Friday, January 11, 2008
Oat & Health Eating a bowl of oatmeal each morning is the perfect way to start your day off right. This article by Ryan Cote will explain the six benefits of eating oatmeal and ways to make it taste delicious.
First off, the oatmeal discussed here is not the instant kind that comes in the different flavors — these are full of sugar. The real stuff is the plain oat flakes from Quaker Oats or a similar brand.
The benefits of oatmeal are due to the fact that it's made from oats and oats are a good source of both soluble and insoluble fiber.
According to the American Cancer Society:
1.
Insoluble fiber's cancer-fighting properties are due to the fact that it attacks certain bile acids, reducing their toxicity.
2.
Soluble fiber may reduce LDL cholesterol without lowering HDL cholesterol. LDL is bad; HDL is good.
3.
Soluble fiber slows down the digestion of starch. This may be beneficial to diabetics because, when you slow down the digestion of starch, you avoid the sharp rises in your blood sugar level that usually occur following a meal.
4.
It has been found that those who eat more oats are less likely to develop heart disease, a disease that is currently widespread in the United States.
5.
The phytochemicals in oat may also have cancer-fighting properties.
6.
Oats are a good source of many nutrients including vitamin E, zinc, selenium, copper, iron, manganese and magnesium. Oats are also a good source of protein.
The difference between insoluble and soluble fiber, besides the foods that they come from, is what they do in your body.
Insoluble fiber's main role is that it makes stools heavier and speeds their passage through the gut, relieving constipation. Soluble fiber breaks down as it passes through the digestive tract, forming a gel that traps some substances related to high cholesterol, thus reducing the absorption of cholesterol into the bloodstream.
Oatmeal has a pretty bland taste, which makes it hard for the average person to consume every morning. Here are ways you can make it taste better:
1.
Make the oatmeal with milk instead of water. This will also add calcium and more protein.
2.
Add Stevia powder to the oatmeal. It will naturally sweeten up the taste without adding sugar.
3.
Stir in your favorite-flavored protein powder to it after it's been cooked. This gives the oatmeal a pretty good taste plus it adds protein. Combine this with using milk and you'll have a meal that is high in fiber, calcium and protein!
4.
Add fruit such as blueberries to the oatmeal.
You should aim to eat roughly 1 cooked cup of oatmeal each morning for optimal health benefits. And play around with the above preparation suggestions until you find a taste that you fall in love with.
Your heart and body will thank you for it!
Source: Six Health Benefits of Eating Oatmeal
Other related article:
* Oats
* Oatmeal's Health Claims Reaffirmed
* Oats and Health
Posted by shiidenu at 10:28:00 PM 0 comments Links to this post
Labels: Health
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Honey & Health
Honey is a sweet and viscous fluid produced by honey bees (and some other species of bee) and derived from the nectar of flowers. Honey is significantly sweeter than table sugar and has attractive chemical properties for baking. Honey has a distinctive flavor which leads some people to prefer it over sugar and other sweeteners.
Source: Wikipedia
Honey is a most assimilable carbohydrate compound, is a singularly acceptable, practical and most effective aliment to generate heat, create and replace energy, and furthermore, to form certain tissues. Honey, besides, supplies the organism with substances for the formation of enzymes and other biological ferments to promote oxidation. It has distinct germicidal properties and in this respect greatly differs from milk which is an exceptionally good breeding-ground for bacteria. Honey is a most valuable food, which today is not sufficiently appreciated. Its frequent if not daily use is vitally important.
The universal and natural craving for sweets of some kind proves best that there is a true need for them in the human system. Children, who expend lots of energy, have a real "passion" for sweets. This is really instinct. Proteins will replace and build tissues but it is the function and assignment of carbohydrates to create and replace heat and energy, and to provide what we call Honey, which contains two invert sugars, levulose and dextrose, has many advantages as a food substance. While cane-sugar and starches, as already intimated, must undergo during digestion a process of inversion which changes them into grape and fruit-sugars, in honey this is already accomplished because it has been predigested by the bees, inverted and concentrated. This saves the stomach additional labor. For a healthy human body, which is capable of digesting sugar, the actuality that honey is an already predigested sugar has less importance, but in a case of weak digestion, especially in those who lack invertase and amylase and depend on monosaccarides, it is a different matter and deserves consideration.
The consummation of this predigestive act is accomplished by the enzymes invertase, amylase and catalase, which are produced by the worker bee in such large quantities that they can be found in every part of their bodies. However, there is plenty of it left in honey for our benefit. The remarkable convertive power of these enzymes can be pif oven by a simple experiment. If we add one or two tablespoonful of raw honey to a pint of concentrated solution of sucrose, the mixture will soon be changed into invert sugar. The addition of boiled honey, in which the enzymes have been destroyed, will not accomplish such a change.
The frequent Biblical references to milk and honey demonstrate the importance of these two oldest aliments. Neither, how-ever, is a complet food nor a proper nutriment alone for a long period of time. They are effective only to supplement deficiencies of other food substances.
Milk has many drawbacks. As mentioned, it is an excellent breeding medium for bacteria. The inhabitants of the East quickly sour the milk of cows, goats, sheep, mares and camels and prepare curds and cheese from it, because in warm climates milk cannot be preserved otherwise. Honey, on the other hand, requires little attention and does not deteriorate even in the tropics. Honey has often been given reference over milk. It is not surprising that Van Helmont gave milk the epithet, "brute's food" and suggested bread, boiled in ber and honey, as a substitute. Liebig also recommended a substitute for milk. Honey has many advantages as a staple article of diet to secure optimum nutrition.
Source: Health Benefits of Honey
Other related articles:
*
Kutik's Honey Farm
*
Honey & Cinnamon
*
Honey and Health
