LIVE LONGER WITH BETTER FOOD CHOICES

      What do pumpkin, collard greens and raspberries have in common?  The answer - they will all help you live longer.  A study published in Archives of Internal Medicine in 2011 by Chaoyang Li, MD, PhD reported that those foods were among fruits and vegetables that helped people live longer because they contained high levels of alpha-carotene.  Dr. Chaoyang Li is an epidemiologist in the division of behavioral surveillance at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, and the leader of the study of 15,318 people.

     His report concluded that the people with the highest blood levels of alpha-carotene were 39% less likely to die from all causes over 14 years.  Among the foods with the most alpha-carotene were:  carrots, snap beans, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, mangoes, collard greens, plantains, bell peppers, tomatoes, plantains, raspberries, peas, cornmeal and corn, tangerines and vegetable juice cocktail.

    Another study by Katherine Tucker, PhD, professor and chair, department of health sciences at Northeastern University Boston on 623 people was published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.  In it Dr. Tucker, the senior author of the study, reported that people who ate at least three weekly servings of tuna, salmon or mackerel had smaller amounts of bone loss over four years than those who did not.  Those particular fish are high in omega-3 fatty acids.

    If you want the best chance at having a long, full and healthy life, these studies indicate, better food choices improve that chance.  If you are having trouble making those changes, hypnotherapy can be a valuable tool to help you improve those choices.  Eat well.  Be well.