IMMUNITY AND U

'YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT' is an oft repeated phrase.........but have you ever stopped to ponder just how potent those words are. How easy it is for us to be healthy and robust is for us to decide. I agree, that in the mad medley of our lives it really is not easy for everybody to study just what we need to eat daily but with a little savvy reading FROM YOUR DAILY NEWSPAPERS which are flooded with all kinds of advice, you can do very well.

For food is not just fuel for your body...........it can also be your medicine.

If we eat a wide spectrum of food....all the colours of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, nuts and beans.....we would benefit our health by neutralising harmful molecules called free radicals. Free radicals (oxygen molecules that are unstable) are thought to be the cause of cancer, heart disease,strokes and many other illnesses. When the free radicals are small in number they help to fight off infection but when they become large in number they may harm our tissues and DNA.

Most of the free radicals are often generated by the body itself during ordinary metabolism. They may also be produced by air pollution, pesticides, etc in the environment.

You might as well ask me " WHAT HAS ALL THIS GOT TO DO WITH WHAT I EAT ?" MY ANSWER WOULD BE " PRACTICALLY EVERYTHING". A lot of research is being done by scientists all over the world and it is their opinion that people who eat a lot of fruits and vegetables benefit. Fruits and vegetables contain substances called phytochemicals......and these are the compounds that play a vital role in maintaining health. Some phytochemicals help to reduce contaminants and pollutants, some help nutrients to pass easily through cells.

There are so many more details, which I am not competent to go into, but suffice to say that the more phytochemicals you include in your diet the lower the chances of you every suffering from any disease.

It is recommended that you eat daily a variety of foods from each of the five food groups :

****** meat ; fish ; legumes ; nuts ; poultry ; eggs (one serving)

****** milk ; yoghurt ; cheese (two servings)

****** vegetables ; legumes (five servings)

****** fruits (two servings)

****** bread,pasta,rice,cereals (four servings)

****** water ( 8 glasses approx)

Including more vegetables, fruits and whole grains only sounds unappealing and difficult but its very very easy when you know just what you need to do.