Showing posts with label nutrition. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nutrition. Show all posts

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Benefits Of Green Vegetables

Benefits Of Green Vegetables !

A nutrition professor once told me that it was common for our ancient ancestors to eat up to six pounds of leaves per day. He imagined them walking along from one place to another, just picking and eating leaves as they went. Can you imagine eating a grocery bag full of greens each and every day? Few of us even eat the minimum USDA recommendations of 3 cups of dark green vegetables per week. And yet, these veggies deliver a bonanza of vitamins, minerals.
Health Benefits

Dark green leafy vegetables are, calorie for calorie, perhaps the most concentrated source of nutrition of any food. They are a rich source of minerals (including iron, calcium, potassium, and magnesium) and vitamins, including vitamins K, C, E, and many of the B vitamins. They also provide a variety of phytonutrients including beta-carotene,and zeaxanthin, which protect our cells from damage and our eyes from age-related problems, among many other effects. Dark green leaves even contain small amounts of fats.
Perhaps the star of these nutrients is Vitamin K. A cup of most cooked greens provides at least nine times the minimum recommended intake of Vitamin K, and even a couple of cups of dark salad greens usually provide the minimum all on their own. Recent research has provided evidence that this vitamin may be even more important than we once thought (the current minimum may not be optimal), and many people do not get enough of it.

Vitamin K:

  • Regulates blood clotting
  • Helps protect bones from osteoporosis
  • May help prevent and possibly even reduce atherosclerosis by reducing calcium in arterial plaques
  • May be a key regulator of inflammation, and may help protect us from inflammatory diseases including arthitis
  • May help prevent diabetes
Vitamin K is a fat-soluble vitamin, so make sure to put dressing on your salad, or cook your greens with oil. Almost Carb-Free

Greens have very little carbohydrate in them, and the carbs that are there are packed in layers of fiber, which make them very slow to digest. That is why, in general, greens have very little impact on blood glucose. In some systems greens are even treated as a "freebie" carb-wise (meaning the carbohydrate doesn't have to be counted at all).

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Health Benefits and Medicinal uses of Onion

  • The uses of onions are primarily in cooking, as it is the most abundant ingredient in most dishes. However, there are some medicinal uses of onion. Onion have an antibacterial and antifungal properties. Some people mixed vinegar with onion juice and apply it in their freckles and warts, it is believed that it can remove/reduce this skin problems.

    Onion is Benenificial in the following conditions:

  • Onions stimulate the immune system.
  • Onions are also used as a diuretic,expectorant and antiseptic.
  • Onions may be particularly beneficial for women in combating osteoporosis.
  • Onion can improve lung function,especially in asthma.
  • Influenza Colds, Tuberculosis ,Insomnia ,Pneumonia ,Antiallergy,Obesity,Reduce inflammation
  • Slightly laxative ,High Blood Pressure ,Lowers cholesterol ,Prolong longevity
  • Helps destroy worms and other parasites.
  • Bronchitis (inflammation of the bronchial tube)
  • Neuritis (inflammation of the nerves)
  • Vertigo (inflammation of nerves)
  • Diuretic (increases the secretion of urine)
  • Diabetes mellitus - lowers blood sugar.
  • Valuable for the hair, nails of the fingers and toes, and for the eyes.
  • Sinus conditions - helps to drain mucus from the cavities and loosen phlegm.
  • fresh or cooked onions have antiplatelet, adhesiveness, thus preventing thrombosis.