Tag: healthy

The many virtues of Mushrooms

Today I’m going to continue to write about Mushrooms.

Researching last weeks post shed some light on the other great virtues of this vegetable (or fungus).

Mushrooms are fat free,

They are also low in calories, cholesterol free, have very low levels of sugar and salt; they provide a valuable source of dietary fibre, as well as several vitamins and minerals.

A 100g serving of mushrooms contains more dietary fibre (2.5g) than 100g of celery (1.8g) or a slice of wholemeal bread (2.0g).

Apart from containing Vitamin D, mushrooms also contain:

  • Thiamin/Vitamin B1 – which controls the release of energy from carbohydrate, which is needed for the normal functioning of the brain and nervous system.
  • Riboflavin/Vitamin B2 – a vitamin that helps to maintain healthy red blood cells and promotes good vision and healthy skin.
  • Niacin/Vitamin B3 – helps to control the release of energy from protein, fat and carbohydrate, which keeps the body’s digestive and nervous systems in good shape.
  • Vitamin B5 – plays a number of essential metabolic roles in the human body, including providing assistance with the production of hormones.
  • Folate/Vitamin B9 – which is essential for the formation of red and white blood cells in bone marrow and is an important factor in healthy growth and development.
  • Biotin/Vitamin H – Is essential in the metabolism of proteins and carbohydrates.

Although these vitamins are also found in many vegetables, they are lost when cooked in boiling water: as mushrooms are rarely prepared with boiling water, they retain their valuable vitamin content when eaten.

Minerals as well,

Mushrooms also contain many beneficial minerals, such as Potassium, Calcium, Iron, Zinc, Magnesium, Selenium and Ergothioniene (a naturally occurring antioxidant).

Recent research also found that most mushrooms [White Buttons and Cups, Brown Portabellos, and the exotic cultivated Shiitakes and Enoki mushrooms] are rich in the non-starch polysaccharides (NSP) chitin and beta-gluten. These NSP can help to reduce blood cholesterol and protect against heart disease.

Stuffed Mushroom Recipe

After writing the last post, I found a great Stuffed Mushroom recipe.

I have tried to cook different versions of ‘stuffed mushrooms’ in the past and the results have been average.

This one (originally from delicious.com.au) with some small changes was great.

Easy to make and very tasty.

INGREDIENTS (for 4)

8 Portobello (or large flat) mushrooms

50g unsalted butter

2 tbs extra virgin olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

12 sage leaves, finely chopped

125g fresh breadcrumbs

200g Camembert cheese (or brie), rind removed, chopped

1 egg, beaten

Juice of 1 lemon

 METHOD

 1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Place mushrooms on a paper-lined baking tray.

2. Heat a frypan over medium heat. Add butter, oil, onion, garlic and sage, and cook gently for five minutes until softened. Transfer to a large bowl.

3. Add breadcrumbs to the onion mixture and stir to combine.

4. Add the egg and half the cheese. Combine well, then spoon generously into the mushrooms. Top with remaining cheese.

5. Place mushrooms in the oven and roast for 15-20 minutes until golden on top.

6. Arrange mushrooms onto serving dishes and drizzle with lemon juice.

 

I hope you enjoy this also.

 

Till the next post,

Live clean n Prosper.

Cauliflower, is it a ‘Super food’?

Todays’ post is about Cauliflower. I found out this week that cauliflower aids the body’s detoxification system. This was new information for me.

So I’ve decided to learn a bit more about this vegetable and share the results.

Cauliflower is a member of the Brassica family, better known as cruciferous vegetables. It contains fiber that helps with the feeling of satiety, weight loss and a healthy digestive tract. It is is not only low in calories but also packed with vitamins and minerals.

May be a ‘Super food’

It seems every week experts are calling a food ‘super food’.  To be given this label the food needs to be ‘nutrient rich and considered especially beneficial for health and wellbeing’.

Well, this versatile vegetable also contains antioxidants and phytonutrients that can protect against cancer, choline that is important for learning and memory, and many other important nutrients.

Raw cauliflower is rich in the antioxidant vitamin C, which is required for tissue growth and tissue repair in all parts of the body.

It is also necessary for the formation of the important protein collagen, which is used to make skin, tendons, ligaments, scar tissue, and blood vessels.

Cauliflower contains decent amounts of vitamin K, which has anti-inflammatory properties. Studies also suggest that vitamin K aids in preventing bone loss in both men and women and that it might also decrease the risk of heart disease.

Regular consumption of cauliflower assists healthy blood circulation and aids in maintaining blood vessels, which is attributed to the presence of sulforaphane.

Aids in ‘detoxification’.

Cauliflower also contains a phytonutrient that together with sulforaphane, helps activate and regulate the function of detoxifying enzymes.

These nutrients are important for Phase I detoxification along with sulfur-containing nutrients essential for Phase II detox activities.

Other compounds found in cauliflower are very important for helping the body detox due to their function to support the liver.

These compounds stimulate what are known as ‘Phase II enzymes’, the natural antioxidant system of our body. They help trigger the liver to produce detoxifying enzymes that block free radical damage. At the same time, sulforaphane stimulates detoxification and digestion by preventing bacterial overgrowth occurring in the gut.

Sources; http://www.well-beingsecrets.com/ and http://www.mercola.com/

Minimal cooking

Cooking is harmful to the nutritional content of cauliflower. Cooking for thirty or more minutes reduces health benefits by 75%. So the lesson here is to steam your cauliflower so it’s just tender, or eat it raw.

There was so much more information available on the health benefits of cauliflower. Who would have thought that this humble and unpopular vegetable could contain so many health-promoting nutrients?

It seems that incorporating cauliflower into our daily diet would be a smart strategy to protect against many health conditions.

 

Till the next post,

 

Live Clean n Prosper

Vitamins, Nutritional supplements and Intravenous Therapy

This morning I was browsing the paper and 2 articles about vitamins jumped out at me.

First, was an article advising about the importance of certain vitamins to include in our daily intake. Second, was a small article about a new trend, booking in for a quick intravenous vitamin boost in your lunch break.

This got me thinking about vitamins and nutritional supplements. Is it more beneficial to have a regular ‘intravenous treatment’ rather than take a supplement daily?

So some research is required.

A Supplement a Day by Peter Dingle PhD

This book delves into the science behind supplementation and the reasons we should supplement. I’ll share some relevant snippets.

“It is generally recognised that our bodies require some 40 essential nutrients. These include: 16 vitamins, 12 amino acids, 3 essential fatty acids and 20 or so minerals or trace elements.”

“Nutritional intake gained through whole foods is generally of greater benefit to health than that achieved through supplements. Supplements should not be seen as an alternative to whole foods.”

However, “many of our current foods are depleted as a result of the overuse and misuse of our soils.”

“The simplest concept to start with is that if the nutrients are not in the soil, they can’t be in the food.”

So, we need 16 different vitamins a day. Recent studies show that we require up to 1000mg a day of Vitamin C. This helps our skin, bones, our iron absorption and assists in preventing infections.

We need Zinc daily to help our immune system and assist with would healing.

A recently discovered vitamin called K2 is required to direct calcium to our bones, NOT our arteries.

Finally, we need Iodine for our Thyroid hormones to manage our metabolism.

Tablets or Intravenous?

I found a few studies online that cover this issue. A study was done in regards to Vitamin B12 and the results were similar for taking a daily supplement and a regular injection.

There is also information about studies of Vitamin C. Taking high, very frequent oral doses will achieve blood plasma concentrations approaching, but not equalling, intravenous infusion.

High doses in the range of 30,000 to 100,000 milligrams per day, and 1,000-2,000 milligrams per dose. At a frequency of 1,000-2,000 mg every ten minutes you are awake, obviously not achievable for most of us.

The benefit of an IV infusion is that it delivers 100% of the vitamin directly into your blood stream and can have an immediate impact on your health.

 

My personal opinion, after reading these different studies, is that by taking supplements daily we are maintaining our levels in a way that is easy for most of us. We are improving our overall ‘gut health’ as the supplements are broken down and metabolised in the gut.

The IV solution would be very beneficial if you were suffering from a deficiency and needed to boost your levels significantly.

 

I am not a big fan of needles, so I would need to be quite deficient in a vitamin to opt in for the IV solution.

 

Till the next post,

 

Live Clean n Prosper.