Shoes, Ships, and Sealing Wax

I didn't forget the super foods

I've been busy with crap at work (bad) and playing with my new toy (a 3.4 GHz Pentium 4 with a gig of RAM and a 250 GB hard drive just begging to be filled up with digital pictures of waterfowl...good). I haven't forgotten the super food project, though. In fact, I picked up a copy of SuperFoods Rx, the book by ophthalmologist Steven Pratt that I think coined the "super food" phrase.

(I thought the fact that Pratt is an ophthalmologist was a little funny at first, but he actually makes the point that some effects of poor diet show up in the skin and eyes before somebody ends up with cancer or having a stroke.)

Anyway...good book. I saw several of the studies I was finding doing my literature searches cited, which made me feel good about my ability to navigate the National Library of Medicine. It was scholarly and scientific enough to convince me that the advice is sound, but it was also quite accessible. This is one (along with Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy and Nutrition for Women) that I'll lend to people who aren't as geeky as I, like my mom or my grandma.

Anyway, since Dr. Pratt wrote a perfectly good book, I'll not bother with full summaries of the rest of the foods...if you are dying to read about them and can't find a copy at the libray, e-mail me and I'll send you mine. But I will finish the list (from the SuperFoods Rx web page; with a few edits of my own)

• Beans – lower cholesterol, combat heat disease, stabilize blood sugar, reduce obesity, relieve hypertension and lessen the risk of cancer.
• Broccoli – boosts the immune system, lowers the incidence of cataracts, supports cardiovascular health, builds bones and fights birth defects.
• Oats – lower cholesterol, reduce the risk of coronary heart disease & Type II diabetes, high in fiber and protein.
• Oranges – support heart health and prevent cancer, stroke, diabetes and a host of chronic ailments.
• Pumpkin – helps lower the risk of various cancers (lung, colon, bladder, cervical, skin, and breast) and supplies nutrients necessary for healthy, youthful skin.
• Wild Salmon - lowers the risk of heart disease and cancer.
• Soy – helps prevent cardiovascular disease, cancer, and osteoporosis, and helps relieve menopausal and menstrual symptoms.
• Spinach – decreases the chance of cardiovascular diseases, a host of cancers, age-related macular degeneration and cataracts.
• Tomatoes – lower the likelihood of cancer, raise the skin’s sun protection factor and seem to play a role in preventing cataracts and age-related macular degeneration.
• Turkey – a healthy protein source, extremely low in fat, and provides multiple nutrients which help build a strong immune system.
• Walnuts – reduce the risk of developing coronary heart disease, diabetes and cancer.
• Yogurt – promotes strong bones and a healthy heart, another health promoting protein source, a great source of calcium, probiotics promote GI health.

And I already covered tea and blueberries.

Really, the bottom line of the recommendations in SuperFoods Rx isn't that different from most of the other nutrition books I've read, or from the new USDA guidelines. The only reason I keep reading this stuff is that every few months, when I'm sick of cooking and backsliding into carryout, I need a kick in the pants.

But I'm not drinking that nasty tea.

Posted by Nic at January 31, 2005 05:43 PM