If you’re like me, when you think of avocado you think of Mexican food or some other savory, fiesta-worthy application…but hear me out. This fruit (yes, fruit!), also known as the avocado pear, is becoming very popular for its use in sweet culinary treats and dishes. And you know me – it wasn’t long before I found myself dabbling in avocados for my smoothies.

A little more about avocados

My love of avocados is certainly not misplaced. Although avocados are high in fat, the fat within avocados actually helps to lower cholesterol within our bodies. Further, a toxin present within the avocado is said to help prevent and treat breast cancer and some forms of prostate cancer.

Avocado is also an excellent source of potassium, which is crucial in the regulation of blood pressure. By consuming enough potassium we protect ourselves from heart disease, stroke and heart attack. Another heart healthy benefit of avocado is its abundance of folate, which helps protect against heart disease. For those who resolved to have a child this year, folate is crucial for a healthy pregnancy and the development of a healthy baby.

That’s wonderful! But is avocado fit for a smoothie?

But enough about the stats – let’s get down to the deliciousness that is this avocado smoothie. I am a lover of all things coconut, so when I saw someone combining avocado and coconut milk to make a sweet smoothie, I immediately thought to myself how I must have it!

Initially when I gave this smoothie a try I did not freeze the avocado, so the smoothie was left with little bit of a slimy-mouth feel. For my second attempt, I included some unsweetened coconut flakes and I froze the avocado prior to blending and it took this sipper to the next level.

It was smooth, creamy and completely satisfying. And the best part thing about this smoothie: it’s 100% naturally sweetened! Thanks to the innate sweetness within the coconut milk and coconut flakes, I didn’t (and you probably won’t either!) need any other type of sweetener. So go ahead and give this smoothie a try - because avocados aren’t just for guacamole anymore!

Avocado Smoothie

• 1 large avocado, frozen
• ¾  cups coconut milk
• 1 teaspoon shredded coconut

In a blender combine all ingredients, and blend until smooth.

Honey, the stuff of legend and health-full-ness is the natural product of the labor of the honey bee. A great alternative to cane sugar, honey is nature’s own energy booster, immunity builder, and natural remedy.

Honey production is one of the ever-fascinating stories that unfolds in nature. Bees feast on the nectar from flowers. The nectar mixes with the enzymes in the bees’ saliva, and it’s this process that turns nectar into honey. The bees then take the honey back to the hive for storage and future feasting (for other honey bees, humans and enterprising bears, too).

Nutritional Benefits of Honey

Immuno Booster

Honey has both antioxidant and anti-bacterial properties that can keep the flora and fauna in your digestive tract humming along healthfully.

Morning Buzz: Mix 1 Tbs honey with juice from half a lemon in a cup of warm water and drink it down before breakfast. The morning buzz will have you full of vim and vigor throughout your day.

Improve Athletic Performance

A recent study concluded that the consumption of honey after an intense workout can help you maintain optimal blood sugar levels afterwards, and assist in muscle recovery and carbohydrate restoration.

The study included 39 male and female weight-trained athletes, of whom half consuming sugar after the workout while the rest consumed honey. Researchers also found those who ate honey post-workout were more prepared to workout again just as hard the next day. Honey, it seems, has a tonic effect on athletic endeavors.

Wound Healing

The wound healing properties of honey are not only legendary, but are also factual and reproducible. Honey has been used to treat ulcers, burns, and other wounds for eons.

A study in India measured the effects of honey vs. silver sulfadiazine (the conventional treatment) on 104 first-degree burn patients. After one week, 93% of silver sulfa-treated burns had become infected; compare that to 91% of honey-treated burns that were infection free. Additionally, the honey treated burns healed more rapidly.

Honey’s wound healing ability is attributed to honey’s chemical compound of glucose, fructose and antioxidant and flavonoid enzymes.

Antioxidant Health

Eating 1 to 4 tablespoons of honey a day “raises blood levels of protective antioxidant compounds in humans,” per a University of California study. Antioxidants, of course, help reduce the free radicals (cell destroyers) that ramble around in our bodies with the intent of mayhem.

High Cholesterol and Type 2 Diabetes

In a study comparing sugar, artificial sweeteners, and honey on patients with high cholesterol, honey came out the winner. Regular consumption of honey decreased total cholesterol levels by 8% and LDL by 11%.

The same study was done with patients who have type 2 diabetes. Natural honey causes a significantly lower rise in blood sugar than either cane sugar or artificial sweeteners.

Honey Lore

The practice of beekeeping or apiculture has been around since at least 700 BC.

Honey is been used as both food and medicinally throughout history. It has also been deemed a sacred food due to its divine sweetness.

As a sacred food, honey was given to the Gods in worship. And it was also used in Egypt to assist in the embalming process.

Olympic athletes of ancient cultures were required to eat honey (and figs) as a part of their diet to enhance their performance.

Honey Selection

Choosing the best honey for you is mostly a matter of taste, but can also be a matter of style and selection of process.

Honey Styles:

• Honey Comb: pulled directly from the hive, with the honey still in the beeswax comb.
• Liquid Honey:  removal of the honey from the beeswax comb through the means of a honey extractor and the use of centrifugal force.
• Chunk Honey: a combination of honeycomb and liquid honey.
• Creamed Honey: a blend of granulated honey and liquid honey. The combination is cooled until it becomes firm.

Honey Bee and Comb

Honey Colors and Flavors

If the bee colony has abundant access to one kind of flower, then they will typically produce a honey that is ‘flavored’ with that essence. If no one flower predominates, then bees will produce a honey that is blended. Sometimes, honeys from multiple hives are blended by apiaries to create a specific flavor.  There are over 300 types of honey available in the United States.

The color of honey also ranges upon the flower source, from colorless to dark brown; it simply depends on where the bees had buzzed. Typically, darker colored honey has a strong and distinctive flavor which lessens as the honey color lightens.

Some of the most widely produced and popular flavors include: alfalfa, buckwheat, clover, fireweed, orange blossom, sage, tupelo, and wildflower.

Processing

Honey that comes to your local grocer has often been processed to be in alignment with the FDA regulations (though these days, raw honey is now often more available, especially at your local apiary or famer’s market).

• Pasteurized honey has been clarified or filtered.
• Raw honey has not been pasteurized, clarified, or filtered.

Sources

http://www.benefits-of-honey.com/health-benefits-of-honey.html

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=96

http://www.honeyo.com/types.shtml

T’is the season of indulgence, with many of us finding our social calendar being stacked with a growing number of post-holiday parties, and it also happens to be the season where our livers feel the pressure the most. The liver is tasked with filtering out all the happy indulgences we put in!

So how can we tip the balance back in our favor during the holiday season? One word – lemons!

Lemon juice, plentiful in vitamin C and antioxidants, helps our livers carry out the task of neutralizing free radicals, which are produced when the liver filters out toxins in our bloodstream. Just like we feed lemons through a kitchen garburator to kill odor and bacterial growth, feeding lemon juice through our livers cleanses the liver and removes harmful bacteria.

Why it’s important to clean out your liver

Everything we ingest affects our liver – from meat and dairy to alcohol and medications – it all passes through the pearly gates of our livers. Depending on what we choose to feed ourselves, we can reduce the efficiency of the liver’s processes with heavy and indulgent meals. Lemon juice is a liver loving libation, as the liver is the largest benefactor of the health benefit associated with consuming lemon juice.

Lemons are antiseptic and they help prevent infection and putrefaction; lemon juice is also integral to the production of glutathione, needed to neutralize toxins and effectively detoxify the liver. Drinking straight lemon juice is a bitter sipper to swallow, but by mixing it with water we are able to kill two birds with one stone.

The one-two punch of lemon juice and water

Water promotes liver health, and by not drinking enough we increase our blood thickness which makes it harder for the liver to do it’s filtering. By mixing water and lemon juice, we create an easy-to-drink health sipper that weaves seamlessly into daily life – even for the pickiest palates among us.

Drinking lemon juice is a small change that can have wonderful effect on our bodies, and that’s especially true for our livers. When we boost this little organ’s efficiency with lemon, we enable it to create more enzymes that contribute to better skin, more efficient metabolism of the food we eat and an overall improved sense of wellbeing.

Stevia Lore

Stevia is a plant native to South America. It grows naturally in South America and is now found as far north as the Southwest region of North America.

The stevia plant is a small perennial shrub that is related to the sunflower. Its scientific name is Eupatorium Rebaudianum, but is more colloquially known as sweetleaf, honeyleaf, and sugarleaf.

The leaves were used for centuries as a sweetener and health aide. In the 1930s, two French scientists isolated the ‘sweetness’ glycosides in the Stevia plant, naming them stevioside and rebaudioside. This research made way for the stevia options now available from concentrate, extracts, tea bags, and packets.

Nutritional and Health Benefits

Stevia has a lot of nutrition going for it while being calorie free.  Stevia contains calcium, protein, phosphorous, sodium, magnesium, zinc, Vitamin A, and Vitamin C.

Stevia is 2-3 times sweeter than cane sugar, so even if it wasn’t calorie free, it would still offer a benefit of using less sweetener per smoothie or cup of tea.

Healthy Hair

Stevia concentrate, used as a direct additive to your shampoo, has been known to relieve dandruff, dry scalp, and dull, dry, and brittle hair. Simply add 3-4 drops of the concentrate to your shampoo. Or condition your hair with stevia tea, letting it sit for 5 minutes.

Hypertension, Diabetes, and Cardiovascular Disease

The World Health Organization evaluated Stevia in 2006. Their findings indicated that Stevia had a positive effect on people with hypertension by lowering blood pressure and those with Type-2 diabetes by stabilizing blood sugar.

Stevia has no glycemic value making it a useful alternative sweetener for those with high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes.

Stevia promotes pancreatic health and inhibits the growth of candidiasis (yeast), which is a symptomatic of diabetes.

Weight Loss 

Stevia Powder

Due to Stevia’s ‘no-calorie’ claim to fame, and obvious health benefits, it is the perfect sweetener for dieters. Stevia has been shown to curb cravings for oily or fatty foods and to generally curb hunger. Stevia’s ability to control blood sugar levels assists in maintaining a healthy weight.

Stevia also has a tonic effect by boosting energy levels without the fast and hard crash of cane sugar.

For weight-loss endeavors drink a tea made with Stevia leaves, teas bags, or extract:

Heat one cup of water (do not boil) and steep a stevia tea bag or 1 tsp of leaves or 3-4 drops of extract for 5-7 minutes. Drink 2-3 times a day, preferably 15 minutes before a meal.

Tooth and Mouth Health

Stevia has antibacterial properties that promote a health mouth and teeth. It inhibits gingivitis, cavities, tooth decay, and mouth sores. Stevia inhibits the growth of bacteria that causes these health issues according to the Department of Pediatric Dentistry at the University of Illinois.

To promote overall health of your mouth and teeth, rinse with a Stevia mouthwash. To make the mouthwash, add 3 drops of Stevia extract into a ½ cup of lukewarm water. Use daily.

Indigestion and Heartburn

Drink a stevia tea after any meal to relive gas and indigestion and to ease digestion. This use of a stevia tea after meals is a time honored tradition in Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay.

Bone Health

Stevia can assist in the increased metabolism of calcium and improve bone density. This is great news from osteoporosis sufferers. To use stevia to promote bone health the suggested remedy is:

Mix ½ teaspoon alfalfa, vitamin d powder, and stevia in a hot cup of water, allowing it to steep for 5-7 minutes. Drink twice a day.

Eating or Cooking with Stevia

Steve is a delightfully sweet, no-calorie way to enhance a juice or smoothie per your preference.

Cooking with Stevia can, at first, add an interesting challenge. While Stevia doesn’t degrade under heat, it also doesn’t caramelize. Because of Stevia’s intense sweetness, baking with it means you need to add bulk to the recipe that cane sugar used to provide. Add yogurt, a nutmeal, crushed fruit or some other filler that makes sense.

Sources

• http://www.homeremediesweb.com/stevia-health-benefits.php
• http://healthynutrition.me/?p=264

The health conscious crowd is typically against cane sugar, as its nutritive properties are far outweighed by its glycemic* and caloric load. Mainstream synthetic sweeteners, such as Splenda® and Sweet N Low® are also given the boot, because of the immense amount of processing they undergo.

So where do we turn for sweeteners that are good for us? There are natural alternatives that offer the real taste of “sweet” and some real health benefits. From Agave Nectar to Stevia to Honey, in this 3-part series, The Skinny on Sweeteners, we’ll help you make your personal choice in keeping in sweet.

Glycemic Index and Load

Glycemic Load is the measurement of the impact that a food has on our blood sugar. Foods that have carbohydrates that turn quickly into sugar (such as cane sugar) in turn triggers the release of insulin and increasing our blood sugar. Foods with a low glycemic load or index have carbohydrates that are complex (i.e., not easily turned into sugar). Usually these foods have good fiber content or have a complexity to them that makes it not as easily convertible.

From a health perspective, consistently high blood sugar levels are linked to ailments such as type II diabetes, insulin resistance, high blood pressure, obesity, and more.

To find out what the glycemic load is of any given food, multiply its glycemic index by the number of non-fiber carbohydrates in a single serving, then divide the result by 100. The following is a guide to a food’s glycemic load:

• 20 or more = high glycemic load
• 10 to 19 = medium glycemic load
• less than 10 = low glycemic load

Agave Nectar – a brief history 

The Agave Plant

Agave Nectar has a distinguished history in the native Americas. Native peoples have used this sweetener throughout history as both a tasty treat and as a medicine.

The Aztecs were known to mix agave nectar and salt to dress wounds and to treat skin infections. Agave nectar is indeed a proven remedial, as it works against pyogenic (pus producing) bacteria. The addition of salt boosts its anti-microbial essence. Agave nectar was also used as a treatment for intestinal bacteria.

Agave Nectar – nutritional benefits

Low Glycemic Load: A serving of Agave Nectar (2 Tbs) has 32 carbohydrates. With a glycemic index of 30, the glycemic load is a mere 9.6 (32 x 30 / 100).

This low glycemic value means that agave nectar offers sweetness without the cost of raising your blood sugar. Agave Nectar is a fantastic alternative sweetener for diabetics or anyone else who may be watching their blood sugar levels. Agave nectar is naturally sweetened by a compound called inulin, which is more complex than regular sugar.

Sweetness: Agave Nectar is about 1.5 times sweeter than regular sugar. As a result, less agave nectar is needed to sweeten the same. As far as calories are concerned, agave nectar and sugar boast about the same numbers, but with the reduction of the amount needed to sweeten, calorie counters should save a few using agave nectar.

Minerals: Agave Nectar has small amounts of calcium, potassium, iron, and magnesium. Unlike sugar, which has no nutrients, Agave Nectar is a sweetener that adds some oompf to your daily values. These minerals support bone density, blood cells, and overall health.

Organic: The agave plant is a natural food straight from the desert. Many agave nectar brands will carry the organic label. Choose organic when you can for better taste and better bio-availability.

Raw: Agave nectar is comes in a raw version as well. This makes it a delightful addition to raw desserts and smoothies. The health benefits of agave are available across the board whether you choose a raw version or not.

Proponents of agave nectar tout the health-promoting qualities of this sweetener. From immune support to blood building support to a method of weight loss, agave nectar is a viable alternative sweetener for the health conscious person.

Agave Nectar, Almonds and Banana Smoothie 

Agave Nector

• 1 ripe banana, frozen (peeled, chopped)
• 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 1 Tbs almond butter
• 1 Tbs agave nectar
• 1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder

Mix everything up in a blender and enjoy!

Sources:

• http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/nutrition/healthy-eating/6-health-benefits-of-madhava-agave-nectar.html
• http://www.allaboutagave.com/health-benefits-of-agave-nectar.php

Smoothies typify summer days as an icy fruity blend to help us keep cool and a fun way to get our daily vitamins and minerals. My smoothie intake tends to slow as the weather turns cold (the chill comes early here at 7,000 feet above sea level), and it’s a challenge for me to drink cold drinks when there is frost on the windows and snow on the ground.

But then I find myself missing the fresh fruity goodness. So I wondered, how can I have my smoothie without the chill?

The answer is the Un-Frosty Smoothie that offers all the smoothie goodness without all the smoothie ice, while featuring some of the best of the best in nutrition—as it’s power-packed with vitamins and minerals.

The best part about this smoothie, is that it brings together some of my favorite fruits accented with almond milk and turmeric. The concoction offers both tart and sweet tastes mirroring the layering of the smoothie itself.

The Un-Frosty Smoothie

• 2 cups cranberries
• 1 apple, organic fuji or pink lady, chopped
• 1 frozen banana, peeled
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1 tsp of turmeric, divided in half
• ¼ – ½ cup of almond milk
• Honey, stevia, or agave nectar to taste

Blend the cranberries, apple, banana, and lemon with ½ tsp turmeric. Pour into two glasses.  Mix in sweetener to taste. Mix together almond milk and ½ tsp turmeric and gently layer on top of the fruit mixture. Drizzle top with sweetener.

Nutritional Benefits

The ingredients in this smoothie are some of my favorites; I love how they come together to create this mid-winter treat and keep it real nutritionally. From apples to lemons, click the appropriate link below to find out more about the nutritional benefits each.

Cranberries are a good system cleanser from your digestive to your urinary tract. It is a powerful ally to your cardiovascular system. Cranberries are a fall/winter treat that keeps on giving vital nutrients such as Vitamin C and K. Click here to learn more about the captivating cranberry.

Apples are part of what I call ‘the crunchy food group’.  There is nothing quite as satisfying as a noisy bit of crunching as you munch on an apple. Click here to find out why the benefits of eating an apple a day is more than just an old wise tale.

Turmeric is a spice of the gods. It assists in healthy blood flow and reducing inflammation (great for arthritis sufferers, especially in the winter). Turmeric is a daily staple in my diet and I invite you to add it to yours. Click here for more about tumeric and a yummy warm drink recipe.

Lemons are a flavor enhancer for almost anything, plus they help alkalize any combination of foods. Lemons also assist in enhancing digestion. Click here for more on lemons.

Almond milk is just another delightful way to get your daily almond fix. Almonds are a powerhouse of energy for the body and mind. Click here to learn how to make your own almond milk and reap the benefits of the awesome blend.

As I wandered through the ingredients aisle for this recipe, I realized that I do actually eat these foods daily (excepting the seasonal cranberries). And the effect they have had on my life is substantial!  The power of these fresh, organic fruits and nuts (and spices!) empowers me and energizes me – they keep me fit and healthy.

My holiday wish for you all is that you engage the same kind of energy and nutrition – to power up for 2012!

It’s the middle of December, and although this is the season of cakes, cookies, turkey, stuffing and the like, when January dawns, so does the New Year’s Resolutions.

I’ve spent the better part of 2011 regaling my love of smoothies and fresh juices, so with the New Year upon us I thought a round-up of some of my favorite posts was in order.

If you’re looking to use the new year to get into juicing, healthier living and eating, no matter who you are, there’s bound to be a post here that can help you get started!

Tart Cherry Juice for Exercise Recovery

The most common New Year’s resolution is to lose weight. The tried and true methods for weight loss is a diet rich in whole foods and, of course, exercise. Being sore comes with the territory in relation to exercise – at least in the beginning. But tart cherry juice is full of antioxidant and phytonutrients that have been proven to reduce recovery time.

Juice Cleanses

Juice cleanses are all the rage these days, with claims of effortless weight loss and health. And proof is the many brick and mortar juice bars opening in droves. But before you give up solid food for the greener pastures of an all-liquid diet, read my post about juice cleanses to decide whether they’re right for you.

Butt Out With Fresh Juices

Giving up smoking is the second most common New Year’s resolutions among Americans. Giving cigarettes up cold turkey is hard, and quite frankly, the effort usually ends in failure. But by fortifying our bodies with the nutrients brimming in fresh fruit and vegetable juices, you can give yourself a tremendous leg-up when attempting to kick the habit.

Hydration for Wellness

All the indulgences of the holiday season definitely puts our bodies at risk for illness (not to mention the New Years eve celebrations often result in a mean hangover!) So having things like cucumber juice at the ready will surely come in handy over the next few weeks.

It’s no secret that fresh juices and smoothies are amazing for our health and well-being, and with the New Year right around the corner, why not harness the power of the foods we put into our bodies to help us find success in 2012?

 

Start your morning with a “one a day” juice concoction sure to get your cells a-humming. Filled with uber-nutritious greens, both of these juices offer a yummy way to feel clean and think clear all day.

The power in both of these juices is the no-holds barred essence of nutrition in the ingredients, like organic spinach, celery, carrots, cucumbers, and parsley.

Spinach offers an exceptionally well-rounded approach to vitamins and minerals to get your daily values. Click here to learn more about the nutritional benefits of spinach.

Celery is the King of Vitamin K with over 44% of your daily value. Vitamin K is a powerful bone-builder, supports the cardiovascular system, and smooths the way for a healthy nervous system. Celery, unassuming as it is, does more than you think. Click here to find out more.

Carrots, of course, are a staple in any juicer’s pantry. Carrots offer the power of orange, a.k.a beta-carotene. Click here to read what else the carrot offers.

Cucumbers add support to the health and luminosity of your skin. Adding celery to your juices soothes skin irritation and reduces swelling. Click here to learn more about cucumbers.

The inclusion of parsley in both of these recipes adds a gentle detoxifying effect. In addition to supporting the liver, this vibrant herb does a whole bunch of other good things to your body. Read more about parsley here!

Vibrant Veggies

This juice gives a wake-up call to your digestive system, getting it “on-line” for the day, gently. Because of its dense nutrients, dilute the juice concentrate with water. A 50/50 split of juice and filtered water does the trick. Choose organic veggies for the best taste and absorption.

• 1 medium cucumber
• 4 stalks of celery
• 2-3 handfuls of spinach
• 8 green or red leafy lettuce leaves
• 1 handful of flat-leaf or curly parsley
• ½ – 1 lemon
• Options: add arugula, kale, alfalfa sprouts, or micro-greens.

Juice all the greens together and add lemon to your taste.  Lemon will enhance the alkalinity of the juice. Remember to mix the juice with filtered water at a 1 to 1 ratio.

Detox Your Day

This juice is sweeter and not as green-tasting, but is still chock full of nutrition. This is a light and delightfully gentle daily detox.

• 3-5 carrots
• 1-2 handfuls of spinach
• 1 handful of flat-leaf or curly parsley
• 3 stalks of celery

Juice the ingredients in order. Dilute with water as desired or drink straight up.

Cherry Ginger Punch

• 4 cups organic or fresh cherry juice, chilled
• 1 Liter of ginger ale, chilled (try organic with real ginger for a snappy treat!)
• Ice ring (instructions follow)

Juice cherries or use an organic variety and mix with the ginger ale just before your guests arrive. Add the ice ring and enjoy. Yields about 16 servings.

Make a decorative ice ring by placing a ring mold in the freezer and chill it thoroughly. Rinse and return to the freezer until a thin coat of ice forms. Cover the bottom of the mold with fresh (pitted) cherries. Add cherry juice to cover the fruit and then freeze until firm. Add additional cherry juice and then freeze overnight.

The Power of the Cherry with Antioxidant Assistance

Cherries are a festive fruit with fantastic super powers as an antioxidant provider. Free radicals are molecular thieves – they steal electrons from healthy cells. This heralds the beginning of cell degeneration (a.k.a “oxidative stress”), which eventually mutates or kills the cell. This oxidative stress is what causes disease and premature aging.

Antioxidants circumvent free radical damage to the cells, because they provide what the free radicals need before they attack cells.

Cherries contain 17 antioxidants.  These include anthocyanins (protector against heart disease and cancer) and melatonin, (heart rhythm and sleep cycle regulator). These two are some of the most powerful and efficient antioxidants that you can consume!

Research from the Michigan State University finds that cherry juice has the highest antioxidant rating out of all fruits and vegetables.

This score, called an ORAC value (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity), is a measurement of the antioxidant capacity of food. It measures not only how many antioxidants exist in a particular food, but how powerful they are individually and collectively.

Tart cherry juice tops the list in antioxidant bounty by taking the top two slots in a measurement of 12 fruits. (list courtesy of United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University and Brunswick Laboratory.) Here are the ORAC values that were found among the following fruits:

Other Nutritional Benefits of Cherries

1 cup of cherries or juice contain only 74 calories, 25 grams of carbohydrates, and 20 grams of sugar. When eaten raw, cherries provide 13% of the daily amount of fiber.

Cherries contain 18% of the daily value of Vitamin C, the vitamin necessary to help the body absorb iron, and assist in the formation of blood, muscle, and bone (among a myriad of other qualities). Cherries also provide a supporting amount of Vitamin K (a bone builder), Vitamin B6 (an amino acid processor), and Vitamin A (eye health promoter). Cherries actually contain 19% more Vitamin A than either blueberries or strawberries.

Cherries contain 10% of the daily value of potassium. Potassium is a salt that helps keep our digestive and muscular systems strong. It also assists in the proper functioning of the kidneys.

Additional minerals in cherries include copper, iron, calcium, manganese, magnesium, phosphorous, and zinc.

Cherries contain a high concentration of phytosterols (18.5 mg) which assist in lowering LDL cholesterol levels. The lowering of LDL reduces the risk of heart disease and angina.

Cherries are a well-known reliever of the gout. The key nutrient in the cherry that assists in reducing the inflammation and pain associated with gout is flavonoids. Flavonoids reduce uric acid levels in the bloodstream. Gout is caused by an excess of uric acid that crystallizes and then migrates to the joints and other body tissues.

Due to the cherries success in relieving gout, they are also a recommended fruit to relieve arthritis and for joint soreness and stiffness in athletes. It is also thought that cherries can reduce symptoms of fibromyalgia.

Enjoy the delectable cherry for the holidays with this tasty punch – it’s sure to please everyone and give them a health boost!

Sources:

• http://www.livestrong.com/article/18611-nutritional-value-cherries/#ixzz1eqCXmbWM
• http://www.cherryjuicepower.com/fruitresearchbenefits.htm

I was listening to the radio when the announcer came on to declare that November was Vitamin D awareness month, and I thought how nice it was for the radio station to prioritize this cause with a commercial.

I was then outraged to find that it was a tanning salon advocating tanning beds as a means to achieve “that youthful glow while supplementing your Vitamin D”.

Initially, thoughts started swirling through my mind about how I should report them or write a heated letter, because I find this type of health washing, or the brainwashing of people about their health, utterly irresponsible.

Young, impressionable people listen to the radio, and they are still of the age where they believe everything they read in the online or hear on the radio. For a company to promote something as damaging as tanning is infuriating.

The dangers of tanning

Tanning is responsible for many instances of skin cancer. Many doctors are now claiming that when you tan, it’s not a matter of IF you will get cancer, but WHEN. And tanning salons have recently come under fire for poor cleaning standards, as tanning beds are a hot bed of bacterial activity. Just think about it – over twenty people will use the same tanning bed in one day, and who really knows how proactive a tanning salon is about cleaning. Their standards aren’t regulated, so it’s really up to them.

By prescribing tanning as a method to get more vitamin D, the company is promoting something that is known to cause cancer. Now, for those who suffer from Seasonal Affected Disorder, a seasonal depression due to lack of sun exposure, otherwise known as S.A.D, tanning isn’t the only means to acquire precious Vitamin D. A light box, for example, which gives off a light that simulates sunshine, is a healthier alternative and doesn’t contribute to instances of cancer.

Other real sources of Vitamin D

Healthier means of Vitamin D are found in the food we eat, and although there aren’t many fruits or vegetables that have high levels of Vitamin D, there are many that are high in calcium such as chia seeds, dark leafy vegetables, flax seeds and of course, oranges.

Calcium is essential for the body to effectively metabolize Vitamin D, with some of the richest sources of of Vitamin D being soymilk and fortified dairy products. When combined in a juice or smoothie, these ingredients completely trump the power of tanning.

Yes, it’s true that tanning is an effective method to acquire Vitamin D, which is even more essential during the winter months, but it would be farfetched to call it a “safe” method.

So don’t believe the hype – tanning is bad for you. And although it gives you a dose of Vitamin D during the winter months, don’t be fooled – using the power of healthy, vitamin-rich food is a healthier means to achieve the amount of Vitamin D that our bodies need to thrive.