How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease (Greger, Michael, MD;Gene Stone)

  • http://bit.ly/antioxidantfoods
  • http://www.atkinsexposed.org/Corporate_Threat.htm
  • The optimal LDL cholesterol level is probably 50 or 70 mg/dL, and apparently, the lower, the better. That’s where you start out at birth, that’s the level seen in populations largely free of heart disease, and that’s the level at which the progression of atherosclerosis appears to stop in cholesterol-lowering trials (28). An LDL around 70 mg/dL corresponds to a total cholesterol reading of about 150, the level below which no deaths from coronary heart disease were reported in the famous Framingham Heart Study, a generations-long project to identify risk factors for heart disease (29). The population target should therefore be a total cholesterol level under 150 mg/dL. “If such a goal was created,” Dr. Roberts wrote, “the great scourge of the Western world would be essentially eliminated.”
  • So what’s jamming up the door locks on your muscle cells, preventing insulin from letting glucose enter? Fat—more specifically, intramyocellular lipid, the fat inside your muscle cells. Fat in your bloodstream, either from your own fat stores or from your diet, can build up inside your muscle cells, where it can create toxic breakdown products and free radicals that block the insulin-signaling process.12 No matter how much insulin you produce, your fat-compromised muscle cells can’t effectively use
  • One hit of fat, and within 160 minutes, the absorption of glucose into your cells becomes compromised.
  • Melnik BC, John SM, Schmitz G. Milk is not just food but most likely a genetic transfection system activating mTORC1 signaling for postnatal growth. Nutr J. 2013;12:103.
  • How could eating less than an egg a day double the risk of cancer invasion? The answer may be choline, a compound found concentrated in eggs.
  • The choline in eggs, like the carnitine in red meat, is converted into a toxin called trimethylamine by bacteria that exist in the guts of those who eat meat. And trimethylamine, once oxidized in the liver, appears to increase the risk of heart attack, stroke, and premature death.
  • As detailed in chapter 11, the other major class of phytoestrogens is lignans, found throughout the plant kingdom but especially concentrated in flaxseeds.
  • Indeed, if you don’t get cancer by a certain age, you may never get it. What accounts for this relative resistance to cancer among centenarians? It may have to do with a cancer-promoting growth hormone called insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1).86
  • The release of IGF-1 appears to be triggered by the consumption of animal protein.90 This may explain why you can so dramatically bolster the cancer-fighting power of your bloodstream within weeks of eating a plant-based diet. Remember the experiments in which dripping the blood from people eating healthy diets onto cancer cells wiped more of them out? Well, if you add back to the cancer cells the amount of IGF-1 that left the plant eaters’ systems, guess what happens? The diet-and-exercise effect disappears. The cancer cell growth comes surging back. This is how we suspect plant-based eating boosts our blood defenses: By reducing animal protein intake, we reduce our levels of IGF-1.
  • That’s why I appreciate the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) recommendations. Not beholden to the USDA, the AICR simply lays out the science. When it comes to the worst of the worst, the institute doesn’t pull any punches.
  • Goji berries, however, have the highest concentrations of melatonin. Gojis have the third-highest antioxidant capacity of any common dried fruit—five times more than raisins and second only to dried pomegranate seeds and barberries (a fruit commonly found in Middle Eastern markets and spice stores). Gojis also have a specific antioxidant pigment that makes corn yellow—zeaxanthin. When eaten, zeaxanthin is shuttled into your retinas (the back of your eyes) and appears to protect against macular degeneration, a leading cause of vision loss.
  • My only whole-citrus caveat: Inform your physician if you eat grapefruit. This fruit can suppress the enzymes that help clear more than half of commonly prescribed drugs, and less drug clearance means higher drug levels in the body. This may actually be good if you want a better caffeine buzz from your morning coffee37 or if your doctor wants to help you save money by boosting the effects of expensive drugs instead of just peeing them away. But higher drug levels may also mean higher risk of side effects, so if you regularly eat grapefruits, your physician may want to change your prescription or alter the dosing.
  • If you chop the broccoli (or brussels sprouts, kale, collards, cauliflower, or any other cruciferous vegetable) and then wait forty minutes, you can cook it as much as you want. At that point, the sulforaphane has already been made, so the enzyme is no longer needed to achieve maximum benefit. It’s already done its job. (You can also buy bags of fresh greens and other crucifers that are prechopped or shredded, which can presumably be cooked immediately.) Given this understanding, can you see how most people prepare broccoli soup incorrectly? Typically, they first cook the broccoli and then blend it. But, when you blend it, you’re merely mixing the precursor with an enzyme that’s been inactivated by cooking. Do it in the opposite order: First blend your veggies and then wait forty minutes before cooking them. This way, you can maximize sulforaphane production.
  • Boiling broccoli prevents the formation of any significant levels of sulforaphane due to inactivation of the enzyme. However, the addition of powdered mustard seeds to cooked broccoli significantly increases sulforaphane formation.14 Then it’s almost as good as eating it raw! So, if you don’t have forty minutes to spare between chopping and cooking, or if you’re using frozen greens, just sprinkle the crucifers with some mustard powder before you eat them, and you’ll be all set. Daikon radishes, regular radishes, horseradish, and wasabi are all cruciferous vegetables and may have the same effect. All it appears to take is a pinch to revitalize sulforaphane production.
  • Ergothioneine is heat stable, which means it’s not destroyed when mushrooms are cooked. This is good news, because it’s best not to eat mushrooms raw; there’s a toxin in edible mushrooms called agaritine to which you should minimize your exposure.
  • To make your own pesticide-reducing bath, add one part salt to nine parts water. Just make sure to rinse off all the salt before eating.