Here are some interesting facts that I wanted to share with you. It’s funny how we eat foods just because we know they are good for us even though we sometimes don’t feel too good after eating them. We don’t all have the same ability to absorb food and people respond differently depending on their sensitivities and levels of health.
Let’s take a look at coffee first. Did you know that there is a specific enzyme in your liver which helps with the breakdown of caffeine? No? Me neither, but I do now and it explains why for some people, drinking a few cups of java a day can be beneficial, while for others it will have a negative affect. Why? Well, we all have a gene in our liver that makes a specific enzyme which helps with the breakdown of caffeine. However, for some of us, this enzyme breaks down caffeine efficiently and quickly but for others it is slow. This means that for those who have the quick enzyme, caffeine is eliminated quickly from the body leaving behind the antioxidants which help protect us against free radicals. Drinking upto 3 cups of coffee a day is therefore beneficial for these people, However, for those who have the slow enzyme, the caffeine can linger in the system for longer and will have adverse affects as a result. The problem here is to determine which enzyme you have! I think one way of finding out beside having a blood test or other investigation, is to see how you feel after drinking a couple of cups. If you experience digestive problems or restless nights or any negative effects, then maybe you need to stay away from caffeine all together or at least limit your consumption to a cup in the early part of the day.
And what about our favourite vegetable, broccoli? I think my children are going to grow up loathing this pretty little “tree” as I serve it with practically every meal, cooked or raw. It is a Superfood with outstanding health benefits. Broccoli has compounds which can switch on a specific gene in the liver that de-toxifies cancer causing chemicals and other toxins. Without the addition of broccoli in our diets, this gene remains in-active and the body searches elsewhere for de-toxifiers. Great! Eat up your broccoli! It is also one of those vegetables that do not absorb pesticides and so you can get away with buying the non-organic variety. However….if you suffer with thyroid problems, it may be wise to abstain from eating raw broccoli and limiting the amount of cooked broccoli that you eat to about 1 cup a week. Broccoli contains a substance called a goitrogin which prevents the thyroid gland from working correctly by blocking out iodine. Iodine is essential for the production and activation of thyroid hormones and is one of the main minerals that helps speed up cellular metabolism. Cooking the vegetable will reduce its goitrogen by about a third but it doesn’t totally eliminate it. So if you suffer with any thyroid problems, be aware that vegetables containing this substance will have an adverse effect on your body. It may also be the reason why you fail to lose weight despite following a balanced and sensible weight loss plan.
Another Superfood which I try and eat all year round is the Tomato, although. quite honestly, eating raw tomatoes during the cold months does not appeal so much. I have discovered though, that this is one vegetable (or is it a fruit?) whose nutritional makeup improves with cooking. Cooked tomatoes contain compounds that switch off the growth promoting genes in the prostate gland. This is great news for all you guys out there as adding this to your daily diet will hugely reduce your risk of developing prostate cancer. Cooked tomatoes also contain high dosages of Lycopene, a substance which protects our skin from sun damage allowing us to absorb some essential vitamin D without burning our skin in the process. I am not saying that you can get away with not using sunscreen here, if you spend a lot of time out in the sun, you will need to protect your skin. However, it is nice to know that you can also protect from the inside too. Now, if you suffer from an inflammatory disease such as athritis, you will want to watch your intake of this food. Tomatoes come from the nightshade family of plants, along with potatoes and aubergines. Consuming these foods can worsen the pain caused by inflammation and so if you do suffer from athritis or any other inflammatory disease, take not and see if eliminating these from your diet makes a difference.
Some food for thought there. I hope you find this forum post of interest, I certainly enjoy researching up on these topics and sharing it with you. Stay tuned!
In Health,
Tamara
