(This is the first installment of a new feature here at Snackreligious, in which I sporadically chronicle all of the things you "should" eat or drink regularly for better health.)
Have you ever noticed how many magazine, newspaper, radio and blog articles instruct you regarding the frequency with which you should eat or drink various ingredients or foods in order to guard against disease, injury, or other maladies? I've been thinking someone should keep track of this advice, as it would probably be a full time job (and rather nauseating) to ingest everything that writers and nutritionists so glibly tell us we should be eating "every day," "3 times a week," etc.
So, while the lists I'm going to compile and share with you will be in no way comprehensive [how could one person with a full-time (more or less) job comb through all the media outlets out there for a complete list of RDAs?], I hope they will serve to instruct and to entertain, and to point out that it would be humanly impossible to eat as healthily as journalists suggest we should all be doing. So don't sweat that handful of walnuts you're supposed to be eating every 36 hours to keep your headaches from turning into blindness.
Again, I am not posting these "tips" because I think we should all follow all of them. I am just fascinated by how many there are in the informational ether.
Today, let's see what's contained in the July/August issue of Health magazine. If you really care about yourself you will:
DRINK
- no alcohol per day (because the first drink increases breast cancer risk by 12 percent)
- an apple before (every?) meal (to reduce calorie intake by 15%)
- three or more servings of foods rich in vitamin C each day (to burn up to 30 percent more fat while you work out)
- foods from "all of the color groups during the day" (to cut calories easily)
- 1/2 cup blueberries per day (to block cancer-causing free radicals)
- 1,300 mg calcium per day (lower your colon cancer risk by 28 percent)
- food prepared with cooking sprays, not oils (because a high-fat diet might put you at an increased risk for the "spread" of cancer)
- 25 grams of fiber per day (to lose body fat)
- a multi-vitamin per day, with 100% RDA of "chromium, copper, folic acid, iodine, manganese, molybdenum, niacin, pantothenic acid, riboflavin, thiamin, vinamins B6 and B12, and zinc" (to "kill hunger")
- 1,500 to 2,000 I.U. vitamin D supplement per day (to guard against flu)
The list so far? Not too bad. But we've only just begun. I'll be gathering more "every day" type tips and will share them with you soon. Together, we will eat and drink all day long and live forever!
As Dr. Steve Brule would say, "For Your Health!"
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