By Kathryn Kingen

I truly was blessed with the best Mom there ever was. Through her I know that mothers are magical, intuitive, all knowing protectors of the hearts they love. They nudge and guide us in ways that even they don't know are brilliant. Moms know what we need (our vegetables) and what we lack (a nap) and love to complement our finest features (which no doubt came from her marvelous genes). But, what the heck? How is it that it takes years of longitudinal studies, extensive scientific analysis and a paper in a prestigious journal to simply repeat what your Mama told you? If we would just listen we could avoid so much trouble! But nnnooooo. Us kids have to learn the hard way.

A new study published in JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association, spells it all out. A whopping 45.4% of cardio-metabolic deaths (heart disease, stroke and diabetes) are due to what we eat, or what we don't. Healthy eating could potentially reduce these untimely deaths by half! Hello! Here is how they break it down. First, the largest number of diet-related demises are due to not eating enough delicious seafood (7.8%). Wow Salty's is happy to help you out with this one. Second, not eating enough colorful vegetables (7.6%), and fruits (7.5%). Fourth, not eating enough protein packing nuts and seeds (8.5%). On the flip side, the bad guys that caused the deadly drama were from eating too much sodium (9.5%), processed meats (8.2%), and high sugar drinks (7.4%).*

Renata Micha, assistant research professor at Tufts and lead author on this paper said, "So simply as a take-home message of our findings: Try to eat more of the good and less of the bad. Basically, eat more fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, whole grains, vegetable oils and fish; and eat less salt, processed meats and sugary-sweetened beverages. Start by making one healthier choice each day and build on it." So we should do more good things for our bodies and keep the naughty stuff to a bare minimum. For all the love and nurturing they gave us, this Mother's Day it's time to say a big thank you to Mom, she was right after all.*

As is so often the case, it's all about inspiration and moderation. Our Chef Jeremy's Mom begat a great master of cuisine; to learn more about how she inspired him check out her wise ideas in his blog, A Mother's True Love.

* http://www.wbur.org/commonhealth/2017/03/07/deadly-diets-study-tufts
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23498100

(Author of Good for You, Kathryn Hilger Kingen is also co-owner along with husband and founder Gerald Robert Kingen for Salty's Seafood Grills restaurant group. Seattle's Eastside magazine 425 readers voted her Best Food Blogger in both 2015 and 2014. She has a degree in nutrition from the University of Washington and has been blogging about nutrition since the early days of Red Robin which husband Gerald also founded.)