Proper Diet Key To Healthy Life
SPOKANE — No matter how much money you throw at trying to look younger, without a proper diet it’s going to be very difficult to enjoy a long and vital life.
Registered dietician Michelle Weinbender says diversity is the key. “Having a diet that has good variety, lots of different kinds of foods, different colors, cooked, steamed, fresh, canned,” all of it will help keep you healthy, she says. “There are lots of different ways of preparing foods as well. You’re going to get those nice concentrated nutrients that will help keep you healthy and living and living healthy longer.”
While shopping at Huckleberries Natural Market, Weinbender highlighted a few food items that can boost your health if eaten on a semi-regular basis, including cranberries, fish and eggs.
“Eggs are back on the top ten list of good foods,” Weinbender said. “They’re an excellent source of protein, they’re economical, they’re high in B vitamins and some eggs are now enhanced with an Omega 3 Fatty Acid. The chickens are actually fed a vegetarian diet with flax seed.”
She praised cranberries for their ability to lower cholesterol, and cited the benefits of tomatoes and avacados for their ability to improve eye and prostate health.
She even cited some benefits to eating the occasional piece of dark chocolate.
“Well, it tastes really good and we enjoy it,” she started, adding that “there are health benefits to the dark chocolate, anti-oxidants, again for that heart health and possible disease prevention like cancer.”
Some health experts suggest taking supplements and herbal remedies in conjunction with a healthy diet, which Weinbender says can help, but needs to be done responsibly.
“You really need to know what it is that you are putting into your body,” she cautions.
Weinbender says that, in the 15 years she’s spent in the Natural Foods industry, she’s gotten more questions about joint pain than anything else related to the aging process.
“For the joint there’s, like, glucosomine and chondroitin, there’s hyloronic acid which is a new one coming up,” she says. “The hyloronic acid helps with synovial fluid which is the fluid that surrounds the joint, helps to cushion the joint and then the glucosomine and chondroitin they find helps with rebuilding the cartilage if you have cartilage left in the joint.”
Men and women also have their own, gender-specific reasons for looking towards natural remedies. Women are often looking to help with symptoms of menopause while many men turn towards herbal supplements as a way to boost virility.
While Judy acknowledges there are products that can help in these departments, she warns that many of the over-the-counter remedies can be dangerous because they can raise blood pressure.
