3 Simple Things: Broccoli, Flax, Peaches

Simple things can dramatically change overall health. But, the list of things that we should do is overwhelming. Lets just start with a few things that can change your health dramatically. By adding more plants into your diet, and eating less meat, you will also be making a significant impact on our earth. 75% of our resources are used for livestock farming, both for growing livestock food and for grazing land. If everyone ate less meat each week, we could take the pressure off of our precious resources.

1.Broccoli-

Cruciferous vegetables are one of the easiest things to add to your diet that will make the biggest impact. Sulforaphanes in broccoli provide powerful health benefits. They literally suck out and destroy breast cancer cells...and broccoli sprouts provide 100x more to increase the impact! According to 2019 Food Summit, 52,000 African-American women ate cruciferous for 12 years, and reduced breast cancer rates by 41%. That is mind blowing to me!

Broccoli-eating smokers suffered 41% fewer DNA mutations in their bloodstream over just 10 days. Broccoli also rallies your immune system, in ways other foods do not. And when I started HRT, I was told to eat more cruciferous veggies because that would keep my estrogen pathways from feeding unhealthy cells. Cruciferous veggies keeping my estrogen pathways healthy? That is incredible! (Eat them raw or lightly steamed for an even bigger impact)!

...Amazing.

The latest report from the Women’s Healthy Eating and Living Study found that eating fruits and vegetables are good for reducing cancer recurrence or death, but cruciferous vegetables may be better. For women on tamoxifen, for example, if one of their five daily servings of fruits and veggies was broccoli or cauliflower, collards, cabbage, or kale, the risk of cancer recurrence may be cut in half.

Not only that, many studies have shown that broccoli reduces inflammation connected to heart disease, lowers high blood pressure, and reduces blood sugar levels in diabetics. Why wouldn't you add broccoli to your diet?

2.Flax

Flax has almost too many health benefits to list. Flax seeds, known as one of the richest sources of essential omega-3 fatty acids and having one hundred times more cancer-fighting lignans than other foods, have also been demonstrated to prove helpful against breast and prostate cancers, helpful in controlling cholesterol, triglyceride, and blood sugar levels, as well as helpful in reducing inflammation.

In a study referred to in How Not To Die, by Dr. Michael Greger (my personal chronic disease prevention bible), researchers designed a prospective, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized trial so they could randomize subjects into two groups and secretly introduce tablespoons of ground flax seeds every day into the diets of half the participants. After six months, those who ate the placebo foods started out hypertensive and stayed hypertensive, despite the fact that many of them were on a variety of blood pressure pills. What about the hypertensives who were unknowingly eating flax seeds every day? Their blood pressure dropped from 158/82 down to 143/75. A seven-point drop in diastolic blood pressure may not sound like a lot, but that would be expected to result in 46 percent fewer strokes and 29 percent less heart disease over time.

3. Peaches

Cisneros-Zevallos, an AgriLife Research food scientist, compared normal cells to two types of breast cancer, including the most aggressive type. The cells were treated with an extract from two commercial varieties of peaches and plums.

"These extracts killed the cancer cells but not the normal cells," Cisneros-Zevallos said.

A closer look at the extracts determined that two specific phenolic acid components were responsible for killing the cancer cells while not affecting the normal cells, Cisneros-Zevallos said

A Washington State University food scientist and colleagues at Texas A&M also have found that compounds in peaches can inhibit the growth of breast cancer cells and their ability to spread.

Writing in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, the researchers said the compounds could be a novel addition to therapies that reduce the risk of metastasis, the primary killer in breast and many other cancers. The compounds could be given as an extract or, judging from the doses given mice in the study, from two to three peaches a day. I think studies like this are incredible. This is a simple thing that we can do to improve our health while enjoying the beautiful fruits of summer.

These 3 Simple Things are easy, natural plant-based foods that can make a difference in your health, and are so easy to add to your diet. Come on! What the heck, it can't hurt!