Healthy Nutrition Hints and more….

Wow, that is like music to a woman’s ears!! Chocolate can actually help with pregnancy!!!

New research performed at Yale University suggests that including dark chocolate in your diet may prevent pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia.

There is a chemical in dark chocolate called ‘theobromine’, which stimulates the heart, relaxes smooth muscles and dilates blood vessels and has been used for those suffering from chest pain, high blood pressure and hardening of the arteries.

During pregnancy, blood pressure spikes causing preeclampsia, also causing protein to spill into the urine. Many of the characteristics are common to heart disease, research has shown.

A study was performed with over 2,000 women who had delivered a single infant and were asked how much dark chocolate they had consumed in their first and third trimesters. The blood levels were tested for theobromine in the infant’s umbilical cord blood.

Women who consumed large levels of dark chocolate during their pregnancy showed elevated levels of theobromine in their infant’s blood and were at lower risk of developing preeclampsia.

These results raised the possibility that dark chocolate consumption during pregnancy may reduce the development of preeclampsia.

This is another good reason to add dark chocolate to our daily diets!!

Until next time,

~Dr. Mommy

Catechins and epicatechins are found in a variety of plant sources. The largest source of catechins in the human diet are found in chocolates, wine, teas and vegetables.

Catechins also demonstrate antioxidant activities. Remember antioxidants are needed to remove the toxins from our bodies, but our bodies don’t make these so we must find products that are high in antioxidant levels to keep our bodies healthy.

Studies have shown that catechins can reduce atherosclerotic plaques, therefore are beneficial to us for cardiovascular purposes. Epicatechins can reduce the risk of 4 major health problems: stroke, heart failure, cancer and diabetes. A professor named Norman Hollenburg who teaches at Harvard Medical School, did a study of people in Panama who drank 40 cups of cocoa a week and found that the prevalence of the major 4 health problems was less than 10%. He believes that epicatechins should be considered essential to the diet and should be classed as a vitamin.

We can obtain the power of epicatechins and catechins by adding products made from unprocessed cacao to our daily diets. It is true that catechins and epicatechins can also be found in fruits and vegetables, but the body needs to capture as many different types of catechins as possible such as those found in tea and chocolate. Dark chocolate has higher concentrations of catechins due to the higher levels of cocoa.

Be sure to add unprocessed cacao to your daily diets to get the highest levels of catechins and epicatechins in your system needed to prevent the ‘Big Four’: stroke, heart failure, cancer and diabetes.

Until next time,
Dr. Mommy

Remember growing up and having your mommy ask those famous words, ‘Did you eat all your veggies?’ I certainly do, but did she really know why veggies were so important?

We have been taught to have a variety of servings of fruits and vegetables daily, but why??

Well, did you know that fruits and vegetables are very high in antioxidants?? Yes, that word again… antioxidants!

Antioxidants are not produced by our bodies but are necessary to remove toxins. Our bodies are attacked by toxins on a daily basis. From the moment we wake up we are bombarded with toxins; from the air that we breathe to the foods that we eat. These toxins age us continuously and we must ingest antioxidants to slow down this process.

Antioxidants fight the free radical produced by the toxins and keep us healthy. Antioxidants have been known to help with the aging process, and various other health concerns such as joint pain, cardiovascular disease, gum disease, skin irritations and so much more.

These wonderful little ’soldiers’ better known as antioxidants are found in fruits and vegetables and for those who do not consume enough of these wonderful foods, there are also many other products on the market today….

So, have you eaten your veggies or fruits today to help attack those terrible toxins??? If not, what are you waiting for??

Until next time,
~Dr. Mommy

I am always asked how do you control the cravings…the answer is not a simple one.

There are times that we crave certain food items and those are signs that our bodies are giving us….for example, you may crave peanuts… your body is probably needing more protein..

Being a vegetarian, it is difficult to get all the daily requirements so when my body is craving a certain food product I try to listen… now I won’t go to the extreme and eat a chocolate bar with peanuts or chocolate peanut butter icecream as tempting as that may be at the time. A slice of wheat bread with peanut butter and honey is quite delicious and will satisfy the craving and won’t make me feel guilty afterwards..

If you crave lots of sweets, you may be lacking carbohydrates in your diet. Carbohydrates turn into glucose (sugar) in our system, so eating pasta or baked potatoes may satisfy your cravings and not harm your waistline as much..

It is very important to drink lots of fluids as well, and soft drinks don’t count:)
Our body is 98% water so in order to keep it working properly we must replace all the water that we eliminate on a daily basis. Water is the best to drink, but you can also replace that with many other popular drinks on the market such as green tea, to replenish our bodies.

Remember, the more we drink the more we will eliminate so it is a cycle that must continue. Our bodies are like ‘big sponges’ that need water to function. We eliminate toxins from our bodies and the liquid will keep our bodies cleansed and our skin looking younger.

So, cravings are not bad unless you give into the temptations of ‘bad’ food choices. If you eat the appropriate foods you will likely not have as many cravings; but if you do have them, make wise decisions and ones that you will not regret in the morning.

We must take care of our bodies, they are the only ones we have. Unfortunately we can not trade them in as we can with our automobiles, so love your bodies. Exercise, drink lots of fluids and eat appropriately and your body will love you for it:)

Until next time….
~Dr. Mommy

Why does it seem that we are obsessed with living longer??

Have you ever watched the infomercials out?? They seem to all be targeted to losing weight, and looking younger!!!

Do we really need the quick fix?? Unfortunately it seems like we do…or one would think so because of all the commercials, informercials and ads out on the market…

What we should be concerned with is our health, not what we look like on the outside but what we are like on the inside…

It may be wonderful to look thin and slim and wrinkle-free but truly how healthy are we??

We need to worry about the food we eat and the amount…the types of food and the amount of exercise…

That is truly the only way to stay healthy!! Sure, we want the quick fix, but honestly how long did it take for us to get to the weight that we are?? How can we possibly lose it over night?? It is actually impossible!!!

The time is now to re-evaluate our lives and if we truly want to live longer and healthier, look at how we live…

It is impossible to live longer and healthier if we:

1. eat fast foods
2. smoke
3. drink alcohol
4. don’t exercise
5. don’t sleep enough hours (at least 7-8 hours per night)
6. don’t reduce stress in our lives
7. don’t take action today!!!

It isn’t as hard as you may think!! Make the right choices, choose fruit instead of candy, or veggies instead of potato chips…

Make the effort to plan your meals ahead of time and shop accordingly…

It’s amazing how this works and it will also save you money:)

The time is now to make the change in your life!! No one else will do it, but you!!!

I have all the confidence in the world that if you truly want to live your life healthy you can do it!!!

Until next time,
~Dr. Mommy

Don’t be fooled by the other products on the market claiming to be healthy chocolate!!

There are no others like Xocai… for instance,

Xocai contains unprocessed cacao
Xocai combines the power of unprocessed cacao with the acai berry
Xocai also adds other fruits high in antioxidants such as blueberries and concord grapes
Xocai contains - all natural ingredients, no caffeine and no refined sugars
Xocai is diabetic friendly
Xocai is great for all ages from infants to adults

Best yet, Xocai is made with a cold process and we have the world-wide exclusive patent on this process….

Even better, it is rich, dark belgian chocolate and it’s good for you!!!

Mmmmm, Healthy Chocolate!!! You can now have the decadence without the guilt!!!

Until next time,
~Dr. Mommy