Food Facts

Calcium is one of the most popular dietary supplements on the market, largely because of the widely circulated belief that regular supplemental doses of this mineral are essential for building and maintaining healthy bones. As a result, many people believe that taking a calcium supplement is one of the best -- if not an essential -- strategy to prevent bone fractures resulting from osteoporosis.

One new study recently — published in the peer-reviewed journal Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism — found that many artificial sweeteners, acting on the hormones, can actually increase the craving for sugars, leading to an increased risk for obesity and subsequent complications like diabetes and heart disease. While more research is certainly called for on this subject, avoiding the following sweeteners is truly a healthy choice.

Iodine is a vitally important nutrient that is detected in every organ and tissue and many if not most are deficient in this nutrient. Along with being essential for healthy thyroid function and efficient metabolism, there is increasing evidence that low iodine is related to numerous diseases, including cancer.

I have long stated that if you want to be optimally healthy, you should spend 90 percent of your food budget on whole foods, and only 10 percent on processed foods. Unfortunately, most Americans currently do the opposite, and their health suffers as a result.

With most foods, the closer they are to nature, the better. It's possible to have some processed foods that are still healthy; for instance, frozen green beans have been "processed" as has butter, grass-fed ground beef, or freshly prepared almond butter.

Sometimes foods that are healthy don't always appeal to a large number of people. Blueberries are an exception, however - they are both delicious and nutritious. Blueberries are truly one of the great superfoods for so many reasons. Although they can satisfy a sweet tooth, they are low in sugar and low on the glycemic index, so they will not cause blood sugar levels to spike up.

Strawberries make a wonderful smoothie ingredient or healthy snack. In addition, it turns out that they’re great for your health, influencing everything from the condition of your skin to how likely you are to develop certain serious diseases.

Ever since Beyonce Knowles was associated with the Lemon Detox diet, there has been a surge of interest in this particular program. Also known as the Master Cleanse, this detox diet has been around for almost 50 years and has seen variations on its recipe and program. It's effectivity in breaking down built up toxins in the body while contributing to short term weight loss has made it a popular option for a spring detox.

Research has found that the intense taste of spices is associated with high concentrations of antioxidants and other powerful substances that have been proven to stop cancer in its tracks. Here are seven common kitchen spices that are among the top natural cancer-fighting compounds available. Most of them are probably already in your home and ready to use.