An excellent source of vitamin C, lemons also contain vitamin A, folate, calcium, and potassium.  All citrus fruits are high in flavonoids, an antioxidant thought to block substances that cause cancer and heart disease. 
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Lemon Fights Cancer

If all that wasn’t enough, lemons also contain a compound called limonene which is shown to have anticancer properties in laboratory animals, so quite likely for humans also.  Test show citrus limonoids to fight cancers of the mouth, skin, lung, breast, stomach and colon.  This substance also battles human neuroblastoma tumors.  Researchers believe that limonoids may be better suited to for suppressing cancer cell growth than other nutrients because they stay in the bloodstream for a long time.
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Lemon Home Remedies

Instead of buying real lemons in your dishwashing liquid, and fake lemon juice in your food, get some real lemons or lemon juice!  Here are a few uses for lemon juice:

• Lemon Juice and honey (1/2 squeezed lemon and 1 teaspoon of honey) as a cold remedy.
• Lemon juice in hot water is widely advocated a daily natural treatment for constipation.
• Lemon removes odors from your hands.
• Lemon added to milk makes a good buttermilk substitute (1 tablespoon of lemon in one cup of milk).

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Other Lemon Tips!

Lemons will last for a week or two at room temperature.

For extended storage, keep lemons in a zip-locked bag in the crisper of the fridge for up to 6 weeks.

A lemon should be at room temperature to yield the most juice.

Roll a lemon under your palm on a hard surface to soften it before juicing and it will yield more juice.

A large lemon yields about 3 to 4 tablespoons of juice.
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Lemon Benefits Health!

Scurvy isn’t such a problem today, but miners in the California gold rush era prized them as a preventive against scurvy.  They’d pay up to one dollar per lemon, which was really expensive then!

You don’t have to spend so much for lemons today, so eat lemons and get some vitamin C and other goodies in your diet.  Remember, lemon benefits health!

Post from: Health Food Made Easy

Lemon Benefits Health

It’s getting close to Thanksgiving, the time when most people think of fresh cranberries. The words “cranberry” and “Thanksgiving” just seem to go together.

Of course, women are also apt to think of cranberries at other times of the year If they suffer from a UTI (Urinary Tract Infection), knowing that cranberry juice helps. But by and large, most of the time we equate cranberries with Thanksgiving.

And that’s too bad. Cranberries are a super health food. We should be eating them year round!

Cranberries Nutrition

What’s so great about cranberries?

Well, for one thing, they’re rich in fiber. That’s always a good thing to keep the old digestive system moving.

They’re also rich in vitamin C, vitamin K and manganese. They contain several phytonutrients. In fact, cranberry juice ranks among the highest juices for antioxidants. (Just FYI, Concord Grape juice tops the list.)

Cranberries Health Benefits

And yes, studies have shown that drinking cranberry juice to help a UTI isn’t just an old wives tale. It really works.

Not only that, studies are showing cranberries have antibacterial properties.

“We are beginning to get a picture of cranberry juice and, in particular, the tannins found in cranberries, as potentially potent antibacterial agents,” Camesano said. “These results are surprising and intriguing, particularly given the increasing concern about the growing resistance of certain disease-causing bacteria to antibiotics.”

Multiple studies have shown that some of the phytonutrients in cranberries, flavonoids, are helpful in the fight against cancer, heart disease, and periodontal disease.

Cranberry nutrients are also good for digestive health. Cranberry juice inhibits the bacteria H. pylori that is associated with peptic ulcers, stomach cancer, and gastritis.

Eat Cranberries!

Cranberries are one of the few fruits native to the United States. They’re at their peak from October through December. These facts are probably the biggest reasons cranberries and Thanksgiving just seem to go together.

Fresh cranberries have the most beneficial nutrients, but frozen cranberries are a great substitute. (Hint: buy bags of fresh cranberries when they’re on sale after Thanksgiving and throw them in your freezer.) Also, cranberry juice and dried cranberries can be found year round.

However you choose to eat cranberries, they’re full of good stuff, so include them in your diet year round as another easy health food!

Post from: Health Food Made Easy

Fresh Cranberries Aren’t Just For Thanksgiving

What Makes Them Healthy Hazelnuts?

Hazelnuts are a high-quality source of protein and fiber for starters. They also have a bunch of antioxidants such as vitamin E and many phytonutrients that help the immune system.

Not only that, but of all the tree nuts, hazelnuts have the highest concentration of folate. Why is that so great?

Well, folate is a water soluble B vitamin that is especially important during periods of rapid cell division and growth. For instance, it reduces the risk of neural tube birth defects.

In addition, both children and adults require folic acid to produce healthy red blood cells and prevent anemia. Folate is also thought to help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, certain cancers, depression, and Alzheimer’s disease.  That makes them healthy hazelnuts indeed!

A Hazelnut By Any Other Name

Hazelnuts are also known as filberts, which is actually the correct name for the tree and nut. It’s of French origin and the tree was likely first introduced into the US by early French settlers.

However, hazelnut is the name coined by the English and it was applied to the native species by early settlers.  Nowadays, hazelnut is more commonly used term for these nuts.

The How And Where Of Hazelnut Growth

Hazelnuts are shaped a lot like acorns and grow on bushy trees.  The main producers of hazelnuts are France, Spain, Turkey and Italy.  In the United States, most hazelnuts are grown in Oregon and Washington.

They’ve been a food source for a long time, and are thought to have originated in Asia. There are Chinese manuscripts from 5,000 years ago that refer to the healthy hazelnut as a sacred food from heaven.

They have a rich flavor and work well in baked goods. Hazelnuts are also one of the main ingredients in Nutella spread, besides making hazelnut butter, meal, flour, paste and oil.

Heavenly Hazelnuts Are Healthy Hazelnuts

Besides being a great tasting food, hazelnuts have great health benefits.

• Hazelnut oil was used in ancient times to help quiet chronic coughs.
• Used externally, hazelnut oil is also thought to help rid the skin of cellulite.
• Hazelnuts are a rich source of the amino acid arginine that relaxes blood vessels.
• Eating hazelnuts have been found to help lower cholesterol levels, as they contain nearly 75 percent mono-unsaturated fat and less than 4 percent saturated fat.
• Hazelnuts have the highest proanthocyanidin content of any tree nut. These compounds may help reduce the risk of blood clotting and urinary tract infections.

The Many Ways To Enjoy Hazelnuts

There are many ways to incorporate hazelnuts into your diet. You can snack on the whole or cracked nuts.  Along with diced nuts, they can be used in baked goods, entrees, salads, soups, cereals, bars, toppings, and even dairy products.

Hazelnut meal is finely ground and free flowing. It can be used to replace flour in baked goods, fillings and sauces, and even in ice cream. It’s especially good to use to make low carb foods, and is of course, excellent for use in health foods!

Even More Ways To Enjoy Healthy Hazelnut Benefits!

Hazelnut butter is similar to natural peanut butter, being made of finely ground hazelnuts and unsweetened. Not only does it add a special flavor, it adds protein to replace some carbohydrates, making it also good for low carb and health foods. An interesting side effect of using hazelnut butter with recipes containing chocolate is that it lowers the melting point of chocolate and makes the texture creamier.

Hazelnut paste is much the same as hazelnut butter, only besides the finely ground hazelnuts, it also has sugar added. It’s spreadable, but grainy. It is often used in bakery icings and fillings, confectionery, and dairy products.

Healthy Hazelnuts Add Pizazz To Your Diet!

A great tasting nut with a lot of uses, hazelnuts are also full of nutrients that are great for your body. You can’t go wrong with hazelnuts!

Post from: Health Food Made Easy

Go Nuts For Healthy Hazelnuts!