Loved by sports nuts and superstars, coconut water is the hot new health drink. But is it all it's cracked up to be?
Madonna, Demi and Lara Bingle all swig it, but opinion is divided as to whether coconut water is the wonder health drink some claim it to be.
Advocates say coconut water - the clear liquid inside a young coconut - is a nutritional goldmine. Already popular in Brazil, where sales top $300 million a year, coconut water is one of the fastest-growing new food categories in the UK and sales doubled in the US last year, thanks to investment by Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Madonna, who poured $1.5 million into the brand Vita Coco and convinced Matthew McConaughey and Demi Moore to do the same.
Not to be confused with coconut milk, the fattier, pulped coconut meat, pure coconut water has been available fresh from health food outlets and in pre-packaged form in Asian supermarkets for years, and has just made its Australian debut in general supermarkets.
The Jamaicans use it as a heart tonic and the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation says it's full of natural electrolytes.
Due to the amount of fiber, Basil seed mucilage absorbs water so Basil Seed help laxative effect, detoxification; Smoking bile acids help lower cholesterol ... Drink Basil Seed also has sedative, anti-stress, ensuring information stools profit, soothe the nerves, improves blood fat ... as well as an important requirement to do reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure. High fiber in Basik Seed particles increases satiety, slowing the absorption of food and to regulate blood sugar levels in people who are overweight, obese or diabetic. According to Oriental medicine, Basil Seed have heat effect, detoxification, just thirsty, your laxative. Commonly used to treat dry cough, sore throat, vomiting blood, bloody stools, nosebleeds, urinary tract infections,
Prickly pear cactus may help maintain healthy blood sugar levels.
Aloe vera, a member of the lily family and native to North Africa, has been used for medicinal and practical benefits for more than 4,000 years. Aloe vera is generally used as a supplement, though some people regularly include aloe in their diets as a functional food, one that improves health beyond its basic nutritional value. Prickly pear, a species of cactus native to the Western hemisphere, has been used as a food and traditional medicine, particularly in Mexico. Also called nopal, prickly pear can be eaten as a fresh fruit, mashed into a sauce or cooked into a syrup or jelly. While each offers distinct benefits, some of the uses of these two plants may overlap or complement each other. Consult your doctor before using these or other herbal supplements to treat a medical condition.
Aloe Vera Blood Sugar and Cholesterol Benefits
A study published in the October 2012 issue of the journal "Metabolic Syndrome and Related Disorders" found that supplementation with aloe vera inner leaf gel for eight weeks significantly reduced levels of blood sugar and low-density lipoprotein, or LDL "bad" cholesterol, in participants with metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome is a condition distinguished by a cluster of risk factors that predispose an individual to developing heart disease and diabetes. Levels of hemoglobin A1c -- a test that measures average blood sugar levels for the last two to three months by determining the amount of glucose that has become attached to red blood cells -- also were significantly reduced.
The aloe vera plant has many beneficial properties.
Aloe vera has been adored for centuries as a remedy for skin infections and cuts. According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, technological advancements have enabled the production of aloe vera products that aid in treatment of burns, constipation, diabetes, skin conditions and herpes. The plant’s products such as aloe vera juice contain a mixture of ingredients that can collectively curb other numerous health complications.
Detoxification
Aloe vera contains nine minerals -- calcium, copper, chromium, selenium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, manganese and zinc. The minerals interact to boost enzyme metabolic pathways. An increased enzyme activity ensures detoxification of metabolic wastes with minerals such as zinc acting as antioxidants in your body’s cells. Aloe vera does this with the help of vitamins A, B-12, C and E.
Aloe vera juice contains leaf pulp that is rich in natural nutrients and fiber. This well-known herbal remedy for the skin also has many benefits for internal healing, cleansing and repair when ingested as a nutritional drink. However, it can cause adverse side effects and reactions and should only be taken as directed. Do not consume aloe vera that is not made for internal, use and consult your doctor before self-medicating for any reason.
3 veggies to never eat:
If you never eat these 3 veggies, You will burn stomach fat every day
Digestive Benefits
Aloe vera contains nutrient compounds that help to heal and soothe the skin when used externally. It may also have similar benefits on the lining of the digestive tract, when ingested as a drink. A review published in the "British Journal of General Practice" notes that aloe vera decreases irritation and enhances healing and repair of ulcers in the stomach and intestines. Aloe vera juice also helps to decrease inflammation in irritable bowel syndrome, colitis and other inflammatory disorders of the gut. Additionally, aloe vera can increase healthy bacteria in the intestines that aid digestion.
Immune Benefits
Research published in the "Journal of Environmental Science and Health" notes that aloe vera contains anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-fungal properties that aid the immune system to cleanse the body of toxins and invading pathogens. Additionally, aloe vera helps to balance the immune system to reduce the effects of seasonal allergies, rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory immune disorders.
Congratulations! You have made some great changes to your life. The last step will be to implement a juicing plan. I am firmly convinced that the benefits of juicing are the keys to giving you a radiant, energetic life, and truly optimal health.
I've said this in the other levels of this nutrition plan, but it's so important I'll say it again - valuable and sensitive micronutrients become damaged when you heat foods.
Cooking and processing food destroys these micronutrients by altering their shape and chemical composition. In this advanced nutritional level, you avoid all processed foods and eat only organic vegetables and fruits, unless not otherwise possible.
Virtually every health authority recommends that we get 6-8 servings of vegetables and fruits per day and very few of us actually get that. Juicing is an easy way to virtually guarantee that you will reach your daily target for vegetables.
While you can certainly juice fruits, if you are overweight, have high blood pressure, diabetes, or high cholesterol, it is best to limit using fruits until you normalize these conditions.
The exception would be lemons and limes which have virtually none of the offending sugar, fructose, that causes most of the metabolic complications. Additionally lemons or limes are amazing at eliminating the bitter taste of the dark, deep green leafy vegetables that provide most of the benefits of juicing.
Benefits of Juicing
There are three main reasons why you will want to consider incorporating vegetable juicing into your optimal health program:
Juicing helps you absorb all the nutrients from the vegetables. This is important because most of us have impaired digestion as a result of making less-than-optimal food choices over many years. This limits your body's ability to absorb all the nutrients from the vegetables. Juicing will help to "pre-digest" them for you, so you will receive most of the nutrition, rather than having it go down the toilet.
Juicing allows you to consume an optimal amount of vegetables in an efficient manner. If you are a carb type, you should eat one pound of raw vegetables per 50 pounds of body weight per day. Some people may find eating that many vegetables difficult, but it can be easily accomplished with a quick glass of vegetable juice.
You can add a wider variety of vegetables in your diet. Many people eat the same vegetable salads every day. This violates the principle of regular food rotation and increases your chance of developing an allergy to a certain food. But with juicing, you can juice a wide variety of vegetables that you may not normally enjoy eating whole.
If you are new to juicing, I recommend a mid-priced juicer. The cheap centrifugal juicers (like the Juiceman) break easily, produce low-quality juice, and are very loud, which may contribute to hearing loss. They also don't last very long.
My favorite are the single gear juicers which are relatively fast, less expensive and easier to clean than more expensive juicers like twin gears or even the $2000 Norwalk juicers. Here is my current favorite juicer. Many people initially think that juicing will be a real chore, but the majority are pleasantly surprised to find that it is much easier than they thought it would be.
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