Healthy Foods
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- Cumin
- 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
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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.
Preventing Kidney Stones
Kidney stones are rock-hard accumulation of crystal deposits, usually composed of calcium and oxalates that can grow and obstruct the flow of urine through the kidneys. About a million Americans are hospitalized every year for treatment of kidney stones. Men are three times as susceptible to kidney stones as women. Once you have kidney stones, the chances of a reoccurring stone are about forty percent in the next five years, and eighty percent in the next twenty-five years. Whether you develop stones depends on many factors, including heredity, metabolic abnormalities, infections, medications, and diet.
Eggplant Recipes
Baked Eggplant
4 Servings
Preheat oven to 350o
- 1 eggplant, sliced into -inch slices
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced thinly
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Choose Red or Black Colored Grapes

Grapes
Scientific Name: Vitus spp.
Biological Background: Grape is a pulpy, smooth-skinned berry, growing in clusters on vines. Grape was domesticated before 5,000 B.C. and is one of the oldest cultivated fruits.
Nutritional Information: Ten seedless grapes (50 g) provide 35 calories, 0.3 g protein, 8.9 g carbohydrate, 1.0 g fiber, 105 mg potassium, 5.4 mg vitamin C, 0.05 mg thiamin, 0.03 mg riboflavin, and 0.15 mg niacin.
Compulsive Overeating Disorder
Compulsive overeating or binge eating is a common eating disorder in which people eat and eat, even after they are completely full. Compulsive overeaters often feel “out of control” with food, so much that they literally cannot stop eating. This problem is different from bulimia nervosa (where people binge, but then try “purge” food out of their bodies by vomiting or some other means). Compulsive overeaters don’t “purge”.
Isoflavones
Isoflavone is a class of non-nutrient plant substances with potential anticancer effects. Isoflavones occur in relatively high concentrations in soy products. The content varies with the variety, time of harvest, and geographic location. Isoflavones belong to the general class of flavonoids; they possess complex ring structures with oxygen atoms attached. Genistein and daizein are two examples of isoflavones. Their general shape resembles the steroid hormone estrogen, a major female hormone. It is possible that isoflavones block estrogen from binding to targets, a needed step in hormone-dependent cancers like cancers of the breast, ovary, and endometrium. They could also stimulate the production of an estrogen-binding protein in the blood, or they could block liver enzymes that activate compounds to become cancer-causing agents. Vegetarians whose diets are enriched in soy products and tofu have a lower risk of cancer.
Carrots Recipes
Carrot Salad
4 Servings
- 1 lb large carrots, scraped and cut in quarters lengthwise
- 1 pinch each, salt and sugar
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1/4 tsp each ground cumin and parsley
- wine vinegar, salt, and hot red pepper to taste
- a few coriander seed
Cook the carrots with salt, sugar, and garlic for 15 minutes. Drain and cover with vinegar, a little more salt, and hot red pepper to taste. Perfume with cumin. Decorate with parsley and little coriander.
Stroke Prevention
Disruption of blood flow to the brain is known as stroke (or cerebrovascular accident - CVA) - a disorder that occurs in two basic forms: clot strokes and bleeding stroke, both potentially life threatening. About 80 percent of stokes among Americans are due to clot stroke - clots in blood vessels blocking the oxygen-rich blood flowing to the brain. The rest come from bleeding stroke when blood vessels in the brain rupture, spilling blood into the brain.
Foods that help ward off clots, keep blood vessel flexible and unclogged, and keep blood pressure normal are good bets for preventing strokes. Even one extra daily portion of the right foods may cut an astounding 40 to 60 percent or even more of your chances of having or dying of a stroke as some scientific studies have indicated. Such an effective and certainly safer and cheaper drug is in everyone’s possession right now.
Health Benefits of Olive Oil
Biological Background: Olive oil is extracted from ground olives (Olea europaea).
Nutritional Info: A tablespoon of olive oil contains 14 g of fat (mainly monounsaturated oleic acid), equivalent to 120calories.
Pharmacological Activity: Olive oil is rich in oleic acid, a monosaturated fatty acid, and phytochemicals oleurpein and hydrooxylorosol, potent anti oxidants. Olive oil can lower blood levels of an undesirable form of cholesterol, LDL, while raising the level of HDL, the desirable kind of cholesterol and help keep LDLcholesterol from being converted to a toxic or oxidized form, thus protecting arteries from the fatty plague. Olive oil can also reduce blood pressure and help regulate blood sugars. Oleuropein and hydrooxylorosol in oliveoil help fight cancers, especially braest cancer.
Eating Tips: Use olive oil for salads and cooking.
Aging and Foods
Aging is the progressive decline over time in physiological functions, including reflexes, vision, hearing, short-term memory and learning, physical strength and endurance, digestion, cardiovascular function and immunity. Two well-supported theories have been proposed to explain the biological cause of aging.
Based on recent scientific findings, a revolutionary theory called free radical theory of aging has been developed to describe the roles of oxidative damages to cells in the process of aging. The theory hypothesizes that oxidative damage by free radicals to genetic materials, proteins, cell membranes, and other cellular machineries is the genesis of aging and its consequences. According to the theory, free radical damage to our cells accumulates but our inborn ability to resist and repair the damage with antioxidants and enzymes declines as we age, resulting in chemical disintegration of our bodies, increased risk of age-related diseases, and eventually death. Therefore, the battle between free radicals and antioxidants in the body is a major factor determining aging rate and life span.