Nutrition Frenzy

In my article, “How I lost 41 Pounds”, I discuss how I mentally prepared to lose weight and how I went about eating and exercising.

I firmly believe that one must deal with losing weight, exercising in their minds first, or they will ultimatley fail. The year before I lost weight but gained it back. Why? Because I hadn’t wrapped my mind around wanting to lose weight first. Sure, the prospect of losing unwanted fat was appealing, but there was no long-term plan to keep the weight off.

Losing weight is a lifetime committment. No pillls, liquids or strange diets will ever work unless you’re totally and 100% committed to sticking with them for the rest of your natural born life. That would get old, at least for me.

What did work for me, was eating sensibly: A variety of fruits and vegetables, fixed in appetizing looking and tasting ways. I knew I wouldn’t stick to eating steaming lumps of goo twice a day for the next thirty or forty years. So, I began buying vegetarian and low-fat cookbooks. I still eat meat (afterall, i’m a midwestern-meat-and-potatoes boy from the midwest). Over the past few years, I have definately opened my palate to new foods and experiencing new and interesting tastes.

Exercise was a four letter word. But, I knew I had to do something or i’d die of a heart attack or stroke. I lost 41 pounds by walking. It took a year, and I followed the FDA’s recommended guidelines of losing a pound a week. No, it wasn’t exacty a pound a week. The first few weeks I lost ten to twelve pounds, then nothing for weeks and weeks. Then five or six more came off. That’s how weight loss worked for me. It came off in spurts. There was plateaus when I felt like giving up, but I kept picturing myself at my previous weight.

What do I suggest? Start small, make acheivable goals, expand your palate.

Keep your mind in mind when dieting, say Nutrition professionals.

Losing weight is a common resolution each New Year and a fantastic one. What better way to start the New Year than to promise ourselves to take care of our bodies. Many think starving themselves is the best way to losing weight. When you starve yourself or drastically cut out carbs, you may be putting your mind and cognitive skills at risk. Robin Nixon on Live Science came up with these five pittfalls to avoid:

1. The Brain constitutes less than two percent of our body’s weight, yet it is responsible for taking twenty percent of the nutrients we ingest. Plus, it’s a picky eater (much like that 2 year old you used to be–but it never grew up). The brain prefers carbs, but only heatlhy carbs: fruits, grains, vegetables. The frontal cortex is prone to confused thinking when your glucose levels drop, where as high glucose levels slowly but surely damage cells everywhere in the body, including those in the brain, said Marc Montminy of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in California.

2. Eat many small meals throughout the day. There have been studies that show eating six small, well balanced meals throughout the day is healthier and better on the body than three big meals. The brain works best with about 25 grams of glucose circulating in the blood stream — about the amount found in a banana. Hate the thought of eating so many times during the day? There’s more.

3. A lower glycemic index (GI) may be the meal plan for you. The glycemic index ranks foods according to how they affect blood glucose levels. Carbs, by and large, are higher GI foods, whereas vegetables, high in fiber content, are lower GI foods. Have a sandwich consisting of High Fiber whole wheat bread, with some meat or other protein, slather a little olive oil, and you have a lunch that is brain-friendly.

4. Fat is where it’s at: Trans fats, common in fast food, are the worst. Saturated fats are not great. Unsaturated fat is the healthiest. Saturated Fats are unhealthy for your brains. If saturated fats (think fast food, fried-anything) are bad for your heart, think of what they’r doing for your brain.
Speaking of fat for brains, essential fatty acids, such as Omega-3s, are proving valuable in treating depression and other psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia, as well as benefiting infant brain development, Green said.

5. Finally, you know your brain and body and how it best responds to fats. Do you want to nap after a heavy-fat-and-cholesterol-laden lunch? Are you grumpy or faint? It may be time to take a second look at what you’re feeding your brain.

Neither my stove nor my table has seen salt or any form of sodium in over tweny years. According to the American Heart Association, the average american should only eat less than 2300 mgs/day.

When I started college way back when, my doctor told me to stop eating all forms of salt, from my cooking to my table, due to high blood pressure. Maybe you’ve heard the same thing and think your food will be bland, or you’re mourning salting your evening potatoes or morning eggs. Instead of adding salt, try adding some spices and herbs. Thyme and basil are two easy spices to use. Or, you can buy or creat your own sodium or salt-free spice/herb blend. Look on your grocers spice aisle. You’ll be surprised how tasty they are. Just remember each shake of salt is another shake towards heart failure.

Harsh to hear, but you should be aware of all the damage salt can do to your heart and how many foods naturally have salt in them. Yes, nature has already added salt to your foods, along with nutrients, vitamins and minerals. If you already have health issues, don’t add to your body’s fight to help keep you healthy.

When you stop adding salt to your foods, you will begin to actually taste your food. Then you will have a greater appreciation for what you are eating. You’ll begin to wonder why you even salted your food to begin with.

Here’s a snack that ought to stop you from, well, snacking: whole-grain bread dipped in olive oil.

Restaurants have the right idea. Some serve a plate of aromatic, fruity olive oil with whole grain bread with cracked pepper. Delicious, wholesome and good for you!

That’s because olive oil is rich in a special appetite-controlling kind of fat. Wow, a fat that may help with weight control! That’s something to write home about.

Getting the Message
Olive oil contains oleic acid, a monounsaturated fat. Upon reaching the small intestine, oleic acid triggers the production of oleoylethanolamide (OEA), another fatty substance. OEA then finds its way to nerve endings that carry a hunger-curbing message to the brain. And that message is loud and clear: “Hey. Stop eating! You’re full!!” Researchers are hoping that new appetite-suppressing drugs using OEA will be developed to reduce obesity.

Learn about belly fat and how to lose it:

Three Kinds of Fat
See, fat is like real estate: It’s all about location, location, location. We all have three kinds of fat: fat in our bloodstream (called triglycerides), subcutaneous fat (which lies just beneath the skin’s surface), and omentum fat. The omentum is a fatty layer of tissue located inside the belly, where it hangs underneath the muscles in your stomach (which is why some men with beer guts have hard-as-a-keg bellies — their fat is under the muscle). You may hear people on the street refer to it not only as a beer gut but also as belly fat, love handles, a beach-ball belly, or a spare tire. Doctors refer to it as visceral fat or intra-abdominal adiposity (IAA).

Because this omentum fat is so close to your organs, it’s their best energy source. (Why go to the gas station on the other side of town when there’s a station at the next corner?)

What Belly Fat Does

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Calorie Cutback Cuts Women’s Odds of Middle-Age Weight Gain

Women who don’t try to eat less more than double their risk of substantial weight gain in middle age, a three-year study shows.

If you’re a 40-something woman, it doesn’t matter whether you’re thin or overweight — odds are, you’ll gain weight over time if you don’t make an effort to cut back on what you eat.

The finding comes from a study of 192 women with an average age of 40 by Brigham Young University researchers Larry A. Tucker, PhD, and Laura Bates. The women were not obese, had not yet reached menopause, and did not smoke.

At the start of the study the women underwent detailed physical exams, including measures of weight and body fat. They also underwent a seven-day analysis of the food they ate, in which they weighed and recorded every bit of food they put into their mouths.

Three years later, the women underwent another round of physical exams and food-intake analysis. The bottom line was no surprise: Women tend to gain weight and body fat as they age and become less physically active.

But not all women gained weight. Even if they didn’t exercise more, women who made an effort to eat less were 69% less likely to gain more than 2.2 pounds and were 2.4 times less likely to gain 6.6 pounds or more.

It’s never too soon, or too late, to watch what you eat, Tucker and Bates suggest.

Personal trainer says even a 10-minute workout gets you closer to fitness goals

NUTRITION

Dr. Melina Jampolis, a San Francisco, California, physician nutrition specialist, is the diet and fitness expert for CNNhealth.com. She focuses exclusively on nutrition for weight loss and disease prevention and treatment.

1. Go for very specific goals.

Make an actual list. Don’t be vague. Instead if “looking better,” write down specifics, such as being able to run around with kids at the park or not wearing a baggy T-shirt to the beach. It’s an internal motivator.

2. Volunteer.

Good karma could be good fitness. Volunteer activities such as coaching a youth soccer game, walking shelter dogs or cleaning up a beach encourages movement and exercise, Jampolis said. When it comes to burning calories, think outside the gym.

“Look for active volunteer opportunities with any form of movement,” she said.

Cheryl Forberg is a behind-the-scenes nutritionist for NBC’s show, “The Biggest Loser.” She is a registered dietitian and chef. She has a weekly blog and is the author of the book “Positively Ageless.”

1. Make over your kitchen.

Get rid of foods that have lower nutritional values, such as white sugar, bread and pasta. If junk food isn’t in your kitchen, you can’t be tempted, Forberg said.

2. Healthy snacking helps.

Having a snack sustains healthy blood sugar levels and energy. This way you don’t feel famished and end up overeating. She recommends a piece of fruit with a protein or healthy fat — perhaps a few nuts with an apple, a cheese stick or a carton of yogurt for a snack.

“Combining protein and carbohydrates keeps you full longer and sustains blood sugar longer and keeps your energy levels,” she said.

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You really can power up your metabolism with the right menu

Eat enough

You need to cut calories to lose weight. But going too low delivers a double whammy to your metabolism. When you eat less than you need for basic biological function (about 1,200 calories for most women), your body throws the brakes on your metabolism. It also begins to break down precious, calorie-burning muscle tissue for energy, says Dan Benardot. “Eat just enough so you’re not hungry — a 150-calorie snack midmorning and midafternoon between three meals (about 430 calories each) will keep your metabolism humming.”

Rev up in the morning

Eating breakfast jump-starts metabolism and keeps energy high all day. It’s no accident that women who skip this meal are 4 1/2 times as likely to be obese.

Drink coffee or tea

Caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant, so your daily java jolts can rev your metabolism 5 percent to 8 percent — about 98 to 174 calories a day. A cup of brewed tea can raise your metabolism by 12 percent, according to one Japanese study. Researchers believe the antioxidant catechins in tea provide the boost.

Fight fat with fiber

Research shows that some fiber can rev your fat burn by as much as 30 percent. Studies find that women who eat the most fiber gain the least weight over time. Aim for about 25 g a day — the amount in about three servings each of fruits and vegetables.

Buy the big bottle

German researchers found that drinking 6 cups of cold water a day (that’s 48 ounces) can raise resting metabolism by about 50 calories daily — enough to shed 5 pounds in a year. The increase may come from the work it takes to heat the water to body temperature.

People who gobble down their food and eat until they feel full are three times more likely to become overweight compared with people who eat slowly and modestly, according to a Japanese study.

Researchers suggest shifting patterns of behavior, driven by the advent of fast food and cheap food, are widely to blame for the obesity pandemic.

Osaka University’s Hiroyasu Iso and colleagues recruited 1,122 men and 2,165 women aged between 30 and 69 and asked them to closely track their eating habits and body mass index, a benchmark of obesity.

Around half of the men, and just over half of the women, said they ate until they were full.

Just under half of the men, and a little more than a third of the women, said they ate quickly.

Men and women who ate until full were twice as likely to be overweight compared with counterparts who did not eat until full.

Those who ate both quickly and to satiety were three times likelier to be overweight.

“The combination of the two eating behaviours had a supra-additive effect on being overweight,” the team say in their paper, published online Tuesday by the British Medical Journal.

The study distinguished between people who ate until full and those who reported binge-eating. Intriguingly, it found those who ate until full had in fact a higher calorie intake than those who gorged.

In a commentary, also carried by the BMJ, Australian nutritionists Elizabeth Denney-Wilson and Karen Campbell suggested that the drive to eat quickly is a genetic survival mechanism — humans are hardwired to overconsume energy when it is available.

This mechanism has run into problems, though, with food that is cheap and instantly available and eaten swiftly, they argued.

“It may be that the changing sociology of food consumption, with fewer families eating together, more people eating while distracted (for example, while watching television), and people eating ‘fast food’ while on the go all promote eating quickly,” said Denney-Wilson and Campbell.

“Furthermore, the increased availability of relatively inexpensive food, which is more energy-dense and served in substantially larger portions, may promote eating beyond satiety.”

The real trick is what you pick to help you stave off hunger and overeating

While eating all day long may seem like a dieting no-no, it can actually help you avoid weight-loss yo-yoing.

Savvy snacking really can help stave off hunger and overeating — the trick is what you pick. Smart snacking can be simple and still be delicious. Here are 5 stats and tips to inspire change on your next pit stop to the pantry.

Stop constant cravings
Did you know: 23 percent of snackers reach for cookies, pretzels, and chips to satisfy their constant cravings?

What to do: It’s OK to treat yourself to these snacks, as long as you set some ground rules: control your portions and practice moderation.

With over 80 100-calorie pack options on store shelves (Chips Ahoy, Oreos, and Sun Chips just to name a few), you can curb your sweet (or salty) craving without breaking the calorie bank. The bags don’t require refrigeration and come in small, individually wrapped packages, making them easy to carry wherever you go.

Another great option: fruit. Consider biting into a delicious apple or getting a serving of melon or berries to control that nasty afternoon need for some sugar.

Liquid calories
Did you know: 63 percent of Americans don’t count drinks as snacks? If you think a snack is simply something you crunch, you may be overlooking the calories in your cup. Unfortunately, liquid calories really do count too.

What to do: First, track your intake for a day. You may be surprised at how many calories you are sipping through a straw. Be certain to read the labels on bottles or check the menu board at your favorite Starbucks. (Laws in some states now require that fast-food chains list calories for customers.)

Next time you feel thirsty opt for water instead. Add a wedge of lime, kiwi or cucumber slices for added appeal. Still not satisfied? Stick with this rule: Go for a drink that has no more than 10 calories per 8-ounce serving.

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You don’t have to be a Scrooge with these nutritious and delicious treats

Ah, those holiday temptations … Christmas cookies. Cheese balls. Egg nog. You know you really want to be naughty when standing next to a table filled with such buttery and sweet goodies, but you don’t want to deal with all that post-party guilt.

Relax. In the spirit of spreading good cheer, here are nine temptations you can indulge in to make your season merry and bright.

Cozy up to the nut dish

Once shunned as high-calorie diet wreckers, now we know it’s OK to go a little bit nuts for nuts. They’re nutrient-rich and filled with vitamins B6 and E plus copper, magnesium and zinc — vitamins and minerals that are great for your immune system, as well as your heart, brain and bones.

Tip a glass of holiday cheer

Moderate drinking (defined as no more than two drinks a day for men younger than 65, and one drink a day for women or men older than 65) is linked with lower risk for heart disease, stroke, gallstones and diabetes. However, it’s what’s in the glass that counts.

Resveratrol in red wine offers heart benefits by keeping blood vessels supple and preventing plaque from depositing on artery walls. Resveratrol and other antioxidants in grapes may also keep the platelets in blood from clumping and forming clots.

Treat yourself to some sweets

It may surprise you, but the best way to watch your weight may be to surround yourself with a few temptations. A recent study by Belgium researchers found that having indulgences within arm’s reach can actually help you build willpower and lead to more lasting success with weight control. If you banish all food temptations, you can’t learn self-control.

Indulge in breakfast

Skipping breakfast or another meal so you can load up at the holiday buffet doesn’t work. You’ll simply end up tired, cranky and ravenous. By the time the party rolls around, you’ll scarf down anything and everything in your path.

Your metabolism may slow to compensate for the lack of energy (calories) you’ve supplied, which means your body may downshift and actually burn fewer calories in order to conserve energy. Waiting too long between meals backfires, too. A recent study found that when people who normally ate every four hours waited five hours until they ate again, they consumed an extra 50 calories at the next meal. Going from four hours to six hours between meals tacked on 90 more calories at the next meal. Keep it up for several meals and days and you’ll see the scale creep up.

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Premenopausal women who were overweight or obese participated in study
• Women on the Atkins diet lost an average of 10 pounds in one year
• Experts do not consider this a large loss of weight
Bottom Line: Atkins can help you lose weight, but few people are able to maintain meaningful long-term weight loss with it

From CNN Health: Overview
A Stanford University study, released in May 2007 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, compares the effectiveness of four popular diets — Atkins, LEARN (Lifestyle, Exercise, Attitudes, Relationships, and Nutrition), Ornish, and Zone — for women who are premenopausal and overweight or obese. Women on Atkins lost the most weight, although the average loss was only about 10 pounds for 12 months.

Questions and answers
What’s the best diet?

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN chief medical correspondent: It’s always difficult to know which diet is right for you. Researchers at Stanford University looked at four popular diets: Atkins, LEARN, Ornish, and the Zone diet. Three hundred overweight or obese premenopausal women were randomly assigned to these four diets, which they followed for a year. Women in the Atkins group lost the most weight — about 10 pounds in a year. It’s also interesting to note that more participants stayed on the Atkins diet for the entire year, compared with women on the other diets.

But even though these women lost weight, isn’t the whole issue about Atkins that it’s high in fats that can raise your cholesterol, which might eventually lead to heart problems?

Gupta: Researchers also looked at the good and bad cholesterol and blood pressure of each participant. Atkins patients had a few points higher number for their LDL or bad cholesterol, but overall there was no significant difference. And the Atkins patients had a higher blood pressure number but, again, not that much higher.

What about for the long term? Can they keep the weight off with Atkins?

Gupta: First off, although any doctor will tell you it’s good for most people to lose 10 pounds, 10 pounds is not a significant amount of weight to lose in one year. The study does not follow the patients after the year, so you don’t know whether they gained their weight back, or whether they lost more. Also, other nutritionists we talked to who have worked on this same type of research said that the only real difference in diets was between Atkins and the Zone. All the others had pretty much the same results. And they found while Atkins can be an effective way to lose weight, few people are able to maintain meaningful long-term weight loss on this diet.

Here’s a little trick for controlling your appetite. And, interestingly, it has nothing to do with what you eat. It’s about how you exercise.

Seems that the right combo of physical activity may have the power to make you eat less. The magic formula? Doing both cardio and strength training. Doing just one or the other doesn’t really curb your calorie intake as much, if at all.

Pump It Up, Run It Off . . . and Eat Less
When men in one small study combined aerobic exercise with weight training for 16 weeks, they ate significantly fewer calories compared with the men who did either aerobics or weight training alone or who did no exercise at all. The researchers suspect that the combo of cardio and strength exercises had the most favorable effect on blood levels of fats, glucose, amino acids, and satiety hormones — producing a powerful combination of hunger-controlling physiological changes.

Keep At It
We all know that eating fewer calories than we burn is a major key to long-term weight loss. Besides balancing your physical activities, try these other helpful tips for turning the dial down on hunger:

Understand why you eat.

Crank up your fat-burning furnace.

Crank up your fat-burning furnace. Instead, make a permanent life change.

Controlling the Chemistry of Emotional Eating

Learning the science behind cravings is the first step toward controlling them

Our ancestors ate to survive. They ate because they were hungry, or maybe to celebrate a victory over a warring tribe. Us? We eat because we’re angry, bored, stressed, frustrated, depressed, watching a movie, too busy, not busy enough, getting together with friends, or ticked off because the Lions lost.

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Whether you’re a health nut or just a nut lover, you’ve probably heard that these hard-shelled seeds help keep your weight and cholesterol down, cancer at bay, and your heart, well, hardy.But do you know your filberts from your macadamias, your walnuts from your almonds — healthwise, that is? Just in time for all those nut bowls and party platters, here are the specific benefits of each. Think small handfuls, though, not mindless munching. As nutritious as they are, nuts pack 160 to 200 calories per ounce!

1. Coping with holiday stress? Reach for the almonds. Crunching down 24 of them will give you 35% of your daily value of vitamin E, which is quickly depleted when you’re under pressure. (Eat ‘em with the skin on to get the biggest dose!) You’ll also score some calcium, magnesium, and riboflavin.

2. Need an excuse to go for the macadamia nuts? They win the prize for having the most monounsaturated fats — the good ones, which lower bad LDL cholesterol. Just one ounce (10 to 12 of these creamy white treats) has 17 grams of the heart-healthy stuff. Plus, they’re a good source of thiamin, a B vitamin that helps keep your muscles, nerves, and GI system humming.

3. Not crazy about Brazil nuts? Eat one anyway. That’s all it takes — one a day — to completely meet your body’s need for the antioxidant mineral selenium. You’ll also be munching down some complete protein (Brazil nuts have all the essential amino acids in one neat package) and zinc (think immunity boosting, and more stress relief) while minimizing its one drawback: saturated fat (5 grams in 6 to 8 of these big nuts).

4. What’s with the buzz around walnuts? Omega-3 fatty acids is what. You can meet your daily value for these hard-to-get health protectors in about 14 halves (1 ounce). Walnuts are also stuffed with disease-fighting antioxidants: In a study of nearly 100 plant foods, they ranked #2 in antioxidant content (rosehips — hardly party fare — came in first).

5. Feeling moody? Hunt out the filberts — aka hazelnuts. These slightly smoky, buttery nuts are packed with mood-stabilizing tryptophan; 20% of the RDA is in every ounce (about 20 hazelnuts).

6. Peanuts? Okay, smarty pants, you’re right: Peanuts aren’t really nuts. They’re legumes (bio-cousins to peas, lentils, and beans). Never mind. They’re rich in three key B vitamins — folate, niacin, and riboflavin — so you can lose the guilt at happy hour. And ounce for ounce, they pack the same protein punch as beef (7 grams), minus the saturated fat. Wow.

Just Have a Plan for Getting Your Diet Back on Track, Experts Say

No matter how earnestly you resolve not to overindulge this Thanksgiving, you will probably eat more than you should.

After all, a typical Thanksgiving meal can add up to 3,000 calories or more. And if you snack throughout the day or eat two big meals, you could easily double that for the day.

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One of the biggest culprits? Pecan pie. A single slice with whipped cream has about 800 calories — more than a meal’s worth of calories in a single dessert.

You won’t find much that’s low calorie elsewhere, either, unless your feast happens to have a raw veggie plate. Here’s how some other Thanksgiving favorites stack up:

Roasted dark and white meat turkey with skin — 450 calories
Homemade stuffing with gravy — 600 calories
Cranberry relish — 200 calories
Candied sweet potatoes — 400 calories
Green bean casserole — 190 calories
Pumpkin pie with whipped cream — 400 calories
Cup of eggnog — 400 calories
Who even wants to think about how long it would take to work all that off!

In November 2005, Thomas walked away from the finale of NBC’s Biggest Loser $100,000 richer after losing 185 pounds in nine months.

Now a motivational speaker, Thomas specializes in helping extremely obese people lose weight.

Thomas’ strategy for staying in control during the holidays involves planning.
“If you plan to get some exercise the morning of Thanksgiving and the morning after, that will go a long way to keeping you on track,” he says. “And develop a plan for holiday eating so you don’t eat everything in sight.”

Some of Thomas’ other tips include:

Enjoy the foods you really love in reasonable portions, but skip the foods you don’t.
Plan activities to compliment the day that everyone can do together. “Make it about more than just the food,” he says.
If you are the cook or are contributing to the holiday meal, make a dish that you like that meets your nutritional needs.
Clear the table and put the food away immediately after the big meal and send food home with guests.
Have reasonable expectations.
“You probably won’t lose weight during the holidays, but with careful planning you can avoid gaining weight,” he says.

Thanksgiving marks the beginning of a season where eating is central to the festivities. While it’s also the season of indulgence, it’s easy to plan a holiday meal that’s delicious and healthful. Whether you’re serving two or 20, these guidelines will help make sure your big dinner is a success.

In the kitchen

Set a timetable. Create a game plan for the day, and know exactly how long it takes to prep and cook each item. Consider when the dishes will be in and out of the oven, and determine whether you have enough room for everything, Callahan says. If you’re cooking several items in one oven, keep pans spaced so that none touch. Doing so maintains the airflow inside the oven required to ensure thorough cooking, Bone says.

Assess your gear. Gather your china, silverware, glasses, and linens at least five days in advance. You want to be sure you have enough plates and glasses, the silver is polished, and you have time to launder linens if needed. Know what you’ll be using: the oven, the stove, the microwave? Will you need a roasting pan? Make sure ahead of time the one you get fits in your oven. What about a meat thermometer for testing doneness? It’s smart to keep a running list of equipment you need — that way, you can know just what to buy or borrow.

Know your serving sizes. “Keep track of how much food you’re making,” Bone says. “Usually a pie or cake serves 10 to 16 people. You may decide you only need to make one dessert.” If you’re hosting only a couple of guests, you can adjust the presentation. “For instance, if your cake makes two layers, frost only one, and then you can freeze the other for another occasion.”

Look for nutritional opportunities. Many foods we eat during the holidays are healthier than you think, containing nutrients that may help prevent disease. For example, one baked sweet potato contains nearly 500 percent of the recommended daily amount of vitamin A and almost 50 percent of your vitamin C. “There’s an added benefit to obtaining these vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals from a variety of foods, since they work synergistically to create positive health effects,” says Melissa Ohlson, R.D., a spokesperson for the Cleveland Clinic Heart Center.