Drugs for my Rheumatoid Arthritis. Get the very best at a Discount!
And, how about sleep like a baby, without that hangover feeling in the morning –Herbal Sleep Aid–Night Night! “Sleep-Tite!”
The gift of health is always appreciated, always appropriate, and with Doctor’s Choice Wellness you know you’re giving the very best available without a prescription! Consider anti-aging skincare, or products that enhance sports and fitness! www.doctorschoicewellness.com. Look for the “Wellness Choice Links” on the right!
Be Well, Susan
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Creativity is a Lifestyle Choice!
Dec 9th
Susan E. Sandler
I enjoy being “creative”. I like to change up my hairstyle once in a while, “shop” in my closet for new outfits, or find something different to cook (or orderJ) for dinner! I can often be found in my office sewing or changing an article of clothing or organizing digital photos. I was delighted when I came across the article, Everyday Creativity in Psychology Today by Carlin Flora on this very topic. I urge you to read the whole article which has a lot of inspiring information, but here are the quick tips Flora recommends to get your creative juices going.
Let’s keep our minds active and searching!
Be Well,
Susan
Creativity Tips
Wake ‘n’ Write: Creativity guru Julia Cameron swears by free writing (no self-censoring) until you fill three pages. Get intrusive worries out and productive ideas flowing.
Relationship Shake-Up: Practice creative loving: If your partner annoys or upsets you, react the opposite way you usually do. You might be pleasantly surprised with the result.
Disrupt the Daily Grind: Jolt your brain out of automatic pilot by taking a new route to work.
Don’t Compete, Collaborate: Team up with a coworker who has complementary skills: If you’re a detail-oriented person, find a big-picture partner, or vice versa.
Daydream in Long Distance: Psychologically distant thoughts spur creativity. Think about designing a new product in Bali and your perceptual abilities will soar.
Search for Inspiration: Go to a museum or sit for a few minutes in a beautiful building or park on your lunch break. Try to notice all of the aesthetically pleasing details surrounding you.
Get Ahead: Start tackling big projects now. Procrastination does not fuel creativity, despite what procrastinators tell themselves.
Hit a Blue Note: Decorate your cubicle or home office in blue, since a study showed that blue surroundings boost creativity.
Be an Aficionado: Creative people often have hobbies, and those who play musical instruments are better at associative thinking. So dust off your old guitar or stamp collection.
Sleep on It: Think about a thorny problem before you go to bed. REM enhances creative problem-solving and may even deliver the answer to you at dawn.
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American Diets Need a Daily Dose of Color
Dec 7th
Dr. Dennis Sandler
I have been reading about the benefits of phytonutrients for years now. In fact, my family and I take a pharmaceutical-grade formulation as part of our daily wellness regimen - to make sure we are supplementing the levels of phytonutrients in our diet. I thought I would share this article on the benefits of phytonutrients in your diet. I think we all need more color in our lives!
Be well!
Dr. S
Although it is a well-known fact that most Americans do not eat enough fruits and vegetables, a new report shows that the color of fruits and veggies can be as important as the quantity.
Eight in 10 Americans are missing out on the health benefits of a diet rich in colorful fruits and vegetables, resulting in a phytonutrient gap with potential health consequences, according to America’s Phytonutrient Report released today.
“Many phytonutrients are powerful antioxidants that can help fight the damage caused to our bodies’ cells over time that can lead to premature aging and disease,” said Dr. Stephen Fortmann, director of the Stanford Prevention Research Center at Stanford University. “The fact that Americans are falling short in phytonutrient-rich fruits and vegetables measured in the report is concerning.”
America’s Phytonutrient Report looked at fruit and vegetable consumption in five color categories: green, red, white, blue/purple, and yellow/orange. The health benefits of phytonutrients are believed to come from the compounds that give these foods their vibrant reds, yellows, greens, and other rich colors.
Americans have a phytonutrient gap in every color category. Findings showed:
• The biggest phytonutrient gap was in the blue/purple fruit and vegetable category, where 88 percent of Americans fall short.
• Americans are doing a little better on getting phytonutrients found in green fruits and vegetables: 69 percent fall short.
• Seventy-eight percent of Americans are falling short in the red, 86 percent in white, and 79 percent in orange/yellow.
The report “illustrates that we need to think about more than just quantity when it comes to our fruits and vegetables,” said Amy Hendel, a registered physician assistant and health/wellness expert. “A daily dose of color could result in positive health benefits.”
The select phytonutrients analyzed within each color category included EGCG, isothiocyanate, lutein/zeaxanthin, and isoflavones for green; lycopene and ellagic acid for red; allicin and quercetin for white; anthocyanidins and resveratrol for purple/blue; and alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, hesperitin, and beta-cryptoxanthin for yellow/orange.
Although many people find it difficult to eat the recommended five to 13 servings of fruits and vegetables, Hendel suggests aiming for two fruits and/or vegetables from each of the five color categories on the phytonutrient spectrum a day. Thousands of phytonutrients are gaining attention in the nutrition world, Hendel said.
“Phytonutrients offer a wide range of potential health benefits from promoting eye, bone, and heart health to supporting immune and brain function,” she said.
Some phytonutrients, such as lycopene from red tomatoes or cartenoids found in oranges and carrots, may sound familiar. Others, such as lutein found in greens such as spinach and broccoli or allicin found in garlic are just being recognized.
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