April 4, 2004- Pan Handling

Do you want to get as much vitamin C from your frozen veggies as possible? Use a stainless steel pan when you heat them. Cooking vegetables usually results in at least some destruction of vitamin C. However, one study revealed that vegetables that were boiled in a stainless steel pan retained more of their vitamin C than vegetables that were boiled in a non-stick pan or a glass dish on the stove top.

Getting up to 1,000 milligrams of vitamin C per day from food and supplements help reduce your chances of many serious health risks.

Source: British Journal of Sports Medicine, ©2004

April 11, 2004- A Better Bean

When looking for the beans that are highest in antioxidants, the darker the better.

Beans are a good source of antioxidant nutrition, with black beans packing the most antioxidant nutrition of all varieties. Darker seed coats appear to offer the most antioxidants in general, with red and brown beans taking the antioxidant lead after black beans.

Eating a diverse diet that is low in calories and high in nutrients reduce your cardiovascular disease risk.

Source: Neurology

April 18, 2004- Soy Sauce Secrets

Trading in your saltshaker for a bottle of soy sauce may help reduce your risk of blood clots.
A recent study revealed that soy sauce contains antiplatelet compounds that may help thin the blood. This, in turn, could help reduce the risk of clotting and stroke. Just remember, however, that soy sauce is high in sodium. If you choose soy sauce to season your food, use it sparingly, just as you would table salt. 

Source: Archives of Internal Medicine

April 25, 2004- Take a Picture

With the summertime sun fast approaching, monitoring your skin changes is very imprtant.

Monitoring potentially unhealthy changes in moles may be best done with your camera.
Compared to people who did only basic skin self-exams, patients in a recent study who took pictures of their own skin and used the pictures as a reference tool did a better job of detecting new moles or changes to their moles over time. Moles that change shape or have irregular borders may have the highest risk of turning cancerous.

Source: Cancer Research