Natural Healing Foods has finally been released, and the response has been most gratifying! As you may recall from earlier posts, I’ve compiled an extensive list of the foods, vitamins, and herbs that can help treat or prevent over eighty health problems—a research project that actually began over 25 years ago when I started looking for alternative ways to heal a painful carpal tunnel injury and a torn rotator cuff. An herbalist in Oregon introduced me to yucca, which took care of both problems in a matter of weeks without expensive surgery and the nasty side effects of prescription drugs. Then a friend needed a natural way to heal tennis elbow, my mother was facing surgery for gallstones, and my husband was concerned about his elevated cholesterol levels.
All of those needs led to more research, one cure led to another, and the result is Natural Healing Foods. This is a very user-friendly reference to nature’s pharmacy. You can find what you’re looking for very easily without wading through pages and pages of useless information. Check it out at amazon.com or Barnes and Noble. By the way, each of those health problems was resolved with natural healing.
Since the book has been released I’ve had a lot of readers ask for even more details on which foods will help with certain diseases, and, conversely, what will certain foods do to help with specific diseases—such as cancer, heart disease, or diabetes. So starting today I’m posting expanded excepts from the book, citing the studies used and adding a little more information on what each food can do for you.
Let’s start with almonds. In my book I’ve listed 38 different health problems this amazing little nut can have a positive effect on. A University of Toronto study done by Dr. David Jenkins, M.D, PhD, D.Sc. shows that individuals who eat just a handful of almonds daily lowered bad cholesterol levels by 4.4%. Pretty good, huh? It gets better: eat two handfuls a day, and LDL levels go down by 9.4 %. But almonds don’t just affect cholesterol; because almonds are low in saturated fat and contain protective nutrients such as calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, vitamin E, Omega-3 & 6 and many phytochemical compounds, researchers believe almonds can help protect you from cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, osteoporosis, PMS, stroke and ulcers—just to name a few.
Here are a few more facts about this amazing little nut:
- Almonds can help reduce your risk of a heart attack. A study from the Loma Linda School of Public Health showed that eating almonds five times a week reduces your risk of by 50%.
- Almonds contain resveratrol, the anti-inflammatory agent in red wines that many scientists believe is a factor in the lower rate of heart disease among the French, in spite of all the rich, buttery pastries and other fattening foods in their diets. The fat in almonds is unsaturated, which is the "good" fat containing no cholesterol.
- Almonds are incredibly nutritious: One ounce (about 23 whole nuts) contains 161 calories, 14 grams of “good” fat, 3 grams of fiber and 16 grams of carbs—not to mention 12% of your daily allowance of protein.
It’s no wonder a snack-bowl of almonds doesn’t last long around our house!
