Why Ginger is Good For You

1. Ginger helps treat colds, respiratory ailments. As highlighted in a 1993 study published in the journal Economic Botany, ginger is a powerful expectorant, which means it triggers the body to produce more hydration secretions for the purpose of lubricating the respiratory tract. Ginger helps thin bronchial mucus in order to clear up clogged airways, which in turn improves breathing and lung capacity.

2. Ginger helps treat stomach aches, indigestion, and nausea. Perhaps its most well-known medicinal proper, ginger’s ability to quell upset stomach, indigestion, and nausea rivals that of many antacids and antihistamines. Instead of consuming nexium generic, drink ginger tea!

3. Ginger targets headaches, migraines. Many people suffer from chronic headaches and migraines, for which few effective remedies exist outside of potentially dangerous pharmaceutical drugs. But ginger’s anti-inflammatory properties are believed to be the mechanism by which this powerful herb effectively fights chronic head pain, making it an absolute necessity when traveling, working, or engaging in other activities that may trigger a headache.

4. Ginger helps relieve joint, muscle pain.
5. Ginger helps clear out intestinal worms, parasites.

6. Ginger helps promote kidney health, dissolve urinary stones. Since it acts as a warming, circulatory stimulant, ginger can help cleanse the body of harmful toxins, including those that build up in the kidneys. Particularly in people with diabetes, ginger helps protect the kidneys against diabetic nephropathy, or deterioration of normal kidney function.

Double Green Smoothie

Serves 2

Try this surprise smoothie for an on-the-go breakfast that’s packed with the nutrients of hearty greens but tastes like a perfect blend of fruit.

Double Green SMoothie

1 1/2 cup unsweetened non-dairy beverage, such as almond, rice or soy
2 dried apricots or 4 pitted dates
1 banana
1 cup chopped kale leaves
1 cup baby spinach leaves
1/2 cup fresh or frozen berries

Combine non-dairy beverage, apricots, banana, kale, spinach and berries in a blender and blend until smooth.

11 Health Benefits Of Garlic

Garlic

Garlic has been known for its health benefits since ancient times. It can treat so many infections in the body right from the common cold to cough and bronchitis. It was also helpful in curing plague actually.

1. Raw garlic can also be used to treat common problems like cane and pimples. Eating two to three pods of raw garlic every single day will help to keep the cholesterol levels in control in our body. It can also fight high blood pressure and lower it considerably. All this can be done just by having a few garlic pods is a part of your everyday diet.

Some of the other health benefits of garlic pods are that we can use them to cure small infections like pin worms and other kinds of worm. You can have a few garlic pods along with warm water in the morning and it acts as a deforming medication for you.

2. Garlic boosts your immune system.

3. Garlic is anti-aging, its antioxidant power neutralizing free radicals that procure aging and disease.

4. Garlic helps reduce plaque build up (atherosclerotic heart disease).

5. Garlic thins the blood and helps to prevent blood clots (fibrinolyisis) hence reducing the risk of strokes.

6. Garlic helps to prevent cancer, particularly of the digestive system, and reduces the size and arrests the growth of certain tumors.

7. Garlic lowers and regulates blood sugar levels.

8. Garlic helps to remove heavy metals such as lead and mercury from the body – natural body detoxification.

9. Garlic is anti-inflammatory.

10. Garlic (raw, containing allicin) is a natural antibiotic and can kill even drug resistant strains of bacteria such as MRSA as well as Helicobacter pylori, the bacterium known to cause stomach ulcers and implicated in stomach cancer.

11. Garlic is anti-fungal and reduces yeast infections in body parts.

Healthy Oils: Saturated vs. Unsaturated

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I have high cholesterol and trigylcerides so I should really be watching my diet. Add to the fact that I am obese makes health threats and diseases more imminent. I am slowly making changes to my diet that hopefully will bear fruit by the end of the year.

I am on the fence between doing cardio vs strengthening exercises. Maybe I should just do both.

Recipe: BLT Salad with Bacon Vinaigrette

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Serves 8 as a side, or 4 as a main

French baguette
6 oz. bacon (about 9 slices)
About 6 cups washed lettuce (a delicate, leafy green is best)
2 pints cherry tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup loosely packed fresh basil, sliced into ribbons

For the vinaigrette:
2 tablespoons bacon drippings
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
Salt to taste

Cube the baguette into 1/2 inch pieces (should provide around 4 cups of croutons).

In a large nonstick pan, fry the bacon over medium-high heat until crispy. Transfer to paper towels to drain. Carefully remove 2 tablespoons of the bacon drippings and set aside, returning the pan to the heat. Add the bread cubes and toss until golden and crispy, stirring regularly, about four minutes.

Mix all vinaigrette ingredients in a small bowl and whisk until emulsified. Crumble the bacon. Toss salad ingredients, bacon and croutons, drizzle with dressing and serve.

You Are What You Eat

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT
Every 35 days, your skin replaces itself. Your liver about a month. Your body makes these new cells from the food you eat. What you eat literally becomes you. You have a choice in what you are made of simply because YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT.

I am all for clean eating these days. I have seen the dire consequences unhealthy living and too much stress (basically, not really taking care of yourself) can do to you. I am still young. I want to experience so many things, including camping out underneath the stars with my family in our Buy Big Agnes Scout tent. I want to finish a marathon. I want to take care of my future grandchildren.

That being said, there must be solid steps to be able to accomplish my goal. I am not going to go vegan and an all-organic person, but I will be more mindful of what I eat from now on.

1. Eliminate soda from my diet.
2. Cut down processed food drastically (hotdog, processed meats, bacon, etc.).
3. Limit junk food to once a week, gradually weaning to once a month.
4. Limit fast food, if we can totally eliminate better.
5. Do detox once a week. A green juice would do wonders.

Bananas – Energy and De-stressing Fruit


Source: prevention.com via Eva on Pinterest


Next time you feel stressed, reach for a banana, says Molly Kimball, RD, a certified specialist in sports dietetics with Ochsner’s Elmwood Fitness Center in New Orleans. With only 105 calories and 14 g of sugar, a medium banana fills you up, provides a mild blood sugar boost, and has 30% of the day’s vitamin B6, which helps the brain produce mellowing serotonin, getting you through a crisis peacefully.