selenium

From peanuts to cashews, the bar to the baseball stadium, nuts are just delicious! But sadly, nuts have gotten kind of a bad rap. Many people avoid eating too many nuts, believing them high in calories and fats.

But while nuts may contain fats, they're the good kind that your body needs. And nuts offer so much more for your overall health—you really should be including more of them in your diet. Ever wonder why a walnut looks just like your brain? Read on! 

Ever notice how certain foods make you cranky?  Or sad? Or tired?  How does that work, anyway?

Cabbage is a member of the Brassicaceae family, commonly known as the mustard family. There are 107 genera in the family; the cabbage is in the genus Brassica L. The origin of the plant is quite complicated because of the number of genera. The earliest cultivation of cabbage took place in Northern China, approximately 4000 years ago. In Europe the plant was cultivated about 3000 years ago and became a world staple. In the wild it was a leafy plant like kale and was produced in the form of a head in 14th century England.

Frankly, with words like chia, flax, probiotics, goji, and more making the rounds, it’s understandable to become sick of the whole bandwagon of health food and stick to a normal diet instead.

“Human health is only as good as the land we grow our food in or on.”

A.W.Erickson, 1945

In other words, we reap what we sow. Trying to build a healthy diet from plants grown in unhealthy soil is like building a house without starting with a foundation. It is essential to consider the origin of foods (and other products one consumes, too!) if one aims to live a well-balanced life…with a healthy amount of selenium in store.

The pumpkin is a member of the family Cucurbitaceae, also known as the cucumber family in the genus Cucurbita L. – gourd P, which contains nine species. The familiar orange pumpkin popular in the United States is of the species Cucurbita mixta Pang.

It sounds exotically hilarious and frankly, it’s impossible to say without a bit of a snigger. But laugh as you may, couscous is a powerhouse of nutrients that can definitely add to your health quotient... 

Let’s begin with what exactly is cottage cheese. Quite simply, it’s the solids formed by curdling milk or buttermilk, by adding a souring agent like lemon juice, vinegar or tartaric acid. The solids formed are scooped up, further drained and then can be set into shapes or simply crumbled—this is cottage cheese.

Red rice is a whole grain that gets it color from compounds called anthocyanins that are found in red vegetables like red cabbage and red onions.. It is found in the outer layer of the grain, known as bran, and is closely related to bioflavonoids. Red rice is also an effective antioxidant. It has been considered an exotic grain, especially in the United States, and is grown in several regions throughout the world.

Minerals are an essential part of our diet. Did you know that minerals cannot be made by the body? That’s right, they have to be ingested. Today’s walk through Mother Earth’s Medicine Cabinet will take us down the long road of minerals we need, and what foods we can get them from.

Trace minerals, also known as trace elements or micro-minerals, are minerals we only require in very low doses, whereas our body requires more of the major minerals. Minerals basically serve three functions for our body.