According to history, one of the world’s most beautiful women, Cleopatra of Egypt, ate Okra, also known as “lady finger or gumbo”. It is characterized by its green color, elongated and tapering ridged pods infused with double row of seeds and slimy texture when cut open. This integral member of the cotton family is indigenous to regions around the Nile in North Africa and the Middle East for it was discovered dating as far as 3500 years ago in Ethiopia. Early Egyptians are known to love its taste. Okra later transcended to North America en route slave trade and then to Europe, Asia and South and Central America. During World War II, the shortage of coffee beans made them use the seeds as a substitute for coffee. This incident made the word “okra fever”. Since then, its popularity never disappeared from local markets to convenience stores throughout the world and throughout the year. Continue reading
When you’re trying to lose weight, you might think you should eat diet food. Unfortunately, the food preservatives in diet foods may make you gain more weight than you lose. Instead, learn how to lose weight with these top ten fat burning foods and spices. You’ll feel full, satisfied and love the variety in your diet. The weight will drop off and you’ll never feel deprived! Very few people can sustain a dull cardboard lifestyle for long. Nevertheless, you don’t have to. Losing fat is NOT about eating boring food. HOWEVER, you will have to learn some kitchen skills if you want to make foods that both flatter your waistline AND tantalize your taste buds. Spices can turn mundane bland foods into culinary delights, and that’s their primary use in our modern world. Some “foodies” recognize how they support health as well, sometimes as an antioxidant, an anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal, antimicrobial, or a combination of any or all of those attributes, Buy Spice… Continue reading
It is a known fact that cancer cells survive in an atmosphere of less oxygen. As such, excess of oxygen causes their degeneration and death, hopefully leading to the disappearance of cancer. This is exactly where alkaline foods make their entry because it has been found that alkaline cells (i.e. cells with a high pH) have more oxygen retention and carrying capacity than any normal or acidic cells. When such an alkaline state is reached in an area in the exact neighborhood of cancerous malignant cells, it’s believed that it becomes impossible for those cells to survive. The reason is the excess oxygen that these cells are carrying supposedly leads to the destruction of the cancerous cells. Therefore, it is extremely important that we consume alkaline foods and hence prevent our body from becoming acidic and acting as a magnet for diseases. Continue reading
If you take antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals, you are only getting it half-right. A new class of nutrients is just as important – maybe MORE important. In five or ten years, most people will be taking these nutrients right along with vitamins and minerals. Yet few are taking them now. These nutrients do not exist in most of the foods sold in health food stores, whether organic or not. Almost any cooking or processing destroys these highly complex molecules. What’s more, all the antioxidants and other supplements you take are half as effective – or worse – if you don’t get THIS nutrient either in your food or in supplement form. Continue reading
High-level executives from some of the U.S.’s largest food corporations are meeting with the FDA behind closed doors this week to lobby for a mandatory federal GMO labeling law. Could it be that bad press and consumer backlash have dulled the enthusiasm of these former biotech cheerleaders? On the other hand, is Big Food just cozying up to the FDA so they can derail the growing organic and anti-GMO movement and finagle a federal labeling law so toothless it will not be worth the ink it takes to sign it? Continue reading
Your immunity against diseases is important, it’s like your own personal army, it guards your body against attacks from invaders (like bacteria, fungi, and viruses), defending against infections and several kinds of cancer. And it’s smart, too, often “remembering” certain infections so it’s ready for them the next time they try to attack. But just like any other body system, your immune system can deteriorate if you don’t treat it well. From the pantry to the bedside, home remedies can help build your immunity in a snap to help prevent seasonal colds or cure a stubborn case of the flu. Continue reading