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Apricots are not only delicious but nutritionally sound. Although dried and canned Apricots are available year-round, fresh Apricots with a plentiful supply of vitamin C, are in season from May through August. Apricots are regarded as a nutritious and tonic food and enjoy world wide popularity.

Apricots are a good source of dietary fiber with insoluble cellulose and lignin in the skin and soluble pectin’s in the flesh. The Apricot’s beautiful golden color comes from deep yellow carotenes including beta-carotene that make the fruit a good source of vitamin A.

Apricots also have vitamin C and iron. Cyanogenic glycosides which are found in most stone fruit seeds, bark, and leaves are found in high concentration in Apricot seeds. The drug laetrile, a treatment for cancer, is extracted from apricot seeds. Centuries ago apricot seeds were used to treat tumors and in the 17th century apricot oil was used in England against tumors and ulcers.

Seeds of the Apricot grown in central Asia and around the Mediterranean are so sweet that they may be substituted for almonds in some dishes.

Ask your doctor about the benefits of adding apricots to your diet and how they can benefit you.

Tagged with: Apricot • beta-carotene • carotenes • dietary fiber • nutritious

Cauliflower is a vegetable that may be liked by few but is known for containing nutrients that fight against several diseases.

There are two main ingredients in cauliflower that are the main ingredients for fighting disease. These are indole-3-carbinol, or 13C, and the photo nutrient sulforaphane. In resent research, sulforaphane was shown to lower the occurrence of breast tumors in lab animals by almost 40%.

Cauliflower also contains vitamin C and folate. Folate helps the blood work more efficiently and is often recommended for preventing anemia. Folate is also essential for proper tissue growth and not getting enough can make you susceptible to many diseases down the road such as cancer and heart disease. Vitamin C is considered an antioxidant. When used alongside other antioxidants such as vitamin E and beta-carotene, your body’s immune system will stay strong.

Eating three florets of cauliflower a day will provide 67% of your daily vitamin C requirement. When purchasing cauliflower, make sure the tops are white. If the floret has begun to spot brown or purple, it is not as nutritionally beneficial. Eating cauliflower raw will give you the highest nutritional benefits, however, if you must cook it, lightly steaming it will keep its nutritional value high.

Tagged with: cauliflower • Folate • indole-3-carbinol • sulforaphane • vitamin C

Colostrum is the name given to milk produced immediately after birth. In cows is it is referred to as bovine colostrum, which cam be beneficial to children and adults alike.

Bovine colostrum contains components such as immunoglobulins, antibodies, proline-rich polepeptyde, lactoferrin and glycoproteins, which are very important in fighting viruses in the human body.

There are over 90 components in bovine colostrum, which are divided into two classes, immune factors and growth factors. These two factors contribute largely in maintaining health, making bovine colostrum a buzz word for a growing number of people.

Bovine colostrum is said to rejuvenate your brain, assist generation or improvement of aged muscles, burn fat, assist the internal regulation of blood glucose levels, and repair the body’s DNA and RNA. Also, the vitamins and minerals present in bovine colostrum act as coenzymes, which maintain the chemical process in the body.

There is a misconception that only children can benefit from colostrum. Actually, as we age, we stop producing immune and growth factors that help us fight diseases, so there may be a need for colostrum in adults.

Colostrum is a natural food having no side effects and can help the body to utilize the proteins and vitamins obtained from foods.

Bovine colostrum is said to be right for people of every age. However, consult your physician before taking colostrum.

Tagged with: Bovine colostrum • coenzymes • colostrum • immune and growth factors • immunoglobulins

Actually it really can be. There was a pretty significant study done that was widely published. Researchers from the Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center looked at data from 10,104 adults who were eating different kinds of diets including vegetarian diets, low carbohydrate diets and high carbohydrate diets. They also studied the diets effects on BMI (body mass index (BMI) is measure of body fat based on height and weight) energy intake and diet quality.

The study concluded that those who were eating a vegetarian diet had low BMI’s and ended up eating less fat.

The study shows that there is something to be said for the health factor of a vegan diet, but one must have knowledge and pay attention to balancing nutrition. You have to be cautious when starting a vegetarian diet and you need to make sure you are knowledgeable about it.

It’s harder to get the adequate amount of B vitamins on a vegetarian diet and you have to know which foods to eat to get the right amount of vitamins and minerals to receive the proper nutrition.

If you think you would like to try and are considering a vegan diet, talk to your doctor or nutritionist about the proper foods for balanced nutrition.

Tagged with: B vitamins • balancing nutrition • BMI • vegan • vegetarian diet

Carbohydrates are made up of carbon and water. Atoms of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen form carbohydrate compounds such as sugar and starch. There are five types of carbohydrate sugars: glucose, fructose, sucrose, maltose and lactose.

Carbohydrates are the body’s preferred way of getting energy and in fact your brain needs a constant supply of carbohydrates.

Carbohydrates are broken down into glucose by the body and as you may know, are absorbed into the blood stream. Carbs can also be stored in your muscles and liver as glycogen. You need about 40 – 50 % of your diet to be made up of carbohydrates for good health.

Fats are waxy, oily substances and are essential for good health. Fat has double the amount of calories, and because of this, poses a problem to individuals who find it difficult to exercise. When the body breaks down a fat, it gets broken down into something called a fatty acid and glycerol.

Proteins are made up of chains of amino acids and are necessary for your body to build enzymes, antibodies and hemoglobin. When you eat protein, your body breaks the protein down into amino acids and then tries to re-assemble them into other configurations to make other needed proteins for use around the body.

Tagged with: Carbohydrates • Carbs • Fats • hemoglobin • proteins

The best way to change your bad nutrition habits is to do it very slowly. If you try to change everything all at once, it will seem too overwhelming and hard to maintain. Try changing one thing at a time.

For example, perhaps you like a morning cappuccino on the way to work. Make a small change by deciding to stop drinking your morning cappuccino and drink bottled water instead. Don’t change anything else about your nutrition habits until you feel totally comfortable about that dietary change.

Then move on to something else, like healthy snacks. Instead of that chocolate energy bar, pack a piece of fruit and a small tub of yogurt. Essentially fruit is natures snack food, it’s also cheaper.

Once you’re comfortable with this healthy change, and then move onto something else. You get the picture. When you’ve got your diet sorted out and are consuming more healthy food to aid in your nutrition, and then be sure to get some exercise into your lifestyle.

So it doesn’t seem to be such an abrupt change, you just need to understand more about what your food and what the energy value is and the nutrient value of what you are consuming, and make slow but lifelong changes to your lifestyle.

Tagged with: bad nutrition habits • bottled water • exercise • healthy snacks • nutrition

This question has different answers depending on where you are coming from and what culture.

If a person gets a balanced variety of foods in their diet there is probably no need for
vitamin and mineral supplements.

There is a section of the population that don’t really get enough variety in their diet, and really just stick to certain foods, such as vegetarians, so they do need a supplement. However health conscious people who eat a well balanced variety of food probably don’t need a supplement.

If one is pregnant or nursing or if there is some other need for vitamins and minerals according to your doctor, then vitamin and mineral supplements are a good idea.

Vitamin and mineral supplements really only have great value if you’re not getting them in your diet. Some chronic dieters who diet consistently won’t be getting enough vitamins and minerals, so sometimes it is a good idea for them to take a supplement.

As you age, does that mean you need a vitamin supplement? Yes, there are quite a few vitamins and minerals that may be lacking. As you age your absorption of nutrients declines in your later years and your body’s need for B6, B12, calcium and vitamin D increases.

Ask your doctor if you need vitamin and mineral supplements.

Tagged with: aging • minerals • nutrients • supplements • vitamins

Carbohydrates, fats and protein can all be broken down into smaller units.

Each one of those smaller units can be sub-divided. In the case of proteins, proteins are made up of amino acids. Not all proteins have the eight essential amino acids that the body needs. If you are consuming protein and you don’t get the essential ones for
long periods of time, you are putting yourself at risk of becoming malnourished. In places around the world where food isn’t so plentiful, children can become malnourished and develop diseases such as Kwashiorkor. These children have distended tummies, however the rest of their bodies are fine, this unfortunately is caused by a protein deficiency.

Scientists can measure the quality of nutrients that people are getting. The amount of protein consumed is controlled. They can measure how much is excreted, how much weight a person gains and basically they can determine how much of that protein is utilized by the body.

Some proteins are absorbed extremely well, an example would be egg albumin, which is a protein found in the white of an egg rather than the yolk. The egg white protein has an extremely high biological availability and all of the essential amino acids in
the right balance.

Gelatin has many of the essential amino acids, however, does not have an amino acid called tryptophan and because it is lacking, it isn’t considered a complete form of protein.

Tagged with: amino acids • egg white protein • Kwashiorkor • proteins • tryptophan

This question may have more than one answer.

There are researchers who have studied this and feel that they can boil it right down to all kinds of enzymes and mechanisms that come into play, stimulating appetite or depressing appetite.

Different foods offer different nutritional scenarios that affect hunger. For example: when one goes and exercises and then sits down afterwards, they need to replenish their water intake. This is something the body needs even though there is no nutritional value to water, per say.

Next, one may become hungry after exercising. A combination of fruits, primarily because they are made up of water, and sugar carbohydrates may satisfy the need for energy after exerting energy. Because the digestive process is pretty rapid when it comes to breaking down sugars into glucose one can consume a lot of fresh fruits and it doesn’t necessarily satisfy hunger.

Hunger pains may still be present because the digestion is completed so rapidly with things such as fruits. However, proteins take longer to digest.

It all comes down to the balance between how many calories your body needs to replace and the calories burned and what kinds of foods you are consuming. It is complex and is another whole area to think about whether it is emotional or whether it is your body actually telling you need nutrition or if it is your body adjusting to less calories.

Researchers studying this issue may have their own theories and their own recommendations. If you have questions about your nutritional requirements, ask your doctor.

Tagged with: digestive process • enzymes • fruits • hunger • proteins

There seems to be debate on whether or not some alcohol is good or bad and whether or not it holds any nutritional value. The debate continues.

Including alcohol such as red wine in ones diet has been said to have some nutritional value due to the antioxidant effect that one may get along with the other chemicals that come along with the wine.

It seems that there is something in the red wine as opposed to the white that makes it more beneficial.

However, alcohol is the second highest source of calories, behind fatty foods. The higher the level of alcohol in the beverage, the higher the calories in the beverage. Alcohol doesn’t contain as many calories as fatty foods but it is not in calories as protein and carbohydrates.

There are many other beverages that provide many more nutrients than even red wine. The whole truth of the matter seems to be that alcohol, even red wine, has no nutritional value.

Along with little or no nutritional value, alcohol has many dangers associated with it.
The risk of the dangers of alcoholism is very real and the calories contained in alcohol far outweigh the nutritional value.

Any nutritional benefit that you can get from alcohol, can also be found elsewhere in our food.

Tagged with: Alcohol • antioxidant • nutritional value • red wine