Convincing people to eat the right foods

Convincing people especially your loved ones to eat the right kinds of food to be healthy is not an easy task. They are amused with the warnings or information you provide them as if they are serious to change their choice of foods. But they just couldn't forget their favorite snacks, sweets and anything that is appetizing.

I am guilty about that too because there is one favorite of the Filipinos that I swore not to snub forever, and that's the "lechon", though I get to taste some only once within 6 months to one year. So I guess I can be forgiven.

Let's try to use this statement since there is truth to it anyway: there are foods that can make you age easily, and one of them is wheat! Therefore, if you want to take away 10 years or more from your looks, stop eating wheat bread or anything made of wheat. Food made of refined flour is also a no-no since they convert easily to sugar. That seems easy to follow because people are more curios to know if there is truth to that than to complain. You can replace your breakfast made of wheat or refined flour with soft boiled eggs and apples. Oatmeal may also be eaten once in a while but not everyday.

If you were convinced, I will be posting more tips in this blog about the right kinds of food to eat to look young and remain healthy.

Anti-aging Meals

Anti-aging meals can be very basic because we can get them simply by just cooking with water! Why is that?

Because "Advanced Glycation End products" or AGE's are formed when cooking food at high temperatures without water or liquids such as frying. These AGE's cause the sugars in the food to bind with the proteins or fats. AGE's promote aging in the body, and start many chronic diseases. They are one of the biggest factors leading to diabetes, heart disease and many others.

So cook in water, or cook with water! Though I've never poached an egg because I prefer to eat soft-boiled eggs, I never miss putting 1 teaspoon of water for every one egg whenever I cook omelets or plain scrambled eggs.

There is a long list of what AGE's can cause, but I guess anyone would prefer to cook in water from now on than have a wrinkly and sagging skin, or have damaged pancreas that causes diabetes, or damaged blood vessels that will lead to the buildup of plaque and cause heart disease.

Well, I can't help but list the other effects of AGE's like neurofibril tangles in the brain causing Alzeimer's disease, severe memory loss and dementia, and also cause damage to the nerves causing peripheral neuropathy and deafness, and attack the tiny blood vessels in the eyes which can lead to blindness.

When it comes to vegetables though, there is of course a better way than cooking in water: eat them raw!

For the elderlies

My longest phone conversation with a person I never met was with an old lady, a Chinese friend of my daughter. She didn't really sound old, but she's an elderly.

A senior citizen can be considered an elderly but perhaps most 60-year-old persons are still very strong and young-looking to be called elderly. So a safe reference for an elderly is one who has reached the age of 65.

The Chinese lady didn't sound old but she sounded full of wisdom. She said that an elderly should stick to a vegetarian diet. Except for vegetables, even most food at parties should be skipped, no matter how seldom the elderly attends a party, because if not, it could be the elderly's last day on earth.

I guess she's right because when a person reaches the age of 80, there is no way to change that person's diet anymore unless struck by a serious illness. That will only cause a lot of trouble where he or she lives.

Another tip of this sweet lady was when someone near or already in senior years reaches an age ending in "9", such as 59 or 69, that person should skip that age and declare the age next to that, even during the birthday that has to be celebrated. In this case also, the first tip always applies, to celebrate the birthday with a vegetarian diet.

Delicious Chemotherapy

The title of this post might sound weird but not to naturalists, I suppose. What you can see in the photo here is a favorite recipe in the Philippines, it is called "Seafood Afritada". The seafood that can be recognized are the squid rings and the shrimps, perhaps not so much the fried dory fillet and fish tofu. The basic ingredients of "afritada" like potatoes and red bell pepper were of course included.

How about the sauce? Of course there is tomato sauce and soy sauce for seasoning and more, and that "more" is my secret which I would like to share. I add turmeric powder and black pepper, and one important information I'd like to share about these two spices is that when they are mixed together they make a very powerful chemotherapy for cancers. Wait, there should be a salad to go with afritada, and guess what will make the already powerful mixture of black pepper and turmeric as chemotherapy more powerful? It is broccoli, so that should be included as a default in any salad you'll serve with afritada.

Happy eating!

Best food to beat cancer

What can be a better amusing tip than the best food to beat cancer? In the past, death becomes scary when a person has a chronic illness like cancer. I guess not anymore, thanks to the internet generation because people can now be aware of the possible solutions to fight and defeat cancer. Thanks too to my learnings in TCM, for making me aware of the holistic approach to prevent and fight cancer. But let us focus first on the food that can help us beat cancer:

The first rule is to avoid creating the habitat for cancer which is an acidic body. That means that meat and dairy products such as too much milk, ice cream and butter should be avoided because they turn into acid. The best food is vegetables because they are alkaline. Here are some of cancer fighting foods:

1. Broccoli - its sprouts are my favorite source of sulforaphane which is an antioxidant that can prevent breast cancer and prostate cancer. It also stimulates natural detoxifying enzymes.

2. Garlic - have you tried broccoli with garlic? I can live eating just that everyday 'cause the combination is just yummy!

3. Carrots - aside from beta-carotene, carrot has falcarinol, an antioxidant that inhibits the growth of tumors, especially colon tumors. Carrot can be eaten raw so why not eat strips of carrots for snack? Carrots can also be boiled and that makes falcarinol more absorbable.

4. Red beetroot - has Betanin that prevents chemical-induced liver, skin and spleen cancer, even at a very low dose.

5. Red onion - like garlic, has sulphur, and also quercetin, both capable of inhibiting the growth of tumors. Carrots, red beetroot and red onions are familiar ingredients in some salads, you can create variations like adding curcumin or tumeric which is more well known to have anti-cancer properties, so you can eat that combination often.

6. Spirulina - the world's richest natural source of vitamin B-12 and contains a whole spectrum of natural mixed carotene and xanthophyll phytopigments. In vitro, studies suggest the unique polysaccharides of spirulina enhance cell nucleus enzyme activity and DNA repair synthesis, inhibiting the growth of various types of cancers. It can shift the immune system towards mounting a cell mediated immune-response instead of a humoral response thus also effective for autoimmune diseases.

Spirulina is my favorite supplement and I'm lucky that Tiens, where I am a distributor, manufactures high quality Spirulina powder in capsules, and for that, Tiens or Tianshi was given an award for “Best Healthcare Food for Astronauts” by Russia.. The powder tastes good so it may be removed from the capsule and sprinkled on food. I always do that on oatmeal.