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2 FRIDAY January 21, 2011

By BETH KUJAWSKICTW FEATURES

Stress, in general, has gotten a bumrap. But all stress is not created equal,and how people respond to it can

mitigate its effects. Even better, it can evenbe used to your advantage, as the nudgeneeded to make the changes necessary tobecome healthier and happier.

“There’s good stress, and there’s badstress,” says Allen Elkin, Ph.D., founder ofthe Stress Management and CounselingCenter in New York and author of “StressManagement for Dummies” (For Dum-mies/Wiley, September 1999). “Goodstress can act in a number of ways to pro-mote functioning. Some stress becomes a

motivator, it becomes a focuser, it awakensyou in a way that makes performance re-sults better.”

Hans Selye, a pioneer in the study ofstress, likened stress to “the tension ofstrings on a violin. No tension, no music.Too much tension, the strings break,” saysElkin. “The key is finding the right amountof stress or the right tension in life thatworks.”

Of course, some stressors are biggerthan others. The loss of a loved one or theloss of a job affect us greatly. But many ofthe stresses that we perceive as great arereally somewhat small. As pat as it mayseem, the most effective way to managemany stressors is to simply change the waywe look at them. “Often the big gun is justchanging attitude. ‘Will I remember this inthree years? Three months? Three weeks?’Perspective is great,” Elkin says.

In need of a nudge? Use your stress to...

... get moving.Stress produces adrenaline. Use it. You

may feel too overwhelmed to lace up, butif you get moving, you’ll feel better. Leave

It visits everyone from time to time. Learn how tomake friends with this foe

Redress Stress

your concerns at the door when you walkinto the gym and focus on your workout.Alternatively, head outside for a walk. Zipalong at a quick clip to burn off energy orslow to a stroll and brainstorm ways to ad-dress the challenges you face. And remem-ber to focus on your breathing.

... sit still.Meditation is an excellent way to man-

age stress, but it takes practice. Find a quietplace, close your eyes, focus on yourbreathing, and try to clear your mind. Ifthat’s tricky, focus on an image or scene.“It’s hard to think of nothing,” says Elkin.“Thinking of nothing is a vacuum, it in-vites everything else in. It’s like ‘Don’tthink of pink elephants.’ It just invites that.So try to replace it with a positive image.”Meditation may feel pointless the first fewtimes you try it, but persist. If the notionof finding enough time or a quiet placeseems impossible, start small. You don’thave to carve out a block of time everyday. Find moments. Get up a few minutesearlier than usual and enjoy the stillness ofyour home. Take five minutes in the carwhen you arrive home to center yourselfbefore you walk in the door.

... get things done.Make a to-do list. Stress saps our ability

to remember details. A list allows you tokeep tabs on what you have to do but alsoenables you to cross items off as you go.The ability to see yourself makingprogress provides a sense of relief. Also,create a tiered list of larger projects alongwith the detailed steps required to getthem done. Listing a large project may cre-ate stress by virtue of feeling too big totackle, but when it’s broken down into itscomponents, it’s much easier to manage.Confucius said, “A journey of a thousandmiles begins with a single step.” Take onestep. Complete one task. Then completeanother. Do what can be reasonably done.Accomplishments build on each other, fu-eling your can-do attitude and alleviatinganxiety about how much you need to getdone.

... clear away clutter.Disorganization creates its own stresses.

When you’re running late for work andyou can’t find your keys, you day takes aturn for the worse. Eliminate opportuni-ties for stress to arise in everyday tasks.(Getting dressed in the morning should

not be stressful.) Use the energy created bystress, for example, to sort out your closet.Donate items you no longer wear, create apile to take to the tailor, make note ofwhat you need, put what’s left back intothe closet, organizing as you go.

... define goals.This plays into the to-do list notion, but

on a more macro scale. To-dos are moreday to day; goals are big picture. Thenagain, feeling stuck or not being able to de-fine a goal provides another source ofstress. Find clues in what you do when youdon’t have to do anything or think aboutwhat you would do if you had time to donothing. Likewise, if you feel as thoughyou’re constantly running up against brickwalls – frustration is a form of stress –take that as a sign to re-evaluate.

... embrace the negative.Of course, to-do lists never end. But if

yours is too long, perhaps the time hascome to relearn the word we all loved askids: “No.” Some live their lives at whatfeels like a time-lapse pace, but no one cancontinue that pace indefinitely. Yes, therewill be hectic periods, but if life has be-come consistently crazed, the time hascome to re-examine your goings on. Over-drive should be the exception, not the rule.There are only so many hours in a day.You have to prioritize your life. Reclaimingyour time requires learning to say “no”nicely.

... be more assertive.Use smaller accomplishments to build

your confidence toward addressing largerinterpersonal issues you've left untendedfor too long. Relationships change, andsome fade. Find the wherewithal to assertyourself in lopsided relationships. Theother party may have no idea that an issueexists. Or it may be necessary to end rela-tionships that have run their course butstill linger.

... drop it.Sometimes, the best tack is just to let go.

Think of someone who can’t swim. Theinclination is to panic. But the solution isto relax and float. When we’re stressed, welock ourselves into a loop of creatingmore stress. “Panic just creates more evi-dence to prove that the panic is valid andjustified,” says Julia Rogers Hamrick, au-thor of “Choosing Easy World” (St. Mar-

tin’s Press, 2010). “But when you stop andget yourself to relax, even for 30 seconds,even for a split second, and then youchoose it for another split second, you gointo appreciation.”

“Find something to be grateful for, be-cause gratitude puts you at the vibrationallevel of things to be grateful for. Whenyou’re being grateful, you’re attracting

more things on the level of which you'd begrateful for. So, it’s like using your stress toyour advantage: Use the fear and use thepanic to remind yourself to switch yourmodes, to raise your vibration, to go into astate where you are able to attract thatwhich you want and need.”

© CTW Features

Sometimes, the best tack is justto let go. Think of someone whocan’t swim. The inclination is topanic. But the solution is torelax and float.

3FRIDAY January 21, 2011

4 FRIDAY January 21, 2011

By DANA CARMANCTW FEATURES

It’s no secret that many of the lessonspeople learn as children carry intoadulthood. What is a bit more surpris-

ing to learn is that the earlier that we teachour children, even as young as toddlers,about money, nutrition, exercise, philan-thropy and how to handle stress, the betteroff they’ll be in the long run. According toDr. Fran Walfish, a child and parent psy-chotherapist based in Los Angeles, there isa parallel between toddlerhood and adoles-cence. “The objective for the child duringboth is to individuate themselves fromtheir parents,” Walfish says.

Certainly there will be lessons we wishwe’d never unknowingly passed on to ourkids, but parents can instill in their childrena healthy respect for the following and,perhaps, not have to worry quite as muchabout the adults they’ll become.

Veggies and Fruits Don’tCome in Packages

A love of healthy foods starts really, re-

ally early according to Shara Aaron, a reg-istered dietitian, certified fitness instructorand co-author of “The Baby Fat Diet”(Alpha, 2008). Aaron says that moms-to-be can do their babies (and themselves) afavor by eating lots of fruit and vegetablesto influence baby’s palate.

This is notable also because it highlightsan essential ingredient to helping childrenlearn these valuable lessons: parent as ex-ample. Each child has his or her own per-sonality, of course, and as babies grow,they become picky toddlers and veggiesand fruits are often an enemy. “Vegetablescan be a challenge for young palates sodon’t overstress about it,” Aaron says.“Don’t get in a food war.”

But – and this is a big but – that doesn’tmean Mom and Dad are off the hook.Healthy foods should be on a plate everynight (if not almost every meal) saysAaron, even if a child has expressed hisextreme distaste.

Aaron suggests encouraging veggies andfruits they typically like and giving themchoices (broccoli or carrots?) “Use the no-thank-you-bite rule,” Aaron says. “He hasto take one bite and if he doesn’t like it hedoesn’t have to eat anymore. Studies showit can take a dozen tries before a child willenjoy a new food.”

Model BehaviorIt stands to reason, then, that if parents

are sedentary, children will be, too.“Adults must be active if they want their

kids to be active,” Aaron says. “Kids arenaturally active if they have the opportu-nity to be.” She suggests creating fun op-portunities to be active, such as using jumpropes, balls and cones, which also are inex-

pensive. Take walks outdoors with kids atyoung ages and engage their senses. Aaronalso says to cater to your child’s interests –perhaps karate or gymnastics would be agood fit? Team sports are great, she says,but not a necessity for getting and keepinga child active.

Exercise doesn’t have to feel like a chore– to parent or child. “You can talk abouthow it makes the body healthy and strongfrom pretty early on, age 3 or 4,” Aaronsays. She stresses creating those fun op-portunities for activity – and parentsshould be wholly involved. More, limit thecouch time spent on video games, televi-sion and computer games.

Stressing LessonsAll children experience stress and anxi-

ety, even newborns, says Dr. Fran Walfish,psychotherapist and author of “The SelfAware Parent: Resolving Conflict andBuilding a Better Bond With Your Child”(Palgrave Macmillan, 2010). She points outthe example of learning to sleep throughthe night as one of the first big stressfulthings a child will experience. How parentsreact to these situations is the key.

In fact, Walfish says that many ofthe behaviors adults display are mani-fests of things not learned in child-hood. Between 18 months and 4 yearsold, children need to learn a lot andmaster things like delayed gratification,Walfish says. “That means I’m not al-ways first and can’t always have what Iwant,” she says. “We see a lot of adultsstruggling with this because parentsdidn’t teach them how to handle this.”

She advises parents to calmly react tothese “stressful” episodes by avoiding de-fensiveness with the child, to narrate a dia-logue about what the child wants and howhe is feeling, and to empathize with him.However, Walfish says, this doesn’t meannegotiating. If a child won’t turn off thetelevision to come eat dinner, she doesn’tget five more minutes. “The reason theyneed to do this,” Walfish says, “is what weare here to teach them is that we cannotstop life’s disappointments and letdowns.All we can do is equip them with life skillsto cope.”

© CTW Features

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5FRIDAY January 21, 2011

By JEFF SCHNAUFERCTW FEATURES

Not too long ago, a young woman waswalking down a street in New Jerseyon her way to her apartment com-

plex. As she walked, a car passed her,turned around and parked across thestreet. A lone male emerged from the car,following her into the complex.

But she was ready.As he attacked her from behind, she

turned towards him and delivered aroundhouse kick to his leg, sending himto the ground in pain. Realizing she hadsome sort of martial arts training, the at-tacker ran – hobbling and cursing – away.

“This art is life-saving,” says HeatherBridle, 32, who recalls the tale from oneof her students at the Kung Fu San Sooacademy in Tarzana, Calif.

From college students to college pro-fessors, women from all areas of life arefinding peace of mind – and fitness – inself-defense classes. And while there areno official statistics, some self-defense

classes are even re-porting an increase ofenrollment ofwomen.

“In my experiencethere are about twoto three women per10 men, where inpast years there mayhave been one femalefor every 20 males,”says Khadi Madama(Sijo, which is a Chi-nese martial arts titlereceived at instructorlevel), 59, of TomsRiver, N.J.

Women havedozens of self-de-fense styles to learnfrom – includingstreet smarts andmartial arts.

Women are taughtto jab, elbow, palmheel and kick to softtissue at areas such asnose, throat, top ofthe foot, knee, instepand groin. And sometechniques are moredamaging than oth-ers.

“Spiked heels work better thrust intoan eye socket than they will on a man’sshoes,” Madama says.

While techniques may differ, manyclasses teach similar philosophies.

“Being mentally and physically pre-pared will increase a woman’s options andcan lead to a successful escape,” says AmyBond, 41, a self-defense instructor, third-degree black belt in Okinawan Shido-kankarate, from Horseheads, N.Y.

“We teach that there are three ways todefend yourself: Prevention, use of yourvoice and physical retaliation,” Bond says.“Prevention is the preferred method,don’t get yourself into a situation, youdon’t have to get out of it.”

A situation can be halted without yourknowledge, simply by how you carryyourself, Bond says. “By presenting aconfident image to the world and using astrong voice, you tell a potential attackerthat you are someone who is not easilycontrolled, which is what they look for ina victim.”

Indeed, Bridle says self-defense/martialarts classes can not only help women de-fend themselves, but they can build “con-fidence, responsibility, pride in themselvesand what they can do, and in essence acontinual build on their human charac-ter.”

And don’t forget the fitness benefits –enhanced by hours-long classes featuringcardio workouts, punching and kickingbags and sparring.

“We work out a lot!” says AsiahMedawar, 19, from Hesperia, Calif., whoinitially took a self defense class to beable to defend herself after late nightclasses on her college campus. “Workoutsare four hours a day, three days a week.We start off by running two miles, go in-side and do core workouts and then wedo bag drills or gin in the ring and spar.”

Medawar’s classes, sponsored by thelocal police department, focus on boxingand teach straight punches, hooks, upper-cuts and jabs. Her stamina also has goneup.

And one extra bonus: “I really enjoyboxing,” she says. “You get all your frus-trations out.”

© CTW Features

When theBestOffenseisSelfDefense

Women’s self defense isn’t justempowering – it can be lifesaving, too

‘By presenting a confident image to theworld and using a strong voice, you tell apotential attacker that you are someonewho is not easily controlled.’— Amy Bond, 41, a self-defense instructor and third-degree black belt

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6 FRIDAY January 21, 2011

By LISA IANNUCCICTW FEATURES

At almost 60 years old, Jane Seymouris still as stunningly beautiful as shewas when she began her illustrious

film career and had her breakout role asthe Bond girl in the 1973 film “Live andLet Die.” Born the daughter of an obste-trician, you might think that the benefitsof good nutrition and exercise were in-stilled in her when she was a little girl.

“I was also the daughter of a survivorof a Japanese concentration camp inWorld War II,” she explains. “My momwanted to make up for that and cookedmainly Indonesian food, and it was goodfood, but it was the worst for you.” Hermom and her dad suffered from weightissues and her grandmother had diabetes.

As a youngster raised in the Wimbledondistrict of London, Seymour regularlydined on cheese, fried foods and friedrice, and said that she didn’t realize untilshe moved out that food wasn’t supposedto be covered in salt.

Enrolled in ballet at an early age tohelp her flat feet and speech impediment,Seymour was just 13 when she made herprofessional debut with the London Fes-tival Ballet. “I took it seriously,” she says.“I knew now that certain foods werehealthy and some weren’t, and I was al-ways careful. I was too thin for just a fewminutes but saw girls in my class die fromanorexia, and I didn’t want to be likethat.”

Unfortunately, Seymour was encour-aged to give up ballet because of her badknees, but fortunately for us, she turned

to a career in acting.She’s had many rolesthroughout her career,but her most notablewere as Cathy/KateAmes in the “East ofEden” miniseries, EliseMcKenna in the movie“Somewhere in Time”with Christopher Reeve,and Dr. Michaela “Mike”Quinn in the TV series“Dr. Quinn, MedicineWoman,” in the 1990s.(She quips, “You neversaw Dr. Quinn jump from a carriage be-cause of my knees. There was always aguy around to help her.”). She also had amemorable role in the 2005 comedy“Wedding Crashers.”

After the birth of her now 16-year oldtwins and a hard sneeze in the wrong di-rection, Seymour’s career was almosthalted with a debilitating back injury. “Iherniated a disk in my back and never ex-perienced that kind of pain before,” shesays. “I was lying on the floor and could-n’t move.”

She had emergency back surgery thenext day and took her rehab very seri-ously. “I realized that what goes wrongwith your spine is the direct result to howweak or strong your stomach musclesare,” she says. Since then she swears bystomach crunches and an exercise whereyou suck in your stomach muscles as faras you can and put your arms in a circlein front of you as if you’re hugging atree. She doesn’t work out regularly, butwhen she does she does Pilates and Gyro-tonics.

A few years ago, Seymour was ap-proached several times to become a castmember on the hit show “Dancing withthe Stars,” but she was concerned that herback wouldn’t allow her to dance. “I had-n’t danced a step in 40 years,” she says.She met with DWTS pro Tony Dovolani,who promised her that he could get herto dance without injury. The two metwith Seymour’s physiotherapist, and after

training she never needed to return totherapy. She finished the competition insixth place.

“I did pull a muscle in between my ribsduring dancing, which was painful, butoverall I loved every single minute ofdoing that show,” she says. “It was one ofthe highlights of my life. I was able toturn the clock back and with hard work,no surgery and passion. I did somethingthat was very challenging to do and verysatisfying to the 5-year-old in me who hadflat feet.”

Today, Seymour is just as busy as everwith her painting, jewelry, skincare line,film work and her newest book, “AmongAngels” which provides her thoughtsabout angels, as well as quotes from liter-ature, spiritual texts, and personal storiesthat honor the importance of the angelsamong us. Her mother, Mieke Franken-berg, died from complications related to astroke, and Seymour says that her momcommunicates with her through singlewhite feathers that randomly show upwhere they wouldn’t typically be.

“When you go through something, youhave to open your heart if you want toreceive the messages,” she says. “I gotthat from my mother, that stuff happensin life, and if you open your heart byreaching out and helping someone else’s,it will help you in return. It takes thepressure off your own grief, and you feelable to do something and that you have asense of purpose.”

© CTW Features

The TV icon reveals how ballet,back injuries and angels have

shaped her life

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7FRIDAY January 21, 2011

By DAWN KLINGENSMITHCTW FEATURES

Does the herb gingko biloba guardagainst memory loss? Forget about it.

A preponderance of research showsgingko does nothing to sharpen or pre-serve memory, nor does it stave off orslow the progress of Alzheimer’s disease.But though there’s no magic pill to keepyour mind from springing leaks, there areplenty of proven natural ways to help keepyour memory intact. Studies have shownyou can prevent cognitive decline by main-taining an overall healthy lifestyle. This in-cludes exercise, getting enough sleep, notsmoking, being social, eating a sensiblediet and limiting alcohol to one or twodrinks a day (a small amount of alcoholhas been shown to be protective, while im-moderate amounts can increase the risk ofdementia).

“Better brain health is a whole-healthissue, and we need to think of it as such,”says Dr. Cynthia Green, assistant clinicalpsychiatry professor, Mount Sinai Schoolof Medicine, New York.

What stays in your brain depends in parton what goes in your mouth. “Food is likea pharmaceutical compound that affectsthe brain,” says Dr. Fernando Gómez-Piniella, professor of neurosurgery andphysiological science, University of Cali-fornia, Los Angeles.

Studies suggest Omega-3 fatty acids(found in salmon, walnuts, kiwi fruit, toname a few) promote synaptic plasticity, orthe synapses’ ability to change strength,Gómez-Piniella says. Synapses connectneurons in the brain and are often de-

scribed as “firing” when learn-ing occurs. Memory retention also occursat the synapses.

Recent studies also have shown a lowerrisk of mental decline among people whofollow a “Mediterranean diet” rich infruits, vegetables, whole grains and healthyfats. In addition, observational studies sug-gest that a diet high in antioxidants is pro-tective of cognitive function, says Dr.Kaycee Sink, associate professor of geri-atrics and director of the Memory Assess-ment Clinic at Wake Forest UniversityBaptist Medical Center, Winston-Salem,N.C.

Neither Omega-3 fatty acids nor antiox-idants in the form of supplements hadprotective effects when studied, though.

“Follow your heart” is sound advice formaking lifestyle choices that are good forbrain health. “Anything that’s good foryour heart is good for your brain,” Sinksays, and that includes exercise as well as adiet low in animal fat and high in fruitsand veggies.

Physical fitness and mental sharp-ness go together. A study published inthe Annals of Internal Medicine foundthat adults ages 65 and older who exer-cised more than three days a week hada lower risk of dementia than theirsedentary peers. Another study lookedat teens, 30-somethings and 50-some-things who exercised and found that allthree groups had a decreased risk ofdementia in their 70s.

“You don’t need to go out and becomea marathon runner. If you’re sedentary,just going out and walking three times aweek can decrease your risk by as much ashalf,” Sink says.

Our brains need regularworkouts, too. Challeng-

ing your brain withmental exercises isbelieved to stimulatecommunicationamong brain cells.

“Brain tissue isnot a muscle,”Sink says, “but ithas the capacity

to remodel andmake new connec-

tions.”In order to do so, it needs to

be exercised by doing some-thing cognitively challenging.“Look for activities out ofyour comfort zone. If you liketo read, try a pottery class,”says Green, says Green, authorof “Brainpower Game Plan”(Rodale, 2009), her latest ofthree books on memory.

However, you don’t need topuzzle over calculus problemsor study Mandarin Chinese.Board games, crossword puz-

zles, or even a group discussion can buildmental muscle. In fact, staying social hasbeen shown to potentially cut your risk formemory impairment in half, Green says.

Multitasking leads to memory lapses be-cause our attention is too divided. “Youhave to maintain focus on something youwant to commit to memory,” Sink says.

While it’s not as though cramming newdata into our brains causes older data to“fall out,” it’s true that the brain can onlyprocess so much information at a time,she adds. And what it can’t process, it can’tretain.

© CTW Features

Sharp as a TackHow to keep the brain agilethrough bettereating, exercise and fun

“You don’t need to go outand become amarathonrunner. If you’re seden-tary, just going out andwalking three times aweek can decrease yourrisk by asmuch as half.”

—Dr. Kaycee Sink, associate professor ofgeriatrics and director of the Memory AssessmentClinic atWake Forest University

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8 FRIDAY January 21, 2011

By DANIELLE ROBINSONCTW FEATURES

Not everyone is born with a destiny,but Dr. Joel Fuhrman is an excep-tion. While pursuing a career as a

professional athlete in his youth, hewatched his father use diet and nutritionto cope with serious medical conditions.By the early 1970s, he was a member theUnited States World Figure Skating

Team and following in his father’s foot-steps by seeking out nutritious foods toimprove stamina. Afterward, when he in-herited his family’s shoe business, hecouldn’t help but feel that he wasn’t fol-lowing his true passion. Armed with theconcept that nutrition was the future ofmedicine, Fuhrman enrolled in Colum-bia University’s premedical program.

Today, he is a board-certified familyphysician with a degree from the Univer-sity of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.He has written numerous books and arti-cles linking disease prevention and nutri-tion, including “Eat to Live: TheRevolutionary Plan for Fast and Sus-tained Weight Loss” (Little, Brown &Company, 2003). Here, Dr. Fuhrmanshares how green vegetables can prevent

cancer and why olive oil isn’t as healthyas you think.

Will people lose weight with a high-nutrient diet?

I’ve seen people lose 150 pounds in ayear! This has been one of the most suc-cessful diets for dramatic and long-termweight loss. I’ve found that if people eata diet with a high-nutrient density, theylose their desire to eat more calories.Without attention to micronutrients,people get an overwhelming amount ofcravings, shakiness and overall mentalweakness when they’re not overeatingcalories. When you get into nutrient-dense foods, you find what I call truehunger, where your body becomes a pre-cise computer that tells you exactly howmuch to consume.

What’s wrong with the way Americanseat now?

On average, Americans are only eating5 percent of their daily calories fromnatural plant foods. Sixty percent of theAmerican diet is processed foods, andabout 26 percent is made up of animalproducts. If we want to put a dent in thecancer epidemic, Americans are going tohave to eat a dramatically higher percent-age of produce in their diets. If you re-ally want to win the war on cancer, wehave to go from 5 percent to 60 percentor 80 percent. We can have a society thatwins the war on cancer and heart attacksin America.

A poor diet can lead to cancer?It’s well-established that high-protein

diets increase the risk of cancer. It raisesa hormone that is dramatically linked tobreast and prostate cancer. We shouldmost likely be eating a diet with about 10percent of calories from animal protein.I also feel strongly that, due to the in-creased amount of processed foods andfast foods in our diets, we’re going to seea huge amount of people dying of dis-eases due to nutritional ignorance. I’mpredicting that we’ll see more peopledying of breast cancer, pancreatic cancerand colon cancer, and dying at evenyounger ages. There’s a link betweenprocessed meats and childhood cancers.We can’t expect to feed our children fastfoods and processed foods and not see abiological cause-and-effect.

What exactly is ‘processed’ food?You might consider a hot dog a

processed food, but I consider it an ani-mal product. For me, processed foodsare products containing white flour,white sugar and oil products. If you lookat the micronutrient content of aprocessed food, it usually doesn’t have ahundredth of the nutrient value of awhole food. All nutritional value is lostin processing, so Americans are just tak-ing in calories, without the micronutri-ents that would have been present in thewhole-food form.

What about olive and nut oils?I consider any kind of oil a processed

food. Oil doesn’t grow on a tree. There’sa completely different biological effectwhen you eat a walnut as opposed towalnut oil. Whole walnuts have beneficialeffects, anti-cancer effects, anti-inflam-matory effects. When you take in oil, allthe fat and calories are absorbed withinthree minutes. In other words, I’m claim-ing that Americans eat over 400 caloriesa day from oils, and that’s a big part ofthe obesity epidemic.

Your food pyramid has nuts and avo-cado – foods with very high fat con-tent – as the third largest food group.Whatmakes these fats OK?

If we look at the science of the litera-ture, people who eat nuts and seeds on aregular basis – three or more times perweek – have a 60-percent lower risk ofcardiac arrest and sudden death. We’renot saying people shouldn’t eat fat; theyshould eat fat from whole plant foodsinstead of animal products. When eatinglots of nutrient-dense, powerful anti-cancer foods, a lot of the beneficial nu-trients are fat-soluble, so you need fat toget the most out of these foods.

What foods will help people fight cancer?The foods that show the most power-

ful protection against cancer are greenvegetables, mushrooms and onions.Green vegetables should be both rawand cooked. We recommend that peo-ple have a salad every day, as well as acooked dish, with cooked greens andcooked mushrooms and onions, as well.

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Ask theExperts:Dr. Joel FuhrmanThenatural-healthexpertandauthorof‘Eat toLive’explainshowanyonecanliveforacentury