Archive for June, 2011

Health Benefits of Raw Garlic

Chinese people have known of the health benefits of raw garlic for thousands of years. In China, apart from being used to flavor food, garlic is also traditionally used in teas and folk remedies. Why? Garlic is one of nature’s strongest immune system boosters, and a powerful antibiotic, digestive aid and libido enhancer. As you’ll see below, these are just some of the health benefits of raw garlic.

However, while the health and medicinal benefits of garlic are numerous, it can also overheat your system if you eat too much. According to Traditional Chinese Dietary Therapy, garlic is warm in nature and a strong stimulant. Therefore, people who have excess heat in their body should first balance their system. Excessive internal heat comes from eating too many heating foods and drinks, e.g. meat, fried foods, coffee and alcohol. This causes symptoms like red eyes, bad breath, constipation, yellow urine, a yellow tongue moss and acne. If you have these kinds of symptoms, eliminate or greatly reduce the above items from your diet for a few weeks before you start eating garlic regularly, or it will just make your body hotter and your symptoms worse.

Below are some main health and medicinal benefits of garlic. Note: To get the full health benefits of raw garlic, you have to do just that – take it raw! Commercial garlic pills, tablets, oils and capsules, especially the odorless ones, are often devoid of the active enzymes that provide the benefits. Crushed, raw garlic may be mixed into virtually any meal, or put in gelatin capsules for easy swallowing, or drunk as a tea by simply crushing 1 or 2 cloves and adding hot water. These methods may not be very appealing, but do you want the benefits or not? Read the rest of this entry »

Food For the Hair

What a sweet thought; feeding your hair vitamins and minerals to help it grow. But it is true; there are foods that are reported to be the best food to eat for healthy hair growth. They claim that the right food can help your hair grow into a long and shiny waterfall of hair. But their claims are just that, claims with no evidence; still, people perceive it as possible because of the number of testimonials some food get.

There are a lot of theories about this and people have different ideas on the best food to eat for healthy hair growth. They are all good for your hair and especially for your scalp; I guess people just use whatever is on season and whatever is abundant in their area. Maybe that is why there are so many versions of the list of best food to eat for healthy hair growth.

Foods with iodine is the best food to eat for healthy hair growth, it helps in the production of thyroxin (thyroid hormones). This hormone can promote hair growth. Seafood contains iodine, so eat a lot of mussels, cod, haddock and seaweed. Substitute regular salt or sea salt with iodized salt. It tastes the same but the latter is better for your health.

Foods with beta carotene is said to help in healthy hair growth. It is actually converted into vitamin A by the body and vitamin A makes the hair go strong. So for a healthy strong hair, eat a lot of green and yellow vegetables. Fruits of the same color are also good so eat a lot of cantaloupes and peppers; they are the best food to eat for healthy hair growth.

Protein is also said to be the best food to eat for hair growth as hair is nothing but a dead protein. Incorporate a lot of dairy products in your food like tofu, soy, brewer’s yeast, eggs, wheat germ, fish, and meat. Some say, copper is an effective remedy for hair loss. But one need not drink vitamin supplement for that, you can find enough copper in liver, whole grains, green vegetables, chicken, eggs and beans. Read the rest of this entry »

Choosing Healthy Foods To Lose Weight

It is not surprising that more people in today’s society are looking for effective ways to lose weight. By being more conscious in their food choices, they are confident that they will eventually lose those unwanted fats. Unfortunately, most people would wonder why no significant weight loss is happening despite choosing to eat healthy food?

This is because most food deemed to be healthy turns out not so healthy after all. Take fish for example. For years, nutritionists have been informing the public about the health benefits it gives to the body. This is because of the Omega 3 Fatty Acid that prevents heart disease to happen.

If fish is healthy, common sense would tell you eating sushi is good. However, sushi that contains mayonnaise and other high in fat dip is certainly unhealthy.

It would be best if you stick to sushi made of raw tuna or sashimi. Avoid those that come with fried fish content. Read the rest of this entry »