Integrative Health Blog

Holistic Nutrition: When Fruit is Not a Healthy Choice

Posted by admin on Mon, Jun 17, 2013

Anita's Healthy Tips                       

 anitas_healthy_tips

Summer officially starts this week, on Friday, June 21. Most of us have air conditioning these days, but many of us can remember sleeping on sticky sheets with the fan in the window during the summer! Which never worked, by the way!! When it gets hot, who wants to be in the kitchen using the oven or the stove? Now is the time to try all those recipes that don’t require cooking!!

 

Salads of all types - green salads, fruit salads, raw kale salads, gazpacho soups, cold cucumber or melon soups, and caprese salad - taste wonderful and don't heat up the kitchen.

Know Your Fruits and Veggies: The "Dirty Dozen" and The "Clean 15"

My healthy tip for this week is to provide some information about those yummy fruit salads that will be served up through out the summer using all of the farm fresh, local fruits we can find!

The EWG or Environmental Working Group is a non-profit Washington, D.C. group whose mission is, as stated on their website: “ to use the power of public information to protect public health and the environment.” Every year they publish a list called the Dirty Dozen which highlights the fruits and vegetables with the highest pesticide residue. The Clean Fifteen on the other hand, has the lowest amount of pesticide residue.

Check out the list hereApples Top EWG's Dirty Dozen | Environmental Working Group

According to the article, for the first time the Academy of Pediatrics, in 2012, warned doctors and parents of the potential dangers to children from pesticide exposure. This is something that the EWG has been saying for quite some time. Of particular concern to me is the use of several pesticides at the same time, creating a synergistic effect that may be more toxic than just 1 pesticide alone. The CDC or Center for Disease Control, says that the USA uses 2 BILLION pounds of pesticides/year - that includes environmental uses as well, not just agriculture.

My healthy tip is to use the EWG list to create a healthy, low pesticide-residue salad!

And of course...I can’t leave you without a tip on how to control your blood sugar!

Enjoy all of the delicious summer fruits this season, but be smart and never eat those fruits alone. That causes a huge surge in blood sugar and insulin which as you know can contribute to insulin resistance and Type II diabetes. A better choice: have a handful of nuts or a small piece of cheese along with your fruit to slow down the absorption of sugar!

Join me this Saturday, June 22, 2013 at NIHA from 10-11 AM for a Free talk,

"Take Control of Your Blood Sugar"

 Register


 

anita_capizzi Anita Capizzi, RN, CHC, is a Registered Nurse, graduate of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and Certified Health Coach. Her philosphy is to meet people where they are and upgrade their level of holistic nutrition and wellness, one step at a time. Anita Capizzi conducts a 3 month group program for those with Pre-diabetes or blood sugar issues, Type II diabetes or for diabetes prevention, called Take Control of Your Blood Sugar.

Topics: holistic nutrition, diabetes, pre-diabetes, integrative nutrition, sugar, pesticides