The Magnificent Seven

My favorite all-time movie. I've seen it dozens of times. That's the film with the "Marlboro" theme song.

Seven cowboys ride into a Mexican village and save the day by defeating tyranny. Seven magical characters. Seven stars of the silver screen, including Steve McQueen, Yul Brenner, Charles Bronson, James Coburn, Robert Vaughn, Horst Buchholz, and, who was that seventh guy, the one who gets the girl?

In any event, today's column is about seven super-stars in the plant kingdom. Foods that should form the backbone of everybody's diet. Magic foods that contain enormous amounts of plant chemicals including isoflavones, phytochemicals, and bioflavonoids. Vitamins, enzymes, minerals, and nutrients.

THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN

In alphabetical order:

• Apples
• Bananas
• Broccoli
• Cantaloupe
• Carrots
• Oranges
• Soybeans

THE PERFECT FOOD FOR BABY HUMANS

Human breast milk - H milk - provides everything for humans under the age of one year. Milk from a nursing mother is nature's perfect formula for infants.

I compared some of the key elements of human breast milk (seven hundred grams) to one hundred grams of each of the magnificent plant foods.

Does an apple a day keep the doctor away? You decide the benefits after reviewing this information:

A diet consisting of 700 grams of the magnificent seven (Mag-7) contains less calories than the seven hundred grams of human breast milk (H-Milk), 490 to 476.

The Mag-7 contains more than 3 times as much protein and 2.8 times as much essential fat (omega 3, omega 6), and 78% more carbohydrates as does H-milk.

The H-milk does contain more calcium, 224 milligrams to 196 milligrams for the Mag-7, but the Mag-7 has nearly 35 times as much iron, 9 times as much magnesium, 8 times as much manganese, 4 times as much potassium, twice as much sodium, phosphorus, zinc, and copper, and about ten percent more selenium.

HOW ABOUT VITAMINS?

The Mag-7 group contains 6 times as much vitamin C as does the H-milk. Mag-7 also contains 5 times as much thiamin and folate, 20 times as much vitamin A, 17 times as much vitamin B-6, and nearly 3 times the levels of niacin and riboflavin.

I am not suggesting that human adults drink human breast milk. We have better foods. Fresh fruits and vegetables, and sprouted legumes.

The Magnificent Seven insured the health and safety of the peace-loving peasants by defeating invading banditos, and the magnificent 7 plant-based foods will protect you from a more powerful group of invaders-- cancer, osteoporosis, and heart disease.