There’s a peppery green related to mustard and garden cress that your lungs truly love. It’s watercress. In fact, a daily bowl may protect against lung cancer, according to John La Puma, MD, author of ChefMD’s Big Book of Culinary Medicine.

A Lung-Loving Substance
In a study of both smokers and nonsmokers, those who ate about a cereal-bowl’s worth of fresh watercress daily for 8 weeks had less DNA damage to white blood cells — with smokers seeing the most significant benefit. Makes sense, since it’s also thought that the isothiocyanates in watercress may thwart a potent carcinogen in tobacco, according to La Puma. And watercress is darn nutritious to boot. It’s chock-full of vitamins, iron, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, and lutein, as well as mustard oil.

Where to Get the Good Stuff
One quick and easy way to get watercress? Drink a V8. It’s one of the main vegetables in the juice. But if you’d rather eat your cress than drink it, try making this simple Watercress Salad from EatingWell. Or, for something jazzier, cook up these Beef, Watercress and Roquefort Burgers.

Give your skin inside-out protection from the sun by putting these four items into your shopping cart: pomegranates, tomatoes, dark chocolate, and tea.

The antioxidants in this tasty quartet of treats may help thwart skin cancer, according to John La Puma, MD, author of ChefMD’s Big Book of Culinary Medicine.

Sunblock Effects
No food can replace the awesome sun-busting power of sunscreen, but some foods may work their way from the inside out to give your skin a little extra protection. The antioxidants in pomegranates, tomatoes, dark chocolate, and tea “can migrate to upper layers of your skin, bolstering resistance to ultraviolet damage,” La Puma writes.

3 Steps to Super Skin
Most of us know someone who’s had something worrisome removed. Save yourself from joining their ranks by taking these simple skin-saving steps:

1. Slather it on — lots of it. You don’t want to skimp on sunscreen.
2. Check yourself — and your loved ones. Regular skin self-exams can reduce your risk of dying of melanoma by 44 percent!
3. Start early. About 50–80 percent of a person’s lifetime risk of skin damage happens during childhood.