Apricots contain a chunk of vitamin C; beta-carotene (vitamin A) is more when it is fully ripened, also a source of vitamin B complex. It contains minerals including calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, sulphur, cobalt and bromine.
What’s in it for me?
About 100gms of apricot can supply 45% of the daily vitamin A requirement for the body. Apricots can be applied directly to facial skin to give a good skin tone. They also have beneficial effects in treating anaemia. Try choosing fully ripened fruits as they contain twice as much as vitamin A.
Natural benefits of Apricots
Builds healthy muscle and tissue
- Stimulates appetite
- Behaves as an astringent to the stomach
Dried apricot is good alternative but will only have a fraction of the vitamin C because the drying process destroys the vitamin C content. Try to buy dried fruits that are dark in colour because most commercial entities use sulphur dioxide to fix the colour. ‘Organic’ dried fruits are produced without sulphur; this causes the fruit to look very dark.
Apples contain large amounts of vitamin A, B complex, vitamin C, biotin and folic acid, they are also rich in minerals including iron, silicon, magnesium, chlorine, copper, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, sodium and sulphur.
What’s in it for me?
Its high mineral content makes it a great choice for hair, skin and nails. Organic apples are the best because a lot of nutrition is in the skin and also the fruit pectin helps in peristalsis (movement of food through the digestive system).
Natural benefits of Apples
- Stimulation of muscles and nerves
- Eliminate uric acid
- Pectin helps to reduce cholesterol
- promote normal digestion and liver function
- The malic acid in apple does both cleansing and healing in cases of inflammation.
Granny Smith, McIntosh, Golden Delicious and Pippin are good choices as they are good juice producers. Select hard crispy ones as they contain more pectin than the softer and mushier ones.
Is this question ticking everyone’s mind? Let’s clear it right away.
No you don’t have to, it is essential for your body. Just control the intake. An average healthy diet should have half of your daily calories coming from carbohydrates.
The question actually is, are you eating the right carbs? Complex carbohydrates are better for your diet than others, for example a slice of bread is healthier than simple and refined carbohydrates such as candy, sodas and pastries. Complex carbohydrate sources such as wholegrain, fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds and grains have great amounts of nutrition including vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals and fibre, all of which are vital to good health. Whereas simple and refined carbs like candy, sodas, pastries and other junk foods usually are poor sources of nutrients and sometimes we refer to these foods as having “empty calories.” This means the foods have lots of calories with little or no nutrition.
One gram of carbohydrate, whether is it is sugar or starch, contains four calories. For example if an average male needs 2,000 calories per day. This means that 1000 calories must c
ome from carbohydrates, so if 1 gm equals 4 calories then 250 gms of carbohydrates have to be consumed. Of those 250 grams, about 10 percent can come from added table sugar and sweeteners. That would be about 25 grams for a 2,000 calorie per day diet. That would equal about half of a candy bar, or less than one can of sugary soda. Unfortunately many people exceed that amount every day.
One slice of bread has about 12 gms of carbohydrates; one typical chocolate bar may have about 50 gms of carbohydrates, one serve of carbonated soft drink may have about 40 gms and a medium potato has about 35 gms of carbohydrates.
Weight gain and carbohydrates
Weight gain is caused by consuming too many calories, whether they are from carbohydrate, protein or fat. A diet high in good Read the rest of this entry »
The word “carbohydrate” means “carbon plus water.” Plants use sunlight (photosynthesis) to convert water and carbon dioxide into carbohydrates and oxygen.
Key Functions
- When body needs energy, it looks for carbohydrates.
- If you are not consuming enough carbohydrates, your body will look for other sources of energy, such as proteins found in muscle tissue. Proteins, however, are not efficient sources of energy for the body.
- Carbohydrates also protect your muscles and help regulate the amount of sugar circulating in your blood so that all the cells get the energy they need.
Food Sources
Carbohydrates come in two forms: simple and complex. Both are composed of units of sugar.
- Simple carbohydrates are sugars that give you instant energy and typically have no nutritional value. These include sweets, candy, and soda.
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Nutrients from food are absorbed by the body as it passes through the digestive system
- Nutrients are essential for cell growth, maintenance and repair.
- Nutrients provide energy to enable your body to function efficiently.
- Nutrients, along with fibre and water, are essential to your good health.
Although nutrients can work alone, each depends upon the others to be the most effective. The main nutrients are the macronutrients, carbohydrates, proteins, and fats – and the micronutrients, vitamins and minerals.
What Macronutrients Do
Macronutrients are essential for good health as they assist in breaking down carbohydrates and fats, which provide energy to the body and also assist in the absorption of protein, which provides the building blocks necessary for cell growth and repair.
What Micro Nutrients Do
Micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals do not in themselves provide energy, but macronutrients depend on them to regulate the release of energy from food.
Vitamins are organic substances
- Vitamins activate enzymes, which act as catalysts to speed up biological reactions that take place in your body.
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Balanced diet, good nutrition and good health go hand in hand. A balanced diet (good food) is the best source of good nutrition and good nutrition is the best guide to good health, these friendly relationships get very complex in the real world. A balanced diet means consuming the right types and amounts of foods to supply nutrition and energy for maintaining and supporting body’s normal functions, growth and development. Further a balanced diet is simply supplying your body with nutrients* such as carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, mineral salts and fibre in right proportions by consuming food from each of the four basic food groups
- Breads and cereals
- Fruits and vegetables
- Milk and milk products and
- Meat and meat alternatives
There is more than one way to eat correctly. The secret is choosing a variety of healthy foods from all of the four groups; this is very old information but still is still very important. There could be variations in the amount allowed from each group, but the need to consume from each of these food groups is essential because no one group of foods can supply all of the nutrients.
- Breads and cereals: You need at least four servings per day in this group which includes cereals, pasta and bread products such as muffins, rolls and crackers. One slice of bread equals one serving.
- Fruits and vegetables: You need at least four servings of fruits and vegetables per day including juices. Try to eat as many fresh Read the rest of this entry »
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Nutrition is the science of diet and health i.e. study of the food and its effects on the body, everything from how and why we choose certain foods to how the body takes in, digests and absorbs (uses) food.
To be more specific to a layman nutrition is a 3 stage process, first the food or drink is consumed, second the digestive system breaks down the food or drink into nutrients and third the nutrients travel through the blood to various parts of the body where they are used as fuel/energy for its normal functioning and other purposes.
To give the body proper nutrition, one has to eat and drink enough of foods that contain key nutrients including carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals and water. Good nutrition is very important to live healthy. Although factors such as heredity, environment, lifestyle and mental attitude influence health, good nutrition is one thing people usually have a fair bit of control over. Because good nutrition plays a significant role in preventing and treating diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure and etc.
The word diet is often confusing because of the various references made to it. The common usage of the word “diet” is perceived to be restrictive in consuming food to maintain or reduce body weight a “BIG NO”.
Diet simply means the overall food and drinks that a person consumes in his daily routine Or may be extended as the overall food and drinks that a person consumes in his daily routine to satisfy the energy requirements of his body. So by default every animal is on a diet e.g. if cow feeds on grass they are on a diet.
Now depending on the types of food and drinks consumed they can be classified as healthy or unhealthy diet and balanced or unbalanced.
Depending on the objective and pattern of food consumed most diet plans may be classified into four basic categories
1. Restricted food group diet – restricts the consumption of food groups that increase body weight.
2. Restricted fat diet – restricts the consumption of food that is high in fat.
3. Restricted calorie intake diet – restrict the amount of energy consumed, this creates an energy deficit and there by body draws energy from its fat reserves. This type of dieting is considered to have the best chance of success.
4. Restricted carbohydrate diet – restricts the consumption of food that are high in carbs, by keeping the insulin levels lower, the body’s likeliness to store energy in fat cells reduce.
