Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Broccoli health benefits

Broccoli's noteworthy nutrients include vitamin C, vitamin A (mostly as beta-carotene), folic acid, calcium, and fiber. While the calcium content of one serving doesn't equal that of a glass of milk, broccoli is an important calcium source for those who don't consume dairy products. Calcium does more than build strong bones. Research shows that this mineral may play a role in the control of high blood pressure, and it may work to prevent colon cancer.

Beta-carotene and vitamin C are important antioxidants that have been linked to a reduced risk of numerous conditions, including cataracts, heart disease, and several cancers.

Broccoli is a fiber find. Not only is it a rich source, but half of its fiber is insoluble and half is soluble, helping to meet your needs for both types of fiber. But the story doesn't end with broccoli's rich array of nutrients. Broccoli provides a health bonus in the form of protective substances that may shield you from disease. Botanically, broccoli belongs to the cabbage family, collectively known as cruciferous vegetables.

Health organizations have singled out cruciferous vegetables as must-have foods, recommending we eat them several times a week. Why? They are linked to lower rates of cancer. Like all cruciferous vegetables, broccoli naturally contains two important phytochemicals -- indoles and isothiocyanates. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore isolated from broccoli an isothiocyanate, called sulforaphane, that increases the activity of a group of enzymes in our bodies that squelch cancer-causing agents

Brocolli salad


1 1/2 cup broccoli (chopped florets)
1 tomato (deseeded and chopped)
1 cup cucumber (deseeded and chopped)
1 red chilli (cut slanting slices)
1 red onion (sliced and chopped)
1 tsp garlic & blackpepper seasoning
1/2 tsp salt

Steps:
1. mix the first five ingredients in a bowl
2. sprinkle salt and the garlic pepper on top of the nixed ingredients then mix well again.
3. dish out to serve

The Miracle of the Coconut

the coconut has been misinformed for too long. THe great fruit has many nutritional values and the best is it is agreat weight management fruit.




the oil that is stable even at high tempereatures

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Ayam Masak Merah

Here is a red hot recipe which uses fresh chillies and tomatoes . A perfect dish for maintaining a healthy heart and cholesterol level.


600 gm chicken (a medium sized ayam kampung)
for marinade
1 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp sea salt

to be grounded/blended
5 pips garlic
2 large onions
10 red chillies
1 cm ginger
2 red tomatoes
1 cup water

Cooking medium
palm oil for deep fat frying
1 cup water
4 tbs virgin coconut oil

Seasoning
1 stalk lemon grass
1 tbs tomato sauce
1 tsp sea salt (to taste)
1 tbs honey
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder

Garnishing suggestions
cashew nuts, coriander leaves, raw onion rings,

Steps :
Preparing the chicken and grounded ingredients
1. Clean the chicken and marinade with the seasalt, tumeric powder and coriander powder
2. Put garlic, onions and ginger into blender. Add water to required level. Blend till smooth
3. Strain out the blended ingredients into a bowl
4. Use the strained liquid and put back into the blender with the chillies. Add water if necessary Blend till smooth.
5. Strain out the blended chillies into another bowl
6. Use the strained liquid and put back into the blender with the tomatoes. Blend till smooth.

Ready to cook
7. Deep fry the chicken till golden brown. Take out and put aside.
8. Put 4 tbsp virgin coconut oil into a wok. Fry in half the gounded onions and garlic till fragrant.
9. Add into the fry chilli paste and crushed lemon grass. Fry till the chilli untul it gives a tingling effect to the nose. (somebody is sure to start sneezing) or when it blends well with the oil. Control the heat so that the chillies do not burn. Add in water if the paste becomes too dry.
10. Add in the the rest of the onion & garlic paste, the tomato paste. Simmer for about a minute. Add water if its too dry.
11. Add in the cinnamon powder, honey, tomato sauce and sea salt (to taste) and the fried chicken and simmer for about 3 minutes.
12. Put the cooked ingredients into a serving dish and garnish it with the suggested garnishing listing above.

Serves 3 to 4 to be eaten with cooked brown rice.

Red Hot Chillies


Chillies are excellent source of Vitamin, A, B, C and E with minerals like molybdenum, manganese, folate, potassium, thiamin, and copper. Chilli contains seven times more vitamin C than orange.

Chillies are good for slimming down as it burns the calorie easily. Chillies stimulate the appetite, help to clear the lungs, and stimulate digestive system.

THe main element in Chilli is Capsaicin : Chillies have vitamin C and Vitamin A containing beta-carotenoids which are powerful antioxidant. These antioxidants destroy free radical bodies. Usually, these radical bodies may travel in the body and cause huge amounts of damage to cells. These radical bodies could damage nerve and blood vessel in diabetes.

The antioxidants present in the chilli wipe out the radical bodies that could build up cholesterol causing major heart diseases such as atherosclerosis and other heart diseases such as cataract and arthritis like osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. It also dilates the airway of lungs which reduces asthma and wheezing.

There are many benefits of the chilli fruit which will be posted later .

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Banana Coconut Shake

Here is a simple and fast to prepare desert which is nutirious rich in magnesium and potassium added with omega3 rich walnuts food for the brain, and antioxidants from rice bran and MCFA coconut milk.

1 medium sized banana (about 5 inches or 12 cm length)
1 cup coconut milk (santan)
1 cup ice tubes
1/2 cup water
1 tbs honey
1 tbs crushed walnuts
1 tbs rice bran
banana coconut shake


Steps:
1. Put banana and coconut milk in the freezer for 2 hours
2. Peel banana
3. Blend banana, coconut milk, water, ice tubes till smooth and frothy.
4. Blend in the honey for about 10 seconds
5. Pour into glasses and sprinkle rice bran then walnuts

Ready to serve for 2 persons.

Banana helps maintain blood pressure

Wonderfully sweet with firm and creamy flesh, bananas come prepackaged in their own yellow jackets and are available for harvest throughout the year. Bananas are a favorite food for everyone from infants to elders. Sports enthusiasts appreciate the potassium-power delivered by this high energy fruit.

Bananas are a very good source of vitamin B6 and a good source of vitamin C, potassium, magnesium, dietary fiber, and manganese. One medium banana contains 1 gram of protein and 3 grams of dietary fiber.

Bananas are one of our best sources of potassium, an essential mineral for maintaining normal blood pressure and heart function. Since the average banana contains a whopping 467 mg of potassium and only 1 mg of sodium, a banana a day may help to prevent high blood pressure and protect against atherosclerosis.

The effectiveness of potassium-rich foods such as bananas in lowering blood pressure has been demonstrated by a number of studies. For example, researchers tracked over 40,000 American male health professionals over four years to determine the effects of diet on blood pressure. Men who ate diets higher in potassium-rich foods, as well as foods high in magnesium and cereal fiber, had a substantially reduced risk of stroke.

In addition to these cardiovascular benefits, the potassium found in bananas may also help to promote bone health. Potassium may counteract the increased urinary calcium loss caused by the high-salt diets typical of most Americans, thus helping to prevent bones from thinning out at a fast rate.

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Yogurt is easier to digest than milk

Yogurt is a fermented dairy product made by adding bacterial cultures to milk, which causes the transformation of the milk's sugar, lactose, into lactic acid. This process gives yogurt its refreshingly tart flavor and unique pudding-like texture, a quality that is reflected in its original Turkish name, Yoghurmak, which means "to thicken."

The culturing process makes yogurt more digestible than milk. The live active cultures create lactase, the enzyme lactose-intolerant people lack, and another enzyme contained in some yogurts (beta-galactosidase) also helps improve lactose absorption in lactase-deficient persons. Bacterial enzymes created by the culturing process, partially digest the milk protein casein, making it easier to absorb and less allergenic. In our pediatric practice, we have observed that children who cannot tolerate milk can often eat yogurt without any intestinal upset. While the amount varies among brands of yogurt, in general, yogurt has less lactose than milk. The culturing process has already broken down the milk sugar lactose into glucose and galactose, two sugars that are easily absorbed by lactose-intolerant persons.

The food ranking system qualified yogurt as a very good source of calcium, phosphorus, riboflavin-vitamin B2 and iodine. Yogurt also emerged from our analysis as a good source of vitamin B12, pantothenic acid-vitamin B5, zinc, potassium, protein and molybdenum. These 10 nutrients alone would make yogurt a health-supportive food. But some of the most interesting health information about yogurt comes from a different context-its potential inclusion of live bacteria.

Cinnamon & Honey

Today’s science says that even though honey is sweet, if taken in the right dosage as a medicine, it does not harm diabetic patients. Weekly World News, a magazine in Canada, on its issue dated 7 January, 1995 has given the following list of diseases that can be cured by honey and cinnamon as researched by western scientists:

HEART DISEASES:
Make a paste of honey and cinnamon powder, apply on bread, instead of jelly and jam, and eat it regularly for breakfast. It reduces the cholesterol in the arteries and saves the patient from heart attack. Also those who have already had an attack, if they do this process daily, they are kept miles away from the next attack. Regular use of the above process relieves loss of breath and strengthens the heart beat. In America and Canada, various nursing homes have treated patients successfully and h ave found that as you age, the arteries and veins lose their flexibility and get clogged; honey and cinnamon revitalize the arteries and veins.

ARTHRITIS:
Arthritis patients may take daily, morning, and night, one cup of hot water with two spoons of honey and one small teaspoon of cinnamon powder. If taken regularly even chronic arthritis can be cured. In a recent research conducted at the Copenhagen University, it was found that when the doctors treated their patients with a mixture of one tablespoon Honey and half teaspoon Cinnamon powder before breakfast, they found that within a week, out of the 200 people so treated, practically 73 patients were totally relieved of pain, and within a month, mostly all the patients who could not walk or move around because of arthritis started walking without pain.

BLADDER INFECTIONS:
Take two tablespoons of cinnamon powder and one teaspoon of honey in a glass of lukewarm water and drink it. It destroys the germs in the bladder.

CHOLESTEROL:
Two tablespoons of honey and three teaspoons of Cinnamon Powder mixed in 16 ounces of tea water, given to a cholesterol patient were found to reduce the level of cholesterol in the blood by 10percent within two hours. As mentioned for arthritic patients, if taken three times a day, any chronic cholesterol is c ured. According to information received in the said journal, pure honey taken with food daily relieves complaints of cholesterol. (By the way. if you’re taking cholesterol medicine STOP! They all contain STATIN which weaken our muscles…
including YOUR HEART and none has been shown to stop heart attacks or strokes!!!!

COLDS:
Those suffering from common or severe colds should take one tablespoon lukewarm honey with 1/4 spoon cinnamon powder daily for three days. This process will cure most chronic cough, cold, and clear the sinuses.

IMMUNE SYSTEM:
Daily use of honey and cinnamon powder strengthens the immune system and protects the body from bacteria and viral attacks. Scientists have found that honey has various vitamins and iron in large amounts. Constant use of honey strengthens the white blood corpuscles to fight bacteria and viral diseases.

INDIGESTION:
Cinnamon powder sprinkled on two tablespoons of honey taken before food relieves acidity and digests the heaviest of
meals.

INFLUENZA:
A scientist in Spain has proved that honey contains a natural ingredient which kills the influenza germs and saves the patient from flu.

Avacado lassi

Here is a healthy recipe with avacado as the main ingredient.


Avocados provide more than 25 essential nutrients, including fiber, potassium, Vitamin E, B-vitamins and folic acid. They also act as a "nutrient booster" by enabling the body to absorb more fat-soluble nutrients, such as alpha- and beta-carotene and lutein, in foods that are eaten with the fruit.

Ingredients
1 avacado
1 cup yogurt
1 cup hexagon water
1 cup ice tubes
honey to taste
cinnamon powder

Steps
1. Cut open the avacado
Watch video

2. Put in the avacado, yogurt, water and ice tubes into a blender.
Blend the ingredients for about a minute until well smooth and frothy.


3. Add honey (to taste, about 1 tbspn) and blend for 10 seconds

4. Pour the lassi mixture into tall glasses and sprinkle the cinnamon on top

5. Ready to serve

Contents can serve for 3.