Heart-Healthy Benefits of Grapes

Do you know that the grape juice have the same heart healthy benefits as red win. There is evidence that drinking red wine may reduce your risk of heart disease. This benefit is most likely due to a substance called resveratrol found in the skin and seeds of grapes — especially dark red and purple grapes.  Resveratrol is also found in grape juice — especially juice made from the dark purple Concord grapes.

Recent studies have suggested that red and purple grape juices may provide the same heart-healthy benefits of red wine, including:

• Reducing the risk of blood clots
• Reducing low-density lipoprotein (LDL, or "bad") cholesterol
• Preventing damage to blood vessels in your heart
• Helping maintain a healthy blood pressure

Both red wine and grape juice also contain antioxidants called flavonoids, which have been shown to increase your high-density lipoprotein (HDL, or "good") cholesterol and lower your risk of clogged arteries (atherosclerosis), and may help lower blood pressure.

These findings on grape juice are good news for people who want the cardiovascular benefits of red wine without the alcohol.

Benefit of Grapes: Lower Blood Pressure, Reduced Heart Damage

Can a grape-enriched diet prevent the downhill sequence of heart failure after years of high blood pressure?

A University of Michigan Cardiovascular Center study suggests grapes may prevent heart health risks beyond the simple blood pressure-lowering impact that can come from a diet rich in fruits and vegetables. The benefits may be the result of the phytochemicals – naturally occurring antioxidants – turning on a protective process in the genes that reduces damage to the heart muscle.

The study, performed in laboratory rats, was presented at the 2009 Experimental Biology convention in New Orleans. Although the current study was supported in part by the California Table Grape Commission, which also supplied the grape powder, the authors note that the commission played no role in the study's design, conduct, analysis or the preparation of the journal article for publication. E. Mitchell Seymour, M.S., also received funding from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, through a National Research Service Award.

Heart cells, like other cells in the body, make an antioxidant protein called glutathione, which is one of our first defenders against damaging oxidative stress. High blood pressure causes oxidative stress in the heart and lowers the amount of protective glutathione. However, intake of grapes actually turned on glutathione-regulating genes in the heart and significantly elevated glutathione levels.

The researchers studied the effect of regular table grapes (a blend of green, red, and black grapes) that were mixed into the rat diet in a powdered form, as part of either a high- or low-salt diet. Comparisons were made between rats consuming the grape powder and rats that received a mild dose of a common blood pressure drug, hydrazine. The rats in the study were from a strain called Dahl rats, which were from a research breed that develops high blood pressure when fed a salty diet. The animals are similar to Americans who have elevated blood pressure related to diet, and who develop heart failure over time because of prolonged hypertension.

Each group of 12 rats was fed the same weight of food each day with powdered grapes making up 3 percent of the diet (by weight) for rats that received grapes as part of either a low-salt or high-salt diet. The rats that received hydrazine were fed it through their water supply in a dose that has been previously shown to be effective in reducing blood pressure.

After 18 weeks, the rats that received the grape-enriched diet powder had lower blood pressure, better heart function, and fewer signs of heart muscle damage. Rats that received the blood pressure medicine, hydrazine, and ate the same salty diet but didn't receive grapes had lower blood pressure, but their hearts were not protected from damage as they were in the grape-fed group.

This may explain why the hearts of grape-fed animals functioned better and had less damage.

Such naturally occurring chemicals have already been shown in other research, including previous U-M studies, Steven Bolling, M.D said the latest results take research on the health benefits of grapes "a step further" by examining the mechanisms impacted by antioxidant-rich grapes.

"There are the small changes that diet can bring, but the effect of grape intake on genes can have a greater impact on disease down the road," said E. Mitchell Seymour, M.S., who led the research as part of his doctoral work in nutrition science at Michigan State University to reduce other potentially harmful molecular and cellular activity in the body.

In all, the researchers say, the study further demonstrates that a grape-enriched diet can have broad effects on the development of hypertension and the risk factors that go with it. Whether the effect can be replicated in humans, they say, remains to be seen.

Stop Eating Fast Food

"How you could you eat that crap? It's so bad for you!".

"Don't you know those fries will give you a heart attack?".

"You have to stop eating all that junk food, it's going to make you fat!"

"If you keep eating fast food, then all your workouts will be for nothing!".

Your friends nag you, your family nags you, your doctor nags you, the health newsletters, websites and magazines -they all nag you, and of course, your personal trainer nags the heck out of you, to stop eating all those BAD FAST FOODS.

But does all that nagging you and bad-mouthing the fast food industry really help?

Doesn't look that way. The fast food industry is thriving,even in the bad economy. The Chicago Tribune recently said that McDonalds is "recession proof."

As one of only two companies to turn a major profit over the last year (the other being Wal Mart), McDonald's is laughing its way to the bank. In fact, McDonalds plans to open 1,000 new stores this year.

I was driving down Route 95 a few weeks ago and pulled over to use the rest room at Mcdonalds on a Saturday morning (there's a McDonalds conveniently located immediately off almost every exit up and down the full length of Interstate 95.

The parking lot was full, it was standing-room only inside and the lines snaked around into the seating area! You'd think Brad and Angelina were there signing autographs or something. Nope, just a regular weekend
at breakfast-time.

I was shopping in Wal Mart the same week and I almost passed out when I saw (smelled, actually) a Mcdonalds...INSIDE THE WAL MART! Also, with lines.

Yep. It looks like your friends and family's nagging you, and all the messages of the health and fitness industry to get people eating less fast food are not working!

So what does work?

The results of a new survey from the behavior and psychology section of the journal, OBESITY (Feb 2009) provide some answers:

Researchers at the University of Minnesota School of Public health surveyed 530 adults about their attitudes towards fast foods.

They found that people already know fast food is unhealthy.(no kidding!)

The primary reasons they eat it anyway are because of the perceived convenience and a dislike for cooking! (I'd add another: they think fast food is always cheaper than healthy food).

So, said the authors of this research paper, scolding people and warning them that "fast food is going to make us fat and kill us" is the wrong approach.

The right approach?

Focus on teaching people how to make healthy eating fast, convenient and easy, because those are the reasons people are choosing fast food in the first place.

So what's holding us back from implementing or taking this advice?

Well, I think that most people can't get over the ideas that they "just cant cook" or that cooking is "too time consuming" or that healthy food "tastes like dirt" (as if Mcdonalds is gourmet food!)

That said, I'm not going to nag you, scold you or try to scare you out of eating fast food. Nor am I going to bad-mouth the fast food restaurants.

I'm going to lead the new charge by showing you just how easy and convenient it is to eat healthy and nutritious food and make it delicous.

Here's a few meal ideas (for starters) to prove my point.


3-MINUTE APPLE CINNAMON OATMEAL

* natural oatmeal (like Quaker old fashioned rolled oats)
* natural (unsweetened) applesauce
* cinnamon
* for protein, serve with scrambled eggs or egg whites on side
or stir 1-2 scoops of vanilla protein powder into the oats

I eat this almost every morning. It's faster, easier and cheaper than going to the donut place or getting sausage, cheese, bacon breakfast muffins at the fast food joint! (you don't have to wait in line, either!)


10-MINUTE LAZY PERSON'S CHINESE STIR FRY

* Brown rice (I like basmati)
* frozen oriental vegetables
* chicken breast, grilled (try foreman grill)
* bragg's "liquid aminos" (or light/lo-sodium soy sauce)

This takes 30 minutes, however, if you get a rice cooker and make a giant batch, you can have your rice on standby for instant eats and this will take less than 10 minutes.

Doesn't get any easier than that. (I like those chinese veggies that come with the little mini-corn-on-the-cobs... reminds me of that Tom Hanks Movie, BIG)


2-MINUTE BLACK BEANS AND SPICY SALSA

* black beans (15 oz can)
* Medium or hot salsa
* 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
* 2 gloves garlic or chopped garlic to taste
* salt and pepper to taste

This one takes you all of 2 minutes to make. No cooking required! And it's good! It's vegetarian as listed above, but if you're a high-protein muscle-head like me, just add chicken breast or lean ground turkey.

Best part: this is all inexpensive food! Oats, rice, beans... doesn't get much cheaper than that - buy your healthy staples in bulk and the cost per serving is probably less than mickey D's! (yes, even the "Value" meals)

I'll share some more recipes in future posts,and will compile my recipe project into a book or ebook later this year. Every one of these recipes is compatible with my Burn The Fat program (http://www.BurnTheFat.com)

This means that my way of eating makes you more muscular and leaner... so you can look hot wearing very little clothes this summer... and be healthier...and save money too.

Train Hard, Eat Right, and Expect Success!

What Is a Heart-Healthy Diet?

A heart healthy diet is one which reduces your risk of heart disease by limiting saturated fat, trans fat and dietary cholesterol at the same time, adding heart healthy foods is an attempt to lower your blood cholesterol levels. Do you know, that cholesterol should be less than 300 milligrams saturated fat and trans fat should be maximum seven per cent and one per cent consecutively of the total calorie intake.

Let me explain it, suppose if you are eating 2,000 calories your saturated fat intake should be not more than 20 grams And your dietary cholesterol intake should be less than 300 mg. In the same way, if you are eating 2500 cal you saturated fat intake should be not more than 28 g and a dietary cholesterol intake should not be less than 300 mgs.

A heart-healthy diet is one that limits saturated fat, trans fat and dietary cholesterol while adding heart-healthy foods in an attempt to lower your blood cholesterol levels and reduce your risk of heart disease. According to the American Heart Association, saturated fat should not exceed seven percent of your total calories, trans fat should not exceed one percent and cholesterol should be less than 300 milligrams. In general, we need to eat lean

Dietary cholesterol is only found in animal foods, thus maintaining a upper limit of the amount of meat and poultry you eat daily will harness the amount of dietary cholesterol you eat. In Fatty cuts of meat Saturated fat is most abundantly found, using leaner varieties of these foods and eating less daily, will help reduce the saturated fat in your diet. Trans fats are found in foods made with hydrogenated oils like fried foods. Milk, cheese, and many premium ice creams and other high-fat dairy foods provide a substantial amount of saturated fat along with dietary cholesterol. But now you must have understood that by eating nonfat versions of these foods will help you reduce the dietary substances explained here.

Do you know that foods from plant sources are free of dietary cholesterol, and there is a very negligible amount of saturated fat present in them? Palm, palm kernel and coconut oil are the only foods that are extremely high in saturated fat. That just doesn’t mean that all other were the table oils are high in saturated fat. In fact, olive oil and canola oil are high in heart healthy omega-3s

As far as I know there is no downside of a heart-healthy diet. Cholesterol is needed in your body to make certain hormones and vitamin D; your body can make all the cholesterol that it needs. You don't have to rely on your diet to provide any cholesterol.

Your daily dietary fat requirements can be easily met by enjoying foods that provide predominately heart healthy unsaturated fat, such as canola, soybean oils, and nuts.