Saturday, May 30, 2009

Worlds Healthiest Foods

Worlds Healthiest Foods


     
Healthy foods for a better tomorrow
     
With more and more people getting health conscious these days, a lot of research is being done in the field of food technology. A lot of health experts feel that our fitness levels depend more on the kind of food we consume as compared to the workout regime we follow. Food and related issues shape up to 75% of our fitness levels, and workout contributes only 25% to it. So then, which food items are the worlds healthiest food items? Undoubtedly, whole foods, including fruits, green vegetables and grains are said to be the worlds healthiest foods and are recommended by more than 90% of dieticians throughout the world.

Whole foods are not only responsible for keeping the digestive tracts working, they are also considered to be good cleansers of the body, have high nutritional values and contain the least amount of calories. Whole foods influence our hormonal structuring and therefore, are very essential for growing children. We will be discussing some of the worlds healthiest foods in this write-up and the reader is advised to adopt to similar food items, according to geographic availability of that item.

Cucumbers and carrots top my list of the worlds healthiest foods because of one major reason- they are easily available throughout the world, and therefore, you won’t have to go places to get your hands on a carrot or a cucumber. The crunch and the sweetness of carrots is one thing that makes them a favorite among children and adults, alike. Carrots are just as great if served raw with salad, or if boiled. Parsnips, Dill and Cumin are other members of the carrot family, and are characterized by the fleshy and thick underground roots. This family of vegetables has a low-calorific content and a very high nutritional value, especially when it comes to the volumes of Vitamin-A. Carrots have been scientifically proven beneficial in curing cancer and providing relief in heart and cardiovascular diseases. It is due to so many health-oriented benefits that we proclaim the carrot family as one of the worlds healthiest foods.

The cucumber family of fruits and vegetables is also one of my favorite health foods. Most beneficial in warm months, cucumber, watermelon and pumpkin belong to the same family and are known as natural coolants of the human body. Cucumber is also very soothing to the eyes and is therefore, used often to give a soothing effect to the eye by placing it over the eyelids. Vitamin C and caffeic acid are the main ingredients of cucumber and are responsible for having anti-inflammatory properties, making cucumber one of the world healthiest foods. The high silica content in cucumber enhances the radiance on the skin, making cucumber one of the favorite natural remedies for dermatologists all over the world.

Almost every one of us has heard the expression “an apple a day, keeps the doctor away”. It is for a valid reason that apple is such a medically revered fruit and considered a “good” food all around the world. Be it the crisp, sweet taste or the numerous health benefits associated with the apple, there are a lot of reasons for considering apple as one of the worlds healthiest foods. The flavonoids, fiber and a good amount of natural fructose, coupled with the fact that apple contains merely 81 calories, make it one of the most apt health foods all over the world. Apple is medically proven to be helpful in cardiovascular diseases because of the heart-healing fiber content, which is also needed for proper functioning of the digestive system.

We will be ending this discussion about the worlds healthiest foods by mentioning some properties of corn, which is one of the healthiest grains today. Synonymous with the onset of summer, corn has Vitamin B1, Vitamin B5, manganese, phosphorus, dietary fiber and Vitamin C, which make it an all round winner when it comes to the list of the worlds healthiest foods.
Remember, what you eat can go a long way in determining the kind of life you would live some years down the line from now, therefore, it becomes all the more important to switch to healthier food options.
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