Superfoods are foods which are particularly high in certain aspects of nutrition. Some of them, like raw chocolate, acai berries or green tea are particularly high in antioxidants. Others are quite high in certain vitamins or minerals, such as goji berries being very high in vitamin C. And some superfoods, like bee pollen, are all around health tonics due to a number of reasons.

Bee Pollen is often referred to as the "perfect food" because it is said to contain all the vitamins, amino acids, trace minerals and enzymes needed to sustain the human body. It has been used as a supplement for multiple generations stretching back thousands of years. It's even mentioned in the books of many major religions including the Bible, the Koran and the Talmud.

Hi Doug,

Quick question for you: Is rooibos tea as good for you as green tea? Just wondering if the nutritional properties are similar. I've been drinking rooibos because it's caffeine-free, but I'm wondering if I'm getting all those benefits of green tea drinking.

Charelle


Hi Charelle,

Unfortunately, the answer is no - rooibos does not have all the same properties as green tea. Proper tea, which includes white, green, black and oolong teas, are all from the evergreen tree Camellia sinensis. These teas vary due to the amount of processing they undergo, including cutting and fermenting. Here is a post I wrote a while back on white tea vs. green tea.

We've been told for years that sugary soft drinks have played a significant role in the increasingly problematic obesity epidemic. Schools have even gone so far as to remove sugary drinks from their premises, and some nutrition experts suggest that simply cutting out soda pop will help you shed pounds. But according to a recent study at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, as reported by Reuters, the link between sugar-sweetened beverages and weight gain might not be as clear as previously thought.

Here are some of the study's key findings.

• The connection between sugary beverages and obesity risk is unclear, particularly in youth. Researchers studied over 2,000 ethnically diverse, male and female teens, and found no link between between weight gain over five years and drinking sugary beverages.

Have you ever found yourself purposely eating very little during the day just so you could eat whatever you want at your dinner party? Well, when it comes to "saving your calories" for one meal, just don't do it! It's certainly a great way to slow down your metabolism and a sure fire way to increase your appetite. You will likely end up eating more than you would have, if you just ate sensibly throughout the day and had a light snack before going out.

Snacking is a great way to keep your fat-burning engines revving high, your blood sugar balanced and mindless eating far out of sight. I always have a light snack before I go out to a restaurant or dinner party, so I can be sure that my taste buds don't get carried away, and I don't end up eating more calories than I mean to.

I believe it's important to treat yourself once in a while and not always feel that you need to be under strict control of your eating habits, but choosing healthy snacks is a great way to have control with ease. Snacking is a great way to get your cravings under control.

My top 5 power snacks after the jump...

Feel like your aging brain isn't as functional as it once was? Get out your green tea and fatty fish - a new study out of Spain to be published in next month's Journal of Alzheimer's Disease has found that mice fed a diet rich in polyphenols and polyunsaturated fatty acids experienced growth in parts of the brain found to be damaged in patients with Alzheimer's disease.

According to the researchers, a diet packed with polyphenols and polyunsaturated fatty acids also protects the brain cells from oxidative damage to the neurons; a type of damage associated with diseases of the central nervous system.

What are polyphenols?

Is there anything that green tea can't do? New research out of the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center has found that extracts from the traditional Eastern beverage may prevent mouth cancers from forming in people who are showing signs of contracting the disease in the future.

The researchers looked at patients with high-risk oral premalignant lesions, called oral leukoplakia that often lead to oral cancer. They assigned some of the subjects to receive green tea extract three times daily for 12 weeks, while others were assigned to a placebo group. The study, published in the journal Cancer Prevention Research, found that close to 60 percent of the participants had a clinical response to the green tea extract.

Hi there!

I was wondering if it is beneficial to take 10 supplements at once, usually after ingesting my lunch. I take: vitamin A, B, E, C, D, MSM, calcium, selenium, zinc and omega-3. I take them to counteract my bad habits -- I drink a bottle of red wine almost every night and smoke two to four cigarettes while doing so.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Patricia


Hi Patricia,

Taking that many supplements at one time is fine. None of those nutrients counteract each other, so it shouldn't be a problem. Some people are on regimens far more complicated than what you've listed here and I've never heard of any problem. I would make sure that you're using a good quality brand of supplements (I don't recommend brands myself, but you might want to do some research. There is some third-party supplement review literature online if you start poking around). Cheaper supplements often contain harmful fillers and may even use ineffective versions of the nutrients themselves.

As for whether these supplements will counteract your bad habits. that is another question. I'm not going to tell you that you should quit -- you're an adult (I'm assuming) and are perfectly capable of making your own choices. You're on the right track with antioxidant vitamins like C, E and the carotenoids probably present in your vitamin A. This will at least help to counteract oxidative damage from cigarettes and alcohol.

Natasha Turner, N.D. is a Toronto-based naturopathic doctor. She is the founder of the Clear Medicine wellness boutique and author of the bestselling book The Hormone Diet. Each week in her column for That's Fit.ca, Dr. Turner advises readers on how to remedy common health issues as well as improve their overall health.

Have you ever been caught grabbing a bit of shut-eye at your desk? What was your excuse to your boss? New sleep research may be your best answer.

A 2002 study from Harvard University considered worker burnout over four days of training and the effect of napping. As the four days of training wore on, the workers began to experience burnout. But the good news is - the study found that workers who were allowed to take a 30-minute nap on the second day of a four-day training session experienced less decline in visual tasks. A one-hour nap was actually found to return performance back to normal in the last two sessions.

That is not to say that curling up for an hour or so at the office should be sanctioned, but keeping it to less than 30 minutes might not be so far-fetched. It seems that half-hour naps should not only be recognized as acceptable by companies, but also beneficial. This is old news to many European countries where afternoon siestas are standard practice and many shops close for an hour or so each afternoon.

Afternoon drowsiness is a major problem for many corporations: it is estimated that lost productivity costs billions of dollars every year. A possible solution is to allow 20 to 30 minutes of napping per day when it is deemed necessary, creating a work environment that may actually help boost workplace productivity rather than hinder it. In today's fast-paced society and tough economy, however, most companies frown on napping in the workplace rather than encourage it.

Can't squeeze in a nap? Use these nine tips to boost your energy and productivity during the day:

Natasha Turner, N.D. is a Toronto-based naturopathic doctor. She is the founder of the Clear Medicine wellness boutique and author of the bestselling book The Hormone Diet. Each week in her column for That's Fit.ca, Dr. Turner advises readers on how to remedy common health issues as well as improve their overall health.

The quest for the perfect body is never-ending, and many of us will use whatever means necessary to achieve it. While there has been little doubt that exercise and proper diet are essential for a healthy body composition, the use of supplements for weight loss continues to be a source of great debate.

Unfortunately, many products marketed for weight loss do not have research or results to support their claims. There are, however, a few products available that may actually work to increase fat burning and boost metabolism. These supplements can be found at your local health food store or online; for many of the selections visit my online store.

1. Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA): According to a study published in the Canadian Journal of Applied Physiology, CLA was one of only a few researched supplements that was found to reduce body fat and assist in increasing lean muscle mass. These results were discovered even without a change in caloric intake. It seems CLA directs fats away from storage in fat cells while also increasing fat burning in the skeletal muscle. It has also been found to have anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory and anti-diabetic properties and is useful in reducing arterial disease. The dosage required is 1500 mg two times per day with food.

Each morning, we dish out a few links we love.

It seems like she just had her baby yesterday, but like all Hollywood moms, Sarah Michelle Prinze has already lost her pregnancy pounds.

Ever wondered why on earth people would choose to eat only raw food? Yeah, me too -- thankfully, Fitsugar explains the phenomenon.

The good news? Green tea lowers your cancer risk. The bad news? You're going to have to drink upwards of five cups of it per day.

Apparently, Facebook is keeping track of how happy we are and the verdict is in: We really do not like Mondays.

Want to keep your brain active in old age? You should take up juggling.

Dr. Richard Beliveau and Dr. Denis Gingras are the authors of Eating Well, Living Well, translated by Valentina Baslyk along with their bestselling books Foods That Fight Cancer and Cooking With Foods That Fight Cancer.

Considered for 2,000 years a healthful drink and a symbol of humanity, tea is rivalled only by wine in humanity's celebration of nature's wealth.

This excerpt from a poem by Lu Tung (790–835), a Chinese poet known as a "tea lover," celebrates the pleasure evoked by drinking endless cups of tea brewed in a Yixing teapot:

The first cup caresses my lips and my throat
The second banishes all my loneliness
The third clears my head
The fourth makes me perspire lightly, dispersing past ills through my pores
The fifth cleanses every element of my being, my skin and my bones
The sixth transports me to the land of the Immortals

As with wine, the best way to learn about tea is to try many different kinds. Wines vary greatly in taste, depending on the grape variety and soil; some people enjoy Cabernet, others Merlot, Tempranillo, or Shiraz. The same diversity is found in tea: Some are herbal, others floral, earthy, tannic, or spicy. It is not advisable to drink tea made only from tea bags, which are often the residue of tea production, but rather to broaden the range of flavours by trying as many types of loose tea as possible, available from import stores.

Natasha Turner, N.D. is a Toronto-based naturopathic doctor. She is the founder of the Clear Medicine wellness boutique and author of the bestselling book The Hormone Diet. Each week in her column for That's Fit.ca, Dr. Turner advises readers on how to remedy common health issues as well as improve their overall health.


A few weeks ago I wrote about all the wonderful things we can do to improve the appearance of our skin from the inside. This week I am going to cover the nutriceuticals in skin care that have been proven to improve the appearance of our skin from the outside. On your next trip to the health food store or natural pharmacy, you might want to look for products with these anti-aging ingredients:

Alpha lipoic acid: Lipoic acid is an antioxidant compound involved in healthy blood sugar balance and insulin action. This dual action provides highly protective, anti-aging benefits for our skin by reducing the risk of glycation – the abnormal attachment of sugar to our skin cells causing wrinkling and aging. Alpha lipoic acid is both water and fat soluble, making it protective for most tissues in the body. One study reported a 50% reduction in fine lines and wrinkles with the topical use of a high-potency lipoic acid cream.

Dr. Richard Beliveau and Dr. Denis Gingras are the authors of Eating Well, Living Well, translated by Valentina Baslyk along with their bestselling books Foods That Fight Cancer and Cooking With Foods That Fight Cancer.

For people who are resistant to change, the idea of altering their dietary habits, which is necessary to prevent the development of cardiovascular disease (and all chronic diseases), is often perceived as a restriction, a sort of punishment incompatible with quality of life. According to their thinking, "You can live to be a hundred if you give up all the things that make you want to live to be a hundred," (Woody Allen). However, nothing could be further from the truth! In practice, heart disease prevention means we can enjoy a great variety of delicious foods that will diversify our culinary experiences and bring us extraordinary gastronomic pleasure.

Fruits and vegetables – Plant products are indisputably the foods that have the greatest potential to prevent cardiovascular disease. Not only does abundant consumption of plant foods help to reduce our consumption of foods rich in sugar, saturated fats, and trans fats, but it also allows you to benefit from the many preventive properties associated with the constituents of these exceptional foods.

An impressive number of studies have shown that abundant consumption of plant foods is associated with a reduced risk of coronary disorders. This effect is particularly significant for green vegetables, cruciferous vegetables (cabbage, broccoli, etc.), and those rich in vitamin C (green vegetables in general). Specifically, each daily portion of fruits and vegetables reduces by about 4% the risk of coronary diseases, which is an excellent reason to eat these foods as often as possible.

Let this kill any doubt that green tea is good for the heart - a new study out of Japan, appearing in the Annals of Epidemiology, has found that aged individuals of both sexes who consume seven cups of green tea per day cut risk of cardiovascular death by over 75%! That is huge!

Research out of China, published in the British Journal of Nutrition has found that tea drinkers may have a younger "biological age" than non-tea drinkers. Researchers from the University of Hong Kong examined the length of telomeres, noting, "DNA sequences at the end of chromosomes that shorten as cells replicate and age." Telomeres have been likened to the plastic bits on the ends of shoelaces, only in this case they're at the ends of chromosomes.

Healthy cells are limited in the number of times they can divide (reproduce) by the "telomerase shortening mechanism" which affects the aging and lifespan of the cells.

With every cell replication, telomeres shorten destroying the cell when they are completely used up. Therefore, telomere length correlates with the biological age of the cell. And the biological age of the cell correlates to signs of aging in our own bodies.