A banana a day keeps the doctor away !~!!

Never, put your banana in the refrigerator! !!
This is interesting.
After reading this, you'll never look at a banana in the same way again.

Bananas contain three natural sugars - sucrose, fructose and glucose combined with fiber. A banana gives an instant, sustained and substantial boost of energy.

Research has proven that just two bananas provide enough energy for a strenuous 90-minute workout. No wonder the banana is the number one fruit with the world's leading athletes.

But energy isn't the only way a banana can help us keep fit. It can also help overcome or prevent a substantial number of illnesses and conditions, making it a must to add to our daily diet.

Some benefits of Banana

Depression: According to a recent survey undertaken by MIND amongst people suffering from depression, many felt much better after eating a banana. This is because bananas contain tryptophan, a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin, known to make you relax, improve your mood and generally make you feel happier.

PMS: Forget the pills - eat a banana. The vitamin B6 it contains regulates blood glucose levels, which can affect your mood.

Anemia: High in iron, bananas can stimulate the production of hemoglobin in the blood and so helps in cases of anemia.

Blood Pressure: This unique tropical fruit is extremely high in potassium yet low in salt, making it perfect to beat blood pressure. So much so, the US Food and Drug Administration has just allowed the banana industry to make official claims for the fruit's ability to reduce the risk of blood pressure and stroke.

Brain Power: 200 students at a Twickenham (Middlesex) school were helped through their exams this year by eating bananas at breakfast, break, and lunch in a bid to boost their brain power. Research has shown that the potassium-packed fruit can assist learning by making pupils more alert.

Constipation: High in fiber, including bananas in the diet can help restore normal bowel action, helping to overcome the problem without resorting to laxatives.

Hangovers: One of the quickest ways of curing a hangover is to make a banana milkshake, sweetened with honey. The banana calms the stomach and, with the help of the honey, builds up depleted blood sugar levels, while the milk soothes and re-hydrates your system.

Heartburn: Bananas have a natural antacid effect in the body, so if you suffer from heartburn, try eating a banana for soothing relief.

Morning Sickness: Snacking on bananas between meals helps to keep blood sugar levels up and avoid morning sickness.

Mosquito bites: Before reaching for the insect bite cream, try rubbing the affected area with the inside of a banana skin. Many people find it amazingly successful at reducing swelling and irritation.

Nerves: Bananas are high in B vitamins that help calm the nervous system.

Overweight and at work? Studies at the Institute of Psychology in Austria found pressure at wor k leads to gorging on comfort food like chocolate and crisps. Looking at 5,000 hospital patients, researchers found the most obese were more likely to be in high-pressure jobs. The report concluded that, to avoid panic-induced food cravings, we need to control our blood sugar levels by snacking on high carbohydrate foods every two hours to keep levels steady.

Ulcers: The banana is used as the dietary food against intestinal disorders because of its soft texture and smoothness. It is the only raw fruit that can be eaten without distress in over-chronicler cases. It also neutralizes over-acidity and reduces irritation by coating the lining of the stomach.

Temperature control: Many other cultures see bananas as a "cooling" fruit that can lower both the physical and emotional temperature of expectant mothers. In Thailand , for example, pregnant women eat bananas to ensure their baby is born with a cool temperature.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): Bananas can help SAD sufferers because they contain the natural mood enhancer tryptophan.

Smoking &Tobacco Use: Bananas can also help people trying to give up smoking. The B6, B12 they contain, as well as the potassium and magnesium found in them, help the body recover from the effects of nicotine withdrawal.

Stress: Potassium is a vital mineral, which helps normalize the heartbeat, sends oxygen to the brain and regulates your body's water balance. When we are stressed, our metabolic rate rises, thereby reducing our potassium levels. These can be rebalanced with the help of a high-potassium banana snack.

Strokes: According to research in The New England Journal of Medicine, eating bananas as part of a regular diet can cut the risk of death by strokes by as much as 40%!

Warts: Those keen on natural alternatives swear that if you want to kill off a wart, take a piece of banana skin and place it on the wart, with the yellow side out.. Carefully hold the skin in place with a plaster or surgical tape!

So, a banana really is a natural remedy for many ills. When you compare it to an apple, it has four times the protein, twice the carbohydrate, three times the phosphorus, five times the vitamin A and iron, and twice the other vitamins and minerals. It is also rich in potassium and is one of the best value foods around So maybe its time to change that well-known phrase so that we say, "A banana a day keeps the doctor away!"

Note : For placing Free Classified Ads visit : evirtualpie Free CLassifieds

Benefits of Fresh Fruit Juices....

A FUN and EASY way to get more vitamins & minerals into your diet is by
drinking freshly made fruit juices, vegetable juices, and by blending thick
and frothy smoothies and shakes from frozen fruit.

A friend of mine describes drinking freshly made fruit juices like this:
"If you have never taken a mouthful of cantaloupe juice or strawberry
juice mixed with apple, you simply have not lived. Blueberry juice is a
taste of liquid heaven."

Freshly made juices are a tremendous source of bio-available vitamins and
minerals which are the partners of enzymes and co-enzymes. Vitamins
activate enzymes and without vitamins, enzymes could not carry out their
work, and we could not live.

Enzymes act as catalysts in hundreds of thousands of chemical reactions
that take place throughout your body, and are essential for digesting,
absorbing and converting food into body tissue. Enzymes produce energy
at the cellular level and are critical for most of the metabolic activities taking
place in your body every second of every day.

Another benefit of drinking fresh juices and smoothies is that your body can
absorb MORE of the vitamins and minerals than if you were to eat the fruits
and vegetables whole! Many of the nutrients are TRAPPED in the fiber and
by blending fruits and vegetables, you break down the fiber and release the
vital nutrients.

Example:
When you eat a raw carrot, you are only able to assimilate a small
percentage of the available beta carotene. When a carrot is juiced,
removing the fiber, a LARGE percentage of the beta carotene can be
assimilated by your body.

Of course, you still need to eat whole produce because fiber is also an
important part of your daily diet.

Meeting you or your children's need for energy and nutrients is essential for
good health. Children who do not meet their needs for energy may stop
growing and gaining weight. In severe situations, they can develop a
condition which is life threatening called protein energy malnutrition.
Vitamins and minerals are only required in very small amounts, but a diet
insufficient in these can cause SEVERE deficiency diseases.

Note; For free classified ads visit evirtualpie Free classifeds

LEMON

Botanically it is called Citrus acid. It is a small tree or spreading bush of the rue family(Rutaceae). The lemon forms a spreading bush or a small tree 10 to 20 feet high if not trained or pruned. Its young leaves have a decidedly reddish tint; later they turn green. In some varieties, the young leaves of the lemon are angular; some have sharp thorns at the axilae of the leaves. The flowers having a sweet odour are rather large, solitary or in small clusters in the axila of the leaves. Reddish tinted in the bud, the pet are white above and reddish purple below.

The fruit is oval with a broad low apical nipple and having 8 to 10 segments. The outer rind or peel is yellow when ripe and rather thick in some varieties is prominently glandular dotted. The white spongy inner part of the peel called the mesocarp is nearly tasteless and is the chief source of commercial grades of pectin. The seeds are small, ovoid, pointed, sometimes few or more. The pulp is decidedly acid. Young lemon starts bearing fruits as early as the third year after planting and commercial crop may be expected during the fifth year. The average orchard yield per tree is 1500 lemons a year.

The humble lemon contains most of the vitamins and minerals. It has magical and wonderful healing powers. It is a citrus fruit. Other citrus fruits are orange, mandarine, tangerine, narangi, musumbi (lime), grape-fruit, grape, and shaddock. All citrus fruits are very rich sources of vitamins A, B and C. They also contain appreciable amounts of iron and calcium.

Vitamin C:
Vitamin C in the diet helps the body to grow and maintain collagen. They explain that collagen is a gelatin-like gristle that holds billions of cells together in the body. It is found in ligaments, joints, bones, gum tissues and in the walls of all the blood vessels. It also gives elasticity and strength to the connective tissue. Again vitamin C is necessary to the normal healing rate of wounds and to prevent bruises from discolouring the skin for too long time. Its function is also to strengthen the body's resistance to infection and maintain tissue integrity of teeth, bones and gums.

Vitamin C in adequate quantity must be taken daily and if its deficiency is continued over a long period of time, the gums may become tender and bleed easily, joints may hurt and swell, black and blue marks may appear readily at the slightest bruise, the chance of haemorrhage which may result from a 'stroke' is far greater and colds may be taken frequently. Deficiency of vitamin C may cause scurvy. Therefore vitamin C is absolutely necessary to fortify the body against infections and cold.

Daily requirement of vitamin C:
Men - 75 mg
Women - 70 mg
Lactating women - 150 mg
Pregnant women - 100 mg
Infants - 30 mg

Children:
1 to 3 yrs. - 35 mg
4 to 6 yrs. - 50 mg
7 to 9 yrs. - 60 mg

Boys:
10 to 12 yrs. - 75 mg
13 to 15 yrs. -80 mg
16 to 20 yrs. -100 mg

Girls:
10 to 12 yrs. - 75 mg
13 to 15 yrs. - 50 mg
16 to 20 yrs. - 80 mg

Fruits containing vitamin C
Whole orange - 75 mg
4 oz orange juice - 50 mg
Large grape fruit - 150 mg
Medium size tangerine - 25 mg

Lemon juice
1 tablespoonful - 7 mg
Lime (musumbi) - 75 mg

JACKFRUIT (Katahal)

Botanically, it is called Artocarpus heterophylla. It is an attractive tropical tree valued for its immense fruits and its timber. It grows to 60 ft high and bears variable shaped evergreen leaves. The Jack-fruit, a member of the mulberry family (Moraceae), is native to eastern India and is extensively grown in tropical Asia. It has also been widely introduced into the American tropics.

Its fruit resembles bread-fruit but are of inferior quality. It is a staple food of tropical Asia. Jack-fruits are 12 to 20 inches long and 8 to 10 inches thick and commonly weigh 18 kg or more. The pulp of the ripe fruit is eaten raw. Green fruits, are very nutritious vegetable which is called inchar and is usually eaten in soups and stews. The ripe fruit is not very good for health as it may cause diarrhoea and even cholera. The ripe fruit is very dangerous and should not be taken more than 3 to 4 bulbs at a time during summer months. Its wood is valued for cabinet work.


Benefit and uses of Jack-fruit.
The jackfruit root is a remedy for skin diseases and asthma.

An extract of the root is taken in cases of fever and diarrhea.
Jackfruit provided a good supply of proteins, carbohydrates and vitamins. Delicacies can be prepared from every part of the fruit.
They contain 38% carbohydrates, 6.6% proteins and 0.4 g fats, vitamins like vitamin A, C and certain B vitamins, and minerals like calcium, zinc, and phosphorous.
Their health benefits are wide-ranging like anti-cancer .

Cucumber

CUCUMBER

It is a creeping plant of the cucurbitaceae family probably originating in India and widely cutivated for its fruit. It is a tender annual with a rough, succulent railing stem and hairy leaves with 3 to 5 pointed lobes; the stem bears branched tendrils, by which the plant creeps through the supports.

The food value of cucumber is low; but it is popular for salads and relishes. Fresh cucumber should be firm, well-shaped and bright green in colour. They may be kept in refrigerated storage for about 2 weeks.

It is a very favourite fruit during hot summer months as it keeps the body cool and calm. It subsides pitta (bile) and aids digestion. It prevents sun-stroke, heat stroke and allergy. It quenches thirst.

Benefit and uses of Cucumber.

1.Cucumber is a great folk medicine used to reduce heat and inflammation.
2.Cucumber is in helping to heal a range of illnesses – including lung, stomach and chest problem, gout, arthritis and tapeworm.
3.It makes it useful in maintaining the alkalinity of the blood.
4.Cucumber’s benefits include natural salts, enzymes, and vitamins essential for strong cell growth and repair.
5.Cucumber facial is powerful and can bring great results for your skin.
6.It is cools and heals sunburns and windburns.
7.Cucumber has been used externally for minor burns, sore eyes and conjunctivitis.