Life is filled with good foods, different tastes, and flavors.  There is nothing better than eating a bowl of Bing cherries, a sweet honeydew melon, a wipe, juicy summer peach, or something grilled and flavored to perfection.

What you eat can have a profound effect on your odds of having health problems, boosting or hurting your immune system, lowering your cholesterol level and decreasing your blood pressure, or improving your heart. When we talk about “Good Foods,” we are talking about foods that will help you optimize your health.

• Fish (baked or grilled, not fried), especially eat more sardines or bonito tuna
• Skinless Poultry, but not Peking Duck
• Soy Foods (whole soy foods better than processed soy foods)
• Nuts (almonds, walnuts, peanuts, pecans, macadamias, pistachios)
• Fruits & Vegetables
• Whole Grains:  oats, brown rice, quinoa, millet, Kamut wheat, spelt
• Polyunsaturated fats (nut, seed, safflower, and vegetable oils) and monounsaturated fats (avocados, canola, olive, and peanut oils)
• Water
• Fat
• Tea
• 100% fruit juices
• Super Foods – foods containing an abundance of antioxidants, nutrients, and fiber

Good Foods are:

• Nutrient-dense
• Whole
• Familiar, everyday foods
• Affordable
• Usually have the best flavor

For instance, there are five major nutrients or compounds found in fruits and vegetables, which act as natural blocking agents against carcinogens, which help prevent cancer.  They are:

• Phenols
• Idols
• Flavones
• Cumines
• Isothiocyanates

Many health issues are a result of poor diet, nutrition, and lack of exercise.  What happens to your body if you eat processed or refined foods is that over time, nutritional deficiencies accumulate and weaken your immune system, which changes your body’s chemistry.  As your body chemistry changes and  “bad” or cancerous cells become established, these new cancerous cells crave refined and processed foods.  As your body eats whole foods, it heals and cells begin to improve, then these refined food cravings go away.