WHFoods Weekly Newsletter

[World's Healthiest Foods] Weekly Newsletter - January 9, 2017 The George Mateljan Foundation is a not-for-profit foundation with no commercial interests or advertising. Our mission is to help you eat and cook the healthiest way for optimal health. Dear Friend, If you are among the many now looking to lose a few of those extra holiday pounds you are not alone. Losing weight is the #1 New Year's resolution in the U.S., but while nearly half of all Americans include losing weight as one of their goals for 2016, statistics show that only about 5-10% actually manage to lose their desired weight and keep it off! Since being overweight predisposes us to many health problems, achieving a proper weight has many more wide-reaching benefits than looking better. However, optimizing health does not automatically accompany weight loss. It is not news that losing weight requires minimizing calorie intake, but to optimize health you also need to maximize nutritional intake. That's why I am very excited to announce the launch of our new WHFoods 7-Day Meal Plan, on January 23. I feel it is is an amazingly powerful and yet easy-to-follow plan that is unique in the way it combines the great taste of delicious and easy-to-prepare recipes and fulfills 100% or more of the WHFoods recommendations for 28 nutrients! As the recipes are solely composed of foods included on our list of [100 World's Healthiest Foods] (foods research has found are among the most nutrient rich) you will be getting a rich source of nutrients essential for optimal health (including vitamins, minerals, and macronutrients such as protein, fiber and healthy fats) for a minimal number of calories. Be sure to check the website on the 23rd for our new WHFoods 7-Day Meal Plan. It will be a great way to help keep those New Years resolutions that revolve around healthy eating and healthy weight loss. Along with the launch of the new Meal Plan you will also find new on the website scientically updated food profiles for each food that is featured as a Food of the Week as well as new articles to keep you abreast of what is new in the arena of healthy eating and cooking. We also hope you enjoy the new look of the website home page and the navigation bar, which will help take you to new and interesting aricles on the website. I am excited about all of the new additions to the website and hope you will take advantage of what we offer to help jumpstart your healthy eating lifestyle in 2017. George [Food of the Week] Enjoy Broccoli This Week Since our recommended cooking method for broccoli has always been Quick Steaming, we are excited to report on numerous recent studies that show nutritional benefits from the steaming of broccoli (versus other cooking methods). Included in these benefits are better retention of vitamin C and sulforaphane when broccoli is steamed rather than boiled. Also noted in these studies are better firmness and more vibrant green color from short-term versus long-term steaming. "Short-term" in this context typically means 5 minutes or less of steaming, and "long-term" means more than 5 minutes, and usually more like 15-20 minutes. Connected with these steaming results in recent studies are clearly noticeable differences in nutrient concentrations that occur when steaming times are changed by relatively small amounts. For example, researchers are finding nutrient differences in broccoli steamed for 1 versus 2 minutes, or 3 versus 5 minutes. Many nutrients in broccoli are clearly sensitive to total steaming time, and as a general rule, all studies suggest that total steaming time be kept relatively short. At WHFoods, our recommended steaming time for broccoli florets and leaves is 4 minutes. The anti-inflammatory benefits of sulfur compounds in broccoli have a strong research track record. Adding to this track record is a recent study showing broccoli benefits in small group of smokers who averaged at least 10 cigarettes per day. Participants in the study consumed steamed broccoli for a 10-day period. The daily serving size was about 1.66 cups per day, and the cooking method featured in the study was 10 minutes of steaming. Participants in the study experienced a drop in their blood level of C-reactive protein (CRP), which is a blood protein used to measure a general degree of inflammation. The participants also experienced an increase in their blood level of the carotenoid lutein and the B-vitamin folate. Since broccoli is our 16th best source of carotenoids and 5th best source of folate, these study findings definitely make good sense to us. But equally interesting for us is the amount of broccoli consumed in this study. At WHFoods, our "outstanding" level of cruciferous vegetable intake is at least 1.5 cups per day of cruciferous vegetables. The intake level in this study was very close to that outstanding amount. In a recent study on organically grown broccoli, researchers noticed an association between the deep green color of the broccoli florets and their total carotenoid content. In other words, the deeper and more rich the florets were in color, the more carotenoids they contained. Since carotenoids are yellow-orange in color and do not contribute to the greenness of food, this finding may seem somewhat surprising. But it may give us a practical way to make our broccoli selections in the grocery if we are trying to choose broccoli with higher carotenoid content. [Read More] [Recipe of the Week] Try This Recipe of the Week 4-Minute "Quick Steamed" Broccoli Studies have found steaming to be the best way to cook Broccoli. Enjoy this quick, easy, and great tastiing recipe found on page 183 of the 2nd Edition of theWorld's Healthiest Foods. [Read More] [Nutrient of the Week] Broccoli is an excellent source of chromium Broccoli is an excellent source of important health-protective vitamins and minerals, including chromium. [Read More] [Hot Topic] Are grocery lists and organized food plans required for Healthy Eating? If you are a person who is fundamentally satisfied with the nourishment, health benefits, and pleasure that you are getting from food - and you don't already make grocery lists or plan your meals in an organized way - additional planning steps might not make sense. But if you are someone who doesn't do much food planning and you are looking to boost your nourishment, your health benefits or the simple pleasures of eating, we definitely encourage you to keep reading. Research in this area might surprise you as much as it surprised us! [Read More] Here's to a New Year of the Healthiest Way of Eating and Cooking! George [WHFoods Book 2nd Edition] The World's Healthiest Foods, 2nd Edition is complete and ready to order with 2 free gifts valued at $51.95. All international orders (including Canada) must be placed through Amazon.com. More from happy book owners: Thank you so much for your help. I have your new wonderful book and love it! I also purchased a copy for my friend. - Susanne [Read more about our book] $39.95 [buy now] visit our homepage at [] Newsletter circulation: over 120,000 Copyright © 2017 The George Mateljan Foundation, All Rights Reserved George Mateljan Foundation, PO Box 25801, Seattle, Washington 98165 [Unsubscribe] | [Change Subscriber Options]