100 of the World's Healthiest Foods--Criteria

This list is found on the web site World’s Healthiest Foods, with more explanation, but this should be easy to remember. http://whfoods.org/foodstoc.php This website has a nice newsletter that offers recipes and answers questions. I don't always read every issue, but usually find something useful.

1. The World's Healthiest Foods are the Most Nutrient Dense

2. The World's Healthiest Foods are Whole Foods

3. The World's Healthiest Foods are Familiar Foods

4. The World's Healthiest Foods are Readily Available

5. The World's Healthiest Foods are Affordable

6. The World's Healthiest Foods Taste Good

It’s good to know that foods that are familiar (or at least to me because it’s what I ate as a child, which means very little processed food) and reasonably priced, and taste good, are also good for me.

Do you shop at Whole Foods?

"In 1978, 25 year old college dropout John Mackey and 21 year old Rene Lawson Hardy, borrowed $45,000 from family and friends to open the doors of a small natural foods store called SaferWay in Austin, Texas (the name being a spoof of Safeway, which operated stores under their own name in Austin at that time). When the couple got booted out of their apartment for storing food products there, they decided to simply live at the store. Since it was zoned commercial, there was no shower stall. Instead, they bathed in the Hobart dishwasher, which had an attached water hose." . . fast forward through various mergers and acquisitions, and you have Whole Foods, where I know many of you shop. I bought 50 shares this week. That's how ordinary people like me can be part of the big vision of those more ambitious and talented in the U.S. Let's not lose that through a greedy government that punishes small start ups. There's a brand new Whole Foods in my community--I'll have to stop in and check out my investment. http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/company-info/whole-foods-market-history

Do you like cooked cabbage?

I really like cooked cabbage, but I could do without the ginger and vinegar; still useful information about cutting it. Very nutritious and low in calories. Steaming it is better than microwaving because "two minutes of microwaving destroys the same amount of myrosinase enzymes as seven minutes of steaming, and you need those myrosinase enzymes to help convert cabbage's glucosinolates into cancer-preventive compounds." After I grill it in a pan, I put the lid on and turn off the heat--I call that "steaming."

"A recent study showed that a 100 gram (about 3 ounces) serving of raw red cabbage delivers 196.5 milligrams of polyphenols, of which 28.3 milligrams are anthocyanins. Green cabbages yielded much less per 100 grams: 45 milligrams of polyphenols including 0.01 milligram of anthocyanins. The vitamin C equivalent, a measure of antioxidant capacity, of red cabbage is also six to eight times higher than that of green cabbage. Red cabbage is one of the most nutritious and best tasting vegetables around and a great addition to your Healthiest Way of Eating."
WHFoods: Cabbage

The Pelosi Pole Vault

Nancy Pelosi has promised (Jan. 28) that the health care bill written by lobbyists and leftists that Americans don't want will be snuck into other bills.

"We will go through the gate. If the gate is closed, we will go over the fence. If the fence is too high, we will pole vault in. If that doesn't work, we will parachute in. But we are going to get health care reform passed for the American people for their own personal health and economic security and for the important role that it will play in reducing the deficit."

This is not new--think of all the times social programs or other pork have been tacked onto troop funding. She's being honest about what she thinks of the American people for once in her life.

Recently we've seen the EPA just go right around our elected Congress to do their own pole vaulting for Cap and Trade, a boondoggle that will probably give us a higher tax bill than "health care reform." I have difficulty reading the research articles in JAMA, but the social and political stuff isn't too hard. In the January 13 issue (Vol. 303, no. 2) there is an interesting article on "Human, animal, ecosystem health all key to curbing emerging infectious diseases" (p. 117-118). Yes, the 2006 spinach e coli outbreak can be tied to global climate change (OSU researchers found E coli in domestic and wild animals linked to unusual weather conditions contaminating irrigation systems). So at a November conference hosted by the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council it was recommended that we must have new strategies locally, nationally and globally because our surveillance system is inadequate.

Keep an eye on cross fertilization of your tax health dollars and regulations among US Department of Agriculture (USDA), US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the US Agency for International Development (USAID, the National Institute on Environmental Health Services, wildlife management, all universities and research dealing with veterinary medicine, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and "global effort." Cha-Ching. Of course, compared to billions and trillions, an initial investment in this system of $800 million is a drop in the government bucket which has a hole in it. It's those 12 recommendations that came out of the conference that include the World Health Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the Office International des Epizooties and the goal of creating a funding stream that worries me. That and Nancy's pole vaulting skill.

Liberals boycott Whole Foods: ABC

"The myth about liberals being tolerant and open-minded, respecting everyone's views was busted once again recently. Last week John Mackey, CEO of heaven on earth for organic , natural fiber wearing, earth worshippers, Whole Foods, wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal advocating "The Whole Foods Alternative to ObamaCare" which consisted of "Eight things we can do to improve health care without adding to the deficit." Needless to say, not one of the eight things demanded the government supply it or taxing the evil rich to pay for it.

Spitting up their expensive artisanal, pesticide free bean sprouts and ruining the planet by traveling further, some tolerant (not!), open-minded (definitely not!) liberals have reacted to such apostasy by boycotting the stores according to Emily Friedman of ABC News." Story here.

You know, that's not a myth; it's a fairy tale. There's a difference. A myth has supernatural beings and heroes in the background somewhere. A moral grounding. A fairy tale is about tiny, immature, troll-like beings who can be very spooky when they break up town hall meetings, leave comments at blogs, or pretend to be Republicans.

Mackey does an excellent job of outlining changes that reduce or destroy the need for Obamacare--increase competition, reduce government mandates, reform Medicare, change the tax laws, etc. That's enough to get his company boycotted. I'm not sure if he's being branded a racist. . . yet. But that will come, I'm sure.

Then he wanders off the reservation claiming eating better (his product) is our health induced salvation, can reverse disease. I'd have to disagree, at least if you're talking health care dollars. As individuals, we can certainly improve the years we're given with good nutrition, no tobacco, and exercise, but we will still grow old, we will have auto and home accidents, there will be wars and pestilence, antibiotics will fail, and we will still have to daily live with our genes (my grandfathers lived into their 90s, but not my grandmothers who fed them). And if you live a more active and healthier life in your 70s and 80s, you just might have a very expensive, extended old age. You can stop smoking today and in 20 years still find yourself with cancer or COPD.