HERBS IN OUR LIFE
Healthy herbs have long held an important place in our wellness. Prized since ancient times, we depend on them to purify our body, mind, and soul.
We use herbal parts in our daily lives one way or the other whether for fragrance, healing power or in nutrion based recipes.
Herbal benefits are many; be it for spiritual reasons or to spice up your taste buds, or as a home remedy for your sore throat... herbs are there for every needs. Although, the herbs been in use in our diet since antiquity, only recently have taken the center-stage of nutrition scientific world for their potential health benefiting and detoxification properties.
We use herbal parts in our daily lives one way or the other whether for fragrance, healing power or in nutrion based recipes.
Herbal benefits are many; be it for spiritual reasons or to spice up your taste buds, or as a home remedy for your sore throat... herbs are there for every needs. Although, the herbs been in use in our diet since antiquity, only recently have taken the center-stage of nutrition scientific world for their potential health benefiting and detoxification properties.
Why herbs in our diet... ? Health benefits of herbs
* Herbs contain unique anti-oxidants, essential oils, vitamins, phyto-sterols and many other plants derived nutrient substances, which help equip our body to fight against germs, toxins and to boost immunity level. Herbs are, in fact, medicines in smaller dosages.
*Essential oils in herbs have been found to have anti-inflammatory function by inhibiting the enzyme cycloxygenase (COX), which mediates inflammatory cascade reactions in the body. The enzyme-inhibiting effect of essential oils in herbs makes it an important remedy for symptomatic relief in individuals with inflammatory health problems like rheumatoid arthritis, osteo-arthritis and inflammatory bowel conditions like ulcerative colitis.
*Many unique compounds in the herbs have been found to reduce blood sugar levels in diabetics.
*Controlled epidemiological studies have shown that certain compounds like those that thiosulfinates (allicin) found in garlic can bring significant reduction in total cholesterol and in blood pressure; helps prevent coronary artery disease and stroke risk.
*Curcumin, along with other antioxidants in the turmeric, has been found to have anti-amyloid and anti-inflammatory properties. Thus; is effective in preventing or at least delaying the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.
*The volatile oils, vitamins, and antioxidants in the herbs have cytotoxicity action against prostate, pancreatic, colon, endometrial...etc cancer cells.
*The ingredients in the herbs have been found to be anti-spasmodic, carminative, diaphoretic, analgesic, aphrodisiac, deodorant, digestive, antiseptic, lipolytic (fat and weight loss action), stimulant and stomachic actions when taken in appropriate dosage.
*Essential oils in herbs have been found to have anti-inflammatory function by inhibiting the enzyme cycloxygenase (COX), which mediates inflammatory cascade reactions in the body. The enzyme-inhibiting effect of essential oils in herbs makes it an important remedy for symptomatic relief in individuals with inflammatory health problems like rheumatoid arthritis, osteo-arthritis and inflammatory bowel conditions like ulcerative colitis.
*Many unique compounds in the herbs have been found to reduce blood sugar levels in diabetics.
*Controlled epidemiological studies have shown that certain compounds like those that thiosulfinates (allicin) found in garlic can bring significant reduction in total cholesterol and in blood pressure; helps prevent coronary artery disease and stroke risk.
*Curcumin, along with other antioxidants in the turmeric, has been found to have anti-amyloid and anti-inflammatory properties. Thus; is effective in preventing or at least delaying the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.
*The volatile oils, vitamins, and antioxidants in the herbs have cytotoxicity action against prostate, pancreatic, colon, endometrial...etc cancer cells.
*The ingredients in the herbs have been found to be anti-spasmodic, carminative, diaphoretic, analgesic, aphrodisiac, deodorant, digestive, antiseptic, lipolytic (fat and weight loss action), stimulant and stomachic actions when taken in appropriate dosage.
Culinary Herbs
Herbs are a great addition to food, not just because, they add special flavor and spicy taste to our food, but also they contain many anti-microbial substances that help keep our food protected from these agents. Healthy herbs are used in small amounts while preparing recipes; actually, they provide flavor rather than substance to food.
Here are some serving tips :
- Fresh leaves used in the preparation of soups and herbal sauces.
- Chopped fresh herb leaves can impart richness to vegetable as well as fruit salads.
- Along with other spicy items, selective healthy herbs used to enhance the flavor and taste of
vegetable, chicken, fish and lean meat dishes.
- Fresh herbal leaves and plant parts are increasingly used as popular flavor drinks.
Here are some serving tips :
- Fresh leaves used in the preparation of soups and herbal sauces.
- Chopped fresh herb leaves can impart richness to vegetable as well as fruit salads.
- Along with other spicy items, selective healthy herbs used to enhance the flavor and taste of
vegetable, chicken, fish and lean meat dishes.
- Fresh herbal leaves and plant parts are increasingly used as popular flavor drinks.
Does lemon help you better absorb the iron in food ?
It is important to have a good amount of iron in your body. This is because iron is what takes the oxygen to your organs and muscles, and without it, you can easily become anemic. Iron is found in many foods, including red meats, poultry, dried fruits, fish, nuts, green leafy veggies, and seeds.
Oftentimes, eating these iron-rich foods in combination with other foods will help you absorb the iron much easier. Beware that there also some foods out there that will hinder your iron absorption. In short, yes, lemon can help you absorb iron better. Putting a little lemon juice in your bean salad with cucumbers and tomatoes is not only delicious, but is an excellent way to get more iron in your diet.
Other great foods to aid in your iron absorption include citrus fruits.
Eating a good spinach salad with some mandarin oranges is great; also a nice glass of orange juice with a bowl of iron fortified cereal will make a great healthy breakfast. Vegetables such as green peppers and tomatoes will also help. Stir fry is a favorite in our house, and this combination of peppers, onions, and broccoli with steak or chicken is a great way to increase your iron intake. Spaghetti with a good tomato-based meat sauce will give you a large amount of iron absorption. So try out some of these food combinations and improve your iron intake today.
Does Olive oil helps in Osteoporosis ?
Osteoporosis is a disorder in the bones, and can effect both men and women. Often for women it correlates with menopause. When it does correlate, it is often caused by a mix of hormonal imbalance and joint inflammation. Olive oil is great because it can nourish your skeleton directly. While olive oil is a fat, it is considered a “good” fat, one that has many benefits.
One of the most important benefits that we get from olive oil is that it helps the body breakdown calcium in order for it to be stored in the bones. Olive oil also helps to keep your bone marrow from creating too much fat, which can prevent calcium from depositing into the bones. Olive oil is good for us in another way as well. It contains polyphenols, which not only help prevent your blood from clotting, but also work as anti-inflammatories.
This helps those suffering from osteoporosis because it will alleviate inflammation in the joints, helping to get rid of some of the pain. The best type of olive oil to use for these purposes is extra virgin olive oil. This label means that the leaves are only pressed once to get oil, making this type the one with the highest amounts of health benefits and antioxidants. So if you are going through menopause, or have had problems with your joints and/or osteoporosis, talk to your doctor about adding olive oil into your diet and alleviating the pain.
One of the most important benefits that we get from olive oil is that it helps the body breakdown calcium in order for it to be stored in the bones. Olive oil also helps to keep your bone marrow from creating too much fat, which can prevent calcium from depositing into the bones. Olive oil is good for us in another way as well. It contains polyphenols, which not only help prevent your blood from clotting, but also work as anti-inflammatories.
This helps those suffering from osteoporosis because it will alleviate inflammation in the joints, helping to get rid of some of the pain. The best type of olive oil to use for these purposes is extra virgin olive oil. This label means that the leaves are only pressed once to get oil, making this type the one with the highest amounts of health benefits and antioxidants. So if you are going through menopause, or have had problems with your joints and/or osteoporosis, talk to your doctor about adding olive oil into your diet and alleviating the pain.
Can Walnuts and Hazelnuts protects from liver cancer ?
In a sense, yes. Not walnuts specifically, but the black walnut plant. Hazelnuts also help. The black walnut plant has been known to carry properties that help with digestive disorders, cleanse parasites out of the digestive tract, and can stimulate the liver.
Many people even think that this plant could be used as an anticancer drug sometime in the future. Juglone, the main nutrient in black walnut plants, could create a specific reaction to cancer cells in the liver. It has been shown to reduce the size of the cell, and eventually lead to their death. Juglone has a toxic effect on the cells. The research on this is not done, but there is a correlation.
Hazelnuts also can help reduce the chance of liver cancer because they are rich in arginine, which is an amino acid shown to prevent liver tumors from growing. This can be found not only in hazelnuts, but also in sunflower seeds, coconut, and chocolate. Other good things that you can do to prevent liver cancer include cooking with perilla and safflower oils. You can also use these as healthy salad dressing. These contain a high content of omega 6 fatty acids, which have also been shown to prevent the growth of cancer cells.
Doing a few small things can help you to fight off liver cancer. Talk with your doctor before making any of these changes, and try to enjoy your life.
Is black pepper really good for us ?
Many of us use black pepper with salt for our meals and cooking. This spice is made from ground up black peppercorns, grown on vines in India and Vietnam. But did you know that there are many health benefits you can get from eating it? Read on and see how this daily spice can help you. To start with, black pepper has many minerals that we need to keep our bodies functioning well. These include chromium, iron, magnesium, calcium, copper, zinc, and phosphorus.
There are also many vitamins in black pepper, including vitamins K, A, C, and E. These vitamins contain antioxidant properties which can help prevent cancer. There are also many digestive benefits you could get from eating black pepper. For example, it can help you to digest foods quicker, which can reduce gas and indigestion. There are also anti-inflammatory properties in pepper, which can help with breast cancer. It can also reduce the irritation you get from bug bites, and could help with asthma.
Although some of these benefits are still being tested, ingesting black pepper not only makes our foods taste better, it can also help keep your body a little healthier. So go enjoy some pepper on your food, and live a better life now. Your body will thank you.
There are also many vitamins in black pepper, including vitamins K, A, C, and E. These vitamins contain antioxidant properties which can help prevent cancer. There are also many digestive benefits you could get from eating black pepper. For example, it can help you to digest foods quicker, which can reduce gas and indigestion. There are also anti-inflammatory properties in pepper, which can help with breast cancer. It can also reduce the irritation you get from bug bites, and could help with asthma.
Although some of these benefits are still being tested, ingesting black pepper not only makes our foods taste better, it can also help keep your body a little healthier. So go enjoy some pepper on your food, and live a better life now. Your body will thank you.
Is fruit peel healthy ?
Fruit peel is the outer skin or the covering of fruits. In general, the peel in some thick coated fruits like pomegranate, passion fruit, mangosteen…etc is known as rind, where as in citrus category fruits like in oranges it is better termed as zest. While the outer cover protects the fruit from environment, micro and macro organisms, it indeed has several phyto-nutrients which help keep up our health.
Fruit peel characteristics:
- Fruit peel is either firmly adherent to underlying flesh as in berries, apples or rather loosely as in oranges,
banana…etc. Its thickness vary widely, even in the same family fruits, ranging from paper thin to very thick
shell like as in mangosteen.
- The peel in raw fruits has neutral taste in some fruits like grapes and apples. It is bitter in taste and
inedible in some fruits due to high tannin content as in papaya and sapodilla. As the fruit ripens, it becomes
easily separable from the pulp (bananas). Also its contents turn sweeter and become palatable (sapodilla,
guava, kiwifruit and kumquat).
- Fruit ripening is purely enzymatic process which brings certain characteristic changes in the fruit color,
aroma, taste, hardening of seeds…etc.
- The peel in some fruits like guava it is deeply embedded with the pulp and indeed as the fruit ripens, it is
rich in taste than the pulp.
- The peel is very rich in essential oils which give characteristic aroma to the fruit. The oil glands are spread
all over the peel but denser near its pits. Juicy, acidic and flavorful lemon is the most widely used citrus
fruit worldwide. It is the smallest among citrus fruits yet contains more health benefiting nutrients than
oranges, pomelo etc.
Nutrition facts and health benefits of fruit peel
Fruit peel in general is peeled off or scraped in majority of fruits even when it is edible. Nevertheless the peel is being recognized as one of the essential component of our diet as it contains many vital nutrients and non-nutrient compounds which play important role in wellbeing.
1. In-fact peel of some of fruits like blueberries, grapes, guava, and kumquat contain more anti-oxidants such as anthocyanin pigments, tannins, catechins…etc than in the pulp or flesh. Blue or purple color fruit peels are rich in anthocyanidin glycosides while yellow color fruits have xanthin, carotenes and lutein pigments. Major component of these pigments are present just underneath the skin.
2. Peel is rich source of dietary fiber also known as NSP (non soluble polysaccharides) like hemi-cellulose, pectin, tannins, gum…etc. These compounds increase bulk of the food and helps prevent constipation by reducing gastro-intestinal transit time. They also bind to toxins in the food which helps to protect the mucus membrane of gut and thus cuts colon cancer risk. Furthermore, dietary fibers bind to bile salts (produced from cholesterol) and decrease their re-absorption, thus help lower serum LDL cholesterol levels.
3. Peel is low in calories, sugar, and fats; and is from cholesterol. It adds to the bulk of the food and helps cut down overall food intake.
4. Nevertheless, the peel of some fruits contains considerable amounts of mineral and vitamins, especially in guava and citrus fruits. Certain fruits peel like in orange contains more vitamin C (ascorbic acid) than its juice. The peel provides 136 mg per 100 g of vitamin C whereas the same in its pulp is just about 71 mg. Likewise the peel is rich source of vitamin A, B-complex vitamins, minerals such as calcium, selenium, manganese, zinc...etc several fold more than its pulp.
5. Recent scientific trial studies suggest that certain compounds in passion fruit peel has bronchodilator effect and can help relieve bronchospasm in asthma patients. A trial study conducted by Watson RR and his collegues at Tuscon University AZ, suggests that oral administration of the purple passion fruit peel extract reduces wheeze and cough and improves shortness of breath in adults with asthma.
Fruit peel characteristics:
- Fruit peel is either firmly adherent to underlying flesh as in berries, apples or rather loosely as in oranges,
banana…etc. Its thickness vary widely, even in the same family fruits, ranging from paper thin to very thick
shell like as in mangosteen.
- The peel in raw fruits has neutral taste in some fruits like grapes and apples. It is bitter in taste and
inedible in some fruits due to high tannin content as in papaya and sapodilla. As the fruit ripens, it becomes
easily separable from the pulp (bananas). Also its contents turn sweeter and become palatable (sapodilla,
guava, kiwifruit and kumquat).
- Fruit ripening is purely enzymatic process which brings certain characteristic changes in the fruit color,
aroma, taste, hardening of seeds…etc.
- The peel in some fruits like guava it is deeply embedded with the pulp and indeed as the fruit ripens, it is
rich in taste than the pulp.
- The peel is very rich in essential oils which give characteristic aroma to the fruit. The oil glands are spread
all over the peel but denser near its pits. Juicy, acidic and flavorful lemon is the most widely used citrus
fruit worldwide. It is the smallest among citrus fruits yet contains more health benefiting nutrients than
oranges, pomelo etc.
Nutrition facts and health benefits of fruit peel
Fruit peel in general is peeled off or scraped in majority of fruits even when it is edible. Nevertheless the peel is being recognized as one of the essential component of our diet as it contains many vital nutrients and non-nutrient compounds which play important role in wellbeing.
1. In-fact peel of some of fruits like blueberries, grapes, guava, and kumquat contain more anti-oxidants such as anthocyanin pigments, tannins, catechins…etc than in the pulp or flesh. Blue or purple color fruit peels are rich in anthocyanidin glycosides while yellow color fruits have xanthin, carotenes and lutein pigments. Major component of these pigments are present just underneath the skin.
2. Peel is rich source of dietary fiber also known as NSP (non soluble polysaccharides) like hemi-cellulose, pectin, tannins, gum…etc. These compounds increase bulk of the food and helps prevent constipation by reducing gastro-intestinal transit time. They also bind to toxins in the food which helps to protect the mucus membrane of gut and thus cuts colon cancer risk. Furthermore, dietary fibers bind to bile salts (produced from cholesterol) and decrease their re-absorption, thus help lower serum LDL cholesterol levels.
3. Peel is low in calories, sugar, and fats; and is from cholesterol. It adds to the bulk of the food and helps cut down overall food intake.
4. Nevertheless, the peel of some fruits contains considerable amounts of mineral and vitamins, especially in guava and citrus fruits. Certain fruits peel like in orange contains more vitamin C (ascorbic acid) than its juice. The peel provides 136 mg per 100 g of vitamin C whereas the same in its pulp is just about 71 mg. Likewise the peel is rich source of vitamin A, B-complex vitamins, minerals such as calcium, selenium, manganese, zinc...etc several fold more than its pulp.
5. Recent scientific trial studies suggest that certain compounds in passion fruit peel has bronchodilator effect and can help relieve bronchospasm in asthma patients. A trial study conducted by Watson RR and his collegues at Tuscon University AZ, suggests that oral administration of the purple passion fruit peel extract reduces wheeze and cough and improves shortness of breath in adults with asthma.
Conditions of Use and Important Information: This information on the above herb is meant to supplement, not replace advice from your doctor or healthcare provider and is not meant to cover all possible uses, precautions, interactions or adverse effects.
The statements made on this website have not been evaluated by the FDA. These supplements mentioned are not intended to cure, treat, diagnose or prevent disease. The contents of this website are for informational purposes only.
Kelab Rakan-Rakan Herba KK Sabah does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Information from this source is evidence-based and objective, and without commercial influence.
Site design and webmaster : Ganesan. T Questions or concerns can be directed to the webmaster at [email protected]
The statements made on this website have not been evaluated by the FDA. These supplements mentioned are not intended to cure, treat, diagnose or prevent disease. The contents of this website are for informational purposes only.
Kelab Rakan-Rakan Herba KK Sabah does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Information from this source is evidence-based and objective, and without commercial influence.
Site design and webmaster : Ganesan. T Questions or concerns can be directed to the webmaster at [email protected]