During this year's National Nutrition Month, give your diet a good-you-for upgrade. Here, three surefire ways to help food fuel your health.
1) Change your oil. More and more research shows that opting for olive oil can shield your heart health, lower your stroke risk, and possibly protect against cancer (including breast cancer). And in a study published in the British Medical Journal earlier this year, researchers found that cooking foods in olive oil (or sunflower) won't raise your risk of heart disease.
2) Switch to "slow carbs." Packing your diet with slowly digested carbs (such as whole grains, legumes, and other high-fiber foods) may help cool inflammation and fend off inflammatory diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, according to a 2012 study from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. The study suggests that a diet rich in such carbs may increase your levels of adiponectin, a hormone that helps regulate the body's metabolism of fat and sugar.
3) Forget "five-a-day." For optimal health, shoot for about nine servings of fruits and veggies daily. That might sound like a lot, but remember a serving is a lot smaller than you think. In a 2011 study published in PLoS Medicine, scientists discovered that sticking to a diet loaded with raw vegetables, fruits, and berries may significantly weaken the harmful effects of a gene considered the strongest marker for heart disease.
