I write about health and food. My husband Mike writes, too, but about technology. Every once in a while, our areas of specialization overlap.

Today Mike wrote about our daily walks together. While walking, we listen to podcasts, talk (both on the phone and to each other) and do other things. By using technology, we combine learning, talking and exercise -- and save a lot of time. You can, too.

Here's what my husband wrote about what he calls a "cell phone-based exercise program."

Your mom was right: eating your fruits and veggies is good for you. Researchers agree that flavonoids found in fruits and vegetables help protect health. In a recent study conducted by scientists in Italy, results show that flavonoids (antioxidants compounds found in plant foods) may reduce the risk of ovarian cancer.

Some 21,000 American women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer this year. Only about 6,000 will survive five years or more.

There is no question that whole plant foods such as fruits, vegetables, beans, grains, nuts and seeds are good for us. The question is: Why are we eating processed and adulterated foods instead of fresh, raw, whole organic produce when we know that one causes cancer and the other protects us from cancer?

What this really means is that our bodies are designed to be sustained by a diet consisting of mostly plant-based whole foods. The conspicuous absence of healthy foods makes us sick.

Put another way, eating 8 to 10 servings of fruits and veggies along with beans, whole grains, nuts and seeds will give your body what it expects to receive to its job defending itself from constant attacks from toxins and free radicals responsible for causing cancer and other illnesses. Add daily exercise into the equation and you' are not only equipped with a strong immune system but also with overall optimum health.

So much of our health science seems to seek as the ultimate goal a pill that will reverse the effects of junk food without making the patient actually give up that junk.

The subtext of this cultural reductionism is that altering, extracting from, isolating, adulterating and fabricating foods is not to be questioned. We just need to keep trying to reverse-engineer nature so that we can get the benefits of healthy foods without having to actually eat them.

Instead of trying to reverse engineer, adulterate, modify, isolate and "enhance" natural foods, all we really need to do is enjoy them -- and the wonderful health they give us when we don't tinker with them.

Your mother was right. Broccoli is good for you. Researchers at the University of Warwick have found that sulforaphane, a compound found in Broccoli, helps repair heart blood vessels damaged by diabetes. Diabetics are five times more susceptible to heart attacks and strokes due to damaged blood vessels caused high levels of glucose. Sulfuraphane promotes increased production of enzymes, which protect blood vessels against radicals called Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) reducing them in the body by 73%. The study also found that sulforaphane activates a protein called nrf2, which in turn activates beneficial antioxidants and detoxifying enzymes that protect cells and tissues in the body. What we should take from this we are designed to eat vegetables in plentiful amounts. Each vegetable we eat is a power house of nutrients we don't fully understand. Without a healthy diet, the body suffers. By all means, eat broccoli, but the larger message is to eat a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, along with grains, beans, nuts and seeds--all plant foods full of whole nutrients of the diet that Mother Nature intended for us to eat.

Peppers are often thought of as flavorings -- a way to spice up a meal. In fact, they're healthy super-foods. One small pepper, for example, can provide 100% of the daily requirement of vitamin C. And they have many other vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.

It’s the beginning of August, and fresh peppers are now in peak season. Take advantage!

Be careful: Stores often mislabel fresh poblano peppers as “passilla” and “ancho.” Sometimes poblanos are even mistaken with Anaheim peppers. The farmer I bought my poblano peppers from had a sign saying “ancho” peppers, which should only be called that in their dried form.

Poblanos are fresh, dark green chili peppers with a distinct flavor and aroma. They're not spicy, but darker ones tend to be spicier. These peppers have a medium length and taper from top to bottom. They are not as wide as bell peppers or as skinny as Anaheim peppers. Poblano peppers originate in Puebla, Mexico, which is where they get their name. They make the best Mexican-style stuffed peppers. Don't fry them! Just bake for better taste and maximum health.

Ancho peppers are dried poblano chili peppers. They neither look nor taste like fresh poblano peppers. Ancho peppers, when mature, turn dark red and, when dried, take on a dark, reddish brown color.

Pasilla peppers are dried chilaca chili peppers, which in their fresh form are dark green, but when dried turn dark brown or blackish. Both fresh and dried forms are spicy hot.

I did some research online and, to my dismay, found some web sites with the wrong information about the their names, what they are and how they're used. It’s perplexing as to why peppers are so misunderstood and why people who should know better mislabel them so carelessly.

I know people who are great cooks and who are not afraid to use exotic or unusual ingredients. But I've found myself correcting them when they call poblano peppers pasilla peppers or vise versa.

It’s a problem because recipes often call for different kinds of peppers -- including poblano, pasilla and ancho or even Anaheim peppers -- which serve entirely different roles in cooking. When stores or farmers mislabel the peppers, people end up buying the wrong ones. And it's no small error. There is a vast difference between poblano and ancho or between poblano and pasilla. Ninety percent of the time these peppers cannot be used interchangeably in the same way that green bell peppers cannot be used interchangeably with ground black pepper.

Though poblano and ancho are the same pepper, one is fresh and the other dried. One can be stuffed and the other cannot. And their flavors and textures are completely different. Using the right peppers is important.

August, September and even October are good months to explore all the flavors and variety organic peppers have to offer -- and only for a fraction of what they cost other times of the year when they’re imported, expensive and not so flavorful.

What are the benefits of eating a natural, organic vegetarian diet? One way to find out is to read the volumes of scientific data about how organic plant foods benefit health. Another way is to see how people who "walk the walk" get sick -- or don't get sick.

Monks on the Greece's Mount Athos eat vegan for most of the year, and for the remainder are mostly vegetarian. They eat wild fish and octopus very occasionally.

The produce they eat isn't from the industrialized food system, but from their own gardens.

So how are they doing health-wise? It's astonishing, really. A major study of their health revealed that, even though monks often live beyond 100 years of age, they have zero incidents of the following diseases:

1. Alzheimer’s
2. lung bowel and bladder cancer

And they have almost no heart disease, cardiac arrests or strokes.

In fact, they're among the most healthy populations on Earth. Read more about it on my other blog, The Spartan Diet blog.

Becoming a skillful shopper, a good cook and smart eater is much simpler than you might think. It does require planning, organizational skills and a good attitude, but anybody can do it. The benefits of educated shopping and healthy cooking and eating far outweigh any perceived inconvenience.

The act of getting food on the table becomes whatever you make it. Treating food as some time-wasting but necessary chore, makes it just that. But choosing healthy meal preparation as an act of love transforms all aspects of it into a deeply fulfilling experience. It is wonderfully gratifying to choose your own food, know where it comes from, prepare it with your own hands, eat it joyfully, and watch your loved ones savor the fruits of your labor.

So by all means, learn the skills. But also cultivate a love of healthy cooking. Here are my 12 steps on how to shop, cook and eat for maximum health.