Health benefits of grapes - For Heart, Metabolism and immunity

Hello friends, My blog is one year old baby now. Your response is much encouraging and gives me a moral booster to continue writing about various subjects in this blog.

In our last three previous posts we have discussed about the health benefits of Water melon, Drumstick (Moringa), Coconut water. 

Fresh brown grapes

Now let us discuss about GRAPES, its health benefits and usages. 

Grapes are non-climatic type plants. Grapes are one of the most liked fruits in the world. 

Grapes are available in different varieties and in different colours according the cultivation and nature of fields in which they are cultivated. Mostly they are available in red, green, black and purple colours.

Grapes in a farm fence

It is learnt that grapes were cultivated first in the middle- east. Grape is considered a berry. Grapes are in different in tastes according to the varieties.

Studies reveal that grapes will help in prevention of cancer, heart diseases, high blood pressure, and constipation etc. They are high in water content and good for hydration.

Green grapes

How do Grapes help in cancer treatment? Grapes contain powerful antioxidants known as POLYPHENOLS which can slow/prevent many types of cancer cells including prostate and colon cancers. You can learn more about PolyPhenols and their health benefits in the www.grapescience.com website.

The appearance of flavonoid quercetin which is a natural anti-inflammatory may reduce the risk of atherosclerosis (A disease of heart involving hardening of arteries due to Plaque or Plak buildup) . The high content of polyphenol in grapes may help to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disorder by preventing artery wall build ups and reducing blood pressure via anti-inflammatory mechanism.

The fiber and potassium present in the grapes are also support to heart health. High potassium in take may reduce risk of stroke, increase bone strength and help reduce the formation of Kidney stones.

How grapes help to treat constipation? Eating of grapes will help to have free bowel movements there by it will prevent constipation.

Studies reveal that grapes can help to control diabetic neuropathy and retinopathy.

Few more important benefits of grapes are:

• Better blood sugar regulation including high blood pressure 
• Better total cholesterol regulation reducing LDL cholesterol levels
• Better inflammatory regulation in the blood
• Increase levels of glutathione (is produced in human liver and is important for metabolism, immunity and health) in the blood.

Grapes can be eaten as raw or can be enjoyed as juice. They is widely used for making different varieties of wines, jams, and jelly etc.,  For more interesting information and facts on grapes, check out Wikipedia page on grape

I hope by knowing the above usages and medicinal properties of this wonder grapes, all of us should have a bit of grapes in our weekly diet.  

Benefits of Ginger - Anti Oxidant, Helps in Digestion and anti-cancer properties

By using natural products along with our diet or in cooking we are automatically getting the medicinal benefits of those products. Hence Naturopathy principle is “Food is Medicine” and this helps us in many ways in keeping away many diseases. That is why number of nature herbs/plants is included in our diet.

The image below gives you a good idea of how your food plate should be divided for healthy lifestyle.  

In my previous posts I have shared my opinion and views about the benefits of lemon and usages of lemon. Check those out if you have not. There are some very simple good usages and recipes.

Now we will see the benefits of Ginger. This is a root vegetable of ginger plant. Ginger has been used in Asian, Arabic and other countries as an herbal medicine since ancient times.

One of the most benefits from Ginger is its helping the digestive systems. You probably know this since you would have experienced Ginger Ale or Ginger juice helping you with relief during upset stomach. Ginger can help to digest fatty foods and reducing gas thereby preventing constipation problem.

If you have common respiratory problem ginger is the remedy because it is a natural expectorant. 

Research shows that ginger can provide relief to migraine due to its ability to stop prostaglandins from causing pain and inflammation in blood vessels. Ginger is widely used as a natural herb for treating cold and flu.

A study reveals that ginger can be used to treat diabetic-nephropathy, i.e. kidney related issues caused by diabetic complications

If you take ginger in the form tea it will help as natural heart burn remedy.

Picture of Ginger Plant

It has got blood thinning properties which helps to prevent heart attacks.

Ginger has high in potassium. manganese and also contains  vitamins A, C, E, B complex phosphorus, sodium, iron, zinc, calcium and so on. Ginger inhibits 5-L0 enzymes the only food for prostate cancer cells. Prostate cancer cells die in one or two hours without these enzymes. The components of ginger stop spreading of any type of cancer cells.  Many studies/researches are being conducted on the effects of Ginger in curing or destroying various types of Cancers.  

Naturally ginger helps to boost immune system. It can be used in tea, coffee, and also in cooking of various dishes to promote energy in our body and increase the metabolic rate. Ginger with lemon tea will have more medicinal effects.

Ginger with honey has more health benefits. Here is one simple recipe. Take some pieces of peeled ginger and add sufficient amount of honey keep it stored in a bottle for three or four days, then use one or two pieces whenever you get the complaints of nausea or vomiting symptoms. It is also for travelling sickness.

I have given only few benefits and usages of this herb, if you know anything more about this valuable herb please feel free to mention in this post.

BITTER GOURD OR BITTER MELON – Bitter but effective Diabetes Medicine.

I have explained about the benefits of Onion in my previous post. Now I will give some usages of another anti-diabetic natural vegetable namely BITTER GOURD. It is also known as Bitter Melon or Bitter Squash. It resembles cucumber with bumpy skin. See the pictures below

Chinese Variety

Subcontinent Variety Author: FlyingToaster

Bitter Gourd contains Vitamins B1, B2, B3, B5, B6 and minerals like iron, zinc, potassium, magnesium etc., with high dietary fibre. This vegetable possesses significant antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. It is said to contain every antiviral properties and to stimulate the immune system. 

Bitter Gourd contains very low calories – e.g. just about 17 calories in 100 gms.

Bitter Gourd has been used in various medicine systems for quite a long time. It is very effective in helping type II diabetic patients since it contains medicinal property of POLYPEPTIDE-P or P-Insulin which helps to lower blood sugar levels. It plays an important role in Glycaemic control. It is learnt that regular intake of bitter Gourd along with food could help to control diabetes effectively. You can read much more about Bitter Guords' anti-diabetic properties in this article here.

Compounds present in this vegetable may help in treating HIV infection. Since it has got anti-malarial properties, it is used to prevent malaria.

Bitter Melon is an excellent source of vitamin C which serves as powerful antioxidant. This bitter Gourd is very useful for easy digestion and for easy bowls movements there preventing constipation. Bitter melon’s extracts will help in preventing cancers due to its anticancer properties.

With so many healing properties – there is even a website about Bitter Melon started by a few enthusiasts. Check out the health articles here - http://bittermelon.org/heal/healthbenefits

Bitter Gourd can be taken as juice with water. You can use 10 gms of bitter melon juice twice daily with water for two or three months can help even to eliminate sugar problems.

In India this vegetable is very common part of the diet and people are getting its medicinal benefits. And this vegetable is widely used in Indian traditional medicines especially for treating type II diabetes.

My advice is diabetic patients to take bitter gourd in any form with their meals so that it will help to reduce the blood glucose levels.

ONION – Simple plant with lot of health benefits

In my previous posts we saw about the Natural properties of Garlic that help our Blood systems & whether Garlic helps diabetes patients.

Now, after a small break, in this post let us see about another plant similar to garlic, that is ONION. Both onion and garlic are members of the allium family and are sometimes called allium vegetables. The word onion comes from the Latin word called "Unio" which means single or one and used to refer unity.

Onions are native to Asia and middle-east and also in Egypt.

© User:Colin / Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY-SA-3.0

In India onions have an important place in everyone’s kitchen to prepare tasty dishes. There are many varieties in onions like white, red in colours and small and big in sizes. See the picture for some colourful Onions.

Does onion brings tears - How and Why? Is it because of its High price? Ha Ha..! 

Answer for this million dollar question is the gases that are releasing while cutting the onions reach with our eyes and mixing with the water in the eyes creating some sulphuric acid which irritates the eyes. 

Although there is no foolproof way of avoiding these tears, a few successful trials include rinsing the onions in cold water before cutting, or chewing something while cutting the onions.

The phytochemicals (Set of compounds produced by plants that may affect human health) in the onions, called flavoniods, are considered an anti-oxidant, hence it helps to improve our immunity system.

Since onion contains chromium which helps to regulate blood sugar. Onion helps to reduce inflammation and heal the infections. Raw Onions have got medicinal properties which help the production of good cholesterol that is HDL.

Onions are also used to protect against some forms of cancers and heart diseases because of its medical properties called QUERCETIN. Onions can be taken even in boiled form. When they are boiled the property of QUERCETIN does not get degraded. Check out the article regarding phytochemicals and plant compounds that help Human health.

My suggestion is eat, raw onion slices mixed with other vegetables with few lemon pieces. Or take some raw slices; add some lemon drops, salt and pepper. Onions can be taken with rice also. I need not explain much about how the onions are used in our kitchen because it is one among our regular routine usages.

I have given some information and usages of Onion, if you have anything more to add please share here.