That's Fit

British celebrity chef and TV presenter, Antony Worrall Thompson, discussed organic salads in a recent magazine article. Sounds great, right? It would be, if one of the ingredients he recommended wasn't toxic.

Worrall Thompson has a passion for organic foods and meant to recommend using fat hen, a vitamin-C rich, edible weed that is plentiful in the UK. Fat hen would be a fine addition to salads, though it is quite high in nitrates. Instead of the relatively harmless fat hen, Worrall Thompson mistakenly recommended henbane -- a toxic plant that can cause vomiting, hallucinations, convulsions, and (in extreme cases) death.

Oops! Sounds like a salad you definitely DON'T want to eat. The magazine, Healthy & Organic Living, printed a warning to its readers. Worrall Thompson apologized for his error.

Agave nectar has shown up as tidbits in various post on That's Fit before, whether it's an ingredient in a hot chocolate recipe or an element of a celebrity's diet. But for those of you who don't know the details of what this sweet syrup is, where it comes from and why it's a good alternative to sugar or artificial sweeteners, this is for you:

Agave nectar is derived from a Mexican plant and considered a healthy alternative to sugar and artificial sweeteners because it's naturally derived and has a low glycemic effect, which is explained thoroughly in this article on Shake Off the Sugar a web site devoted to low-carb options and reducing sugar intake. And here's another article about the trend in use of agave as a sweet alternative.

As for me, I use it in tea and baking recipes as well as in my morning oatmeal. The other day, I used it in lemonade. But I found adding a little organic sugar made the taste of the lemons come out more. Call me crazy.

My experiments have been fun and mostly successful. And I can vouch for agave's low glycemic load as I'm a type 1 diabetic using an insulin pump to control blood sugar and testing often. The effect of agave nectar on my blood sugar is minimal. But of course other experiences might be different. Our bodies are not entirely identical in how they react to various substances. And I'm not your doctor, so talk to yours about how you might use agave in your diet.

You can usually find agave in your local health food store. My local Super Target stocks it too. And you can buy online too. Sweet!

We're going to plant a garden. This is the year. We're really going to do it. Our kids have been begging to plant seeds and watch them grow for a while now and we just haven't made it happen. But a garden is in the works now. It has to be. We made a promise.

John promised Joey and Danny that he'll till up a portion of our back yard so they can bury their seeds deep in the dirt. He even asked his mom, a successful gardener herself, for tips and tricks. And for a quick start, he's decided to buy a strawberry pot and begin this crop while the rest of the garden takes shape. They boys are thrilled and while they experienced a temporary set-back last night when they couldn't locate such a pot at any of our garden shops, they are patiently optimistic that their garden will soon be up and sprouting.

Besides strawberries, we hope to grow tomatoes, zucchini, carrots and if Joey has his way, we'll have pumpkins, sunflowers, beans, watermelon, peppers, and more. He'd buy every package of seeds available if he could. He's that excited.

I'm excited too -- about the prospect of growing our own healthy foods, about saving a few pennies at the grocery store, about my boys witnessing firsthand the wonder of nature. The family time will be a treasure too. What better way to grow together than joining forces and enjoying the fruits of our labor.

All things considered, breathing in a chemical used to remove grease from equipment probably isn't a safe bet for healthy living. Especially if you fill your lungs with the stuff for 25 years (not to mention sticking your arms in huge vats of it).

Making a living takes hard work, but I feel sorry for people who are employed by manufacturing plants that have TCE in the air. It's called trichloroethylene, and 14 workers out of 134 displayed symptoms similar to Parkinson's during this small case study. Researchers are saying this doesn't prove TCE causes Parkinson's, but that the results of this exposure definitely draw a strong potential connection to degenerative diseases.

You would think factory bosses might have been wary of such practices. Of course, 25 years ago who would have thought this would be something to worry about?

Scientists from the American Institute for Cancer Research name 11 food items powerful enough to fight cancer. They don't claim any one single food or food substance can protect you from cancer but the right combination of foods in a predominantly plant-based diet might just do so.

Evidence is mounting surrounding the ability of certain foods to ward off cancer and this evidence credits the minerals, vitamins, and phytochemicals in plant foods for providing cancer prevention.

Synergy, this combination concept is called. And here's the combo you'll want to fuse into your diet if keeping cancer at bay is one of your life goals.

According to a recent Swedish study, higher intakes of the vitamin B folate can decrease the risk of post-menopausal breast cancer. Folate may also lower the risk of cancers of the colon, pancreas, esophagus, stomach, and cervix. But there's a catch.

Folate can promote cancer development too. Excess amounts of folate can encourage the aggressive growth of cancer cells once a small tumor or polyp has already been formed.

And so it seems too much of a good thing really can be detrimental. The bottom line, though, is that eating a healthy plant-based diet will not put you at risk for excess folate. Just be mindful of supplements, certain nutrition bars, and cereals that provide 50 percent or more of the daily value for folate. Stick with natural food sources offering other beneficial vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals. The combination of all these goodies will help protect you from cancer.

To reference a dietary fact sheet about folate, click here.

My husband told me about this ground-breaking news flash today at lunch, and I suspect that the little blurb he first heard on talk radio is going to soon infiltrate the media. It's that big. Here's what he heard: Excess body fat almost certainly causes cancer.

The evidence is stronger now than ever before and is detailed in a landmark report issued today by the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) and the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF). Evidence linking cancer with consumption of alcohol, red meat, and processed meat is also pretty darn convincing.

The report, available here, has been five years in the making and consists of data pulled together from nine independent teams of scientists from around the world and 21 international experts who analyzed more than 7,000 large-scale studies.

If you were unsure about the connection between cancer and diet before today, consider this: Body fat is convincingly linked to six different cancers -- colon, kidney, pancreas, adenocarcinoma of the esophagus and endometrium, and post-menopausal breast cancer. And this is just one striking point made in the 517-page report. There are 10 other issues outlined, which have led to these ten recommendations:

Young vegetarians don't make up a huge segment of the population -- a 2005 independent poll totaled them at about three percent -- but they certainly are a growing group. And their choice to ditch meat, and sometimes eggs and dairy too, is becoming quite a popular topic of discussion as some wonder if these kids are getting the nutrition they need from plant sources alone.

It's definitely possible for youngsters to nourish their bodies via vegetarian methods, according to the experts quoted in this article. It's easier than ever, really, because nowadays, grocery stores and even fast-food chains are providing good selections of vegetarian foods. And as a society, we are becoming more and more aware of what it takes to achieve a balanced and healthy diet.

Still, human teeth and digestive systems prove we were designed to eat both animal and vegetable foods, says Kaayla Daniel, a clinical nutritionist in Albuquerque and author of The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America's Favorite Health Food. She isn't against kids' rights to choose. She does suggest they eat fresh dairy and eggs, though. Excluding these items, she says, can lead to serious deficiencies of vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, and amino acids.

Want to model some of the best eating habits in the world? Then consider adopting a Mediterranean diet. People from this region of the world have low cholesterol, few incidences of coronary heart disease and cancer, and much longer lives than those who eat the typical American diet. Amazingly, their diet is significantly higher in fat than what the American Heart Association recommends. How do they do it?

Well, they eat loads of plant foods rich in antioxidants. Think colorful fruits and vegetables. Seafood, abundant with heart-healthy nutrients, is also a staple in their diet. Most important: Their diet is free of the two bad fats we tend to consume without a second thought -- saturated fats and trans fats, the ones that stick to our arteries like glue. Try extra virgin olive oil and grapeseed oils to trim your intake of these fats.

It seems the Mediterraneans have the right idea. We should be so wise to follow their lead.

I just can't do it. I can't eat chocolate. If I do, the floodgates will open, and I won't be able to stop. My husband, who is accompanying me on my latest health kick, is able to have just one bite and be happy. In fact, his doctor just recently congratulated him on his recent weight loss and then told him as he headed out the door, "Don't forget to eat some chocolate now and then." He was thrilled.

What, an invitation to eat chocolate? Yes, indeed. And this doctor isn't the only one touting the merits of chocolate. Now we're talking mostly dark chocolate here -- it happens to be my hubby's favorite -- and the talk goes something like this: Eating a small, 1.6-ounce bar of dark chocolate every day is good for you.

Clinical trials have shown dark chocolate and its healthy flavonoids improve blood vessel functioning. Better blood flow is good for your heart. Thus, chocolate is good for you. And guess what? Dark chocolate contains more flavonoids than any other food, including green tea, black tea, red wine, and blueberries. It's plant-derived after all, just like fruits and veggies. Here's the catch, though -- while more is better with fruits and vegetables, only a small amount of chocolate is healthy. Which is why I can't indulge. A 1.6-ounce bar just wouldn't be enough.

Whether you subscribe to the global warming thing or not, it's hard to argue with the fact that we're still chopping down trees and emitting a lot of CO2. What this activity is doing to the atmosphere is still up in the air for a lot of people, but keep in mind that more individuals are starting to get allergies and the "warming up" of earth just may have something to do with it.

Either way, a new company called Zerofootprint aims to change this trend. One of their goals is to help make people aware of carbon emissions. The other goal is to basically reduce the damage we've done by selling "offsets" which do exactly that: offset our own carbon footprint! How in the world do you accomplish that? Well, this company employs three activities to help lessen climate change.