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Health 2 Know - January 2008

Myths about cervical cancer

January 29th 2008 00:49
This article was originally compiled on March 2nd 2007 00:30. I am reposting the date for the special cancer topics I am expanding
Extracted and compiled from HealthToday

The lack of knowledge about the exact cause of cervical cancer has contributed to the development of a number of myths about the disease. Here’s the truth about some of the common ones.
‘You only get cervical cancer if you’ve had many sexual partners.’
This is not true. Many women who have had only one partner have developed the disease, as well as some women who have never had sexual intercourse.


‘I’m not at risk because I no longer have sexual intercourse.’
Another fallacy. Women can develop cervical cancer even if they are not currently having sexual intercourse or have not had sexual intercourse for many years.

‘If I don’t have sexual intercourse during my period I won’t get cervical cancer.’
Avoiding sexual intercourse during your period does not protect you against cervical cancer.
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Fish, Seafood and Cancer

January 24th 2008 00:28

Article researched and compiled from The Cancer Project
Image extracted from salmongram.com

Ok, many could have opt out the meat from the ground (like beef, mutton, pork, poultry, etc) and go for those from the waters and the seas; especially out of desire to increase the amount of omega-3 fatty acids. However, fish and shellfish often contain unsafe levels of mercury and other environmental toxins, don’t forget where the sewerage leads to at the end of the day, and associated with increased cancer risk.


In fact, of the potential source of mercury contamination, the consumption of fish and shellfish contributes most of the mercury concentration in humans. The EPA and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) have designated mercury as a possible human carcinogen. (Toxicological effects of methyl mercury – National Academy Press, Washington DC, 2000) Polychorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and dioxins are other probable human carcinogens that accumulate in fish and shellfish.

Levels of contamination actually vary widely among individual fish – not all are highly toxic. Therefore, even well-informed consumers have no way of knowing whether the fish they have purchased has high or love level of mercury contamination. Even modest consumption of moderately contaminated and commonly eaten fish can put some consumers at risk very quickly.

So what happens at the end of the day? The looks of it, with the high level of toxins, fat, and cholesterol, and lack of fibre (depends on which fish you are talking about) has been categorised into a poor dietary choice to ensure adequate intake of essential fatty acids. But it isn’t the end of the day because common omega-3 fatty acid such as alpha-linolenic acid, can be found plenty in vegetables, beans, nuts, seeds and fruits. A few good examples would be flaxseed, flaxseed oil, and other types of oil like canola, soy bean, walnut and wheat germ. Vegetables, nuts, other types of seeds and soy products would contain smaller quantities of omega-3 fatty acids.

Personal Note:
I’m a person who still eats fish but I obtain more vegetables and get my omega-3, 6 and 9 through flaxseeds. The most important is we need to know the food pyramid properly in order to consume the right small amount of meat and plenty of fruits and vegetables to create a balance diet.

Cancer survival patients however should opt out fish and meat at the moment and concentrate getting natural nutrients through the plant family until full recovery.

I remembered that I used to like seafood a lot until one day I had allergy over all sorts of seafood and I had to cut off all of it for one year before my blood was announced clear from contamination. Imagine a healthy person like me could get allergy like that, so cancer survived patients, and even for Steven Johnson Syndrome survival patients must be very careful amount toxin food.
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Grill Meat Lovers – watch out for cancer

January 22nd 2008 10:23

Article researched and compiled from The Cancer Project
Image extracted from myrecipes.com

We always encourage everyone to have a balance diet: plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans and some meat (that is for the normal people). Although meat is devoid of fibre and other nutrients that have productive effect, such as animal protein, saturated fat, but watch out, there are carcinogenic compounds formed during the cooking process. These carcinogenic compounds may be to blame for part of the correlation between meat intake and increased cancer risk. Meat intake has been shown to be a risk factor for breast cancer, even when researchers controlled for confounding factors such as total fat and calorie intake. (Cancer Epidemol Biomakers Prev 1997)

Heterocyclic amines (HCA) are DNA-damaging compounds produced as meat cooks at high temperatures. The longer and hotter the meat cooks, the more of these compounds form. In some studies, grilled chicken formed higher concentrations of these cancer-causing substances than other types of cooked meat. (Cancer Res. 1995)

So should we start inverting all to sushi, just like the Japanese love to have? Not necessary.

All types of meat however, can contain some level of these carcinogens. Consumption of well-done meat (especially for the well-done through deep fry and grill) has been associated with increased risk of breast cancer and colon cancer.

In addition, grilling or broiling meat over a direct flame results in fat dropping on the hot fire, which produces flames containing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) that adheres to the surface of food. The more intense the heat, the more PAHs is present. These chemicals are believed to play a significant role in human cancers.

Personal Note:
So far I haven’t managed to find more differences between cooking via direct flame and steaming. But those who are normal and still healthy do need to reconsider less grilled meat (no more often meat based burgers) and look into the alternative of steam, which is pretty nice.
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Gold Stars to Fruits and Veggies, Recipe: Strawberry Smoothie

January 18th 2008 15:11
Article researched and compiled from The Cancer Project
Image extracted from lowcarbluxury.com

According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in US, approximately 80% of highschool students do not consume the recommended five or more daily servings of fruits and vegetables. Research has repeatedly shown that fruits and vegetables reduce the risk of several forms of cancer. (Riboli E, Norat T. Epidemiologic evidence of protective effects of fruit and vegetables on cancer risk. Am K Clin Nutr. 2003 Sep)

A large European study also found a significant decrease in adult cancer incidence and morality among individuals who has a high consumption of fruits as children. (J Epidemiol Community Health. 2003)

Let’s get started with this really simple and delicious smoothie that I’m sure the entire family (not to mention kids and teens) will love:

Strawberry Smoothie

Makes 2 1-cup servings

Calories (1 cup): 198 calories

1 cup frozen banana chunks
1 cup frozen strawberries
2 tablespoon apple juice concentrate
1 – 1 1/2 cups soy (or other non-dairy milk)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

Combine all ingredients in a blender. Process until smooth, stopping the blender as needed to push unblended fruit into the blades. Serve immediately.

Tips:
For a thick smoothie that can be eaten with a spoon, use the minimum amount of non-dairy milk necessary for blending. If you like a thinner smoothie, simply add a bit more non-dairy milk.

Purchase fresh strawberries at the peak of the season, when they are bursting with flavour, to freeze for smoothies. Freezing them is easy. Simply remove the stems and place the berries in freezer bags. They keep for up to 6 months. Frozen strawberries are also available in most supermarkets.

Personal Note:
But then again, what is better than fresh fruits?

Calorie count:
2.6g fat
0.4g saturated fat
12% calories from fat
0mg cholesterol
5.9g protein
41.3g carbohydrate
23.7g sugar
5.6g fibre
76mg sodium
175mg calcium
2.1mg iron
72.3mg vitamin C
28mcg beta-carotene
2.1mg vitamin E
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Recipe: Homemade Taco Sauce

January 17th 2008 07:14
Article researched and compiled from Teri’s Kitchen and All Recipies

From the refried beans (or more accurate – fried beans) now comes the taco sauce. I found this nifty recipe about the writer talking about how she forgot to get taco sauce when she was making tacos. This is good for those who cannot take preserved food (like my mom these days) and good for cancer surviving patients too. But don’t forget. Normal healthy people can also benefit from this (especially the kids) as this is a good start into having less preserved food.

The original recipe uses unseasoned tomato sauce, but I have also added the homemade tomato sauce inside for those who preferred a 99 – 100% canned free recipe.

Ingredients for homemade tomato sauce (8oz serving)
This recipe was originally for 3 cups (24oz) standard American measurement

1-2/3 ripe tomatoes
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon butter
1/8 onion, chopped
1/8 green bell pepper, chopped
1/3 carrots, chopped
2/3 clove garlic, minced
2 teaspoons chopped fresh basil
1/8 teaspoon Italian seasoning
2 teaspoons Burgundy wine
1/8 bay leaf
1/3 stalk celery
1 teaspoon tomato paste


Ingredients for taco sauce
1 can (8 ounces) unseasoned tomato sauce, preferably no-salt OR homemade tomato sauce
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons dried minced onion
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Cayenne pepper or hot sauce to taste
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions (making the tomato sauce)
Prep time 30 mins, Cook time 4 hrs

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Have ready a large bowl of iced water. Plunge whole tomatoes in boiling water until skin starts to peel, 1 minute. Remove with slotted spoon and place in ice bath. Let rest until cool enough to handle, then remove peel and squeeze out seeds. Chop 2 tomatoes and puree in blender or food processor. Chop remaining 1 tomato and set aside.

In a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat, cook onion, bell pepper, carrot and garlic in oil and butter until onion starts to soften, 5 minutes. Pour in pureed tomatoes. Stir in chopped tomato, basil, Italian seasoning and wine. Place bay leaf and whole celery stalks in pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 2 hours. Stir in tomato paste and simmer an additional 2 hours. Discard bay leaf and celery.

Directions to make taco sauce
Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl. Let set for at least 30 minutes to allow flavours to blend. Taste for seasoning and adjust as needed.

Personal Note:
I know making such little tomato sauce is a waste of time, but if you are making large scale be sure to x3 from the recipe shown.
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Recipe: Homemade Refried Beans

January 16th 2008 00:31
Article researched and compiled from Simply Recipes

After inspired by Cibby’s comment, I did thought of looking into homemade Taco Sauces but our beloved Katyzzz also reminded me about canned food which is generally not good for health if consumed frequently, not to mention it is bad for cancer survived patients and SJS (Steven Johnson Syndrome) survived patients because of the preserved ingredients.

Therefore before I look into Taco sauce, I took and extra step to look for homemade refried beans. This recipe I found caught my attention when it talked about using less oil for refried beans. The more interesting part is the explanation of the name of the food as “Refried” is actually a misnomer for “Refritos” means “fried” only.

Lets see how it is done:

Refried Beans Recipe


2 1/2 cups of dry pinto beans (about 1 lb or 450gm)
3 quarts of water
1/2 cup chopped onion (optional)
2-tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cups water
Salt to taste

Directions
1. Rinse the beans in water and remove any small stones, pieces of dirt, or bad beans.
2. Cook the beans in water.
Pressure Cooker method
Put beans into a 4-quart pressure cooker with a 15 lb weight. Fill up the pressure cooker with water, up to the line that indicates the capacity for the pot. Cook for 30-35 minutes - until the beans are soft and the skins are barely breaking open.

Regular method
Put beans into a pot and cover beans with at least 3 inches of water - about 3 quarts for 2 1/2 cups of dry beans. Bring to a boil and then lower heat to simmer, covered, for about 2 1/2 hours. The cooking time will vary depending on the batch of beans you have. The beans are done when they are soft and the skin is just beginning to break open.

Strain the beans from the cooking water.

3. Add the onions (option) and oil to a wide, sturdy (not with a flimsy stick-free lining) frying pan on medium high heat. Cook onions until translucent. (If you are using onions)

Add the strained beans and about a 1/4 cup of water to the pan. Using a potato masher, mash the beans in the pan, while you are cooking them, until they are a rough purée. Add more water if necessary to keep the fried beans from getting too dried out. Add salt to taste.
When beans are heated through the beans are ready to serve.

Note:
Many recipes call for soaking the beans overnight and discarding the soaking liquid. This recipe doesn’t. Instead it shows to discard the cooking liquid and just add some water back into the frying pan when we are frying the beans.

Personal note:
This recipe was modified by omitting options such as lard, bacon fat and cheese, specially enable for cancer-patients.
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Recipe: Bean Burrito (for hungry little ones)

January 15th 2008 00:53
Article researched and compiled from cooks.com

Who says that cancer survivor patients / vegetarians can’t enjoy their food. After inspired by Chibby’s comments about how nice fry beans can be in a burrito, I went around and found this neat recipe that’s worth a try on.



Ingredients

1 pkg. flour tortillas (non - lard)
1 can vegetarian refried beans
Taco sauce
Chopped lettuce, tomatoes, onions, etc.
Grated cheese (cancer patients please opt this out)

Directions

Spoon refried beans onto flour tortillas.
Roll.
Warm together on a pie plate or individually on a dinner plate with taco sauce and grated cheese (or omit). At the table add chopped vegetables to taste.

Serve with white rice or rice pilaf mix.

It’s that simple. Do try them out and let us all know how it taste. If there are any suggestions to add a little different taste, do let everyone know here. ^_^
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Cancer Prevention Right From The Start

January 14th 2008 00:34
Article researched and compiled from The Cancer Project

Mom and dads, grandpa and grandmas, aunts and uncles please take note: It is never too early to start living healthily with cancer-fighting foods; the earlier the kiddies start eating a nutritious diet rich in cancer-fighting foods, the greater their chances of staying healthy for life.

Lifelong eating habits are established in childhood, and the longer the exposure to cancer-fighting foods and the avoidance of cancer-promoting foods, the greater the likelihood that cancer won’t strike during adulthood.

More than 1 million people are diagnosed with cancer in the United States each year, not to mention other countries are following suit to make cancer a “norm” to the modern society. This sounds horrifying isn’t it? And do you know that 30 – 60% of these cancers are potentially preventable with a healthy diet? An unhealthy diet and sedentary lifestyle lead to obesity, which in turn increases cancer risk.

Many individuals in this world have swapped conveniences with unhealthy diet and many advertisements (so sorry to say) have been brainwashing them to say that “it’s ok – we are all in a hurry. The most important is we get our stomachs filled for energy.”

Does this sound familiar?


Many also tend to grey out the lines between healthy and unhealthy, including me. And you will be surprised that the unhealthy category also falls on excess meat intake (which many thought for the sake of protein), oily fried foods (oh there goes my fries) and grill food – yes grill (I thought it was good because less oil).

So are healthy diet habits? Building one’s diet from whole grains, legumes, vegetables and fruits provide a regimen loaded with cancer-fighting antioxidants, phyto-chemicals, and fibre, and helps promote healthy weight control.

Lets look at he chart below and compare what are the basic nutrients one can have from the popular fast food to similar vegetarian options:


*The chart above is based on American food standards. It varies from country to country.

As you can see, a veggie burger (of normal production standards) has 20 less grams of fat and 180 less calories than a typical hamburger, and a homemade bean burrito with lettuce, tomato, and salsa has 16 less grams of fat, 135 less calories, and 8 extra grams of cancer-fighting fibre compared to fast-food chilli-cheese burrito.

It’s actually easy to make the switch and well worth the time. It is important to help children choose a healthy eating style and incorporate fun physical activity in their lives now and in the future to help ward off cancer and other chronic diseases. Therefore, introducing fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes to children as early as possible increases the likelihood that they will choose and prefer those foods throughout their lives. A recent review found that vegetarian diets, when adopted an early age, provide nutritional advantages and lead to healthy eating habits in adulthood.

Another research that was published in the International Journal of Cancer found out that women with the highest intake of vegetables, legumes, and fibre had approximately half the odds of developing breast cancer compared to women with the lowest intake, not to mention that healthy weight control has important variables in warding off cancer.

How many of us didn’t know about this fact? Plenty. Oh but don’t panic – it’s never too late to start for little kiddies and the rest of the family. Don’t forget, kiddies ape their elders. So if you take the first step, they will follow suit.

Let’s all walk towards a healthier lifestyle.

Personal note:
My family has adopted an interesting habit since I was 11 as we were from a Taoist / Buddhist background where we always adapt a full day / half day fast from meat twice a month by following the lunar calendar (new moon and full moon); follow suit of an annual 7 days strictly vegetarian intake in the ninth lunar month for religious purposes.

This practises although was for family religious purposes but it has subconsciously helped the entire family to embrace more fruits and vegetables without a fuss and so far, other than my mother’s chronic Steven Johnson Syndrome illness (which started from medication) we do not have other worse-case scenario regarding health.

And believe me, my body always feels different and lighter after the 7 days vegetarian diet as if there are clogs flushed out from the system.

I encourage everyone who loves meat to take the challenge (whatever purpose in you may have) and post how feels without our favourite fast food and meat for a period of time. Mind you, first-timers will feel weak and dizzy even because your body isn’t used to it.
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Recipe: Potato Boats with Spinach Stuffing

January 12th 2008 04:33
This is an interesting recipe I found from cancer project where you can still make full use of leftover baked / steamed potatoes. ^_^

recipe from The Cancer Project
image from Coconut & Lime



Tip: These go particularly well with Black Bean Chili.

Makes 8 halves

1 10-ounce package frozen spinach, thawed and drained, or 2 pounds fresh spinach, chopped and steamed
1/4 cup dry millet, rinsed
1 1/2 cups water, divided (1 cup plus 1/2 cup)
4 medium russet potatoes
2 tablespoons cashews
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds (optional)

If using frozen spinach, remove from the freezer to thaw.

Directions

Place millet in a small saucepan with 1 cup water. Bring to a simmer. Cover and cook until all water is absorbed, about 1 hour. Set aside.

Bake, microwave, or steam potatoes until tender when pierced with a sharp knife. When cool enough to handle, carefully cut in half lengthwise. Scoop out flesh, leaving a 1/4-inch thick shell. Set flesh and shells aside.

Steam fresh or frozen spinach.

Combine cooked millet, cashews, nutmeg, black pepper, and salt in a blender with remaining 1/2 cup water. Blend on high speed until completely smooth, about 2 minutes, stopping blender occasionally to scrape down sides with a rubber spatula.

Transfer potato flesh to a skillet. Use a spoon to break into bite-size chunks. Add spinach and warm over medium heat, stirring often. When hot, stir in millet mixture. Cook over medium heat 2 to 3 minutes to heat and thicken slightly, then scoop into reserved shells. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, if using, before serving.

Nutrition Information (Per potato half)
124 calories
1.5 g fat
0.3 g saturated fat
10.8% calories from fat
0 mg cholesterol

4.1 g protein
24.8 g carbohydrate
1.3 g sugar
3.4 g fiber

327 mg sodium
51 mg calcium
1.7 mg iron
8.8 mg vitamin C
1700 mcg beta-carotene
0.9 mg vitamin E

Well give it a try and let me know how it goes. I know it's hard to invite our little ones to take part in helping out and getting to know more about the food that they eat, but little stuffs like washing the spinach and sprinkling the sesame seeds for final touch gives bond and satisfaction for both parent and child. ^_^

(I'm trying to make my two little jewels to help out around the house as well)
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A new year – A new journey towards good health

January 11th 2008 10:19
Another year has passed, and how far have we gone in our journey of health, only we can feel. I hope that everyone has learned as much in this health site as much as I have researching and writing them. After all the excitements since Christmas till New Year, I am sure we all finally manage to unwind ourselves and resume our daily lives.

I admit for the past few months I have not been posting much as I was tied up with so many things, from my mother’s health to work and my services in church. I hope that this year I can start with something that we dedicate to our youngest generations – the children.



As our society works towards to a more modern lifestyle with the help of technology, we have also neglected our time to enjoy what nature has to offer to us; and the worse thing is we have neglected it, abused it, polluted it and damaging our own wellness, not to mention we drag our next generation to this mess. And what the kids these days are getting besides the hype of technology – Obesity, malnutrition, and not to mention the greatest enemy – Cancer.

The next few post will be a series of how we help our children who suffers cancer to restore their health with nutrition information and some pretty neat recipes to encourage children to eat healthily. I will also redirecting my previous posts since 2006 along the way that relates to this series.

I hope that everyone will bear with me with the time of posting and I will do my best to do my research and write more whenever I have my day offs. Trust me, my life currently doesn’t rest on the all-time-favourite Sabbath day anymore. LOL…

So I shall see you all around and I will definitely do my best to be more active in Orble and not getting emails from Charles reminding me that my site is inactive…

May everyone have a great 2008 ahead!
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What is your 2008 New Year's Resolution?

January 2nd 2008 05:53


Do you have the feeling that once Christmas is over you know that time will fast forward and before you know it, you many have friends asking "So what's your new year resolution?"

What have we all learnt so far in 2007? Something worth going through, or something you knew that you could have avoided the catastrophe financial problem?

To me, this year has been a roller coaster year as well, but in a wider aspect of life. And that has made a conclusion on what my coming New Year Resolution would be:

1. Maintain Idle Weight
Because you do not know when you can easily fall sick or when you just don't fit into your dress size anymore...

2. Earn at least 3 cheques from Google
2 cheques a year of a minimum 100 isn't going to help out the family and financial needs. Rainy day money is very important

3. Manage well my time - God, Family, Work, Exercise
With new things keep coming into my life, if you don't manage your time well you'll end up falling sick all the time, even with proper food and exercises.

4. Eat smart. Don't get influenced with food advertisements
Pamper yourself with healthy reasonable food yet spending wisely is very crucial in life.

4. Learn a foreign language
I realised that it's very handy when you know a language other than your country's main languages.

5. No credit cards debt carried forward to the next month
The ultimate financial management. Why let the bank earn money from us?

So this is my list of resolutions to fulfil... I don't really have a list but setting targets is crucial to me now and hope by the end of next year I can share anything I have learned from my effort to obtain these goals.

What is your New Year's Resolution(s)? Do share and lets encourage each other to work towards a balanced healthy life!

Happy New Year 2008!
Jessicca
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