Nutrition and Health Improve Your Lifestyle

Depending upon individual health concerns and issues, food choices and nutrition can affect body and mental health. To focus on improving and strengthening your overall health and well being, here are common health concerns for both genders listed in alphabetical order and the foods that would work best in individual perfect dietary planning. For more details, check with your own healthcare providers and refer to, "Doctor, What Should I Eat?" by Isadore Rosenfeld, M.D. (Warner Books, Inc., 1995).

• ACNE - To help fight acne problems, eat plenty of fruits, vegetables and cereals. Lay low on sweets (especially chocolate), fried foods, fats, carbonated beverages, nuts / peanut butter and dairy products.
• AGING - Watch intake of high calorie foods. Focus instead on complex carbohydrates, calcium to fight off osteoporosis and minimize fat and protein consumption. Women especially should add a calcium supplement to their diet. Men on average over age 50 only need around 63 grams of protein a day; women need 50 grams. Calorie-wise, men need to decrease overall daily calorie totals by about 600; women 300 calories per day.
• AIRSICKNESS - Put nutmeg under your tongue.
• ALLERGIES - Natural herbs can greatly help allergy symptoms. Drink infusion of wild thyme, take garlic capsules or chew peeled garlic cloves, or drink mineral salt teas like sage tea or nettle tea. For seasonal allergies, lay low on breads (especially white), rice and pasta.
• ANXIETY - The old standby cup of warm milk and honey sooths jagged nerves. Mix in a little cinnamon and/or nutmeg. Herbal teas such as Chamomile and Valerian are helpful, too.
• ARTHRITIS - Garlic capsules and peeled garlic can help here. So, can adding fish oil capsules and fish high in Omega oils to your dietary planning. Drinking a glass of water a few times each day with a small amounts of apple cider vinegar and honey added are beneficial. Lemonade without sugar helps with rheumatic arthritis. Other aids come from medicinal herbs: wild thyme, celery seed and honeysuckle teas and primrose leaves added to salads.
• ASTHMA - Some helpful foods are hot chili peppers, fresh garlic, onions, chili, water with Tabasco sauce, coffee (regular, not decaffeinated). Seafoods that are helpful include crab, clams, shellfish, oysters, mussels, salmon, sardines, mackerel and haddock. Grandma's chicken soup works wonders, too. Carbohydrates and fruits especially should be included in the diet. Frozen yogurt, graham crackers and fruit juices are good snacks.
• BAD BREATH - Brushing teeth with baking soda and water can help eliminate bad breath. Chewing natural herbs such as parsley, mint leaves or dill seeds after eating helps, too.
• CANCER - Lay low on fats. Eat plenty of yellow and green vegetables and fruits (for vitamin C and beta carotene); spinach, winter squash, peaches, cantaloupe, apricots, broccoli, tomatoes, yams, carrots, cabbage, brussels sprouts. Choose low-fat dairy products, leaner meats, plenty of water and high-fiber foods like whole-grain flours and breads. Include macaroni, chickpeas, popcorn, baked potato, pita bread, brown rice. For specific cancers and food choices to target for them, refer to, "Doctor What Should I eat?" by Isadore Rosenfeld, MD. (Warner Books, Inc., 1995).
• CARPAL TUNNEL SYNDROME - Foods with vitamin B6 can help; oatmeal, sunflower seeds, liver, wheat germ, bananas, rice bran, meat, fish, chicken, avocados. Eat foods rich in vitamin B12; fish, liver, eggs, cheese, muscle meats and shellfish.
• CATARACTS - Eat plenty of vitamin C; fruits and fruit juices, leafy green vegetables. Also, add small amounts of vitamin A foods; milk, eggs, liver; and beta-carotenes; orange, yellow and red fruits and vegetables.
• CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME - Add some extra protein; skinless chicken, turkey, fish, egg whites, fresh vegetables and fruits and low-fat dairy products. Eat complex carbs like potatoes, pasta and whole grains. Natural fish sources are also good choices; tuna, salmon, whitefish, mackerel, herring, anchovies, bluefish.
• COMMON COLD - These foods are helpful for fighting colds: grapefruit and other fruit juices and sections, garlic, horseradish, zinc lozenges, slippery elm tea and other vitamin C foods; broccoli, kale, potatoes and tomatoes.
• CONSTIPATION - Remedies include cod liver oil, dandelion coffee, fresh fruits and vegetables, parsley, warm water, and slippery elm tea.
• COUGHING - Drink warm, unsalted water in which potatoes were boiled. Also try warm milk with molasses and nutmeg added.
• CRAMPS - Potassium-rich foods help - bananas!
• DIARRHEA - Include in your diet: warm milk, sweet potatoes and RAB (rice, apple sauce and bananas).
• FLU - Healthy food choices include grapefruit, garlic and beef broth.
• GALLSTONES - Ease up on fats and refined sugars, eat more fiber; fresh fruits and vegetables (steamed veggies, too). Clear liquids are best; apple juice, broth, gelatin, 7-Up. Also include whole grains cereals, pastas and breads like pumpernickel and wheat rye, popcorn, wheat crackers and add oat bran in recipes. Lean meats and low-fat dairy products are recommended.
• GOUT - Go light in the protein end and drink lots of fluids. Avoid foods with high purine content; animal organs, some shellfish and seafood (herring, mackerel, anchovies, sardines, roe, mussels, scallops) and gravy. Skip alcohol consumption. Eat carbohydrates like rice, pasta, fruits, vegetables and potatoes.
• HEADACHES - Almonds are good for pain relief. So is Gatorade and ginger.
• HEART TROUBLE - Onions and tarragon are good choices. Also, skip alcohol consumption; go low of caffeine and no smoking.
• HEMORRHOIDS - Increase the fiber in your diet- - slow-and-steady. Drink lots of fluids. Helpful food choices are wheat bran, whole grain cereals, vegetables, apples, berries, prunes, figs, dates, beans, lentils and peas.
• HICCUPS - Drink water and then eat some bread. Other "cures" are a teaspoon of honey, or slowly drinking a glass of ice water covered with a paper towel (and drinking it through the paper towel).
• INDIGESTION - For stomach trouble, try a teaspoon of baking soda in a glass of warm water. Other food choices are eating cucumbers or apples with their peels on, bay leaves, parsley, watercress, fresh pineapple, raw carrots, grated horseradish and herbal teas: chamomile, peppermint, dill, rosemary. Lemon in coffee and mint tea with honey also help.
• INSOMNIA - Eat a boiled onion before going to sleep.
• MENOPAUSE - Keep going with the calcium, ladies. Add a calcium supplement to your routine if you have not already. Go light now on coffee, tea, salt, proteins. Better choices are decaffeinated beverages, herbal teas, natural herbs instead of salt like garlic, onion and lemon. Chose lean cuts and lower-fat dairy products, whole grains, bran, fresh fruits, vegetables, lentils.
• MORNING SICKNESS - Before bed, eat a healthy fruit or vegetable that is difficult to digest, like a carrot or apple with the skin on, or celery.
• OSTEOPOROSIS - Go easy on the caffeine, salt and tobacco. Choose decaffeinated beverages and herbal teas. Instead of salt, use onion, garlic or lemon seasoning. Up your calcium / low-fat dairy intake with a calcium supplement and food choices; yogurt, cheese, milk, soy milk, tofu, shellfish, sardines, salmon, oysters, dark green vegetables (not spinach); cabbage, collards, broccoli.
• STOMACH ACHE / UPSET- Warm cinnamon tea, hot mint tea, herbal peppermint tea or ginger spiced tea will help.
• STRESS - Use a combination of drinking water, relax / exercise first. Later - slowly eat small amount of healthy foods - fruits, veggies.
• URINARY TRACT INFECTIONS - Cranberry juice or barley water can help.