UPDATES ON CARROTS AND OTHER VEGETABLES

   A newly discovered phytonutrient called falcarinol has been found to fend off age-related macular degeneration.  Other nutrients in carrots include vitamin K, folate, potassium, B6 and dietary fiber.  That Orion farm-grown carrot displaying Mother’s solid gold wedding band surfaced more than 75 years ago and continues to confirm its message of high nutritional value for long life, good health and better eyesight.

     You’ve likely noticed word “fiber” in the paragraph above and carrots supply this nutrient in a good balance.  Whether you want to live longer, reduce your chances of developing diabetes, whittle your waistline or lower your cholesterol, eating enough dietary fiber can help you do it.  Despite an ever-growing body of research supporting fiber’s numerous benefits, most of us do not get the message.  Health Canada recommends 30 grams per day according to the latest Canadian Community Health Survey.  Men aged 51 to 70 averaged only 19 grams and women were getting only 16.5 grams of fiber, reports Len Piche, a registered dietician and professor at the University Western Ontario University College in London, Ontario.  That averages a shortfall of 4.5 grams.

    With no bad side effects carrots can lower harmful LDL cholesterol as effectively as some medications.  It also limits the growth of colon cancer cells.  Honey mustard sauce gives a little zing to any green drink your blender may whip out.  Carrots grow in many countries, varieties and colours including red.  They can also decimate cardio vascular disease (CVD).  My brother-in-law was diagnosed with breast cancer and after two surgeries and one chemo series, he began to make a smoothie each evening for himself and his wife.  They continue to do well, travel and enjoy their grandchildren and great grandchildren. 

   

       Prebiotics, is a new type of fiber that provides a bacterial banquet for beneficial microorganisms that live in the gut.  “It’s soluble, but we can’t digest it ourselves because human enzymes can’t break it down,” Piche explains, “because it feeds the bacteria in the large intestine.”  High in fiber it’s best to use a variety of foods so add half an avocado to the mix.  The carrot’s green tops are slightly bitter and not often put in smoothies but add some of the tops after pouring the main blend in serving glasses, then add a little juice blend to it again and try it out.  You may like it.      

  

  

           

SUMMING UP ON THE RING THAT BINDS US

     Our sister Helen chose to live in an outback area of Ivory Coast where families could not afford dental care or first aid for health challenges, or bus fare to the nearest town.  When small children in the villages saw Helen riding her bicycle on the narrow path that led to their town they ran home shouting, “Here comes the tooth lady,” as half a dozen adults began lining up for extractions.  Helen is over 90 years old now living in a care home in Kamloops near our younger sister Esther and husband Lloyd who visit her three times a week.  After spending 52 years in the Ivory Coast, she stayed in their home for 9 years recovering from a broken hip in Africa.  Lloyd prints out e-mails for her and at the next visit the reverse side is used. 

   Back at Orion I learned of a couple who needed someone to care for their small daughter when they were away.  She was a pleasant three-year-old and I was able to work for my board and room and stay with them to attend high school.  Our father often expressed gratitude for Canada’s warm welcome to immigrants.  It was Mother’s large garden and sewing machine skills that helped clothe our family.  Even through the many years when crops hailed or dried out they never asked Canada’s welfare system for help. He said that would have been a disgrace for the family.  Aunt Lena sent pre-owned clothes for Mother who created the patterns for our clothes.  My husband later told me about a class mate whose parents received welfare and when welfare found out there was a radio in their home it was confiscated.  Root crops like potatoes and carrots provided underground foods for winter.

    As their children left home to move into their life’s work our mother said her arms felt so empty and suggested they would have another baby saying “Perhaps this soul will then be that of Harold, their seventh child who died of scarlet fever in the mid l930s and thus Harold be returned to Earth in this way.  We pursed our lips in silence.  In December of 1939 their son John was born and later knew he had been a replacement. After his retirement from teaching high school, John and his wife Jean searched for some unused land in Kenya to start group farms where families work together to prevent  famines.  This challenge is working out well and with gold soaring in price, Mother may have used her wedding ring to help start The International Fellowship.  John and Jean lived in Kenya during retirement with specifics handled by the board at home base .  When Mother passed in 1989 she may have already donated her gold wedding ring for this wonderful cause started by her “replacement son.”  Other family members may have specifics for us.

  

   

   

            

MORE ON THE RING THAT BINDS US

   Seven years later the fall season showed a good wheat harvest and we began gathering the root crops of carrots and potatoes to roll through a basement window for winter’s storage in our new home.  Until then we had lived in two large rooms since banks refused to loan money to people in dry areas known for hailstorms.  Our three brothers had been helping build dikes with gates to aid in the upcoming spring runoff from the Cyprus Hills that would irrigate the land.  Rain had left the soil moist and the digging was easy.  Our brothers were nearing six feet in height and sharing the farm work building the wooden gates to control the spring flood that would be rushing from the Cyprus Hills in the spring.  As soon as these waters reached near the top of the dikes in one field the wooden gates were opened and the water rushed on to flood the next field until it reached Pakowki Lake.  Swans, geese and ducks could then be seen landing on its surface to feed on its bounties, and start coupling up to build nests among the grasses.

    One fall day we were digging up the root crops when one of us held up a carrot that glinted in the setting sun. Was this a new kind of vegetable?  With her daughters Mother viewed her long lost wedding ring.  A tiny carrot seed had brought it back to her with the help of that summer’s generous sun and rain.  The carrot showed a large top, and a solid gold waist with about a 9 inch long root, possibly the most valuable carrot ever produced.

    Our parents had another daughter, Esther, in 1927and a son, Harold, in 1931.  In Europe distant drums were sounding as their nations bickered amongst each other.  A man from Austria with evil intent declared war on England.  In l939 members of the royal family were sent to Canada to plead for assistance.  Our mother had worked from dawn to dusk for nearly two decades to have a modern home.  Now her wish was to help her daughters get an education that would qualify them for a less stressful life than hers had been.  We had to go to Medicine Hat for a high school education.  The Keyes family from a church there agreed to give Helen board and room for $30.00 a month.  It was so reasonable our parents brought extras like eggs, butter and other farm produce.  Mrs. Keyes deducted that from the original $30.00.  Helen completed high school there, then graduated from Prairie Bible Institute in Three Hills, Alberta, took a course in dentistry in Toronto and sailed to Ivory Coast to help the people hear about the Christian life that promised an afterlife after accepting and then living out the Golden Rule of kindness and love that Jesus demonstrated while living on Earth.       

        

THE RING THAT BINDS US

  The wedding ring has been an important symbol in many cultures throughout time and change.  My mother and father were married in 1915.  Her wedding ring was a wide solid gold band, the kind in use at that time.  A dozen years later three sons and two daughters had joined them and three more children would complete their family in which one of their sons would serve overseas for 5 years in World War II.  Back at the farm, droughts and storms had brought difficult years for southern Alberta and some immigrants abandoned their homesteads and sought jobs elsewhere.  Mother sewed most of our clothing, usually made from hundred pound flour sacks.  The well in our yard usually dried up by mid June and water from our house eaves was not enough for our growing family.  The infrequent rains and hot summer sun made it necessary to carry buckets of water to the garden.  When the water barrels were empty my oldest brother loaded them in our horse drawn wagon and hauled water from other wells situated near Manyberries Creek, a mile from our home.  Water in these wells usually lasted all summer.

 At this point you may be wondering why our parents didn’t pawn our mother’s gold wedding ring for more urgent needs, for example, seeds for our garden that supplied most of our groceries.  Mother raised chickens and traded extra eggs and butter at the closest store – a 10 mile wagon trip to Orion, when we picked up our mail once a week.  When we heard the distant train whistle blow it was time to hitch up the two horses to the wagon since that told the train was close to Orion.  If there were no other supplies to unload at the stores, the train didn’t bother stopping and tossed the package of mail to the platform near the two grain elevators.

   You may wonder where Mother’s wedding ring was at this time.  Her mind and hands were so busy with her multiplicity duties, carrying water in for the laundry and seldom wore her ring.  I asked her if my sister and I could take turns wearing it sometimes.  She lifted it from her sewing machine drawer and told us to be sure to put it back.  She took us to the garden where she assigned the rows to each of us to begin weeding..  She told us that every time we found a wireworm in our row we had to pull it apart.  I felt so upset watching it struggle and would make “deals” with my braver sister.  “I’ll wash the dishes that have kettles to clean because they are the hardest to do.”  She took pity on me and the deal was done. You’ve likely guessed what happened.  The ring must have slipped from my small finger and was not seen again for many years. More on the ring tomorrow. 

HOME TESTING KITS

   All patients have the right to be intimately involved in their health care.  An increasing number of people are saying yes and are using one of the many do-it-yourself screening kits to test their blood or urine for many ailments daily, some on their doctor’s advice – monitoring blood glucose or blood pressure.

    TESTS THAT MONITOR DISEASE

Blood Glucose – Worth doing?  Yes, for people with type 1 diabetes, but for type 2 diabetes, the benefit is less clear so check with your doctor.  Monitoring glucose is essential for managing type 1diabetes and is nearly always encouraged by doctors who treat that condition.  They can adjust their diet and exercise routine and tailor insulin doses to keep their levels in the proper range.  That in turn reduces the risk of problems that stem from poorly controlled blood sugar, including seizures, blindness, kidney disease, and nerve damage.

    PROTHROMBIN

This is worth doing for certain people who take blood thinning drugs such as warfarin (Coumadin and generic).  Warfarin and other blood thinners can be lifesaving for people with atrial fibrillation or disorders that can cause blood clots in the brain, heart, legs or lungs.  But the medication can also cause dangerous or uncontrolled bleeding that can even be fatal in some cases.  Self monitoring can greatly reduce that risk.  A review of 14 trials published in the journal Lancet, for example, found that people who monitored and adjusted their warfarin dosages accordingly improved control of their blood clotting and had fewer blood clotting and fewer bleeding episodes compared to people who didn’t adjust their own doses.

   BLOOD PRESSURE

This is worth doing for people with elevated or borderline elevated blood pressure, especially for treating hypertension.  Research shows that an average of several readings over the course of a week provides a more reliable measurement than a sporadic reading. 

    Other cardiovascular tests for Cholesterol, C-reactive is not worth doing.  Experts say you should skip them since levels don’t change much from day to day.  It can be more accurate doing this testing at a doctor’s office where blood pressure can be elevated by patient anxiety known as “white coat hypertension.”  You could also go to a walk-in clinic.

QUICK TIPS

   WALKING IN PLACE:  During the commercial breaks in many programs on TV, a study found that those who followed this certain advice over the course of an hour of TV watching, walked an average of 25 minutes, burned 148 calories and roughly took 2,100 steps, which equaled to about a mile.

   BENEFITS OF EATING FISH:  You likely already know fish is good for your heart, brain, and waistline. Now a large study suggests that eating fish high in omego-3 fatty acids might help protect the colon, at least in women.  Those who said they ate an average of three servings of fish a week had a lower risk of polyps (abnormal growths in the colon) than women who ate less than one serving a week.  The finding didn’t apply to men.

   FOLLOWING NEWS:  A recent study of 959 Italian adults suggests that it might help in dieting.  Those who reported keeping up with the news via newspapers, magazines, TV, or online were more likely to eat a healthy Mediterranean-style diet than people with less media exposure.  The authors offered a possible explanation:  Italian media are focused on nutrition, exercise, and weight.  Italians might be getting a dose of healthy diet advice.

   USE COLOUR AT MEALS:  Eating food on plates of contrasting colour might help you cut portions according to a study of 60 adults at a college reunion.  Half ate the pasta with tomato sauce: the other half ate pasta with white cream sauce.  Participants put more pasta with tomato sauce on red plates than those who did on white plates, while people in the white sauce group put more on white plates than on red ones.

   FOR BLOOD PRESSURE BOTH ARMS MATTER:  A difference of 15 millimeters of mercury or more in the systolic (top) number between your left and right arms might indicate an increased risk of a stroke or death from heart disease, according to a recent review of 28 studies in the Lancet.  An even a 10 mmHg is linked to a higher risk of hardened leg arteries.

   ANTIDEPRESSANTS ARE LINKED TO FALLS:  Taking even a low dose of a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) such as sertraline (Zoloft and generic), was linked to a higher rate of falls in a study of 248 nursing home residents with dementia in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.  Those taking an average dose had triple the risk of falls       

Compared with residents who didn’t take the drugs.

HOW TO AVOID GM FOODS

   There is new interest in gardening this spring.  Homeowners especially are working hard at it.  Gardeners have their own personal knowledge regarding the kind of soil and seed that is going into their food products.  There will no doubt be an increasing availability providing guarantees from Farmers Market participants, who are willing to expand on selling organic vegetables and fruits varieties that include their guarantees.  Genetically modified food is one that has had lab-replicated genes from other plants, animals and even viruses added to it in order to give it new characteristics – like resistance to insects or to extreme heat that provides an advantage in terms of hardy growth.  Today, 91% of soy products in the United States are genetically modified, as is 85% of corn products, and 88% of cottonseed, all grown on large industrial farms and other ingredients used in corn syrup, soy lecithin, cottonseed oil or sweeteners in soups, spreads and sauces – even infant formulas.   

  

   A prudent first step is in progress providing obligatory labeling that will indicate the presence of GMOs (genetically modified by food manufacturers.) Last fall a coalition that now includes more than 80 groups including Physicians for Social responsibility – launched the “Just Label It” campaign, asking the federal government to require labels on GM foods.  They are all over the supermarket but so far you’d never know it from the labels.  Hawaiian papaya, certain varieties of summer squash and as recently as last December – drought resistant corn-on-the cob have also joined the list of crops that the food & Drug Administration has reviewed for genetically modification in the United States.  Pushing the envelope even further the agency is considering green lighting genetically altered salmon which would be bred with DNA that makes it grow to full size twice as fast as wild salmon. Many scientists feel there has not been enough proof before consumers can buy them.  “No one has been willing to fund this proof and needs more peer-reviewed research,” says Marion Nestle PhD, a professor of Nutrition at New York University and author of “Safe Food.”  Michael R Taylor, as deputy commissioner for all food as the commissioner of food and nutrition programs, was once vice-president for their public policy, a bio-tech company that produces 90% of genetically modified seeds in the world.  Monsanto’s position is that “there is no need for or value in testing the safety of GM foods in humans.”  The burden of proof should fall on both the government and the companies that are producing these crops.  For safety, buyers can choose to shop with GM-free retailers.