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| Lowfat yogurt and milk, tofu, canned fish with bones, and watercress and other leafy greens for calcium. |
| Fresh herbs and spices, vinegar, and lemon juice to replace salt as seasoning. |
| SMART MOVE |
| James A. Duke, Ph.D., author of The Green Pharmacy and a world-renowned expert on plants and natural healing, believes doctors are "too quick to treat high blood pressure with synthetic drugs" and asserts, "There's plenty of solid evidence that . . .diet and lifestyle changes, including regular exercise, stress management, and self-monitoring with a home blood pressure device, work just as well as drugs, with no side effects." |
| Duke recommends regular doses of vegetable soup: "It's so good for health I don't call it minestrone anymore, but rather Medistrone." There's no precise recipe for Medistrone, but it always includes heart-healthy ingredients such as garlic, onions, red pepper, ginger, and tomatoes; other antioxidant-rich vegetables; and cholesterol-lowering beans. |
| Kidney Stones |
| The kidneys dispose of waste products from the blood and thus are temporary home to excess minerals and other substances. Kidney stones form when some of these waste productsusually calcium oxalates, but also uric acid or phosphatescrystallize and form hard lumps. When these get lodged in the urinary tract, the pain can be excruciating; some have compared it to childbirth or worse. Unfortunately, kidney stones are usually not a one-time event; if you haven't had them yet, it's wise to do what you can to prevent them. |
| Smart Foods |
| Wheat germ, whole grains, soy foods, shrimp, and dried apricots for magnesium. |
| Potatoes, bananas, citrus fruits, and dried fruit for potassium. |
| Water (at least six to eight glasses a day) to keep your body well hydrated. |
| Osteoporosis |
| Loss of bone minerals causes osteoporosisporous bones that fracture easily and heal poorly. |
| Unfortunately, the mineral most important to bone health, calcium, is the one most likely to be absent from low-fat diets that exclude dairy foods such as milk and cheese. Older women are especially vulnerable to brittle, weakened bones because as their estrogen levels begin to decline (around age forty), so does their ability to absorb |
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