Summer Snacks

Hello!

Summer is officially here, so enjoy these superfoods while they are in season:

• Gazpacho soup (Keep handy as an anytime snack)
• Mango slices (with cinnamon, perhaps)
• Corn on the cob (If you consider it a grain instead of a veggie, it's super nutritious!)
• Berries & cherries (The fountains of youth)
• Grape tomatoes
• Button mushrooms (You can buy them pre-washed and ready to eat)
• Red peppers (They travel well as snacks. Slice them ahead of time or just carry them along with a paring knife)
• Papaya with lime
• Portobello mushrooms (Grill them like hamburgers)
• Watermelon (Tastes like fudge cake when sprinkled with cocoa powder. No foolin')

Antioxidants 101
By Karen Ansel, M.S., R.D  of Cookinglight.com .
Article from CNN.com

Hardly a week goes by without news of antioxidants' health-promoting benefits. Experts believe these nutritional substances may help prevent heart disease, fight certain cancers, ward off dementia, and even slow certain aging processes.

There are thousands of antioxidants found in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, legumes, meats, poultry, and fish. Even foods once not known for being especially healthful, such as chocolate, coffee, and red wine, are now recognized as potent delivery systems for beneficial antioxidants.

However, the growing number of antioxidants being discovered (so far, there are more than 4,000 known flavonoids, and that's only one class of antioxidant) and the continual discoveries of new antioxidant food sources cloud understanding of these substances.

"Most people know that calcium is good for bone health, for example, but they don't know specifically what antioxidants do or how these chemicals benefit human health," says Milton Stokes, R.D,. a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association.

Read on as we simplify the latest science to answer those questions for you.

Antioxidants 101

We need oxygen to live. It travels from the lungs to every corner of the body, helping cells metabolize food into energy. But oxygen has a downside. Normally, the molecules in our cells have a full set of electrons, which keep them stable (think of them as a fortress surrounding a castle). But when these molecules come into contact with oxygen (i.e., they are "oxidized") they lose an electron, converting to an unstable type of molecule known as a free radical.

"Free radicals, if left unchecked, assault whatever cell constituents are nearby, including proteins, fats, and DNA," says Joe Vinson, Ph.D., a professor of chemistry at the University of Scranton. "Once those molecules are attacked, their structure and function are changed and they don't work as well."

Ingeniously, Mother Nature created an instant free-radical fix. Antioxidants disable free radicals by donating electrons to replace those lost during oxidation. Some antioxidants can be manufactured by your body; others must be obtained from food. Dietary antioxidants fall into two groups. The first is made up of certain familiar vitamins and minerals, like vitamins C and E, selenium, and zinc, that have antioxidant capabilities. The second consists of the thousands of organic compounds found in plant foods that have functions like giving grapes their purple skins or cabbages their slightly sulfurous odor. They have names like anthocyanidins, catechins, lutein, quercetin, and resveratrol.

Preventing oxidation may have earned antioxidants their name, but we now know these substances do more than disable free radicals. Antioxidants also help reduce inflammation, keep arteries flexible, and preserve the genetic material every cell contains to prevent mutation. Each antioxidant also offers unique perks. For example, flavonoids in berries may help improve artery health, while lutein in spinach may help prevent macular degeneration.

Sorting out food sources

To measure a food's antioxidant content, scientists test it in a lab, where they usually measure equal quantities of each food they test. However, that amount may not be close to the serving size we usually eat. Realizing this, many-but not all-researchers convert their findings to common portion sizes before publishing the results of their work. That's one reason why Monday's health news may place blueberries on top of the antioxidant heap, while Thursday's may claim broccoli contains the highest levels of the compounds.

Also, several kinds of tests are used to measure a food's antioxidant power, another reason for the multiplicity of findings. The most popular test is Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC). ORAC measures an antioxidant's ability to protect against the most common free radical in human plasma, the peroxyl radical.

ORAC is a helpful starting point to guide consumers to foods that are rich in antioxidants as part of a diet that contains many different antioxidant-rich foods, especially since new antioxidants are being discovered all the time. But most nutrition researchers view antioxidant-counting surveys critically. How a food behaves in a test tube is one thing; how it behaves in our bodies is another.

"We don't know as much about what happens during digestion, absorption, and metabolism," says Ronald L. Prior, Ph.D., a research chemist with the USDA's Arkansas Children's Nutrition Center. "Some of these compounds may be absorbed well and others not as well." Anthocyanidin-rich blueberries are a good example. They may be antioxidant powerhouses in a test tube, but we don't absorb their antioxidants well and their effectiveness in our bodies is short lived. To gain the full benefit, you'd likely need to eat more of them than foods with a lower ORAC score that contain more readily absorbable antioxidants, such as kiwifruit or grapes.

What's more, antioxidant levels vary among different samples of the same food. For example, all apples don't have the same amount of quercetin and all lettuces don't provide the same dose of lutein. "The variability has to do with the climate, the nutrients in the soil, and storage conditions," Vinson says.

Stopping Side Stitches
By Martica Heaner, M.A., M.Ed., for MSN Health & Fitness

Q: How can I avoid getting a side stitch when I run and exercise?

A: It can hit you suddenly-a sharp, stabbing pain in your side that stops you in your tracks. Commonly known as a "stitch" or an abdominal "cramp," the pain will usually subside once you slow down or stop what you're doing. By taking a break, you'll be able to resume your activity in no time.

Some people blame cramps on eating too soon before a workout, or on high-fiber foods. Others believe this sharp ache is a muscle-spasm response that occurs in those who are unfit or who overdo it. Another take: Side stitches are a sign that you haven't warmed up enough.

The truth about cramps: Researchers aren't sure what exactly causes this pain.

A recent study published in the Journal for Science and Medicine in Sport found that side stitches, referred to as "exercise-related transient abdominal pain," were a common problem among active people. After surveying 848 participants in a 14K walk/run race event held in Sydney, Australia, researchers found that around 27 percent of the participants experienced this pain.

The participants under 20 years of age showed a higher incidence than those in their 30s and older. And while the pain occurred all around the front part of the torso, 46 percent of people experienced their cramps to the right of their bellybuttons, in their midsection.

The runners suffered more than the walkers did, with 37 percent of the female runners and 27 percent of the men reporting the pain. But 16 percent of the walkers also said they'd felt this ache during the race. Again, women showed a higher incidence: 18 percent compared to 12 percent of the male walkers.

Fitness level did not appear to play a role in this study, since there was no correlation between cramping and race time. Plus, there was no greater occurrence of stitches from walking or running up or down hills versus the flats.

Since the onset of this pain seemed to occur almost evenly during all points of the event-during the first third, middle and final third of each participant's total race time-warmed-up time couldn't be blamed as the trigger. If inadequate warm-up time was a factor, the pain would occur more often at the start of the exercise.

Interestingly, 11 percent of the runners/walkers who experienced pain in their torsos experienced it in the shoulders as well-known as shoulder-tip pain. The researchers linked it to the phrenic nerve, which runs from the neck and shoulder area to tissues in the torso's diaphragm. However, it's still unclear as to what is triggering the ache in either area.

One variable did appear to play a role in people's side cramps: The amount of food eaten prior to exercising. While only 2 percent of those surveyed didn't eat before the event, nearly 80 percent ate or drank calorie-containing liquids at least two hours prior to race time. More than one-third of the participants ate or drank between one and two hours beforehand.

The researchers found that the runners who ate the most in the one-to-two hours before exercising were more likely to experience pain. But it was how much, not what they ate in terms of foods high in fat, fiber, protein, carbohydrates or sugar that was associated with their cramps.

The women ate bigger meals relative to their body weight than the men-and when this was weeded out statistically-it explained why women showed a higher occurrence of cramps. So it wasn't gender-but the amount of food or drink ingested-that made the difference. Nearly 50 percent of the respondents said that the pain developed after they had either a sports drink or water during the race.

So what's the take-home message?

Keep in mind that this study only looked at self-reported incidences during this one race. The researchers did not individually monitor each participant over several workouts; nor did they scrutinize them carefully and measure physiological symptoms during the race. Still, the cumulative experiences of those who experienced the pain may give indicators of when it's more likely to come on.

So, if you are prone to getting side cramps, start by evaluating how you eat before exercising. Eating a big meal too close to a long session of physical activity may not be a good idea.

On the other hand, the longer and harder you work out, the more calories you'll need to stay well-fueled. So what can you do? Experiment with different sources of calories-from energy gels and sports drinks to easily digested solid foods like bread, pasta, oatmeal and fruit. Also, make sure that whatever you eat is well-chewed and eat slowly to help the food pass through your digestive system.

The good news: There's no proof that a side stitch is anything serious. Even if you have to stop completely when the pain comes on, the stitch usually diminishes and goes away if you simply slow down or go from running to walking for a while.