100+ Nutrition Facts About 25 Well-Known Foods

 

Some foods naturally contain disease-fighting, health promoting properties, while others contain elements that may hinder your health goals. Find out information that may surprise you with these helpful food facts.

Asparagus Avocado Bananas Beet Greens/Root Broccol Celery Cilantro Chicory Chinese Cabbage Dandelion Greens Fennel Green Beans Jicama

Kale Kohlrabi Mustard Greens Onions Parsley Peanut Butter Peanuts  Pumpkin Seeds Radishes Sweet Potato Tomatoes Zucchini

Miracle Leaves May Protect Against Liver Damage

Sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) berries are well known for their cholesterol busting properties, but scientists in India say that its leaves are also rich in anti-oxidants and may help ward off liver disease, according to new research due to be published in the Society of Chemical Industry’s (SCI) Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture.

Indigineous to the mountainous regions of China and Russia, sea buckthorn has been shown to be rich in vitamin C, vitamin E, flavonoids and essential fatty acids. The leaves are also used to make a tea.

In a clinically controlled study, scientists looked at whether the leaves had any protective effects by testing a group of rats, some of whom were given the leaf extract before being administered with a liver damage agent, carbon tetrachloride (CCI4).

Six groups were looked at in all – group 1 was given a daily dose of saline for 5 days; group 2 received saline for 4 days and on the 5th day was given CCI4; group 3 was given a daily dose of silymarin for 5 days followed by a single dose of CCI4; groups 4, 5 and 6 were given 50, 100 and 200mg of sea buckthorn leaf extract respectively for five days followed by a single dose of CCI4 on the 5th day.

The results showed that the leaf extract appeared to confer a protective mechanism on the liver – the rats given CCI4 minus the leaf extract had sustained significant liver damage compared to the control group that did not receive CCI4. In comparison, liver damage was severely restricted in the rats given leaf extract at 100mg and 200mg and CCI4.

Tags: Sea buckthorn, cholesterol, liver damage

Diet and Exercise Can Delay Diabetes

Drinking less alcohol, eating more vegetables and exercising can prevent or delay the onset of diabetes, researchers said on Friday in a study showing that lifestyle changes can make a big difference. Diet and exercise reduced the incidence of diabetes by about 43 percent over 20 years among 577 high-risk Chinese adults, the researchers reported in the journal Lancet. More....

Tags: diabetes

Drinking water can hurt babies under 6 months

Sucking reflexes can put them at risk for water intoxication, say doctors

Babies younger than six months old should never be given water to drink, physicians at Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore remind parents. Consuming too much water can put babies at risk of a potentially life-threatening condition known as water intoxication.

"Even when they're very tiny, they have an intact thirst reflex or a drive to drink," Dr. Jennifer Anders, a pediatric emergency physician at the center, told Reuters Health. "When they have that thirst and they want to drink, the fluid they need to drink more of is their breast milk or formula." More....

Taking the Upper Hand: Is There Really a Connection Between Type 1 Diabetes and Left-Handedness?

 For decades, scientists have postulated that left-handedness is associated with autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes. This theory was recently brought to the attention of Diabetes Health by Joan Hoover, our patient advocate adviser, who found that many of the children with diabetes she came across in her work were left-handed. Studies, however, have yielded conflicting results, rendering the validity of this theory controversial. More....

When Fat Makes You Healthy:

Scientists were surprised to discover that some kinds of fat might actually be beneficial. They knew that belly fat was exerting negative effects, but were amazed to find that fat under the skin was producing a good effect.

Subcutaneous Fat May Produce Beneficial Hormones

22 May 2008

It has long been known that type 2 diabetes is linked to obesity, particularly fat inside the belly. Now, researchers at the Joslin Diabetes Center have found that fat from other areas of the body can actually reduce insulin resistance and improve insulin sensitivity.

In a study published in the May issue of Cell Metabolism, a team lead by C. Ronald Kahn, M.D., found that subcutaneous fat—fat  below the skin (usually in the hips and thighs)—is associated with reduced insulin levels and improved insulin sensitivity.

Kahn says that fat in the belly increases the risk of diabetes and mortality and it has been suggested that obesity in subcutaneous areas, often the hips and thighs, might decrease such risks.

His study concludes that fat under the skin is intrinsically different from visceral fat (belly fat or fat packed in between organs) and may produce substances that can improve glucose metabolism.

“The surprising thing was that it wasn’t where the fat was located,” Kahn said. “It was the kind of fat that was the most important variable. Even more surprising, it wasn’t that belly fat was exerting negative effects, but that fat under the skin was producing a good effect. Animals with more of this kind of fat didn’t gain as much weight as they aged, had better insulin sensitivity, lower insulin levels, and were improved all around.”

In addition, Kahn noted that a class of diabetes drugs called thiazolidines (ACTOS, Avandia) may cause patients to gain weight in the subcutaneous area, yet also improve insulin sensitivity.

Kahn said it is possible that fat underneath the skin may be producing certain hormones, known as adipokines, that produce beneficial effects on metabolism. These effects may offset the negative effects produced by belly fat.

Source: Joslin Diabetes Center

Hot Tub Therapy May Have Benefits

Lowers BGs, But Is It Safe?

Hot Tub Therapy For People With Diabetes

Daniel Trecroci
22 May 2008

 

This article was originally published in Diabetes Health in November, 1999.

Is it possible that a dip in the hot tub can cause a dip in the blood sugars? According to a pilot study that appeared in the September 16 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), "hot tub therapy" helped a group of type 2s reduce their blood sugars, lose weight and improve sleep patterns.

Philip L. Hooper, MD, of the McKee Medical Center in Loveland, Colorado, studied five type 2 men and three type 2 women, ages 43 to 68. The patients had been suffering from diabetes from three to 14 years. More....

Bible Trivia:

Quiz: Foods of the Bible
As the recipes from "The Church Supper Cookbook" reveal, Christian eating has come a long way since Jesus's time. Early Christians didn't munch on church potluck standards like cheese strata and scripture cake, but food is still an important part of the Bible. Test your knowledge of foods in the Bible with this quiz. Plus: Share your favorite recipes.

Q1. Which New Testament figure was said to eat locusts and honey? 1. Peter 2. John the Baptist 3. Elizabeth, Mary's kinswoman 4. Paul

Q2. Which of these fruits is not mentioned in the Bible? 1. Fig 2. Pomegranate 3. Apple 4. Guava

Q3. What did Jesus distribute at the feeding of the five thousand? 1. Bread and wine 2. Wine and fishes 3. Loaves and fishes 4. Pop-tarts and fishes

Q4. In Luke's gospel, what did Jesus eat after his resurrection? 1. Broiled fish 2. Lamb 3. Bread 4. Figs

Q5. Which nutis mentioned in Genesis? 1. Pistachio 2. Cashew 3. Macadamia 4. Hazelnut

Q6. At Cana, the wine Jesus created from water was: 1. Sold to wine merchants 2. Better than the 'choice wine' that was originally available 3. Non-alcoholic 4. Bad-tasting, according to Mary

Q7. Why did Jesus' disciples get in trouble for picking and eating grain one day? 1. It wasn't kosher 2. It was the Sabbath 3. It wasn't ripe yet 4. The grainfields belonged to a Roman centurion

Q8. Who was the first farmer mentioned in the Bible? 1. Adam 2. Abel 3. Enoch 4. Cain

Answers: John the Baptist Guava Loaves and fishes Broiled fish Pistachio Better than the 'choice wine' that was originally available (and yes it had alcohol in it!) It was the Sabbath Cain

Disease and Sanitation rules found in the Bible:

DISEASES

III JOHN 2 "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper in health, even as thy soul prospereth."

EXODUS 15:26 "If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statues, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee."

This promise was given to the Israelites when Moses led them out of Egypt. God proceeded to give Moses a number of commandments, which form part of our Bible today. Because these divinely given medical directions were altogether different from those in the Papyrus Ebers (Egyptian royal court remedies). From the record we discover that Moses had so much faith in God's regulations that he did not incorporate a single current medical misconception into the inspired instructions.

Some rules of Sanitation found in the Bible:

LEVITICUS 13:46 "All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be."

Early in the Middle Ages the dreaded disease leprosy had killed countless millions of people; and later the Black Death took another sixty million. Not until the physicians of the day gave up leadership to the church was the plague brought under control. The church took as its guiding principle the concept of contagion as embodied in the Old Testament, Leviticus.

DEUTERONOMY 23:12,13 "You shall set off a place outside the camp and, when you go out; and you shall have an implement among your equipment, and when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it and turn and cover your refuse."

Up to the close of the eighteenth century, hygienic provisions, even in the great capitals, were quite primitive. It was the rule for excrement to be dumped into the streets which were unpaved and filthy. Powerful stenches gripped villages and cities. It was a heyday for flies as they bred in the filth and spread intestinal diseases that killed millions. Diseases such as cholera, dysentery, and typhoid fever could have easily been controlled by following God's provision in Deuteronomy. A medical historian writes that this directive is "certainly a primitive measure, but an effective one, which indicates advanced ideas of sanitation."

NUMBERS 19:11-22 "He who touches the dead body of anyone shall be unclean seven days. ... Whoever touches the body of anyone who has died, and does not purify himself, defiles the tabernacle of the Lord. That person shall be cut off from Israel. He shall be unclean, because the water of purification was not sprinkled on him; his uncleanness is still on him. ... The clean person shall sprinkle the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day he shall purify himself, wash his clothes, and bathe in water; and at evening he shall be clean..."

If physicians would have only followed the above instructions early in history many lives would have been saved. It was not until 1847, when Dr. Semmelweis wrote a book about handwashing and changing clothes after doing autopsies and surgeries before going to the next patient. When his rules were followed mortality dropped by 80 percent.

Many centuries before Semmelweis, however, God gave to Moses detailed instructions on the safest method for cleansing the hands after handling the infected living. Proper modern method for washing hands is "The hands should be vigorously lathered and rubbed together for at least 15 seconds under a moderate-sized stream of water..

The scriptural method specified not merely washing in a basin, but repeated washing in running water with time intervals allowed for drying and exposure to sun to kill bacteria not washed off. The soap used is even more remarkable. It was made by burning together in a fire the following: a young cow, cedar wood, hyssop branches, and scarlet wool. The washing solution contained an irritant, cedar-wood oil, that would encourage scrubbing; an antiseptic, hyssop oil, that would kill bacteria and fungi; and a scrubbing element, wool fibers, that would dislodge the bacteria. Even today, hospitals often use a similar granular soap because it is difficult to remove granular soap from the hands in less than 15 seconds.

How can circumcision of the male prevent cancer in women?

A number of studies have borne out the fact that freedom from cancer of the cervix was not due to factors such as race or food or environment, but wholly to circumcision.

If the tight, unretractable foreskin is not removed, proper cleansing can not be readily performed. As a result many virulent bacteria, including the cancer-producing Smegma bacillus, can grow profusely. During sexual intercourse these bacteria are deposited on the cervix of theuterus, but if the mucous membrane of the cervix is intact, little harm results. However, if lacerations exist, as they frequently do after childbirth, these bacteria can cause considerable irritation. Since any part of the body which is subjected to irritation is susceptible to cancer, it is perfectly understandable why cervical cancer is likely to develop in women whose mates are not circumcised. These bacteria not only produce cancer in women, but also irritate the male organ and may cause cancer of the penis. The extreme rarity of penile cancer in circumcised men is shown by the fact that in 1955 only the fourth case in medical history was reported. Thus we can say that circumcision is an almost perfect prophylaxis against this deadly cancer.

And to add to this protection from cervical injury, the Lord also commanded the people of Israel to not have sexual intercourse during a woman's monthly menses and right after childbirth. Both are times when the cervix is soft, open, and susceptible to injury and infections.

LEVITICUS 12:1-5 "Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying 'Speak to the children of Israel, saying If a woman has conceived, and borne a male child, then she shall be unclean seven days; as in the days of her customary impurity

she shall be unclean. And on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. She shall then continue in the blood of her purification thirty-three days.... But if she bears a female child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her customary impurity, and she shall continue in the blood of her purification sixty-six days.'"

Not only does the practice of circumcision, God ordered Abraham to institute four thousand years ago, save lives by preventing cancer; but there is another remarkably unique fact about the matter of circumcision. After many years of research and studies, it was found that newborn babies don't manufacture vitamin K (an important blood-clotting element) in their intestinal tract until the fifth to the seventh day. It is clear that the first safe day to perform circumcision would be the eighth day, the very day that Jehovah commanded Abraham to circumcise Isaac. A second element which is also necessary for the normal clotting of blood is prothrombin. Pediatric textbooks reveal that on the eighth day, prothrombin levels skyrockets to 110 per cent. It then levels off to 100 per cent. It appears that an eight- day-old baby has more available prothrombin than on any other day in its entire life. Thus one observes that from a consideration of vitamin K and prothrombin determinations the perfect day to perform a circumcision is the eighth day. Abraham did not pick the eighth day after many centuries of trial-and-error experiments. Neither he nor any of his company from the ancient city of Ur in the Chaldees had ever been circumcised.It was a day picked by the Creator of vitamin K.

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6

Follow God’s direction for good health, long life, and happiness.

The 10 Best Foods You Aren’t Eating

Want to do your body a world of good? It's as easy as expanding your grocery list

Although some guys aren't opposed to smoking some weed, most wouldn't think of eating one. It's a shame, really, since a succulent weed named purslane is not only delicious but also among the world's healthiest foods.

Of course, there are many superfoods that never see the inside of a shopping cart. Some you've never heard of, and others you've simply forgotten about. That's why we've rounded up the best of the bunch. Make a place for them on your table and you'll instantly upgrade your health -- without a prescription. More.........

1. Beets....