Fiber is the Future

Like all of its citrus counterparts, grapefruit is a great source of vitamin C. One medium-sized fruit has 150% of your daily value for C, plus 3 grams of fiber in just 75 calories.

But grapefruit rears its ugly head when taken with certain medications.

It has long been known that this bulbous beauty is contraindicated with some pharmacotherapies. What’s new though, is just how many drugs don’t jive with the tastebud-teasing fruit.

A report published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found that the number of hazardous drugs that are not compatible with grapefruit jumped from 17 drugs in 2008 to 43 in 2012.

Grapefruit can be lethal when its compounds called furanocoumarins inhibit your body’s ability to metabolize and breakdown certain drugs. This leads to toxicity levels that induce a drug overdose, which in turn can have deadly consequences.

Lipitor is perhaps the most commonly known drug that requires avoidance of grapefruit…but it isn’t the only one. You can find the full list of drugs with grapefruit precautions here.

Apples top the Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) ninth annual “Dirty Dozen” list of the top 12 fruits and vegetables that show the highest levels of pesticides for 2013.

It is EWG’s recommendation, that when possible, you should avoid conventionally (non-organic) versions of the dirty dozen, instead purchasing and consuming their organic counterparts.

2013 Dirty Dozen List

• Apples
• Strawberries
• Grapes
• Celery
• Peaches
• Spinach
• Sweet bell peppers
• Nectarines (imported)
• Cucumbers
• Potatoes
• Cherry tomatoes
• Hot peppers

On the other hand, the Clean 15 show the produce with the least amount of pesticide exposure and that are fine to consume from conventionally grown sources.

2013 Clean Fifteen List

• Asparagus
• Avocados
• Cabbage
• Cantaloupe
• Sweet corn
• Eggplant
• Grapefruit
• Kiwi
• Mango
• Mushrooms
• Onions
• Papayas
• Pineapples
• Sweet peas (frozen)
• Sweet potatoes

These lists are not published without controversy.

In response to the EWG’s 2013 publication, Produce for a Better Health Foundation sent out an email stating that, “the EWG has again misrepresented information found in government issued reports…Specifically, Risk = Exposure X Toxicity, and EWG considers ‘exposure’ but not ‘toxicity.’”

In response to the EWG lists, PBH encourages you to visit the Alliance for Food and Farming website www.safefruitandveggies.com to find more accurate information on pesticide use, toxicology, and nutrition, as well as a pesticide residue calculator – and to follow their simple, but effective tip they recommend for all consumers when it comes to fruits & veg, “Just Wash It!”

Regardless of who you believe: EWG or PBH, most nutrition experts agree – the benefits of eating fruits and vegetables outweigh the harm of not doing so.

The results are in: the most obese metro area in the United States is McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX – topping the scales with 38.5% obesity among adults in 2012.

And the least obese? Boulder, CO at 12.5% obesity.

A new Gallup-Healthways Poll surveyed 2012 obesity rates in 189 metro areas. Obesity rates were higher than 15% in all but 2 of the 189 areas surveyed; meaning that, to date, no state has met the CDC’s country-wide goal of reducing obesity to 15%.

2012 Most Obese Metropolitan Areas by % Obesity

• McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX (38.5%)
• Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH (37.7%)
• Little Rock-N Little Rock-Conway, AR (34.7%)
• Mobile, AL (33.7%)
• Hagerstown-Martinsburg, MD-WV (33.4%)
• Myrtle Beach-North Myrtle Beach-Conway, SC (33.1%)
• Toledo, OH (33.0%)
• Charleston, WV 32.9%)
• Reading, PA (32.8%)
• Erie, PA (32.5%)
• Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX (32.5%)

2012 Least Obese Metropolitan Areas by % Obesity

• Boulder, CO (12.5%)
• Charlottesville, VA (14.3%)
• Bellingham, WA (15.9%)
• Fort Collins-Loveland, CO (16.5%)
• Naples-Marco Island, FL (16.6%)
• Denver-Aurora, CO (17.8%)
• San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA (18.0%)
• San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA (18.1%)
• Madison, WI (18.2%)
• Colorado Springs, CO (18.3%)

To see how fast we got so fat, check out this animated map of the CDC’s obesity slides from Atlantic Magazine.

A new study indicates that fiber may play a significant role in cutting stroke risk.

The systematic review and meta-analysis published in the journal Stroke looked at data from 8 studies involving over 327,000 individuals. Those who had the greatest intakes of fiber were the least likely to have had a stroke when compared to those with lower fiber intakes.

While the study did not differentiate between insoluble and soluble fiber intake, a combined extra 7 grams of dietary fiber per day lowered risk of hemorrhagic and ischemic stroke by 7%.

Considering that most Americans eat only about half of the roughly 30 grams of fiber per day they need, 7 grams might not sound like a lot – but it certainly can do a lot when it comes to overall cardiovascular disease risk profile.

What’s the best way to get your fiber? Fill up on naturally occurring sources of fiber: fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and nuts and seeds.

Today is Diabetes Alert Day, the American Diabetes Association’s way of telling you to “WAKE UP!” if you are at risk for diabetes.

But would a better wakeup call instead be Prediabetes Alert Day? While full blown diabetes is nothing to scoff at, prediabetes is a mega-problem in and of itself.

Prediabetes is your yellow-light flashing, caution flags waving, sirens blaring heads-up that you’re certainly moving in the direction of full blown diabetes.

As is the case with type 2 diabetes, the majority of people with prediabetes are overweight or obese. Not surprisingly, people with prediabetes are at increased risk for developing type 2 diabetes (which accounts for 90-95% of all cases of diabetes).

But what may surprise you is that prediabetes is reversible. And it’s reversible without pills, without surgery, and without insulin.

The keys to reversing prediabetes are totally low-tech: eat right and exercise to lose 5-10% of your body weight. For a 200-pound person, that equates to 10-20 pounds of weight loss.

While losing weight is certainly easier said than done, does weight loss actually work to prevent diabetes in people with prediabetes? Absolutely.

The Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP), a large study of people at high risk for diabetes, demonstrated that lifestyle intervention to lose weight and increase physical activity reduced the development of type 2 diabetes by 58% during a 3-year period. The reduction was even greater (71%) among people aged 60 years or older.

The bottom line? The best prescription for prediabetes is exercise and weight loss.

To find out if you are at risk for prediabetes or diabetes, take this Diabetes Risk Test. And if you find you are at risk – do something about it this Diabetes Alert Day!

For more information on lowering diabetes risk, visit the American Diabetes Association’s risk reduction page. For individualized help and to find a Certified Diabetes Educator (CDE) in your area, click here.