Surprising Benefits of Pumpkin This large orange ball is one of nature’s nutritional powerhouses -- it’s packed with more than 100 beneficial nutrients that can improve our beauty exercise and health, including skin-protecting beta-carotenes and disease-fighting antioxidants. Here, are the main reasons this gourd’s righteousness is a gift we should indulge in all year.
Get Glowing
Pumpkin packs powerful one-two strength when it comes to skin care. It contains potent alpha hydroxy acids, a natural fruit acid that helps clear off old skin cells to reveal a radiant complexion, plus vitamin A, which helps increase the rate of cell renewal to present younger-looking with softer skin.
Defend Against Disease
One of the most nutrient-rich foods out there, pumpkin is packed with disease-fighters, usually a turbo-charged combination of carotenoids. The National Cancer Institute estimates that up to 30 percent of all cancers can be prevented by eating the right foods, such as those rich in carotene, like pumpkin (just a 1/2 cup serving satisfies twice the recommended intake of alpha-carotene and 100 percent of beta-carotene).
Up Protection
There’s a reason why mom insist we complete our carrots: Like the pumpkin, they’re loaded with beta-carotenes, an antioxidant with serious oomph. Not only is beta-carotene responsible for pumpkin’s just, deep-orange color, it also provides effective protection against free-radical damage caused by the sun’s harmful rays. Applied topically, pumpkin extract can even improve the effectiveness of sunscreen and shield skin from other environmental factors, including air pollution, stress and secondhand smoke.
Think Faster and Better
Want a no-fuss, no-muss alternative to the sometimes-awkward gourd? Try pumpkin seeds; they’re renowned for being an excellent source of zinc and omega-3 fatty acids, both of which not only help promote healthy bone density but can also improve our cognitive skills.
Erase Years
Rich in essential fatty acids, pumpkin is an effective way to diminish fine lines and wrinkles. It’s also loaded with vitamin C, which has been proved to stimulate collagen production and prevent the collapse of elastin. Pumpkins are also packed with sodium hyaluronate to hydrate and chubby skin.
Improve Oral Care Looking to upgrade our dental care?
Try a little pumpkin seed oil when cooking; it’s used effectively to help with the prevention of cavities and tooth decay.
Monthly Archives: March 2014
TCM Chinese Herbs – What is Sea Buckthorn?
Sea Buckthorn
Sea buckthorn primarily grows in shady areas in colder climates such as China, Russia, and Canada. Every part of the sea buckthorn plant is used for healing — the small branches, leaves, skin, pulp and seeds. It can boost your immune system, heal serious skin ailments such as eczema and radiation burns, and help to fight fatigue and boost energy.
Sea Buckthorn is full of nutrients and has a nutrient combination that increases its healing abilities.
For instance, the seeds contain high levels of antioxidants such as vitamin C and E, and flavonoids, which help to strengthen one immune system and protect one from disease, and strengthen one heart. It’s also loaded with essential fatty acids, in particular palmitoleic acid, which is a component of skin.
If one is looking for natural alternatives to the beauty products found in your local pharmacy, sea buckthorn should be at the top of your list. The essential fatty acids and antioxidants are potent skin protectors and healers.
Like the acai berry, sea buckthorn is used to treat inflammation, making it beneficial for treating skin conditions such as acne, dermatitis, or eczema. It can also heal wounds, sunburns, and improve the collagen level in skin. Sea buckthorn also mirrors acai in its ability to lower cholesterol, and improve cardiovascular function.
External Benefits of Sea Buckthorn
For thousands of years, herbalists in many parts of the world have lauded the miraculous skin healing benefits of the Sea Buckthorn plant, and it appears that more recently, many of the larger skin care companies are beginning to sit up and take notice as well.
Sea buckthorn is now a common ingredient in many brand name skin care products, especially those companies which boast an “All natural” approach to skin health and restoration.
Sea Buckthorn is a plant which grows primarily in colder climates and is widespread in areas of northern China, Russia and even parts of Canada. The plant produces a golden-orange berry which is rich in antioxidants, vitamin A, vitamin C and vitamin E, along with fatty acids and oils essential for cardiovascular and overall skin health.
The Topical Benefits of Sea Buckthorn Extract
As a topical formula, the bio-active extract of the sea buckthorn plant’s seeds, pulp and kernels has been shown to have a number of amazing benefits and is used as a dermatological application for everything from anti-aging and anti wrinkling to wound and burn healing and skin restoration.
Anti-wrinkle and Anti-aging
Those looking to attain a more youthful appearance and glow, and slow the process of natural skin aging, will benefit immensely from products containing sea buckthorn extract. Research conducted in China and across Europe shows that the extract of the sea buckthorn plant is highly effective for reducing the appearance of wrinkles, and retards the process of skin maturation to produce a noticeable anti-aging effect. Commonly used in a variety of lotions and anti-aging creams, sea buckthorn seems to improve the skin’s metabolism, and because of the high levels of vitamin E and vitamin A, deeply softens skin and makes it more resistant to both external and internal irritants. Additional internal health benefits of Sea Buckthorn can be found here.
Sun-Block and Tan Enhancer
Sea buckthorn is commonly found in both sun-block and tan-enhancing products. The extract from the sea buckthorn berry absorbs harmful ultraviolet rays and protect the skin from potentially dangerous sun exposure. Sea buckthorn oil is also very high in beta-carotene which, when used as a tan enhancer, works to naturally and gradually bronze and beautify the skin.
Wound Care and Skin Restoration
Much of the research involving the sea buckthorn berry is concentrated on its ability to heal wounds and soothe burns, along with its effectiveness in restoring the overall health of the skin. This research seems to support that sea buckthorn extract can actually promote skin cell regeneration, helping wounds to heal more rapidly, while restoring, healing and rebalancing the skin. Sea buckthorn oil is commonly found in a number of skin-healing products and is exceedingly useful in the treatment of burns, skin ulcers, acne, dermatitis and even skin cancer.
Aside from being effective in the fight against many forms of skin disease, sea buckthorn berries also help boost the immune system, and the rich levels of vitamin A and vitamin E make the extract the perfect solution in the fight against free radicals in the body which can ultimately damage the skin.
Internal Benefits of Sea Buckthorn
It’s an orange berry that has been used medicinally in Asia and Europe for hundreds of years, and its long history in traditional medicine around the world also bolsters its healthy reputation. Now, it’s the West’s turn to reap the benefits of this truly awesome fruit.
Sea buckthorn, a deciduous shrub native to the mountainous regions of China and Russia, the country remains the number one exporter of the extract, but other countries, including Canada and many European nations are producing large amounts of sea buckthorn to meet an increasing worldwide demand. China offers a number of well documented health benefits, and is rapidly gaining popularity throughout the world as a nutritional and medicinal supplement. Originally grown to help prevent soil erosion in the treeless regions of China, this powerful plant provides natural treatment solutions for a number of different conditions.
The sea buckthorn plant produces a small, orange-colored berry, rich in vitamin C, vitamin E, beta-carotene, fatty acids (omega-3, omega-6, and omega-9 oils), flavonoids, amino acids, and a number of other minerals and bio-active compounds. The extract from the pulp and seeds is available in many different forms, including juices, teas and capsule supplements.
Sea Buckthorn Benefits
Extensive research in China and Europe has uncovered a number of potential health benefits associated with the sea buckthorn plant. When used as a topical application (creams, oils and lotions), for example, sea buckthorn has been proven effective in the treatment of burns and wounds, and a number of other skin conditions. You can follow the link to discover more about the external health benefits of Sea Buckthorn. When taken internally--usually in the form of juices, teas and supplements—sea buckthorn may help to treat and prevent many dangerous conditions.
Vitamin E, Ascorbic acid, fatty acids, protein (specifically albumins and globulins) can also be found in sea buckthorn. Plus, it has bioactive substances and protein that all play a role in healing and rejuvenation. Although the level of nutrients in sea buckthorn varies depending on where it’s grown, it’s still by far one of the most nutritious fruits on the planet.
Sea buckthorn been used for over a thousand years in China to improve digestion, promote blood circulation, and relieve cough and chronic pain.
In Russia, the oil from sea buckthorn seeds is used to treat burns, eczema, frostbite, lupus, and psoriasis. Mongolians treat colitis and enterocolitis with extracts from the branches and leaves.
Sea buckthorn is commonly added to prescriptions in Indian medicine to treat metabolic, gastro-intestinal, cardiac, and blood disorders. In ancient Tibetan medicine, sea buckthorn is a remedy for cough, colds, fever, inflammation, toxicity, abscesses, colon cleansing, gynecological diseases, and tumors (mainly in esophagus and stomach).
Here we take a closer look at some of those benefits:
Cardiovascular and Cerebral
The sea buckthorn plant contains many ingredients vital to both cardiovascular and cerebral health. The oil from the seeds, which contains flavonoids and fatty acids such as omega-3 oil, helps to reduce blood fat levels, and the vitamins from the extract help to boost the immune system, which in turn helps to build stronger blood vessels.
Of the many unsaturated fatty acids contained in the sea buckthorn plant, linoleic acid helps to reduce and regulate blood pressure, while oleic acid helps to reduce and control cholesterol. This combination, according to experts, is extremely important in the prevention of heart attacks and strokes.
Gastrointestinal
Sea Buckthorn contains a number of important anti-inflammatory and anti-ulcer substances. The oil in the plant provides a protective coating to the lining of the stomach and helps to ease inflammation. The anti-inflammatory agents, such as sitosterol and usorlic acid help to prevent and contain the spread of gastric ulcers, while the oil limits and regulates the production of gastric acid.
Liver
Sea buckthorn oil can also be used in the treatment of liver cirrhosis, helping to regulate the liver enzymes, and may help to prevent liver disorders by blocking the effects of alcohol and other toxic substances.
Women’s
The anti-inflammatory and immune boosting properties of sea buckthorn plant can help combat a number of gynecological and menstrual issues in women, including, but not limited to, menstrual pain, cervical erosion, vaginitis and cervicitis.
Men’s
The vitamins and minerals found in the sea buckthorn plant work to boost the immune system and strengthen and heal mucous membranes in men, which can help ward off and treat problems with the prostate. The oil also helps to heal dry, irritated skin and helps with stress and memory difficulties.
Other Benefits
Sea buckthorn extract has a number of other internal uses, including treatment for radiation burns in cancer patients, chronic fatigue, depression, immune boosting in those prone to colds and flu, poor appetite, and regulation of the endocrine system.
In summary, sea buckthorn oil, whether taken as a juice, tea or capsule has a wide range of uses and is effective in the treatment of cardiovascular, cerebral and gastrointestinal disorders, along with helping to address many common conditions afflicting both men and women.
TCM, Disadvantages of Food Processing 2
DISADVANTAGES OF FOOD PROCESSING
Unless we live on a farm, unlikely that we eat only unprocessed food. Nearly all food purchased in the grocery store undergoes some processing, whether it preservative to improve a product's shelf life, spray to improve the appearance of a fruit or colouring get the food look attractive. Some processing, like pasteurization, obvious benefits in reducing disease risk, while other have no benefits besides adding higher sodium or sugar content to a product to make it taste better.
Decreased Nutrients
Processed foods lose a fair amount of the vitamin content. This also happens with fresh foods unless eaten quickly, but freezing, canning or otherwise altering foods, so they last longer results in nutrient losses. Just growing vegetables and fruits in fertilized soil can reduce the vitamin C content in the final product. Blanching foods before freezing also removes water-soluble vitamins like B complex and vitamin C. Milling grains removes the husk, which contains most of the vitamins, while peeling fruits and vegetables can also removes vitamins that lie close to the skin's surface.
Links Additives
Preservatives and additives enhance flavor, and taste rarely contain any nutritive value and in some cases, causes cancer or other diseases. Sodium nitrite gives processed meats such as hot dogs and lunch meat the characteristic pink color and prevents growth of bacteria that cause botulism. However, nitrites can also make nitrosamines, chemical that may increase the risk of cancer in animals and humans.
Food Additives
Processed foods have high levels of food additives, some are harmless, but many have undesirable health effects.
What are food additives?
They are substances that food manufacturers add to a wide variety of foods to preserve the flavor or improve the taste and appearance of processed foods. Artificial food colorings, added for the purpose of making food look more attractive, also been implicated as possible cancer-causing agents. They are commonly used to prolong shelf lives, and used widely in "diet" foods which require the flavor boost.
Some additives come from natural sources, but some are highly processing substances derived from unhealthy sources such as coal tar and peroxide.
Coloring Agents
Most processed foods colored with synthetic or other colouring agents, based on the idea that we "eat with our eyes", most food manufactures like to enhance a colour, even if the initial food is not as colourful.
A variety of colouring agents used, including many synthetic compounds. Besides the issues of ingesting compounds that are not natural, colourings often used to improve the colour of foods that have lost colour during storage or from heat. The coloured compounds in natural foods are some of the most notable phytonutrients, however, and this loss of colour can cause a loss of nutrient value, which may be masked by the introduction of synthetic compounds.
Some of these colouring additives were found to promote hypersensitivity reactions in people, especially children. In sensitive persons, consumption of these artificial colourings been linked to ADHD (attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder), asthma, and inflammatory skin conditions such as urticarial and atopic dermatitis.
Preservatives
A major problem with processed foods is the use of preservatives. The most commonly used preservatives are butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) and sulfites.
Butylated Hydroxytoluene (BHT)
BHT is controversial in 1978, a government-sponsored review of safety data indicated that no direct toxicity observed at the permitted levels in a food however, this report also determined that more studies needed to assess the safety. Since then, BHT been shown to induce tumors in the stomach and liver in animals, when used at high levels. Again, although this allowed in foods at a low level per each food, it is one of the most common preservatives and is available in many processed foods. The amount in the best diet may be higher than the "permitted" amount per food and remains a concern by many scientists.
BHT and butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) investigated for their ability to damage genetic material. In addition, research has shown that these compounds can rupture and remove red blood cells as well as develop symptoms of chemical sensitivity.
Added Fats and Sugar
Processed snack foods, dinners and side dishes mostly all contain added sugar, sodium and fats to enhance the flavor of dehydrated or frozen meals. All three associated with serious health risks: excess sodium can increase the blood pressure, excess sugar can worsen diabetes and lead to weight gain and excess fats, particularly Tran’s fats, can raise cholesterol levels and increase the risk of heart disease. Processed foods introduce high levels of salt, preservative and Tran’s fats. These are all detrimental to one diet in the levels that they are available in processed foods. Also, many processed foods stripped of their nutritional qualities during processing. Processed food has lesser dietary fibre, more salt, sugar, fat and fewer nutrients as nutrients sometimes lost during processing. The downside processed food contained lesser nutritional by lowering their nutritional values and adding chemicals and colouring which can cause cancer or obesity. Processed foods at the top of the food pyramid for a reason: they are dangerous and should be consumed in small quantities. That the high availability, of processed foods, directly conflicts with the nutritional recommendations but, unfortunately, people continue to enjoy eating processed foods. Consuming these foods contributes to obesity and cardiovascular disease, two of the most serious health disorders.
Sodium
Processed foods contribute as much as 75 percent of sodium in the diets. Manufacturers include sodium in their processed products because it slows the growth of bacteria and other organisms and prolongs shelf life, disguises the metallic taste of aluminum in soft drinks and canned foods, and accentuates flavor in cookies and cakes. A diet high in sodium eventually causes high blood pressure and cardiovascular complications. The beginning of grain cultivation began 12,000 years ago, which markedly changed the nutrition of humans who once hunted food and gathered fruits and vegetables. Average height decreased by several inches after grains integrated into the diet because grains produce fewer nutrients compared with other whole foods. Today, grains not only contribute significantly to the standard diet, but many of them refined, which means that manufacturers remove the outer portion than contains essential fatty acids and nutrients to extend product shelf life. These foods often provide only empty calories that contribute to obesity.
Contamination
Salmonella outbreaks often traced back to manufacturing plants, where contamination with the bacteria can sicken large numbers of people who eat a food product. Since many processed meats such as hamburger now contain beef from cows, a single sick cow can contaminate a large amount of processed meat.
Processed Foods
Modern diets consist of over-processed foods and lifeless foods which require little enzyme activity and contain little or no fibrous material. We are eating devitalized foods that are not fresh, with fewer nutrients.
All the natural fiber, such as grain peels, been removed in the refining stages. Because of this diet is lacking in fiber, digestion is slow, and the waste materials remain in the body longer. This sets up the right place for toxic materials to develop. Also, processed foods can accommodate large amounts of chemicals and toxins which added in the processing.
We are eating lots of chemicals like colouring agents, artificial flavors and preservatives that can make the food look attractive and taste fresher.
Even non-processed foods like fresh fruits and vegetables, dairy products, whole grains and meats frequently contain chemical residues from pesticides, herbicides, hormones and other products used to make them grow. All of these substances reduce the amount of Vitamin E available for biochemical and physiological processes.
Why is the food processed?
Preservatives used to extend the life of foods by controlling the spread of unwanted molds, yeast, and bacteria in food which might otherwise cause spoilage and subsequently illnesses. Most food processed and packed to stop it from going bad. Most food contains microbes which are harmless little creatures in small amounts. They can multiply rapidly if environmental conditions are right. They eat the food by breaking it down, which causes it to taste and smell awful. The microbes are dangerous in large quantities because their waste products are toxic. Preserving either kills or slows the growth of these microbes. Here, are some methods of preserving:
Drying
Drying is an ancient way of preserving foods. Dried food is hard on the outside, so microbes find it hard to penetrate. Drying does remove most of the vitamins, but can lead to a higher preference concentration.
Salting, Pickling & Smoking
These are the traditional ways used all over the world to preserve food. Meat covered in salt then hung to dry. This called curing. The salt draws a lot of the moisture out of the meat and also protects against microbes. Sugar used to preserve fruits. Thus, we have jam and sweet pickles. The sugar stops the microbes left after the preserve boiled from growing. Vinegar used to maintain vegetables. The vinegar retards microbe issue because it is so acidic and stops exposure to oxygen, which the microbes need to survive. Smoking involves hanging meat over wood fires and allowing the hot gas to preserve the meat. This also gives it a distinctive flavor. Most of the "smoked" products on the market today, however, have just had the "Smokey" flavors added to them.
Modern Methods
Various methods of food preservation, such as drying, smoking, pickling, curing and sugaring been used over the years to preserve food and prevent wastage. More recently, these procedures been replaced by other methods of preservation such as pasteurization, sterilization, irradiation, freezing, canning and the use of other chemical preservatives.
Freezing:
Microbes breed in hot environments. Freezing renders most of the microbes inactive. Refrigeration slows the growth of some microbes. Before food frozen, it had plunged into boiling water to drain off as many microbes as possible, so the food can stay longer.
Canning
Canning is a common way to preserve food. First it heated through to kill any microbes. Then it sealed in air tight cans usually lined with tin. Although some foods lose their nutrients, heating activates some (especially tinned tomatoes).
Never leave unused foods in cans as they can become contaminated with metals as food/metal oxides combine. This is not a problem when ignore the remaining contents into an air tight, non-metal container.
We should never buy dented cans or bulging cans because bacteria might be able to get in.
Irradiation:
This is a highly controversial use of preserving foods.
Pasteurization
This is the process of heating a liquid, particularly milk, in order to kill harmful bacteria without changing the rules, flavor, or nutritive value of the liquid. French chemist Louis Pasteur devised the system in 1865. Milk pasteurized by heating at a temperature of 63° C (145° F) for 30 minutes, rapidly cooling it, and then storing it at a temperature below 10° C (50° F).
Sterilization
The time and temperature required for the sterilization of foods influenced by several factors, including the microorganisms found on the food, the size of the container, the acidity or pH of the food, and the process of heating.
What are problems with processed foods?
Some of the various additives included in processed foods thought to have the ability to harm the body's structure and function and suggested related to the development of skin, pulmonary and psycho-behavioral conditions. Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) and butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) currently investigated for their potential to damage genetic material and thus develop cancer. Sulfites were found to aggravate asthma (hypertext) in certain children and adults. Artificial colourings been noted to cause hypersensitivity reactions in hypersensitive persons promoting conditions such as ADHD (attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder), asthma and skin conditions such as urticarial and atopic dermatitis. Therefore, avoiding foods that contain these and other chemical additives may significantly contribute to health.
Artificial Sweeteners
One of the most commonly used sweeteners is the controversial compound aspartame. Aspartame gains its case because animal studies have shown that it can lead to accumulation of formaldehyde after consumption, and one of the breakdown products of aspartame in the intestine is the toxic compound methanol. However, low levels of aspartame have not shown immediate symptoms in humans, so it presumed safe in food products.
There is a problem with this assumption, though, because so many food processed products contain aspartame, and therefore people who consume processed foods may be taking in relatively high levels of aspartame.
Few reliable data been collected to look at the level of aspartame the average person consumes and how this section may affect the health, or the long-term effects in humans.
Sulfites
Sulfites are also a common preservative. Sulfites prohibited to be used in foods that supply the nutrient vitamin B1 because it can remove this vitamin. Furthermore, some people are sensitive to sulfites and respond with adverse reactions. The FDA banned the use of sulfites on fruits and vegetables in 1986 due to the reports of adverse reactions, and is still reviewing whether it should be banned from other uses. Sulfites been found to aggravate asthma in children and adults. Between five and ten percent of chronic asthmatics thought to be sulfite sensitive.
Pesticides
Organic foods offer a healthier alternative to conventionally grown foods, as they not grown with any of the synthetic chemical pesticides or fertilizers that suggested posing serious threats to one health. The Environmental Protection Agency considers a number of herbicides and fungicides to be potentially carcinogenic and therefore, able to cause genetic damage leading to the development of cancer and most pesticides known to cause some risk to humans. Examples of pesticides include organophosphates, organochlorines, thiocarbamates, and organ arsenic compounds.
In addition to their potential to cancer, pesticides thought to cause health threats to children, so the benefits of organic foods may be of paramount importance in safeguarding their health. Many children exposed to levels of pesticides in their food that exceed limits co nervous system which is why, they may be particularly harmful to children. In addition, some researchers believe that children and adolescents may be particularly vulnerable to the cancer-causing effects of certain pesticides since the body is more sensitive to the impact of these chemicals during periods of high growth and development.
Trans-Fats
Trans-fatty acids are an example of what can happen to essential nutrients when a food processed.
Also, called hydrogenated fats, these fatty acids, found in margarine, vegetable shortenings, crackers, cookies, snack foods and various other processed foods. Trans-fats produced by a chemical process in which hydrogen’s added to an unsaturated fatty acid. The food industry uses trans-fats to chemically prolong the shelf life of processed foods, such as cookies, chips, fast foods and margarine. This process changes a liquid fat to a soft solid form, like margarine, and thus increases the shelf-life for fats. In this process, however, the fatty acid molecule shifts structures to a structure that not found in the body; that is, the fats in the body occur in what called a "cis" 3-dimensional structure, and trans-fatty acids are the opposite of that, and are a "trans" structure. Chemically, they are different. They are monetarily inexpensive but harmful to long-term cardiovascular health.
The body notices this difference. Although we might be eating fat, and think that the fat will help one body's functioning, it rather is a separate structure than the one that the body needs and has a different response to these fats. Consuming trans-fats been shown to increase LDL cholesterol or bad cholesterol (the one associated with increased risk of heart disease) and lower HDL or good cholesterol, the "protective" cholesterol. So obvious is the promotion of high LDL cholesterol levels by trans-fats and the resultant association with increased risk for heart disease that the FDA been prompted to buy these trans-fats be labeled separately on foods, so consumers can see when they are available? Trans-fats have also been linked to certain cancers, including breast cancer, and labeling them will allow us to see how often they used in processed foods and let us ignore these foods.
In some cases, food processing accomplished in that it helps counteract the natural toxins in food before they consumed. A continuous diet of junk food will certainly have an impact on long term, risk of disease.
Foods such as pastured, grass fed meats, eggs and poultry, fresh organic vegetables and fruit, wild caught seafood, tropical oils, clean, raw dairy products and properly prepared nuts and grains support the development and maintenance of the muscles and organs.
Stick with these types of foods for the majority of one diet, and will go a long way toward avoiding the health problems associated with non-nutritive, processed junk foods.
Certain pesticides known neurotoxins, cause harm to the developing brain and nervous system which is why they may be particularly harmful to children. In addition, some researchers conclude that children and adolescents may be particularly vulnerable to the cancer-causing effects of certain pesticides since the body is more sensitive to the impact of these chemicals during periods of high growth and development.
TCM, The Energy in Fruit
The energy fruit contains is the form of natural sugars. The burning of these sugars is a 'clean' process.
People are getting more conscious about nutrition and what they eat, the interest in fruit and substances that fruit contains are growing. We know it is beneficial for us, and a diet of raw fruits and vegetables can cure sickness. Even cancer can sometimes be cured by this diet, but which substances fruit contains is a mystery. Fruitarians have proven that a human being can live healthily on fruit diet alone.
The water in fruit
The body consists of 80% of water. So what is the food that contains 80% water, it is extremely sensible to eat food that contains water. We need to drink 8 to 12 glasses of water each day, but does not clear the body. We need to eat food that is rich in water: fruit, fruit juices and vegetables are the food that fit this definition.
Why is it better to eat food that contain lots of water in it?
All substances that we eats need to be digested. Meat takes about 8-10 hours to digest, while a fruit salad only takes about 30 minutes! If one extract the fruit salad and drink the juice, our body can combine the nutritive element even faster. In this way, the body can use its energy for other purposes than digesting. For example, thinking or detoxifying.
Let's take a closer look at how our body extracts energy from food. The burning process and the sugar in fruit. Everything we eats or drinks has to be digested to obtain the energy from it.
Our body can extract energy from food in two ways:
- Burning with oxygen, for sugar and fat (fruit)
- Burning without oxygen, for proteins (meat/dairy)
Burning with oxygen, for sugar and fat (fruit)
The energy fruit contains is in the form of sugars (glucose). The body can easily change this glucose into energy by using oxygen. When the body burns the sugars with the help of oxygen, there are waste products produced. The waste products of this chemical reaction are water and carbon-dioxide. One body can use the water and disposes of the carbon-dioxide through the lungs by breathing. It is a remarkably quick, free and easy way to extract energy. One body does an excellent job: it extracts 50% of the energy. A combustion engine about 10 to 20%, the rest lost through heat. Fruit juice takes only about 15 minutes and raw fruit about 30 minutes to absorb!
Burning without oxygen, for proteins (meat/dairy)
Proteins burnt in a different way. The energy that for instance meat, milk and dairy, contain consists of proteins and animal fat. The largest part consists of proteins and the transformation of proteins into energy is more difficult and costs more energy than the conversion of sugar and fat into energy. When the body burns proteins other waste products produced than with the burning of sugars. The waste product of the burning-process without oxygen is ammonia which connected with carbon-dioxide and forms the less toxic which excreted by the kidneys it is a complicated way to extract energy.
Meat takes up to 8 or 10 hours to digest, especially when eaten in combination with potatoes. In comparison to fruit, (30 minutes) a lot of energy lost to the digestion of proteins and this means that one cannot use that energy for other things, like for thinking or the disposing of toxins for example.
Proteins
When it comes to fruit and vegetables people tend to say: "But what about my proteins? I need them." We knows that we needs proteins, because proteins are an essential building material for our cell. It also known that meat, dairy and eggs contain many proteins, so we eat meat, dairy and eggs for robust health.
This three arguments that prove that the human body does not require that many proteins:
- The fruitarians
- Babies
- Amino acids
The fruitarians
The vegetarians (no meat), vegan (no animal products) and fruitarians (only fruit) do not eat food that contains many proteins. They live a healthy life without massive doses of proteins and look younger too!
Proteins are indispensable though, and the best source of protein is from the same raw fruits, and vegetables that provide all the other nutrients: vitamins, minerals, enzymes and carbohydrates. Although fruit and vegetables contain less proteins than other nutrition, about 15 to 20 times less than meat, the best way to get all these nutrients, including protein, is to eat a well-balanced selection of fresh fruits and vegetables. For the exact amount, of proteins in fruit see contents of fruit.
Babies
Baby is lucky enough to obtain most of the natural food it can by breast feed for the first three to twelve months of their lives. Mother milk contains not only the essential nutritional elements but also protects the baby against allergies and infections. It consists only of about 1% of proteins though proteins are the most valuable component for building cells!
Babies get lots of cells so obviously it is not necessary to achieve many proteins for the cell-building process. Fruit only consists of 1% of proteins and that is normally enough proteins for a human to obtain the amino acids required for building the cells. Fruit does not contain many proteins but has everything in it to develop fully grown humans and babies grow.
Amino-acids
Proteins consist of amino acids, and our body uses 20 different amino-acids. There are 8 amino-acids that the body cannot make itself. They called it essential amino-acids and the bodies have to get them through food. There are many fruits and vegetables that contain the eight essential amino acids in the fruit or vegetable.
This means that it is not necessary to consume animal products to achieve the proteins that contain the essential amino acids that the body needs.
The following fruits and vegetables contain all 8 essential amino acids:
- Fruits: Bananas, tomatoes, cucumbers.
- Vegetables: Potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots (also good for the memory), corn, cabbage, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, okra, peas, summer squash and kale.
TCM, Fruits and Fruit Nutritious
Fruits and Foods Nutritions (fruit food) contain many human needs of nutrition and health (health food) components, its beneficial effects for the body. Fruit has become daily meals to most people.
Fruit contains pectin, cellulose, and wood quality is dietary fiber can promote intestinal to prevent constipation, prevent entanglement colorectal cancer, conducive to a person in the of lead and other heavy metal from body discharge; reduced cholesterol of absorption; for intestinal in the of common bacteria propagation provides places and food, conducive to maintain intestinal in the of bacteria mass balance. Fruits are also rich in potassium, calcium, magnesium and other minerals that metabolic products of alkaline, call alkaline food.
Meat, fish, eggs, aquatic products, soy products and other food are the result of acidic, belonging to the acid forming foods. Only in weakly basic conditions of human metabolism will function properly.
Now people eat more food high protein, high fat and high intensity, the blood acidic, so fruit to neutralize acidic environment, maintain normal pH is of crucial significance.
One’s body needs vitamins sources in addition to the vegetable, and fruit vitamin c has a synergistic effect.
In addition, fruit, protease in promoting protein (protein foods) digestion (digested food), citrus, cherry, lemon, and other fruits of hippophae rhamnoides in the free radical scavenging effect of flavonoid compounds.
Fruits and foods nutritious play a pivotal, eating it correctly is essential.
In general rule, before breakfast fruit cocktail can both stimulate vitamin absorption, after the human gastrointestinal tract after a night of rest, the function activated, digestive function is not strong, but the body also requires fair nutrients, eat fruit for easy digestion and absorption, require for work and study activities provided by the sustenance in the morning. If take before dinner a suitable choice, is the fruit that are not so acidic, pucker taste, such as Apple (Apple foods), pears, bananas, grapes (grape food).
At 10 am in the morning, because after the tension of work and learning, carbohydrates has running out, at this time eat a fruit, the fructose and glucose can affect body absorption, to supplementary mind and body the right energy, and at this stage, the body absorption is most active, fruit high in vitamin and mineral, enhance the body metabolism. In traditional Chinese medicine: 10 am in the morning is rising Yang, spleen and stomach in the high of the day when selecting fruit at this time the lack of the spleen and stomach, more beneficial to the body to absorb. Take fruit 1 hour after meal helps in digestion, pineapple, Kiwi, Orange, Hawthorn fruit is a good choice.
Take fruit after dinner does not conducive to digestion, and remarkably easy to over eat, where sugars convert into fat accumulation in the body.
Fruit have a variety of essential vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, fiber, protein and fat and other nutrients can develop excellent health, thus preventing disease, beauty (beauty foods) effect, is the most popular in natural health food. If one likes to eat fruit this morning, most effects to the human body, better nutrition, result in data conducive to human health.
This is because the body after a night rest gastrointestinal function activated digestive function is not strong one need variety of micronutrient supplementation eating natural digestion, and absorption of fruits and foods nutritious at this time meet the nutrients needed to work or study activities this morning.
Fruit itself had less heat effect, it belongs to the low energy food if one eat fruit first and then eat food, fruit occupies a small volume in the stomach, is conducive to reducing the amount of food to stop eating too much heat, weight control, obesity prevention has a pivotal role.
For one who needs to lose weight (weight-loss foods) eats fruits in meals than the control diet had a stronger effect. However, for people with normal weight or gaining weight, eat fruits after a meal and when varied by one’s opinion.
If one had a hearty meal, flatten the stomach heave; take one’s fruit 1-2 hours after a meal; if one look for a light meal or fatty food can eat fruit together with meal. Many people have experience, during summer eat half a watermelon daily, result in a summer down and long for meat meal. This is due to increased quick meals a lot of sugar and impact of increase in fat.
Regardless of meal after, meal before bearing in minds this-point:
First, do not eat sour taste fruit on an empty stomach, is too strong, avoid the stomach produces stimulating, may also be dissolved, and the creation of proteins in the stomach is not easy to structure.
Second, do not eat fruits immediately after a meal, this block reached in finding fruits and foods nutritious in the stomach, causing the fruit which not meant for digestion in the stomach, but the fermentation in the stomach, causing symptoms such as abdominal distention and diarrhea or constipation, worst can causes digestive disorders, also brings extra energy.
Correct Way to eat fruits
When to take fruit? Fruits before other foods for breakfast, lunch and dinner, are excellent because fruits are easy to digest and nutrients are easy to assimilate by the digestive tract. At an interval of time an hour before or between meals is also suitable, fruits can reach a height of efficiency. Most of fruits nutrients are water-soluble and easily absorbed, so fruit nutrient can easily be absorb in the stomach by the digestive tract. If taking fruits after meals, gastric surface here because there is other food waiting for digestion, fruit is behind the queue, not only does not meet the effects of nutrients absorbed, easily lead to disruption of digestive function.
Taking fruits before “Dinner” also have the advantage, because the same amount of fruit compared to other food calorie, low fruit calories make sense of stomach full, this will reduce calorie intake of other foods, is helpful for those who want to slim down.
To note are: some of the fruit should not be eaten on an empty stomach, such as tomatoes, Bell, such as bananas, oranges, sugarcane, lychee, because some special components, can cause gastrointestinal irritation.
When choosing fruit, select different category color fruit consumption as much as possible (containing different colors represent differences in nutrient), can obtain different nutrients!
Fruits have different functions for different color:
Purple fruit: such as blueberries, blackberries, containing anthocyanins, anti-aging.
White fruit: such as PEAR, white peach, containing sulfide, lower cholesterol.
Yellow fruit: such as citrus, grapefruit, carotene, Increase Immunity.
Fruit suit one Constitution
People have different physical; each fruit had its own distinct fruits quality nutritional value and medicinal value varied. A careful fruit lover, eat fruits and foods nutritious make others uncomfortable, by choosing according to one physical, so beneficial effect is twice!
Constitution classification is unique principles of traditional medicine in the world, which often heard from the cold, heat, virtual and real.
Cold Constitution: body has less body heat, hand and foot is cold, pale looking, and likes to drink hot drinks, less likely to be thirsty, even in the summer heat in the air-con area need to have a hot drink or a coat to keep warm.
Heat Constitution: have more thermal energy, one look red, burning tongue dry easily, like cold drinks; feel more comfortable in air con room during the summer.
Fruits and Foods Nutritious properties verse body form in Chinese medicine, Chinese believes that food for the body will have a “cold temperature and heat temperature” role. Therefore, each fruit has its “personality”.
Chinese medicine emphasizes balance, balance of yin and Yang, so a person with physical intensity eats cold food, and a person with physical partial cold normally eat warm food, principles of fruit as well.
Traditional Chinese medicine believes that fruit intensity refers to heat high density, high sugar content of fruit. Such a fruit eaten, easy to set fire, physical energy increases. Conversely, low calorie density, are rich in fiber, but remarkably little fat, sugar and fruit, are from the cold, eat such fruits; fiber and water absorb stomach capacity. If a person eats other nutritious food with less energy, not physical, become more and more afraid of cold and pale.
