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Benefits of Almonds for Your Heart
Just a healthy dad here, with some quick points about Almonds.
Prunus amygdalus, Amygdalus communis or Amygdalus dulcisare a type of tree native to the Middle east and South Asia. The harvested seeds of this tree are known to us as the mighty Almond. Encased in a hard shell the edible seed inside has a thin brown skin and white flesh.
And the almond is indeed mighty.
- Almonds are beneficial for those who have heart diseases and diabetes in their family
- Almonds increase your ability to regulates insulin. If you’re family has a history of these illnesses, it’s in your best interest to make almonds a regular part of your diet.
- Almonds also help with the decrease of low-density lipoprotein (LDL), a bad type of cholesterol.
Give them a try.
Eat Beans, Live Long
Recent research suggests that how many beans you eat is a strong predictor of how long you’ll live. Unfortunately, 96% of Americans fail to get even the paltry daily recommended intake of half a cup! Considering there are 13,000 varieties of legumes—from chickpeas to split peas to lentils—this bean dearth is hard to excuse.
Beans Reduce Your Risk of Death
Researchers from different institutions across the globe examined food intake in Japan, Sweden, Greece, and Australia. Only one food stood out as a contender for lowering risk of death—beans! And the type of bean didn’t seem to matter at all. In Japan soy is popular, in Sweden brown beans and peas are preferred, and in the Mediterranean, lentils, chickpeas, and white beans top the charts. All of these beans were linked to increased longevity.
Load Up on Legumes
Legumes are low in calories, high in protein, and full of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. They’ve got fiber, folate, vitamin B1, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and copper, to name a few. All this goodness translates to bowel regularity, balanced blood sugar levels, low cholesterol, and optimal heart health! Not to mention, legumes fill you up fast… with fewer calories. They are the perfect weight loss and weight maintenance food.
Canned vs. Dried
A recent study published in Food and Nutritional Sciences indicates that canned beans are on par with dried beans when it comes to nutritional value. Plus, they’re much more convenient, as dried beans can take hours to cook up!
It’s worth noting that canned beans are a tad more expensive (20 cents more) and can have up to 100 times the sodium of dried beans. That’s because rinsing and draining dried beans removes some of the excess sodium…but this same process can also remove some vitamins and minerals, too. If you’re a fan of canned legumes, then opt for the “no-salt” varieties to ensure you’re not going overboard on the sodium.
As for flatulence, don’t let a little gas deter you from the nutritional wellspring of legumes! Research shows that although flatulence kicks into gear when you start adding legumes to your diet, your digestive system eventually gets used to it and the flatulence subsides. In other words, stick it out—the gas will evaporate in due time!
Prevent Cancer doing Cardio
Adding cardio to your life offers so much more than a trimmer waistline and a healthier heart. According to recent results from German scientists, cardio is a very important step you can take to prevent cancer, diabetes and many other diseases.
Top 4 Cancer-Fighting Tips
- Keep your body mass index below 30
- Get 30 minutes of cardio exercise daily
- Eat a diet high in produce, grains and water
- Do not smoke
The German study reevaluated almost 25,000 subjects after eight years and found that those who made these four tips part of their daily life decreased their risk of disease by 78% overall and reduced their risk of cancer by 36%!
How Cardio Can Help Prevent Cancer and Other Diseases
The International Liver Congress presented research that discovered cardio drastically reduced your risk of liver cancer. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common 
cancers, claiming almost 700,000 lives per year. Patients at high-risk of developing HCC may be able to learn how to prevent cancer by adding regular exercise to their lifestyle.
Mice were given a high-fat diet and divided into separate groups. Some were made to exercise 5 days a week for one hour and the others were sedentary. 100% of the sedentary mice developed tumors while 71% of the exercising mice developed tumors. The tumors in the sedentary mice were also larger.
Duke University Medical Center discovered that women who have more cardio fitness when they are diagnosed with advanced breast cancer have a higher rate of survival compared to women with lower levels of fitness. Median survival for healthy women was more than double that of the less fit women in the study.
“Fitness level may be an important biomarker of survival among cancer patients but the beautiful thing about fitness is that we can improve it with exercise training,” explained Lee Jones, PhD. The 
university plans to continue testing to more specifically discover the link between cardio-pulmonary fitness and cancer survival rates.
Cancer and the Obesity Epidemic
Simple changes to your exercise regimen are proven to prevent disease, but the majority of Americans are not following the top four cancer-fighting tips. Obesity is defined by the World Health Organization as having a body mass index (BMI) higher than 30.
Obesity in the United States is the highest in the world – as are the health problems that accompany it.
Obesity increases your risk of developing cancer, heart disease, diabetes and many other diseases and is considered a world-wide epidemic.
New York University professor of nutrition, Marion Nestle, PhD, explained, “We live in an environment that promotes overeating and sedentary behavior. People cannot make healthy choices in an unhealthy environment. The environment needs to improve in order to make it easier to do what we all know we need to do.”
Our bodies become addicted to the salt, fat and sugar added to the majority of our foods – and the food industry counts on those addictions for their bottom line.
It’s up to all of us to take control of our health.
Cardio improves your mood, boosts energy, helps you sleep better and increases libido – all while helping to prevent cancer and other serious diseases.
So take time for yourself, get moving, and learn how to prevent cancer before it starts.
HealthyDad 