NOVEMBER 2003

We got an email from a friend today who said it was “Beautiful Women’s Month”. I believe that means all of us and certainly all of you. It came with all the fun facts I’m sure you’ve seen like, “If Barbie was a real woman, she’d have to walk on all fours due to her proportions.” And “Marilyn Monroe was a size ___” (I’ve seen 10-14!) There was one I hadn’t seen before which was cute and it made me wonder if everyone read it differently:

An English professor wrote words on a blackboard and asked
the students to punctuate it correctly. The words were
"Woman without her man is nothing"
The men wrote: "Woman, without her man is nothing."
The women wrote: "Woman! Without her, man is nothing."

I guess the point is that we are nothing without each other! On that note, on to the business at hand. This month, if you have any money left in your flexible spending plan (FSP), you may want to use it to buy Oöna…we’ll entice you to do that. Also in this issue, is interesting new way to choose food and decrease caloric intake, the difference between soy supplements and soy foods and powders, good news for menopause women at cancer risk, and since it’s apple season, maybe we can find something interesting about them that we didn’t know.

BIG HAIR IS OUT, BIG FOOD IS IN
It’s not big hair, and I like Jennifer Aniston, but I am looking forward to the day that hair style is out. Isn’t ten years of JA look a-likes enough? But big food? I’m in. This theory on food has to do with it’s “energy density” defined as the amount of calories per gram. A food has low energy density if it has fewer calories relative to its weight or up to 1.5 calories per gram, 1.5 to 4 are medium and over 4 calories per gram are high density foods. “Big foods” would be considered those that contain a lot of fiber and water. The example given was chicken soup has just 0.5 calories per gram would be just as filling and less fattening than cheese ravioli at 3.2 calories per gram. Some are obvious like this one, but others are less obvious like cream of broccoli soup has an energy density of 0.8 while graham crackers have a density of 4.2 calories/gram. And there are ways to lower the density of foods. If for example you really prefer full-fat salad dressing you can lower the density by adding a lot more vegetables. The idea behind this is apparently backed by numerous studies (presented at the North American Association for the Study of Obesity) that show that we are more satisfied by the amount of food we eat without regard to calorie content. The overall effect by eating high density foods is the consumption of less calories and feeling satisfied. Some guidelines to lower the energy density of foods are 1. Consume far more fruits, vegetables, salads and soups – this may include adding more vegetables to stews and casseroles. 2. Use the blender, smoothies fill you up the longer they are whipped and 3. Substitute high density foods when you can like switching to low-fat dressings cheeses and cooking oils. (This is based on a report in the Wall St. Journal Tuesday, October 14, 2003 front page of the Personal Journal by Tara Parker-Pope)

SOY SUPPLEMENTS
We get a lot of questions about the differences between soy supplements and soy foods. We always say that you should eat soy foods because soy supplements are often stripped of other nutrients and compounds that contribute to their health benefits. This is also complicated by the fact that isoflavones exist in two forms: aglycones (non-sugar form) and glycosides (sugar form). The non sugar form is much more easily absorbed and you should check the label that lists the aglycone forms. The best way to take soy supplements is to take them with soy foods – it insures that you have all the bioavailability to absorb the supplement. For the full story go to
http://www.newhope.com/nfm-online/nfm_backs/nov_03/soyscience_s2.cfm and http:///www.naturalfoodsmerchandiser.com/asp/articleDisplay.asp?
strArticleId=604&strSite=NFMSite

MENOPAUSE WOMEN AT RISK FOR BREAST CANCER
Very exciting news this month and if you or someone you care about is at risk of recurring breast cancer. Until now, if a woman's cancer is estrogen sensitive (and many are) she would take tamoxifen for 5 years, which is remarkably effective. After 5 years, the drug looses its benefit but the effects of the drug can last for years. Now, a woman can take a new drug, letrozole (Femara) after their five years of tamoxifen and cut that yearly risk in half. The study will be published this month (Nov. 6th) in the New England Journal of Medicine. Click here for more information. (Interesting side note: that's how the founder of Oöna got into this business. She had a catalog for women living with breast cancer and tamoxifen can cause women to have menopausal symptoms. She did research and created Oöna)

• Apples are most known for being low in calories and high in fiber (5 grams per apple) Fiber intake also has been shown to reduce intestinal disorders and the water-soluable fiber fraction in apple pectin has been shown to low cholesterol-lowering effects (you can bet they are a low density food).
• Did you know they were also high in potassium? The nutritional outline looks like this:

  Calories 80
  Carbohydrates 18
  Fat (grams) 1
  Fiber (grams) 5
  Cholesterol 0
  Sodium 0
  Potassium (mg) 170

• There are 2,500 varieties of apples grown in the US. The taste of apples depends on many factors - latitude, terrain, weather, and the care with which they were grown. 15 popular varieties (you know them delicious, jonathan, granny smith, etc.) account for 90% of US production.
• Apples are a member of the rose family.
  
• Americans eat 19.6 pounds or about 65 fresh apples every year, while Europeans eat about 46 pounds of apples annually.
  
• 25 percent of an apple's volume is air. That is why they float.
• Apples are the second most valuable fruit grown in the United States. Oranges are first.
• Archeologists have found evidence that humans have been enjoying apples since lat least 6500 B.C.
  
• Apples have 5 seeds. There are five seed pockets, each with a seed, in an apple.

Believe it or not there are a ton more apples facts, go to http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/apples/facts.html

That's it for this month! As always, check out our website for lots more information at www.oonahealth.com.

In Good Health,
The Oöna Team
Questions or comments? Write valerie@oonahealth.com

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