I like to experiment in the kitchen and use modern superfoods, but my mother likes to eat traditional foods. Here are a number of them with some of their health benefits.

Part 3 of an article originally published on April 28, 2023 in The Road to Wellness on Medium

Here’s the first part of this article, published on this blog two days ago, and here’s the second part, published yesterday.

Disclaimer: I am not a medical or health practitioner, and no part of This Blog, or the articles, websites, and products I mention and link to on This Blog, is intended as professional medical or health advice, and should not be considered as such. Consult with your doctor(s) about starting any course of treatment, taking any supplements, or changing any (dietary, exercise, etc.) routines. Note that natural supplements and even some foods may interfere with certain medications. Also ask your doctor(s) about potential allergies you may have, including cross-reactive allergies. Some allergens can cause anaphylaxis. Here are my Full Terms and Conditions.

Disclosure: This blog post contains some affiliate links. If you click on (any of) them and make a purchase, they generate revenue for this blog (at no extra cost to you!). I am a Zazzle Associate and designer, and I earn commissions when you buy products through my referral links. All affiliate links on this blog are identified as such. Here’s my Full Disclosure.

Walnuts

While I grind seeds quite often to eat with yogurt or add to doughs, my mother likes to crack walnuts the old-fashioned way. She takes great pleasure in it, actually.

Walnuts are richer (by far) in ALA omega-3 fatty acids than other nuts. Omega-3 fats lower triglycerides. They also have other polyunsaturated fats, along with monounsaturated fats, which lower cholesterol levels. In fact, a 2015 study shows that walnuts lowered TC and LDL cholesterol significantly in 112 people aged 25 to 75 at risk for diabetes who ate 2 ounces/56 grams of walnuts daily for six weeks. It’s important to note that this result was independent of whether the participants adjusted or not their diets with regard to the extra 366 calories obtained from their daily handful of walnuts. The latter also improved their endothelial function, which plays a critical role in cardiovascular health. The participants reaped all these benefits without their body mass index, percent body fat, or visceral fat changing in significant ways.

Walnuts are also super rich in vitamin E, 100 grams of walnuts provide 140% of this vitamin. Incidentally, this is why it’s important not to overdo it with walnuts, especially if we get vitamin E from other sources as well (such as omega-3 supplements, which often include a form of tocopherol as well), as vitamin E is a blood thinner. Also, walnuts do have some saturated fats as well.

Walnuts also contain folate and vitamin B6, along with several minerals. But that’s not all, as walnuts are also an important source of antioxidant polyphenols, among them catechin and epicatechin, ellagic acid, and phytic acid.

While my mother doesn’t eat a handful of nuts as I do (for the most part), and as some of my friends weaned on modern nutritional advice do, she does eat them often enough. She also likes to eat trail mix, but she finds her teeth are not strong enough to handle the almonds in it.

Fish

My mother also loves fish — adores it, even. I have always loved trout and salmon, but after paying more attention to Mom’s preferences — for gilt-head sea bream and European sea bass — I’ve started to notice new flavors in fish and think of new ways to prepare it.

Sea bass and sea bream are not oily fish, but they do have omega-3 fats. These fish and others also have vitamins D and B2, along with many important minerals: calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, iron, potassium, and iodine. And sea bass and sea bream have a nice mild flavor, different from some of the oily fish such as sardines and mackerel, and they are low in mercury, which can be a problem with some types of mackerel, for instance, and also, famously, with tuna.

Cooking fish doesn’t have to be complicated, either. Mom makes a dressing of garlic, olive oil, lime juice, Dijon mustard, salt, pepper, and parsley (it sounds like a lot, but it’s not, really); add that on top of the fish before baking it in a folded pouch of parchment paper (en papillote), and it works wonders. But I also like the plain fish meat, such as when she gives these fish a coat of polenta and then fries them.

All that is to say that I learned from Mom the importance of enjoying fish, which is something very much needed if we are to get at least the recommended two portions of fish a week. My go-to fish has been either salmon or canned sardines and herring, which has to change, especially as some cans are either super oily or thick with a tomato sauce I don’t enjoy (because it has a preservative that gives me acid reflux).

As for the omega-3 content, Mom takes a supplement, too, as I do.

Meat

My mother thinks it’s important to eat meat now and then. She says that families had it right in the past when as a child, she had meat only on Sundays.

On my part, I find meat less and less appetizing as time goes by (unless it’s highly seasoned), but I tend to agree with her that a little bit of meat might be okay for me too.

Continued in Part 4.

And Here Are Part 1 and Part 2

And now here are some of my products with 35 foods that help lower cholesterol. Again, talk to your doctor first. This list, originally inspired by Chef Braux’s How to Lower Your Cholesterol with French Gourmet Food (affiliate link) and extended with more recent research of my own, is meant for information purposes only. Remember that some people have a hard time lowering their cholesterol with food and walking along with one dance class a week, as he did, or even with food and regular exercise, and they may need an allopathic treatment. Personally, however, I managed to improve my cholesterol and triglyceride levels about a year ago after a detox diet and then by including more cholesterol-reducing foods in my daily meals, and I managed that at the time with minimal exercise—well, I did go often for acupuncture and chiropractic treatments, so that counted too as exercise, I guess.

Here’s my list of 35 foods that help reduce cholesterol naturally. They include almonds, apples, avocado, garlic, lentils, onion, olive oil, lentils, persimmons (kakis), pistachios, prunes, salmon, walnuts, and many others. Enjoy!

Please note that the writing is much crisper on the actual products. Just click on the images to see them on Zazzle.

Thank you for reading! I hope you’ve enjoyed this article. As always, pins and shares are much appreciated!

To a happier, healthier life,

Mira