Could it be that cancer rates are so rampant because people are simply not eating the right foods? While there are many factors that play into the development of cancer, diet and smoking habits make up nearly 60 percent of cancer cases. The good news is that with dietary and lifestyle changes, cancer rates can drop dramatically. One of the easiest ways to protect yourself against cancer is to consume many cancer fighting foods – here are 4 of them you should never forget about.

Cancer Fighting Foods – Turmeric (Curcumin)

Among the most currently researched of cancer fighting foods, turmeric has repeatedly been shown to be an effective cancer-fighter and even block cancer growth. Previously found to reduce tumors by an astounding 81%, the naturally occurring compound found in turmeric, curcumin, exhibits numerous anti-cancer properties. Researchers at UCLA found that curcumin is the component harnessing the ability to actually block cancer growth. Not surprisingly, the cancer-fighting ability that turmeric possesses makes up only a single facet of the many benefits of turmeric.

Papaya Leaf Extract

A study conducted by University of Florida researchers Dr. Nam Dang and colleagues in Japan has documented papaya’s powerful anticancer properties and impact against numerous lab-grown tumors – and without the negative consequences of chemotherapy. The researchers used papaya leaf extract for the study conduction, with the anticancer effects being even stronger with a larger dose of the extract. What’s more, the extract can be taken for a long time without nasty side-effects.

Another study also shows how papaya leaf extract is able to fight various cancers including cervix, breast, liver, lung, and pacreatic while aiding the cardiovascular and gastrointestinal systems.

Ginger

Adding another to the list of cancer fighting foods, ginger, a cousin spice of super anti-cancer substance turmeric, is known for its ability to shrink tumors. The subject of one study based out of Georgia State University, whole ginger extract was revealed to shrink prostate tumor size by 56% in mice. The anti-cancer properties were observed in addition to ginger’s role in reducing inflammation as well as being a rich source of life-enhancing antioxidants. You definitely won’t want to disregard the health benefits of ginger.

Garlic

For centuries, the benefits of garlic have been experienced by many cultures for the treatment and prevention of disease; garlic’s status as one of the cancer fighting foods is perhaps one of the most notorious. Scientists believe that the anti-cancer properties may be due to the production of something known as hydrogen sulfide. Also known to protect the heart, researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine found that damage to the heart muscle as a result of heart attack is halted by directly injecting hydrogen sulfide into mice. Researchers believe that the production of hydrogen sulfide is responsible for garlic’s ability to prevent various cancers including, prostate, breast, and colon cancer.

Beating cancer with nutrition is possible, you simply must recognize which foods to consume and which foods not to consume.

Additional sources:

PubMed

Phys.org

AAFP

Implementing a strong nutritional basis for your goals is key, allowing your body to perform to it’s optimum potential. The problem? Many people do not have the knowledge to build an effective yet healthful diet, ensuring that their goals are met and retained. There are many diets out there that warp your metabolism and destroy your body, resulting in a few pounds lost at the cost of your body’s ability to burn more fat in the future. Only after discovering nutrition basics will you experience being healthy while keeping the results.

How to be Healthy: Counting Calories

It is understood that calories will determine whether or not your body has “excess” based upon your metabolic maintenance level, but where the calories are coming from is of utmost importance. 2500 calories from brownies and cupcakes is far different than 2500 calories from a variety of healthful food sources. Plenty of extremely lean individuals never count calories, and they never have to. What’s more important for being healthy is eating the right foods – quality over quantity.

Instead of setting your fixed amount of calories at 2500 and eating whatever you want until that point, most likely not getting enough nutrients in the process, simply eat the right foods. Try and be creative with your diet, tampering with different combinations of great foods. In order to start your new way of eating off the right way, start purchasing and cooking by these guidelines:

Nutrition Basics | Simple Ways to be Healthy

Eat preferably organic – I understand some people can not afford to purchase all organic food, but even consuming just some organic food will help you in being healthy thanks to the added health benefits. While there has been a large-scale proliferation of pseudo nutritional science on the matter, such as the press claiming it’s essentially the same as non-organic food, the studies clearly show eating organic is much healthier than conventional. If it is truly 100% organic then it will not contain harmful ingredients like mercury-containing high fructose corn syrup, or be genetically engineered (GMO). In this day and age, eating organic is one of the first nutrition basics.

Take a multivitamin or wholefood supplement: Since soil is lacking nutrients from modern-day farming practices, foods are undergoing a major depletion of vitamins and minerals. It requires almost 5x as much food today to receive the same nutrition received a few decades ago. Thankfully, multivitamins and whole food supplements are great boosts for being healthy and maintaining daily vitamin requirements. Unfortunately, the recommended daily value as directed by the medical establishment is created with a focus of what one needs minimally simply to survive. A multivitamin or whole food supplement that contains high amounts of the natural forms of the vitamins, instead of synthetic vitamins (made in a lab), are also higher quality.

Diversify your intake - Just like working out, your body responds to change. Varying food intake is one of many ways to be healthy. If your daily intake consists of mainly carbohydrates and you’re not getting the results you’d like, try consuming more protein, or healthful fats. When advising someone on sculpting their diet, it’s always an important factor for me to find out what works for them, because what works for one person may not work for another.

Avoid toxic additives – Another principle resting with the other nutrition basics, avoid food additives such as monosodium glutamate and aspartame, which have been linked to weight gain, brain damage, kidney problems, and increased cancer rates. Even more dangerous is the fact that a lot of food today is genetically modified (GMO food). GMO food could very well be tampering with the very genetic coding of our bodies. Avoiding these toxic additives is extremely important when it comes to being healthy. Buy organic and read labels to avoid these toxic additives.

Being Healthy Automatically | When to eat, when to stop eating, and what to eat

Your body has an amazing way of telling you when you’re done eating. In fact, knowing when you’re supposed to stop eating is one of the many ways to be healthy which has been used for thousands of years. The trick is to eat slowly, around 20 or so minutes per meal, and your body will tell you when you’re full. Be sure to distinguish whether or not you’re hungry, or you just want something that tastes good. If you’re craving sugar all the time, there could be a nutritional deficiency present. Listening to your body is part of the nutrition basics as well as any other ‘basics’ of life.

Just as your body can tell you when to stop eating, it can also tell you when to eat and what to eat. Of course, you eat when you’re hungry, but the key is to break your meals up into 4-6 meals a day. When you eat 4-6 small meals a day, instead of 3 large ones, you allow your metabolism to properly process the food it is given. Seeing how your body responds to certain foods is the easiest way to find out whether or it is approving what you eat. Listen to your body, and experiment with a bunch of different foods.

Change Your Life, Not Your Diet

This is not a diet, this is a significant change in your life for the better. Being healthy is not a difficult place to reach, but in order to feel better, look better, and think clearer, you need a strong nutritional base. If beginning your quest to be healthy starting from the ground up, it will be an enjoyable process to change your life for the better with food. Stop counting calories and hopping on the latest fad diets, and make a real change through implementing these techniques into your daily life. While there are nutrition basics to know, you should learn how the way think is the cornerstone of reaching your health goals.

Hiccups has been traditionally resilient against both mainstream and alternative methods, though that may very well soon change thanks to a young 13-year-old girl. Often considered a minor inconvenience by many, some individuals actually suffer from chronic hiccups that can actually hinder their daily lives in a very serious way.

It all started a couple years ago when Mallory Kievman got a tough case of hiccups. Trying nearly everything to make them stop. Kievman sipped juice, drank water upside-down, and tried a number of other ‘folk’ remedies for hiccups. After multiple failures, she decided to search for something that did work.

Mallory created a solution involving sugar and apple cider vinegar, both mixed together into a ‘candy’ form and attached to a lollipop stick. This new natural remedy is now receiving serious attention. As a result, she is now being rewarded with an MBA team from the University of Connecticut in order to help her bring her new innovative product to market — which she plans to do this summer.

“It triggers a set of nerves in your throat and mouth that are responsible for the hiccup reflex arc,” said Mallory

Hiccup relief can now be added to the many benefits of apple cider vinegar which are continually being revealed. Created in her home kitchen, the ‘candy’ hiccups remedy presents the benefits of apple cider vinegar while also providing serious relief to those endearing a case of the hiccups. Apple cider vinegar can be used to help treat strep throat, acid reflux, high blood pressure, asthma, and so many other health complications.

“It’s very rare, when you’re evaluating businesses, that you can envision a company or product being around 100 years from now,” said Danny Briere, a serial entrepreneur

In the near future the product may soon be lining the shelves of traditional and alternative stores alike, and may pave the way for more alternative remedies achieve unprecedented popularity in the marketplace.

A study conducted by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) found that nine out of ten mothers failed at reading nutrition labels, and did not understand the nutrition information on children’s foods. According to the BHF, 76% of mothers felt that “wholegrain” meant the product was likely to be healthy. In addition, they also thought that a product claiming it was “a source of calcium, iron and six vitamins” meant that the product was likely to be healthy.

The confusion in regard to food labels is not an issue that pertains only to parents, and despite this study occurring years ago, it is still very true today that the majority of people aren’t savvy in reading food labels. The research found many individuals are tricked by the deceptive labeling of sugary foods specifically. The BHF went on to say that Nestle’s Honey Shreddies, which claims to be “wholegrain” and will “keep your heart healthy and maintain a healthy body”, has 13.6g of sugar.

This is more than a ring doughnut in an average serving size, which totals 9.2g of sugar. High levels of sugar consumption can be the culprit for a number of health defects and issues faced today, while the massive over-consumption of sugar has some people asking: Is sugar becoming the next tobacco?

With all the harmful ingredients added to our food supply today, it is critical to not only start reading nutrition labels, but also memorize which ingredients to avoid.

Reading Nutrition Labels | Learn of What You’re Eating

Sugar is not the only concern when investigating the real contents of a food product. Trans fats, monosodium glutamate (MSG), aspartame, and high-fructose corn syrup are but a few toxic additives that are usually incognito unless you are actively searching for them within the ingredients. This alone highlights the importance of not only reading nutrition labels, but also knowing what each ingredient is. Researching the properties of each additive before ingesting it is indeed a wise decision, and one that will ultimately pay off with an improvement in overall health.

Ingredients You Should Avoid | Alpha-Dexionic-what?

If while reading nutrition labels you’re wondering whether certain ingredients are written in Greek or Hieroglyphics, then reconsideration of the purchase is probably necessary. Given the current process of food creation in the U.S. and other developed countries, chances are that this ingredient is some form of a synthetic chemical, and one of many ingredients to avoid. A general rule is that if you cannot pronounce it, you should not eat it. Research what your food is composed of before bringing it home and cooking it, or putting it into your body. What you find may surprise you.

Scientists at Washington State University are now confirming once again what natural health experts have known for years — garlic fights one of the most common food-borne illnesses much more effectively than antibiotics. Garlic has built a strong reputation in fighting infections, a benefit that is but one of many. Campylobacter bacterium, the name for the common bacteria that often results in intestinal illness, affects around 2.4 million Americans per year and is often treated with illness-linked antibiotics, but maybe not anymore.

According to the researchers, the information ‘opens the door’ to the many benefits of garlic when it comes to preventing and fighting infections. This means treating certain food items, cleaning, and use as a healing food substance. Once again, however, these mainstream scientists are simply re-discovering what many cultures have known (and have been utilizing) for centuries! It’s no secret that garlic is really a nutritional powerhouse, a superfood that can boost overall immunity and combat diseases — even superviruses that have the medical community in a frenzy.

Even Greek athletes used garlic to boost their physical performance in the arena due to the deep knowledge of the food’s empowering properties. Leading expert Dr. David Kraus explains:

“People have known garlic was important and has health benefits for centuries,” said Dr. David W. Kraus, associate professor of environmental science and biology at the University of Alabama. “Even the Greeks would feed garlic to their athletes before they competed in the Olympic games.”

Garlic even has a role in the prevention of cancer — the disease that is currently ravaging the population. In fact, it is a role that is quite notorious among cultures who have been using garlic in their dishes for countless years. Scientists believe that the role of garlic in cancer prevention quite possibly has to do with the way that garlic boosts the production of something known as hydrogen sulfide. It is this very substance that also protects the heart. Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine found that directly injecting hydrogen sulfide into mice almost completely stopped damage to heart muscles as a result of heart attack.

The benefits of garlic are many, and the mainstream scientific community is just catching on to how important of a role garlic plays in the diet.

Additional sources:

http://news.wsu.edu/pages/publications.asp?Action=Detail&PublicationID=31554&TypeID=1

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11268223

http://www.aafp.org/afp/2005/0701/p103.html

Could food really be our ally in burning calories? To the majority of people, that just doesn’t sound possible. Eating to lose weight? Strangely enough, it is indeed true. There are many foods out there that aren’t only healthy for you, but also aid in weight loss simply by consuming them. Just by eating fruit and vegetables you will notice a huge weight change. The reason for this is because fruit and vegetables are low in calories and high in volume. You will become full faster, and all that fullness will be made up of healthy foods containing vitamins and nutrients. Since it is so easy to just eat fruit that burn calories or vegetables that burn calories for weight loss, why not start immediately?

Below is a list of 17 fruit that burn calories and subsequently unwanted fat simply by eating them. These nutritional powerhouses will not only aid you in your weight loss mission, but in your overall quest for optimum health. Don’t let yourself miss this information; check out the list below.

Simple Weight Loss – 17 Fruit that Burn Calories

• Apricots
• Blackberries
• Cantaloupe
• Blackcurrant
• Peaches
• Plums
• Damsons
• Raspberries
• Grapefruit
• Rhubarb
• Guava
• Strawberries
• Honeydew
• Melon
• Tangerines
• Lemons (try enjoying lemon water daily)
• Watermelon

It is also widely unknown that people are addicted to processed foods and sugar. By shifting your diet so you are consuming an increased amount of raw foods derived from a high quality organic source, you will kick the sugar habit and see a major difference in your body. Once the point is finally reached when there is little desire for the foods you’re so used to eating, everything becomes much easier.

Add these to your dietary regimentation, or snack on them in-between meals. The ultimate weapon against weight gain is proper nutrition, and these 17 fruit can be a great asset in not only preventing weight gain, but also in hastening weight loss. Remember, there are many other fruit that burn calories not listed in the 17 mentioned. Even if you are looking to eat these fruit solely for the purpose of losing weight, you will be pleased to find out that overall health boosts as well.

High-fructose corn syrup is just one food ingredient, among many others, that virtually every health advocate will tell you to avoid. The Corn Refiners Association (CRA), a large organization that represents the corn refining industry, continues to assert that high-fructose corn syrup is completely safe and perfectly ‘natural’,  but many health experts and research results couldn’t disagree more. One contribution high-fructose corn syrup is making to our society is a startling increase in obesity rates. Scientists have repeatedly proven that heavily altered (and often genetically modified) form of fructose, used in thousands of food products and soft drinks, can negatively impact human metabolism and is contributing to the growing obesity epidemic.

High-Fructose Corn Syrup Alters Human Metabolism

For quite some time, high-fructose corn syrup was thought to be perfectly healthy by some individuals, and the ingredient rampantly consumed in high amounts internationally. But research shows that high-fructose corn syrup changes human metabolism, and is actually metabolized much differently than other sugars. HFCS is a highly processed product that contains nearly the same amount of fructose and glucose. Sucrose, however, is a larger sugar molecule that is metabolized into glucose and fructose in your intestine. High-fructose corn syrup metabolizes to fat in your body much faster than other sugars, resulting in increased fat gain. Since the fructose is consumed in liquid form, the negative effects on human metabolism are even greater.

“…Over 10 weeks, 16 volunteers on a strictly controlled diet, including high levels of fructose, produced new fat cells around their heart, liver and other digestive organs. They also showed signs of food-processing abnormalities linked to diabetes and heart disease. Another group of volunteers on the same diet, but with glucose sugar replacing fructose, did not have these problems”, reported scientists from UC Davis.

In addition, 100% of fructose that’s consumed is taken up by the liver, while only some of glucose passes through the liver, and is then excreted. This results in increased fat deposition in the abdominal cavity and increased blood levels of triglycerides — both of which are risk factors for heart disease and diabetes.

Further showing how the human metabolism is damaged, one study found:

“To assess the relative effects of these dietary sugars during sustained consumption in humans, overweight and obese subjects consumed glucose- or fructose-sweetened beverages providing 25% of energy requirements for 10 weeks. Although both groups exhibited similar weight gain during the intervention, visceral adipose volume was significantly increased only in subjects consuming fructose…and [fructose-sweetened beverages] decreases insulin sensitivity in overweight humans.”

Some individuals claim that high-fructose corn syrup is safe at low levels, but even if that were remotely true, the ingredient is still found in thousands of mainstream and corporate-owned food and beverage products in high doses. It is in these high doses that it has also been found to contain mercury, an element that is highly damaging to the human body. Sugar itself is highly over-consumed today, causing a multitude of health issues, but turning the natural form of sugar into  high-fructose corn syrup causes further damage to human metabolism and the liver.

While the benefits of antioxidants and a solid nutritional base in general are rather self evident, two new studies highlight how antioxidants are fantastic for improving memory function. Although antioxidants positively impact everyone, the researchers examined adults ages 50-75 who were given a proficient blend of antioxidants over the course of four months. The study found that by taking in the blend of antioxidants, memory function improved.

The Cognitive Benefits of Antioxidants

The findings are important because it shows that the benefits of antioxidants are great enough to treat cognitive illness naturally and effectively. In this case, a particular focus is placed on memory loss — experienced by countless individuals worldwide. Instead of a large number of medications accompanied by a ridiculous amount of side-effects, antioxidants in the form of vitamins and nutrients effectively promote mental (and overall) health and have no such negative side effects.

Acting as two fantastic foods for improving memory and overall health, apples and blueberries contain a powerful phytochemical and antioxidant known as quercetin. Quercetin has been shown to protect against Alzheimer’s and reverse aging, leading to a slowed escalation in age-related memory-loss. When consuming apples, it is important to note that much of the nutrients are found in the skin; quercetin is no exception.

The first analysis of the healthful antioxidant content of blueberries that grow wild in Mexico, Central and South America concludes that many of these tropical blueberries have even more healthful antioxidants than blueberries sold throughout the U.S. These tropical, healthful superfruit could very well provide even more protection against heart disease, cancer and other conditions.

What are antioxidants?

Antioxidants are simply molecules that prevent the oxidation of other molecules, and subsequently lead to an advancement of overall health and significant anti-aging effects. The oxidation process — in case you may be unaware — refers to the production of free radicals, which are harmful to your body and lead to hastened aging. Regardless of the source, it is important to ensure that your body is receiving the proper amount of antioxidants and that you are receiving all the benefits from these super-molecules, as they are a core necessary ingredient to longevity and vibrancy.

A common ingredient for sautéing, garlic is a spice relative of onion, leek, chive and shallots. This is a common staple for many savory dishes. Although popular in the kitchen, the health benefits of garlic have also been recognized and taken advantage of since the ancient times, showing countless individuals the compelling reasons to increase garlic consumption.

Health Benefits of Garlic

Garlic has many well-known health benefits – the most popular being its anti-infection uses. Skin conditions caused by bacteria, virus, fungi or yeast can be treated by rubbing raw chopped garlic on the affected area.

Garlic is great for boosting the immune system, containing high levels of vitamin C and being identified as a serious anti-cancer food. Because of its high potassium content, it can aid in absorption of essential nutrients, and help avoid digestive problems and fatigue as well. Garlic can also help in lung and throat problems due to its pungent smell. Since consuming garlic can irritate the digestive tract because of its pungent smell, a signal travels to the brain to release watery fluid in the lungs to counter the pungent property, thereby helping clear the lungs out of cough and colds.

Adding more to the health benefits of garlic list, garlic’s role in the prevention of cancer is perhaps one of the most notorious. Scientists believe that the exceptional anti-cancer properties may have to do with the way that garlic boosts the production of something known as hydrogen sulfide. It is the hydrogen sulfide production that researchers believe to be why garlic is so effective at preventing a wide variety of cancer including, prostate, breast, and colon cancer.

As an antioxidant, garlic can help protect against free radicals, cancer, high cholesterol, and can be used as one of the many home remedies for high blood pressure. It is said that the older the garlic gets, the more antioxidants properties it contain, and the more effectively it works.

To maximize on the health benefits of garlic, let it sit for a few minutes before cooking. Letting garlic sit helps to release the enzymes that provide more nutrients for the body. Raw garlic can be used to kill bacteria, but cooked garlic has more potency in lowering blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Optimally, crush the garlic at room temperature and allow it to sit for about 15 minutes. In addition, never cook garlic at high heat — try consuming it raw or cooked lightly. You can consume the spice both ways.

If you are worried about garlic causing bad breathe, you can counter this by consuming garlic prepared as pills or capsules. If you want to get the health benefits from garlic and stave off the odor a different way, consume garlic with parsley, as the herb counters garlic’s bad smell.

These are only some of the health benefits of garlic.

Blueberries, along with many other fruit, possess astounding benefits that can greatly improve anyone’s health. This magical fruit has one of the highest antioxidant levels out of any fruit and possesses a number of different nutrients that can power your brain and body. It is unfortunately that even with the great benefits of blueberries and other fruit alike, doctors will never prescribe them over pharmaceuticals despite the dangers behind drug use and the massive amount of other side-effects that could come with them.

Benefits of Blueberries

Blueberries possess powerful antioxidants known as polyphenols which are attributed to helping virtually all illness and disease. What’s great news for everyone is that the benefits of blueberries also go as far aiding in weight loss as well. One study done by Shiwani Moghe, a researcher from Texas Woman’s University, showed that polyphenols greatly inhibit the development of fat cells. She found that a high dose of polyphenols shed down fat cells by 73 percent in mice and a lose does reduced fat cell count by 27 percent in mice. With blueberries containing a high amount of these polyphenols, they prove to be one of the great foods for weight loss.

“I wanted to see if using blueberry polyphenols could inhibit obesity at a molecular stage,” said Moghe.

Benefits of Antioxidants go Beyond Weight Loss

Blueberries, as well as other foods containing antioxidants, have been eaten for many generations without the health benefits even being known on a scientific level. The benefits of blueberries and antioxidants in general are abundant and are also a serious threat to the medical establishment. If people were to consume healthy foods rich in antioxidants regularly, prescription and non-prescription drug use would plunder, leading to a serious decline in pharmaceutical sales. While antioxidants help almost every health condition, here are a few things they are helpful with:

• Slow the aging process by reducing free radical damage
• Fight cancer
• Protect the heart and liver
• Lower blood pressure
• Prevent coronary artery disease

Some antioxidants, specifically polyphenols and flavonoids, have only been studied for the past couple decades. So much useful information has come to light regarding the fantastic benefits antioxidants have on the body that it is a wonder why these benefits aren’t being harnessed by everyone. It quite possibly couldn’t be a better time for such nutrients and foods containing those nutrients to be studied due to the serious decline in eating habits Americans face today. Having this information available now may be more crucial than ever, as decades ago natural foods were a very normal part of a diet.

So start harnessing the powers and benefits of blueberries and other foods rich in antioxidants now. Such fantastic foods for weight loss are seldom found in the average american diet - choose not to be average.