1. Eat the healthiest, safest foods.

The holidays are almost here and festive food is everywhere. “While these foods are delicious to eat, some have the added bonus of containing cancer-preventing nutrients,” says Stephanie Meyers, MS, RD/LDN, a nutritionist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

Pumpkin isn’t just for pie

Pumpkin can be a holiday staple for many families. And for some, it may be one of the tastiest ways to enhance the body’s own natural cancer fighting ability, notes Meyers. Pumpkins are packed with nutrients called carotenoids, which have been linked to the prevention of colon, prostate, breast, and lung cancer

Although many people only eat pumpkin when it is made into a pie, it can also be enjoyed in a variety of other ways, including roasted pumpkin, pumpkin soup and high fiber pumpkin muffins or bread.

It’s the bright color that gives pumpkins their rich nutrients so look for other orange vegetables, like sweet potatoes, carrots and butternut and acorn squash. All are also high in carotenoids.

Meyers stresses, “It is more beneficial to consume carotenoids from whole foods rather than from supplements, because carotenoids in the pill-form do not appear to have the same protective properties.” In fact, that is true of many of the nutrients in foods. Eating whole foods typically provides greater health benefits than taking a dietary supplement.

An Apple a Day

Apples are another food packed with cancer preventing properties, thanks to the nutrient quercitin, which protects DNA in the body’s cells from damage that could lead to the development of cancer. To get the most protection against cancer from apples eat them with the skin on and not combined with sugar and fats, like in a pie.

Not Just For the Holidays

Meyers reminds her patients that cranberries aren’t just for the holidays and encourages them to eat cranberries year-round. That’s because cranberries contain benzoic acid, which has been shown to inhibit the growth of lung cancer, colon cancer, and some forms of leukemia. She recommends buying bags of cranberries now, while they are in season and at their nutritional peak, and popping them in the freezer for later. This will help ensure that the berries will provide the highest level of cancer protection whenever cooking with them all year long.

Color your world

The overall key to finding cancer fighting foods is to look for a lot of color. Look for colorful produce like pomegranates, tomatoes, eggplant, grapes, cherries and turnip. The brighter and richer the pigment, the higher the level of nutrients “You want to load up your plate with as much colorful plant-based foods as you can,” explains Meyers. “Eating a plant-based diet all year long is the best way to help lower your risk of cancer.”

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is a principal teaching affiliate of the Harvard Medical School and is among the leading cancer research and care centers in the United States. It is a founding member of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center (DF/HCC), designated a comprehensive cancer center by the National Cancer Institute.

Looking for ways to cut your risk of developing cancer? Here’s a list of 10 diet and activity recommendations highlighted this week in Chicago at the annual meeting of the American Dietetic Association (ADA).

• Be as lean as possible without becoming underweight.
• Be physically active for at least 30 minutes every day.
• Avoid sugary drinks, and limit consumption of high-calorie foods, especially those low in fiber and rich in fat or added sugar.
• Eat more of a variety of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and legumes (such as beans).
• Limit consumption of red meats (including beef, pork, and lamb) and avoid processed meats.
• If you drink alcohol, limit your daily intake to two drinks for men and one drink for women.
• Limit consumption of salty foods and food processed with salt (sodium).
• Don’t use supplements to try to protect against cancer.
• It’s best for mothers to exclusively breastfeed their babies for up to six months and then add other liquids and foods.
• After treatment, cancer survivors should follow the recommendations for cancer prevention.

At the ADA meeting, experts provided practical tips for following those recommendations, which were issued last year by the nonprofit American Institute for Cancer Research and its sister organization, the World Cancer Research Fund International.

Why These Cancer Recommendations?

Walter Willett, MD, DrPH, an epidemiology professor who leads the nutrition department the Harvard School of Public Health, was on the international team of scientists that wrote the recommendations.

At the ADA meeting, Willett said the first recommendation — to be as lean as possible within the healthy weight range — is “the most important, by far.”

But there is one recommendation that Willett says may be a “mistake” — the one about not taking supplements. Vitamin D supplements may lower risk of colorectal cancer and perhaps other cancers, notes Willett. He predicts that that recommendation will be a top priority for review.

How to Follow the Recommendations

Karen Collins, MS, RD, CDN, is the nutritional advisor for the American Institute for Cancer Research. She reviewed the recommendations before they were issued last year, and she joined Willett in talking to ADA members.

Collins provides these tips for each of the recommendations:

• Be as lean as possible without becoming underweight: Don’t just look at the scale; check your waist measurement as a crude measurement of your abdominal fat, Collins says. She recommends that men’s waists be no larger than 37 inches and women’s waists be 31.5 inches or less.
• Be physically active for at least 30 minutes every day: You can break that into 10- to 15-minute blocks, and even more activity may be better, notes Collins.
• Avoid sugary drinks and limit consumption of energy-dense foods: It’s not that those foods directly cause cancer, but they could blow your calorie budget if you often overindulge, notes Collins, who suggests filling up on fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
• Eat more of a variety of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and legumes such as beans: Go for a variety of colors (like deep greens of spinach, deep blues of blueberries, whites of onions and garlic, and so on). Most Americans, says Collins, are stuck in a rut of eating the same three vegetables over and over.
• If consumed at all, limit alcoholic drinks to two for men and one for women per day: Watch your portion size; drinks are often poured liberally, notes Collins. Willett adds that the pros and cons of moderate drinking is something that women may particularly need to consider, weighing the heart benefits and increased breast cancer risk from drinking.
• Limit red meats (beef, pork, lamb) and avoid processed meats: Limit red meats to 18 ounces per week, says Collins, who suggests using chicken, seafood, or legumes in place of red meat. Collins isn’t saying to never eat red meat, just do so in moderation.
• Limit consumption of salty foods and foods processed with sodium: Don’t go over 2,400 milligrams per day, and use herbs and spices instead, says Collins. She adds that processed foods account for most sodium intake nowadays — not salt you add when cooking or eating.
• Don’t use supplements to protect against cancer: It’s not that supplements are bad — they may be “valuable” apart from cancer prevention, but there isn’t evidence that they protect against cancer, except for vitamin D, says Collins.
• It’s best for mothers to breastfeed babies exclusively for up to six months and then add other foods and liquids: Hospitals could encourage this more, Collins says.
• After treatment, cancer survivors should follow the recommendations for cancer prevention. Survivors include people undergoing cancer treatment, as well as people who have finished their cancer treatment.

• Making Cancer Prevention Simpler

  Overwhelmed? Collins boiled the 10 recommendations down to these three:

  • Choose mostly plant foods. Limit red meat and avoid processed meat.
  • Be physically active every day in any way for 30 minutes or more.
  • Aim to be a healthy weight throughout life.

  Keep in mind that these tips are about reducing — but not eliminating — cancer risk. Many factors, including genes and environmental factors, affect cancer risk; diet and exercise aren’t the whole story, but they’re within your power to change.

 A mistake was made as the Health Insurance Association did not set forth clear standards for the coverage leaving the students to decide for themselves what they needed.  This is all according to the article “College Athletes Stuck With the Bill After Injuries” by Kristina Peterson on nytimes.com. 

Some colleges accept a lot of responsibility for medical claims but others assume none according to a review of public documents.  Many university officials say they definitely inform their students about the limits of certain health insurance options, but the situation has left students and families frustrated and very confused as many have had to take on large and unexpected medical bills. 

Many athletes have health insurance through their parents but often times the coverage does not include injuries due to varsity sports.  This is where it gets tricky.  They need additional coverage but are unsure where to begin and often do not get enough coverage and are left with mountains of debt.  One solution is to require universities to offer quality coverage to all of their varsity athletes, but this is suspected to put too much of a burden on schools financially.  Because of this the NCAA is unlikely to require that sort of mandate anytime soon.

Many Houston health insurance policy holders are passionate about seeing change.  The rally was endorsed by OFA, Harris County Democratic Party, Harris County AFL-CIO, SEIU and Justice for Janitors.  About 100 people attended who oppose health care reform.  They were drowned out by supporters of reform.  Houston police officers were on duty and no violence broke out.

One of the highlights of the rally was a speech given by Rep. Al Green, D-Houston.  He pointed out that the US is spending $2.5 trillion a year in health care but we cannot afford this.  He believes that everyone should be protected and health care should serve all.

 Some even make it mandatory that student purchase health Insurance coverage through them.  Students and more specifically the parents of students should make sure they understand the provision related to such policies since they vary so widely from school to school.

Some university health plans limit the health care benefits that students can reap from the policies, thus making serious injuries or illness still costly expenses for students and their parents even if they are covered.  It is not uncommon for doctor visits, prescription drugs or even hospital stays be limited.  In addition, maximum benefits per incident can be limited to $2,500, which can evaporate very quickly.

While limited health coverage is better than no coverage at all, there may be better student health insurance plans out there from private health insurance companies, and students and the parents of students should familiarize themselves with their schools health plan before they enroll, and shop for other alternatives if the benefits will be insufficient.

Being the prizewinning source of natural nutrients, fruits are also the healthiest foods acquirable ever. You can choose from a wide arrange of fruity options. Fruits also attain the prizewinning source of energy and vital minerals required by our body. Filled with a super amount of minerals and vitamins, fruits help you attain good health faster. Eating fruits is always a better move to intense supplements that attain up for the demand of nutrients.

Taking five pieces of fruits routine can be extremely beneficial to your body. For the people, who want to Loss weight, fruits provide the natural energy and fiber. Fruits include very baritone take of sodium, and also promote less water possession in your body. At least one third of fruits in your food plate can help you reducing weight. This is because fruits fill your stomach faster, and thusly turn your dependency on high calories food. In housing you eat lot of fruits and vegetables, you can easily curb the calories intake.

Fruits offer many health benefits including weight loss and energy. They help you in reducing certain types of heart ailments and also guard against cancer. Fruits provide good nutrients that help in reducing weight and Type 2 diabetes. Fruits have the potential to slow down the ageing process and also help you control cholesterol level in your body. Drinking fruit juices can provide instant energy. Add dry fruits to cereals, or add them in salads to derive their health benefits. You can also eat an apple everyday to get essential calcium, dietary fiber, and phytochemicals that act as anti-oxidants. Apple juice is a rich source for mineral boron that promotes bone growth.

Adding fruit to your daily diet can help you in making your body healthy. Here are few tips to include fruits in your diet:

• Eat apple before leaving for work
• Eat small pieces of fruits at least 30 minutes before or after a light workout.
• Look for recipes that contain fruits and fruit juices.
• Keep a bowl or fruits handy while watching TV.

Health benefits of eating fruits

• Help you in Weight control
• Provide more energy for exercising
• Minimize the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases
• Reduce the risk of cancers
• Lower blood pressure and bloods sugar levels
• Lower Cholesterol levels in your body
• Reduce chances of developing type 2 diabetes
• Slow down ageing process

The best organisation for achieving a flourishing weight and maintaining it is to change your eating and exercise habits. Replace foods that expand your waistline with healthy foods, like fish. Fish is a food that is full of satisfying flavor, baritone in calories, and stocked with heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 acids are essential fats that your body can’t make. They help keep the blood from clotting too easily and add to a meliorate cholesterin ratio.

Fish is a mythologic constituent to some healthful diet because its baritone saturated fruitful content makes it the amend protein unreal for fatty cuts of cows and pork. Even shellfish is baritone in saturated fruitful and isn’t as high in cholesterin as some believe.

Although fish is lean, it does contain some healthy oil. Known as omega-3 fatty acids, these fish oils are thought to offer some amazing health benefits, such as helping to prevent heart disease and cancer, treating psoriasis and arthritis, and relieving the agony of migraine headaches and helping with weight control. Fatty fish tend to have more omega-3s than leaner fish, but even “fatty” fish contain less fat than lean beef or chicken. Even canned fish like tuna, sardines, and salmon, when eaten bones and all, pack your meal with plenty of good-for-your-bones calcium, too.

Nutritional Values
Coho Salmon
Serving Size: 3 oz, cooked
Calories: 157
Fat: 7 g
Saturated Fat: 1 g
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Carbohydrate: 0 g
Protein: 21 g
Dietary Fiber: 0 g
Sodium: 44 mg
Potassium: 391 mg

Snapper
Serving Size: 3 oz, cooked
Calories: 109
Fat: 2 g
Saturated Fat:

Rapid Lash is all the rage of the morning talks shows, but is it safe. It seems to be fairly safe but there are some potential side effects you need to be aware of if you are thinking of using the Rapid Lash Eyelash renewal serum.

Rapid Lash Eyelash Renewal Serum is the latest in the procession of eyelash renewal products to include harmful chemicals to help produce the desired effects.
Prostaglandins like Cloprostenate are used in drugs that treat glaucoma. The effect on the eyelashes was first noticed when glaucoma patients started developing full, bushy & elongated lashes - an effect finally tied to Cloprostenate.
After a few products came out with the substance, many people using the products started to experience side effects such as:

Eye irritation
Loss of vision
Eye-Color modify (as drastic as blue to brown)

The ingredient contained in Rapid Lash is a slightly altered version of the harmful chemical that caused a stir not long ago - the new compound is Isopropyl Cloprostenate. Is the chemical difference enough to deter the harmful side effects that are associated with the other form of the compound?

Rapid Lash is still conducting an independent trial to find out how harmful its product may be.