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“A properly fueled body is a miraculous self-healing machine”
Dr. Joel Fuhrman MD, is a board certified family physician, a widely published nutritional expert and a researcher who explains how you can lower cholesterol levels, reverse heart disease and diabetes and have a healthy way to lose weight through natural means. In his recent PBS Special “Three Steps To Incredible Health,” Dr. Fuhrman explained his three step diet plan filled with nutrient rich foods that help people achieve optimal health and vitality and do not rely on drugs and surgery. Dr. Oz, called Dr Fuhrman’s plan “A medical breakthrough. If you give this diet your complete commitment, there is no question in my mind that it will work for you.”
Furhman’s segment titled Super Foods for Health and Pleasure, explains and illustrates that solutions for preventing cancer are right in our grocery store aisles and kitchens. He speaks enthusiastically about the Superfoods he calls…GOMBS
Dr. Fuhrman’s research has led him to believe that these super foods are the most powerful disease fighting foods available on the planet. Their healing capacities are great, as well as their ability to put the body on the path to be self healing and lean and fit. A simple way to remember these Super Food is to think of the word GOMBS:
Greens – Green leafy vegetables have many diverse nutrients and systems that help the body. Furhman explains that they allow the blood vessels to function better by putting a slippery, silicone like coating against the inside of our blood vessels. They activate other compounds inside the blood vessels called the Nrf2 mechanism which prevents plaque from binding and settling against the blood vessel walls. This accelerates the rate at which dietary fat melt away from the lining of our blood vessels.
Onions – The Medical Journal of Clinical Nutrition did a large study in Europe on people who ate onions regularly. They concluded that people who ate more onions on a regular basis exhibited a 60 to 70% overall reduction in all major cancers. These cancers include prostate cancer, breast cancer, and ovarian cancer. Merely a higher consumption of onions creates this large result. Have you ever cut into an onion and wondered about that stinging feeling you get? The tears in the eyes? Well, when you cut an onion, there is a gas given off that creates disulfides and anti-cancer nutrients that impact your blood health.
Mushrooms – Recently there have been studies published in the international Journal of Cancer that showed that women who regularly consumed mushrooms were 64% less likely to develop breast cancer. This study was based on a consumption of about 10 g of mushrooms per day. This same study showed that women who ate 10 g of mushrooms while also simultaneously consuming green tea had a 89% less likely chance of developing breast cancer.
Beans and Berries - Beans and berries have ling been known to have high cancer preventive antioxidants levels. It is pretty well know as well that they promote healthy brain function.
Seeds – Raw seeds and nuts have phytochemicals and fats that help have been proven to reduce the body’s inflammation, as well as help reduce cholesterol. They also help in the body’s ability to absorb other important micronutrients. Dr. Fuhrman suggests that you should eat nuts as part of your salad or even making a salad dressing from them (in other words a bowl full of nuts as snack food is not necessarily the best way to go).
He said that studies on mushrooms, onions, berries, and green vegetables have been shown to have dramatic protection properties against cancer. He claims that this is recorded in medical publications such as The International Journal of Cancer and The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
In addition to the above mentioned properties, mushrooms and onions also contain angiogenesis inhibitors (compounds that prevent nutrients feeding into tumors and cancers). To state this in another way, these foods prevent abnormal cancer cells from being fueled, which has the effect of starving the harmful cancer cells.
All mushrooms, even the least expensive one from the grocery store, have a compound called aromatase inhibitors. These work on body hormone levels. These aromatase inhibitors lower the toxic levels of the estrogen hormone (those that promote breast cancers) and they also have been shown to lower the hormones that promote prostate cancer. As you can see from what we have discussed already, these healthy foods have multiple effects that attack and prevent cancer from many different angles.
Dr. Fuhrman discusses this high nutrient eating style and says that it has been shown to lower cholesterol even more than pharmaceutical cholesterol drugs. When we lower our cholesterol levels with superior and vital nutrition we simultaneously lower our blood pressure, lose weight, and reduce inflammation in the joints and body.
All in all, these recommendations are easy to put into place, and also are some of the best tasting foods out there. It only makes sense to incorporate more Green, Onions, Mushrooms, Berries, Beans and Seeds into our meals to achieve weight loss, health and vitality and long term well being.