Nutrition - Healing Foods

It is true that what you eat, to large extent, reflects on how healthy you are and look. Eating the right type of foods will make your skin glow, your hair shine, your mind sharp, and generally make you feel fit and energetic. Combined with sleep, exercise, and water the likelihood of coming down with disease is considerably reduced.

However, in case you do come down with an ailment, foods that will help heal are abundant around you. Eating these foods will make your immune system stronger and cause a reversal of your disease. Here is a list of foods that help in these four health conditions.

Heart disease

Soy beans, soy protein, tofu, soy milk, soy burgers, soy nuts, etc. Garlic, onions, shallot, leeks, scallion, and chives Carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, kale, broccoli, cantaloupe (antioxidant) Cucumber (cholesterol-lowering sterols) Citrus fruits: oranges, lemons, lime, etc. (decrease arterial plaque) Legumes, beans, peas, and lentils Oat meal and oat bran; barley Whole-grain such as wheat, rye, wheat bran and rice bran Tuna, salmon, sardines Nuts and seeds including walnuts, almonds, flax seeds.

Hypertension

Fruits such as apricots, bananas, berries, grapefruit, grapes, mangoes, melons, nectarines, oranges, and peanuts (foods that may work to lower blood pressure are high in potassium and magnesium) Legumes such as kidney beans, pinto beans, lentils, peas, soybeans, and chickpeas Vegetables such as broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, spinach, potatoes.

Osteoporosis

Dried beans; whole grains; Dark green leafy vegetables such as collard, turnip greens, kale, mustard, broccoli Figs, apricot Yoghurt, non-fat or low-fat milk Sardines with bones, canned salmon with bones, Black strap molasses, Tofu.

Cancer

Blue berries. Of all berries blue berries are the richest in cancer fighting compounds (ellagic acids and lycopene). Grapes contain resveratrol, which is a strong antioxidant. Green tea contains flavonoids, which slow down or prevent the development of several types of cancer. Red, yellow, and orange fruits such as plum and tomatoes (these contain lycopene which prevents cancer), dark leafy greens, beets, squash, sweet potatoes, avocados, red and yellow bell peppers (loaded with cancer-preventing antioxidant carotenoid). Cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, collard, kale, mustard greens, turnip greens, rutabaga, and the allium family: garlic, onion, leeks, scallion, and chives; mushrooms (which are known to boost the immune system). Legumes including beans, black-eyed peas, and red lentils, whole grains (they contain a variety of anti-cancer compounds including fiber and phytoestrogens), nuts like walnut, and seeds such as flax seeds. And also fish which contain omega-3 fats like salmon.

Generally, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and so on should not be over-cooked as this only destroys the vital nutrients in them, translation: To fully enjoy the health benefits of these foods, they should be eaten as close as possible to their natural state.