Tag: dietary fiber
Interesting Facts About Bananas
Hands down one of my favorite snacks healthy and tasty often do not go together, and it’s not surprising that a majority of people, especially children, choose bananas as a healthy snack choice. Are they good for you though? Lets take a closer look!
Switching to a healthier diet without compromising on taste may be easier than you think. Incorporating bananas is the perfect example. Counted among the most popular fruits in the world, bananas can cater to your taste buds while offering many health benefits.
Bananas Improve Digestion:
The contents of dietary fiber and carbohydrates present in bananas help to regulate bowel movements which then result in healthy digestive system. It is ideal for getting rid of chronic constipation due to the pectin contents present in it. It helps reduce stomach ulcers and also diminishes the risk of developing gastric cancer.
Bananas And Your Bones:
Per the University Of Maryland and University of Kansas Medical Center, bananas benefit the kidneys and the bones due to their high potassium content. A normal intake of potassium suppresses calcium excretion in the urine and minimizes the risk of kidney stones. Also, for the same reason (suppressing of calcium excretion), it minimizes the loss of calcium from the body and thereby reduces the risk of osteoporosis!
Continue Reading
Health Benefits Of Cucumbers!
Vegetables should help form the foundation of your diet — women need 2.5 cups daily and men need 3 cups, recommends the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Cucumbers are an excellent choice, lets take a closer look why!
Each cup of cucumber juice counts as 1 cup of veggies to help you reach these intake goals. In addition to the general benefits of a diet rich in vegetables — including a lower risk of obesity and some types of cancer, according to the USDA — drinking cucumber juice offers specific health benefits due to its nutrient content.
Cucumbers And Vitamin K:
Cucumbers offer health benefits by significantly boosting your vitamin K intake. Your body uses vitamin K to activate coagulation factors, a family of proteins that proves essential for blood clot formation. The ability to help you form blood clots benefits your health because it prevents excessive bleeding after you suffer tissue damage, and getting enough vitamin K prevents spontaneous bleeding, including nosebleeds or bleeding gums. Getting enough vitamin K in your diet also activates proteins essential for bone health, which keeps your skeleton strong. A 1-cup serving of sliced cucumber, with the peel on, offers approximately 17 micro-grams of vitamin K. This makes up 14 percent and 19 percent of the recommended daily intakes for men and women, respectively.
Assisting In Weight Loss:
Due to its low calorie and high water content, the cucumber is an ideal diet for people who are looking for weight loss. The high water content and dietary fiber in one cucumber is a very effective way of ridding the body of toxins from the digestive system, aiding in digestion. Daily consumption of cucumbers can be regarded as a remedy for chronic constipation.
Cacao Nibs: Cacao Health Benefits
I mean, who doesn’t live a little chocolate! Cacao is a type of tropical tree, part of the evergreen family, that produces the world’s chocolate in raw form, before all that lovely fat, sugar, and other “sweeteners” are added. The cacao tree grows in a few specific regions of the world naturally, including Mexico and South America, where most of the cacao or chocolate beans/seeds come from. Cacao trees only grow in tropical areas with the right combination of climate, temperature, and environment factors. You can’t just plant a cacao tree anywhere – it won’t grow or survive in the wrong conditions.
Cacao And Antioxidants:
Cacao is packed with vitamins and antioxidants that make it almost a super food or natural Multi-Vitamin! The beneficial ingredients found in the cacao nibs (raw chocolate) are Antioxidants, Theobromine, Phenylethylamine, Essential Minerals and Vitamins.
One of the main health benefits of chocolate is its high concentration of antioxidants. Although processed chocolate still has a good concentration of antioxidants – the processing and cutting (adding new ingredients and mixing them together) of the raw cacao seed tends to lower that amount. If you want the best hardcore antioxidant power of cacao beans/seeds, then you will want to get it in its natural raw state – nothing added, nothing taken away.
Continue Reading
Health Benefits Of Mangosteen
Mangosteen is a dark purple fruit with white on the inside of the fruit from Southeast-Asia, Thailand being one of its largest producers in the world. Even though mangosteen sounds like a mango type, it is really very different mango. Now it is always available at Asian markets across North America. Mangosteen is delectably sweet and juicy fruit that offers numerous health benefits of both the fruit itself and its skin which are incredibly potent disease fighters. Delicious as it is useful, the mangosteen fruit is always rich in xanthones, which may promote healthy physical function
Mangosteen And Inflammation:
Systemic inflammation in people who are obese may lead to further health problems including diabetes and heart disease. Researchers studied mangosteen juice to see if it could lower signs of inflammation in obese volunteers. An article in “Nutrition Journal” reported that volunteers who drank mangosteen juice twice daily showed a significant reduction in inflammatory markers in their bloodstream, while markers for inflammation in a control group that received a different juice concoction didn’t change. The authors cautioned that more studies are necessary to confirm the benefits of mangosteen juice and determine if there are any negative side effects.
Importance Of Vitamin C:
Mangosteen is good in vitamin C and provides about 12% of RDA per 100 g. Vitamin-C is a powerful water soluble antioxidant. Consumption of fruits rich in vitamin C helps the body develop resistance against flu-like infectious agents and scavenge harmful, pro-inflammatory free radicals.