Americans endure the most expensive healthcare in the world, and costs are going up at a staggering rate. Millions cannot get healthcare or are abandoned by insurance companies because they are sick or worse yet WERE sick. Yet our Congress is powerless to change this.

The final “healthcare reform” bill that will pass Congress sometime in the next 6 months will be so watered down that only the most naive will believe it can help. Why? Cowardice, conflict of interest, politics, money, and unfounded fear have replaced courage and compassion.

For a provocative look at this enormous problem read Comprehensive Affordable Universal Health Care is not possible.

OK, you say that diets don’t work for you. You just don’t seem to be able to weigh, measure, or portion your foods consistently enough to lose those few pounds. So instead of dieting, try food substitution. Switching out less healthy foods for those that are rich in nutrients will help you feel fuller longer and will contribute to your overall good health.

Try fixing sweet potatoes instead of white potatoes in any form. Baked or mashed sweet potatoes are completely yummy and more filling than white potatoes, and they are packed with vitamins A and C as well as fiber. You can cut them into fingers, coat with cooking spray, and pop them into the oven for delicious unfried French fries.

An easy switch is green tea for coffee. Green tea is rich in antioxidants and has only one-sixth the caffeine of coffee. You can drink iced green tea instead of soda, or drink herbal tea either hot or iced instead of other choices. Of course, water is always an excellent choice, and it’s an incredibly better choice than soda pop. Whether regular or diet, soda contains phosphoric acid, which actually robs your bones of calcium.

Swap fish for red meat and olive or canola oil for butter to reduce cholesterol in your diet. More varieties of fish are available today than ever before, so you don’t have to be in a rut with salmon fillets or canned tuna. Try shark, mahi-mahi, grouper, cod, catfish, or other varieties you find in the seafood section.

Olive oil is now made by big-name American manufacturers as well as by the original importers. If you are wary of trying Italian or Spanish olive oil, try one of the home-grown brands. Use it for cooking, salad dressings, and bread dip. Flaxseed oil is rich in omega-3s and antioxidants and is a good substitute for fish oil in vegan diets.

Think “brown” instead of “white” when it comes to rice, bread, and pasta. Whole wheat bread, or other whole grain bread, can be found in any grocery store. It contains more fiber and is more filling than white bread. Brown rice has a wonderful nutty flavor and still retains all the nutrients that over-processed white rice has lost. Whole-wheat pasta adds a new dimension to your casseroles and soups. You’ll be amazed at the rich flavor!

We all know that most desserts are far from healthy, yet we crave something sweet at the end of a meal. Instead of cakes or pastries, have fresh fruit. Berries are among the super foods in nutrition. Blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, cranberries, and cherries are as rich in flavor as they are in color and nutrients. Add a dollop of whipped topping and a sprinkle of cinnamon, and you have a satisfying, healthy dessert.

Making these healthy, satisfying, substitutions may be the answer to your dieting woes. One thing is for sure: you’ll be eating much healthier!

Hot tomatoes are what you pick out of your garden in August, if you’re lucky. And hot tomatoes are just about the hottest and most popular vegetable out there, surpassed in consumption each year only by potatoes. Needless to say, tomatoes beat potatoes in nutrition by miles. Filled with vitamins A and C, tomatoes are high in dietary fiber and low in sodium, with no saturated fat or cholesterol. They are also a good source of vitamin K, vitamin E, thiamin, niacin, vitamin B6, folate, magnesium, phosphorus, copper, potassium, and manganese. Whew! Tomatoes are one of the best nutritional packages around and are commonly available to nearly everyone. 

Tomatoes were first cultivated by the Maya centuries ago. A member of the nightshade family, tomatoes were long thought to be poisonous in Europe. It was not until the late 1700s that people began to accept it as the luscious fruit it is.

Think of all the different ways you eat tomatoes today. Start with sliced on your plate at a picnic on a hot summer day. Move to piled on a sandwich, then to wedges nestled around a salad, and then to hollowed out and stuffed full of tuna or crab salad on a restaurant plate. Tomatoes cubed into spicy chili. Tomatoes diced up tiny into tacos. 

Then start thinking about tomato products. Ketchup, of course. Tomato sauce poured over meatloaf. Tomatoes chopped up with onions and cilantro into salsa for a burrito. Tomatoes simmered with oregano, basil, and garlic into rich goodness to top spaghetti. Tomatoes drowning with molasses and chili peppers in your favorite barbeque sauce. Tomato juice, tomato paste, sun-dried tomatoes, canned crushed tomatoes, Italian-style, Mexican-style, stewed. Is your mouth watering yet? 

Producing tomatoes to fill all these needs is big business. Commercial farms in California grow tomatoes on acres of sun-drenched soil. Their harvesting machines can gather over a ton of tomatoes each minute, and the tomatoes are then sent to a processing plant that can handle over a million pounds of tomatoes every hour. Tomatoes from these farms are specially developed to ripen simultaneously, maximizing yield and efficiency in harvest. The fruits are fleshy, with small seed compartments and thick skins to withstand machine harvesting. The varieties grown here, with names like Heinz 2401, are resistant to viruses and fungi that plague home gardeners, as well as to nematodes and beetles. Corporate giants like Heinz, Campbell’s, Pizza Hut, and Ragu pay for the research that turns out these commercial crops, and they reap the rewards of the harvest.

At the other end of the spectrum lie heirloom tomatoes, with names like Brandywine, Marvel Stripe, and Green Zebra. To be classified as an heirloom, the seeds must have bred true for at least 40 years. Heirlooms have become increasingly popular in the last few years and they turn up in organic bistros as well as pricey fine-dining establishments. These varieties are not suitable for commercial production and are usually grown by individuals in small gardens. But individuals cannot supply the growing demand for these tasty reminders of days past, and organic farms, much smaller than the giant commercial operations and often family-operated, are beginning to offer a more reliable supply to restaurateurs and grocers. 

The escalating demand for heirlooms is based mostly on flavor, although increasing awareness of pesticides, pollution, and Big Farming have swayed some converts. Consumers have grown tired of the “green baseballs” found on produce shelves these days and long for the flavor of real tomatoes, the kind their parents picked out of the family garden a generation ago. Heirloom varieties offer both flavor and a “greener” footprint. 

Whether out of a can or from an organic garden, tomatoes hold a place–indeed, many places–in today’s menus and lifestyles. Lest we forget, the tomato is the basis of that lovely invention, the Bloody Mary.

It is always recommended to get basic vitamins and minerals from the food we eat whenever possible. Nutrients are most easily absorbed from food, and absorption is most efficient as part of the digestive process. In later posts, we will identify super-foods that deliver the most nutrition. While many anti-supplement “nutrition experts” would have you believe that you can get all of the nutrition you need from your daily meals, this is, unfortunately false.

There are several reasons for this, which we will examine in detail on our Supplements Page.

Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs) are unique in their beneficial qualities and near absence in our modern diet. EFAs play an important role in human nutrition and health. They are called “essential” because the body cannot manufacture these vital polyunsaturated fats; they must be obtained from the diet. There are three types of EFAs: omega-6, omega-9 (both of which are plentiful in our diet), and omega-3. The body’s optimal balance between omega-6 (linoleic) and omega-3 (linolenic) fatty acids is a 2:1 to 4:1 ratio. Unfortunately, the typical Western diet contains these acids in ratios of 20:1 to 25:1.

This ratio is critical, and an excess of Omega-6 fatty acids can lead to formation of blood clots, allergic and inflammatory disorders, and the accelerated growth of certain cancer cells. Oxidation of Omega-6 EFA and the production of arachidonic acid lead to increased inflammation, reduced blood flow and free-radical damage. Omega-3 EFAs counter these effects; therefore the consumption of Omega-3 EFAs is crucial. There is some support for a couple of special omega-6 EFAs, namely Gamma linolenic acid (GLA) and Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA); we’ll examine them later.

There are three primary types of Omega-3 EFAs: alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), and the more beneficial longer-chain eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). ALA is found in plant sources. There are 2 drawbacks to plant source ALA; first the plant sources (flaxseed, purslane, walnuts, pumpkin seeds) usually provide unneeded Omega-6 in addition to Omega-3, and second, the efficiency of converting ALA to EPA and DHA varies among individuals. While EPA is readily synthesized in the body from alpha-linolenic acid, the synthesis of DHA is much more difficult.

It is, therefore, more advantageous to acquire EPA and DHA directly. The sources richest in EPA/DHA content are marine algae, the animals that consume them and especially fatty fish further up the food chain. The fish with the highest concentration of EPA/DHA oils are sardines, anchovies, herring, and some mackerels, but they don’t make such great meal entrees. Salmon also have plentiful EPA/DHA but, occupying the top of the food chain, are often high in heavy metals and toxins from ocean pollution. Farmed salmon, while avoiding most of the heavy metal toxins contain undesired amounts of antibiotics and flesh coloring chemicals. In addition, because of the farm diet, they contain much higher levels of Omega-6 EFAs.

Read more on our EFA & Fish Oil page.

What’s the scoop on popular weight-loss diets? As I reviewed diets and read the books and research, several concepts became clear. Here are some observations:

• Your health is more important than your weight. A diet must not only be safe and effective, it must contribute to your overall good health.
• Many diets are based on sound weight-loss concepts but do not necessarily promote overall good health
• Most diet plans narrowly adheres to one primary concept, one primary plan, and often one primary product. Too often, the diet plan becomes the basis for a marketing plan.
• The most effective weight-loss plans are stringent, detailed and difficult to follow. The dropout failure rate is high.
• Processed food producers offering “diet” foods have no interest in your health and their “diet” products are worthless even hazardous to your health.
• Diet advice from medical institutions and government agencies is generally inaccurate and often based on misinformation promoted by the food and drug industries.
• There is no one or combination of drugs, prescription or over-the-counter, that will enable you to lose weight and be healthy. Period.
• What works for each individual is somewhat different and the best strategy is to adopt those concepts that are supported by a consensus of scientific evidence, validated by human studies and which contribute to your overall good health.

Remember these concepts; they can be summarized by one simple statement: most of what you read and hear about weight-loss and diets is at best half-truths and often completely false.

Read our page on Diet Plans for more information.