Healthy Foods
Recent Posts
- Healthy Recipes That Taste Good
- Eat Your Way to Health and Longevity
- Watermelon
- Lentil Soup
- Brain Power Foods
- Pineapple
- Heart Diseases and Foods
- Terrific Tomatoes
- Free Radicals
- Benefits of Garlic
- Preventing Kidney Stones
- Eggplant Recipes
- Choose Red or Black Colored Grapes
- Compulsive Overeating Disorder
- Isoflavones
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Healthy Recipes That Taste Good
Delicious Cauliflower
6 servings
- 1 head cauliflower
- 1 cup good quality olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 Tbs minced garlic
- 2 Tbs chopped parsley
Eat Your Way to Health and Longevity
Eating is one the most important events in everyone’s life. We enjoy eating - it’s part of who we are and part of our culture; in fact, eating is the hottest universal topic of all times. We depend on eating: the foods we eat are the sole source of our energy and nutrition. We know so much about eating: we are born with the desire to eat and grown up with rich traditions of eating. But we also know so little about eating - about how the foods we eat everyday affect our health. We are more confused than ever about the link between diet and health: margarine is healthier than butter or not; a little alcohol will keep heart attacks at bay but cause breast cancer; dietary vitamin antioxidants can prevent lung cancer or can not. Eating is a paradox and a mystery that our ancestors tried and modern scientists are trying to solve.
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Watermelon
Scientific Name: Citrullus Vulgaris
Biological Background: The fruit of an annual vine belonging to the squash and melon family. Watermelon originated in Africa and has been cultivated since ancient times in the Mediterranean region, Egypt and India.
Nutritional Information: One slice of watermelon (480 g) contains 152 calories, 3 g protein, 34.6 g carbohydrates, 2.4 g fiber, 560 mg potassium, 176 mg vitamin A (RE), 47 mg vitamin C, 0.3 mg thiamin, 0.1 mg riboflavin, and 0.96 mg niacin.
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Lentil Soup
8 Servings
- 2 Tbs olive oil
- 2 medium onions, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 stalks of celery, chopped 2 cups dried lentils
- 2 carrots, chopped
- 8 cups of water
- 1 small can tomato paste
- 4 cups shredded spinach
- Salt and white pepper to taste
- 3 Tbs lemon juice
Brain Power Foods
Brain power is characterized by how alert, energetic, and concentrated your brain is in response to a task. Information in your brain passes through neurotransmitters, which are manufactured by the nerve cells using precursors. Different neurotransmitters will have different impacts on your brain activity. For example, serotonin is the calming neurotransmitter that usually makes you more relaxed, drowsy, and fuzzy-headed. While dopamine and norepinephrine are neurotransmitters that make you more alert, more attentive, motivated and mentally energetic.
Pineapple
Scientific Name: Ananas cosmosus
Biological Background: A tropical plant with stiff, spiny leaves that yields a single large fruit. Pineapple originated in Brazil.
Nutritional Information: One cup (155 g) of raw pineapple contains 76 calories, 0.6 g protein, 19.2 g carbohydrates, 2.95 g fiber, 175 g potassium, 124 mg vitamin C, 0.14 mg thiamin, 0.06 mg riboflavin, 0.65 mg niacin.
Heart Diseases and Foods
Coronary heart disease is the most common of all heart diseases. It is characterized by blockage in the coronary arteries that result in reduction of blood flows to the heart muscle, depriving it of vital oxygen. The clogging of coronary artery, known as arteriosclerosis, begins with fatty streaks in and under the layer of cells, that line artery walls. Gradually, the streaks are transformed into plaques-fatty scar tissue that bulges into the artery opening, partly choking off blood flow.
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Terrific Tomatoes
4 Servings
- 4 tomatoes, sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 bunch scallions, chopped
- 2 Tbs chopped parsley
- 1/2 tsp each salt and black pepper
Free Radicals
Free radicals are oxygen-containing chemicals that have an impaired electron. The impaired electron makes free radicals highly reactive to DNA, proteins, membranes, and other cell machineries, resulting in oxidative damages including DNA mutations, protein dysfunction, and destruction of membrane and other cell structures. These oxidative damages promote aging and increase the risk of age-related diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, immune system declines, brain dysfunction, and cataracts. Known free radicals that are involved in the aging process are superoxide, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), hydroxyl radical (OH), singlet oxygen, lipid epoxides, lipid hydroperoxides, lipid alkoyl, peroxyl radicals, and oxides. They are either produced during our normal metabolisms or introduced into our bodies from outside sources.
Benefits of Garlic
Scientific Name: Allium sativum
Biological Background: This bulbous plant is closely related to onions, leeks, chives and is a member of Allium vegetables. Garlic is native to Central Asia, and has been cultivated for at least 5,000 years.
Nutritional Information: Due to its use as a spice, garlic provides insignificant amount of nutrients.