Nutrition and Health
How good is Soy?
The most recent "health trend" involves the wonderful world of Soy protein. Can Soy really live up to its new found reputation?
Do you know these nutrients?
You've see then on nutrition labels or heard about them in commercials. But how much do you know about these nutrients?
Good Garlic
Go heavy on garlic. Garlic has been found to fight cancer and growth of abnormal cells in your body. But make sure you are not cooking the benefits right out of this powerful herb. A recent study at Penn State University demonstrated that if you cook garlic cloves whole, you won't get the preventive effect. Heating a whole clove destroys the enzyme needed to produce allyl sulphur compounds, which are cancer fighters. So, next time you are adding garlic to your dishes, make sure you slice, chop or crush it, then let stand for 10 minutes before adding. Cutting into the cell membrane releases the enzyme that creates the active compounds.
Stop Aging with phytochemicals
Phytochemicals are the new buzzword in health food. These chemicals are not really essential nutrients that your body needs but they can help slow down the aging process of the cells in your body and lower the risk of cancer.
Here are a few of the chemicals
and their sources:
- Lycopene
- Fights: Cousin of beta-carotene may help prevent prostate, breast and cervical cancers
- Sources: Tomatoes, grapefruit, Guava and watermelon
- Lignas
- Fights: Breast cancer, Heart disease. Removestoxins from your body
- Sources: Flax and flaxseed oil, whole grain products
- Reservatol
- Fights: Cardiovascular disease, cancer and aging.
- Sources: Red Grapes, Red Wine
- Limonene
- Fights: Fights cancer by decreasing cell proliferation and stimulating anti cancer enzymes
- Sources: Peel of citrus fruits. Spearmint, Citrus Oils
- Quercetin
- Fights: Discourages plaque formation in arteries
- Sources: Pear and apple skin, bell pepper, onion, wine and grape juice
Safer, Healthier Tandoori
Barbecuing meat, chicken and fish produces two kinds of carcinogens: polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are in the smoke that's released when excess liquid drips onto coals, and heterocyclic amines (HCAs), which are in the "char" formed when meat is cooked at a very high heat. Now I am not saying you throw that tandoor into trash, but if you followed these guidelines you might protect yourself from these potential cancer-causers :
- Marinate the meats. Use lemon juice, venegars or youghurt to keep the meat juicy amd work as a heat shield. Cooking at lower heat release much fewer carcinogens.
- If you are grilling anything that has ground meat in it, make it healthier by substituting about 1/4th of it with soy protein granules. Just soak it in warm water and mix with the meat. It maintains the texture and taste and adds an important ingredient that soaks up the harmful HCAs.
- Microwave it for a few minutes, so that the meat spends less time on the grill and you eat less "char" and more flavor. Alternatively, you can wrap your meats in tin foil for most of its cooking time, and remove foils just a minute before taking it off the grill.
