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Food For Your Health

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By CLOE CABRERA | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 7, 2007

Beautiful skin. An end to joint pain. A better memory. A good night's sleep.

Interested? Open your fridge.

Chances are, some of the foods you already have, eaten in the right combinations, can give you all of these benefits and more.

"Food has a profound effect on our health," says Joy Bauer, a dietician who has helped clients reap the rewards of eating right for more than 16 years. "The right foods can help to stabilize blood sugar levels, [limiting] volatile swings that can leave you fatigued and cranky and set you up for problems. When you are already diagnosed with problems, eating the right foods delivers nutrients, vitamins, minerals and plant substances that we know help to enhance health and treat, manage and, in some instances, cure common concerns."

In her latest book, "Joy Bauer's Food Cures" ($18.95 Rodale), Bauer offers more than a dozen individual nutrition prescriptions for what ails you.

It's an easy-to-digest blend of summaries, current studies, and consumer tips including menu plans, recipes and resource lists.

Each program is tailored for real life, with food that can be found at your local supermarket.

Can't remember where you put your car keys? Eat your veggies. They're loaded with antioxidants. Cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, Chinese cabbage, collard greens, watercress and rutabaga are among the best.

Help turn a frown upside down with some chicken salad with apples and walnuts; it's loaded with protein, high-quality carbs and folate. These ingredients will help keep blood sugars at an even level over a longer period of time.

Whole-grain crackers, lentils, peas, barley, quinoa, amaranth and wheat berries also can help keep you off that emotional roller coaster.

Carrots, grapes and grapefruit are rich in pectin, which is known to lower cholesterol and tame a temper.

Want healthy, beautiful hair? Reach for foods loaded with B vitamins: folate, B6 and B12. They help create red blood cells, which carry oxygen and nutrients to cells, including at the scalp. A lack of B vitamins can cause shedding, slow growth or weak hair that is prone to breaking.

A healthy-hair diet should include chickpeas, lean beef, pork tenderloin, peppers, peanut butter and iron-rich proteins such as clams, oysters, lean beef, turkey, duck, lamb, chicken, pork, shrimp, and eggs.

Good sources of iron-rich protein include tofu, soybeans, lentils, beans and black-eyed peas.

Carolyn Huffman, a Chinese medicine practitioner, utilizes food and nutrition as a primary source when treating women with fertility issues.

"The first step is cleaning up your diet," says Huffman, owner of Huffman Wellness in South Tampa. "Whenever a person gets sick, you start by changing the diet. At the very base, I tell them look at your diet. It could be as simple as eating some fresh greens."

Royal jelly, produced by young nurse bees, helps with fertility issues, Hoffman says, as do eggs, caviar and wheat grass.

For arthritis pain, eat foods high in Omega-3 fatty acids, such as wild salmon (fresh or canned), herring, mackerel, sardines and rainbow trout. They work to decrease inflammation.

In fact, Bauer calls salmon the perfect food. It's loaded with brain-friendly Omega-3 fatty acids which are known to reduce arthritis, aid in digestion and mood. And it's great for your skin.

It's also laden with vitamin D, a vitamin found naturally in few foods.

Spices like ginger and turmeric also work well for joint pain. And shitake mushrooms can help boost your immune system while vegetables like yams, pumpkin, beets and asparagus are good migraine relievers.

No matter what changes you make to your diet, patience is another necessary ingredient, Bauer says, because adapting new food habits can be difficult.

"People are set in their ways," she says. "Until somebody is committed to changing their lifestyle and eating the right foods, it's not going to happen. I'm not a believer in small changes. Grand changes, grand results.

"Why not go for the gusto and have this huge euphoric empowerment when you see these grand results?" she asks. If you make an effort for a week, or two weeks, you feel so great that payback is enough for you to continue to do it."

Reporter Cloe Cabrera can be reached at (813) 259-7656 or e-mail ccabrera@tampatrib.com.

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