Getting to the root of your heart health — with root vegetables
What’s soft, slightly sweet, old-fashioned-sounding and brimming with goodness? Well, yes, that could describe your grandmother. But it also describes winter’s favorite root vegetables: sweet potatoes, rutabagas, turnips and beets. They give you unconditional love, too, because they’re loaded with heart-happy nutrition, whether you roast or puree them, make soups from them or add them to casseroles.
Sweet potatoes are packed with fiber, which helps control lousy LDL cholesterol levels. They also have antioxidant-polyphenols (beta-carotene, chlorogenic acid and anthocyanins) that ease inflammation, helping protect your blood vessels from plaque buildup. And how much immune-strengthening, heart-friendly vitamin A does 1 cup of baked sweet potatoes deliver? It’s 769 percent of the recommended daily value!
Rutabagas belong to the mustard family and have a good supply of heart-helpful potassium, vitamin C and fiber as well as manganese, which is involved in healthy blood clotting.
Turnips also have plenty of heart-healthy vitamin C, fiber, manganese and potassium. They also provide blood-vessel dilating nitrates and potassium that help lower blood pressure.
Beets are one of the most healthful root vegetables. Loaded with nitrates that dilate blood vessels, lower blood pressure and boost heart health, a serving also has 17 percent of the daily value for folate and 13 percent for manganese. One study even found that they increase blood flow to the brain!
So put these front and center on your wintertime dinner plates. Choose olive oil for roasting and pureeing. And check out the recipes for Root Vegetable Medley and baked Parsnip Fries at DoctorOz.com.
Vaping to stop smoking? You already know it doesn’t really work
During the Victorian Era (1837-1901), it was common to say that a woman was having vapors — a condescending and wildly inaccurate way of attributing everything from menstrual cramps to depression to the “Hysterick Fits” that women were said to suffer.
We’ve come a long way from those days. But vapers — that’s people who vape — are still being mistreated, according to a new study in JAMA Network Open. Researchers tracked more than 13,600 sometime smokers and found that going from cigarettes to e-cigs doesn’t actually help a person stay off cigarettes, and if it does temporarily, relapse is very common. What e-cigs do is keep you in the same zone of habits — when you smoke, why you smoke.
As for what does help, another study in JAMA Network found that using either varenicline/nicotine patch combination therapy or varenicline monotherapy resulted in around 24 percent of folks being able to quit all tobacco. Doubling the “treatment time” that study participants used a varenicline/nicotine patch combination therapy from 12 to 24 weeks also proved to be no more effective than monotherapy in helping folks quit.
As for the nicotine patch alone — it’s effective about 19 percent of the time and when combined with nicotine gum that goes up to around 25 percent.
Don’t be discouraged. Research shows, the average person tries five to 11 times before quitting tobacco successfully. You will get there. For help, check out “10 Tips to Quit Smoking for Good” at DoctorOz.com.
Enjoy flavors without adding sugar, salt or unhealthy fats
Not all substitutions are wise. Recently, when Major League Soccer’s D.C. United was trailing Atlanta United 2-0, head coach Ben Olsen brought in Russell Canouse as a sub for Moses Nyeman.
Problem was, Canuose wasn’t on the game’s player roster, making him an illegal substitution. He was banished to the locker room. That substitution was as smart as thinking, “I’m going to cut down my intake of sugary sodas by having energy drinks instead.” They can contain 10 to 21 teaspoons of sugar!
There are some very good substitutions. However — for added sugars, excess salt and heart-stopping fats. Dr. Mike’s “What to Eat When Cookbook” offers these game-winning solutions.
Sweet subs: You can add pureed, chopped, whole or reconstituted prunes, figs, blueberries or raisins to sauces, soups, stews and more. The Raisin Reduction recipe in the book is made with 2 cups golden raisins and 2 cups water — cooked, then blended. It’s added to everything from Cauliflower Marsala to Vegan Potica.
Savory subs: Herbs, acids (like balsamic vinegar and citrus) and spices will delight your palate in place of salt. Hot or medium-hot chile peppers reduce the yen for salt.
Fat subs: When unhealthy fats are in exile, add moisture to recipes using fruits and veggies like grapes, mushrooms, green beans, peppers and tomatoes. And make vegetable cream — it’s amazing — to use as a topping on toast, in place of creme fraiche in soup or as a thickener in stews. Artichoke, carrot, corn and cauliflower cream recipes are in the book.
Are you a sheet cheat?
Khloe Kardashian says she changes her bedsheets every two days — making her downright un-American. A survey of 1,000 of folks revealed that, on average, people change their sheets every 24 days — single guys only do it every 37 days, while married couples make the switch every 20.
Turns out, it’s a good idea to be more Khloe than casual if you want to tamp down allergies or avoid itchy, red skin patches. And if you sleep with your pet — 78 percent of pet owners do — it’s extra important to change your sheets regularly. Around 20 million Americans have a dust mite allergy and can get hit nightly with red, watery eyes; an itchy, runny nose; and sneezing. Even more serious, this “allergy” can make heart disease, cancer and dementia more likely due to the inflammation it causes.
Dust mites thrive on the millions of skin cells we shed every night. And those little guys’ (they are about 1/100 of an inch in length) droppings can trigger serious respiratory symptoms. Add in pet hair and dander, and the problem multiplies. And if your pet happens to have a transmittable infection or infestation, that can become your problem, too.
Plus, skin-irritating bacteria can grow on sheets if you sweat in your sleep or drool on your pillow. So change your sheets and pillowcases every week (more often if you drool or super-sweat); wash blankets every month or two; mattress pads every three months; and bed skirts twice a year. You’ll sleep better and wake up more refreshed.
How your diet can improve your breast cancer outcome
One day, as Abraham Lincoln was walking down the street with his two sons, both of whom were crying, a passerby asked, “What’s the matter with your boys?” Lincoln replied: “Exactly what is wrong with the whole world. I have three walnuts, and each boy wants two.”
Fortunately, there are plenty of nuts to go around these days (and that’s not meant as a joke). The U.S. leads the world in nut production — walnuts, almonds, pistachios, hazelnuts, macadamias and pecans make up the domestic crop.
Nuts are a nutritional powerhouse for anyone. But for women diagnosed with breast cancer, they offer a special benefit. A steady intake of tree nuts and peanuts increases long-term and disease-free survival. That’s according to a study published in the International Journal of Cancer that looked at the nut intake of around 3,500 women for 10 years after their diagnosis with breast cancer. Women who regularly ate nuts saw a 94.1 percent survival rate, while those who ate no nuts had an 86.2 percent survival rate.
Bonus: A study out of Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital shows that over the course of 13 years, sticking with a diabetes risk-reduction diet also slashes the risk of dying from breast cancer — by 13 percent. The diet? Increased intake of nuts, cereal fiber, coffee, whole fruits and polyunsaturated fats; and lower (we say, ZERO) intakes of trans fat, red meat and sugar-sweetened beverages and fruit juices.
You’d have to be nuts not to take advantage of these nutty benefits.
Mehmet Oz, M.D. is host of “The Dr. Oz Show,” and Mike Roizen, M.D. is Chief Wellness Officer and Chair of Wellness Institute at Cleveland Clinic. To live your healthiest, tune into “The Dr. Oz Show” or visit www.sharecare.com.
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