Top 10 foods for 2010 Part III

Simply put, it's the juice of an olive and it's filled a wide assortment of substances that offer a diverse range of health perks. Besides being a monounsaturated fat, EVOO is chock full of compounds with health-promoting effects. In fact, it's the same substances that provide olive oil's distinctive tastes and colours that are responsible for all kinds of weaponry against disease.

These small packages of goodness continue to impress - a decreased risk of diabetes, blood cholesterol lowering and anti-cancer action is just the tip of the iceberg. Dig in, but practice portion control. They're super as snacks to bridge the gap between meals.

Also known as legumes, dried peas and beans, pulses just don't get the respect they deserve. True, they're thought of as peasant food but these days, that's not such a bad thing. Put that together with the research that shows these foods can reduce blood cholesterol levels, help to regulate blood sugar and blood-pressure readings, and legumes are a clear winner as a meat substitute. The one drawback is flatulence - but if you consume these foods regularly, you can reap the benefits without the unwanted side effects.

While it's not a food and you likely can't get enough of it just eating food, vitamin D can't be left off the top 10 list for 2010. The sunshine vitamin, as it's also known, used to be considered mainly for its role in keeping bones healthy. But after years of people practicing safe sun habits and levels of vitamin D dropping, the potential costs to health of vitamin D shortages are now coming to light.
And they are staggering: Just the impact on immune-system functioning alone is astounding. Besides compromising our ability to fight illness, a deficit of vitamin D is linked to an epidemic of type 1 diabetes in children and other autoimmune diseases like MS. It's also being named as a culprit in the development of a number of cancers as well as heart disease. Experts are now saying that adults should take a supplement of 1,000 IU per day.

source by http://lifestyle.ca.msn.com