Cranberry Toast Snack and Top 3 Reasons to Eat Cranberries

Cranberries are a superstar in the world of nutrition! Loaded with anthocyanins (the pigment in red, purple, and blue plants), they help our bodies stay and get back to awesome! In the lab, anthocyanins have been found to keep FAT from growing in the liver*, as well as protect us from CANCER in the liver, brain, colon, lung, mouth, ovary, prostate and stomach!

One great way to eat cranberries, is as a sauce -- try Tangy Sugar-Free Cranberry Sauce!

Here is a delicious snack:

Cranberry Toast Snack

Sprouted grain toast

Natural peanut butter or almond butter

Tangy Sugar-Free Cranberry Sauce

This contains about 5 Dr Greger Daily Dozen Checkmarks!

1) whole grain, 2) nut butter, 3) berries, 4) other fruit (orange, dates), and 5) cinnamon

Enjoy!

Did you know you have to eat 26 CANS OF CRANBERRY SAUCE (processed) to get the anthocyanins in ONE cup of whole cranberries? Tangy Sugar-Free Cranberry Sauce recipe calls for 3-4 cups of cranberries. That is as much anthocyanin as one might get from processed cranberry sauce in a whole lifetime (assuming one eats it just during the holidays...like most people I know)!

Cranberries are also one of the top ranked fruits in terms of antioxidants. There are almost as many antioxidants in cranberries, as there are in blueberries, and you would have to eat 5 and a half apples to get the amount of antioxidants there are in one cup of cranberries.

Tangy Sugar-Free Cranberry Sauce

*Liver disease is more common than you might think. ONE IN THREE adults have non-alcoholic fatty liver disease :( Avoiding cholesterol and sugar may help to prevent this deadly condition, as well as consuming foods high in anthocyanins, like cranberries!

Please check out Dr Greger's Videos (and cited resources) for more detailed information :)
Cranberries vs Cancer
Which Fruits Fight Cancer Better

3 Awesome Reasons to Eat Eggplant!

There are a million reasons to eat eggplant, starting with taste! I just love the texture; I love chomping into a nice piece of eggplant! It’s a veggie, AND it’s hearty! It is also abundant in many vitamins and minerals (such as most of the B-vitamins -- did you know there are 8 different B vitamins?, and iron and zinc), and soluble fiber, and like most veggies it’s practically calorie-free! Soluble fiber is the type that helps lower cholesterol. Fiber is great for a million reasons too, but we’ll save that for another post!  Try Easy Eggplant Parmesan!

Ok, so here are today’s awesome reasons to eat eggplant!

1) If you know of anyone who has a cancer tumor (though I really hope you don’t!), you might find it cool that a component of eggplant has a way to prevent tumor growth! Anthocyanins, a type of phytochemical found in blue and purple fruits and vegetables, does this by preventing new blood vessels from forming which would feed the tumor.

2) Have a cold? Eggplant has antiviral properties, so they may help you get rid of that nasty cold or flu that you have been trying to ditch! It’s because of chlorogenic acid found in eggplant, and this substance may also help prevent diabetes.

3) Hopefully, you are healthy as can be! Even the healthiest people in the world have free-radical damage; after all, it happens primarily as we burn calories each day (other causes)! So, the fact that eggplant is a great source of antioxidants is major health benefit which helps protect us from free radicals -- which are a cause of diabetes, cancer, heart disease, and aging!

I love the way Hari Sharma explains the following: “Diabetes, kidney problems, liver problems, almost every disease is related to the damage caused by these free radicals. If we remove the damage we are causing ourselves, all these diseases can be prevented.” He also wrote an inclusive list of many causes of free-radicals, such as stress, cholesterol, meat, fat, alcohol, and smoking, in the same article.

Now, do you wonder how you can eat some eggplant?  Try this EASY EGGPLANT PARM recipe!

TELL ME IN A COMMENT: How do you like your eggplant? Grilled? Fried? Boiled? Baked?