Goodness Info

Grocer - Goji berries: the new superfood.(Brief article)

Sat, 22 Jul 2006 07:00:00 GMT
July 22, 2006 -- Move over blueberries and cranberries, a new fruit is set to become the latest superfood. Tibetan goji berries look like red raisins and taste...

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Fri, 20 Jun 2008 13:29:26 EDT
Pacific Tropical brand dried Goji berries...

Health benefits of Goji Products

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 10:03:15 EST
With the passage of time, various health benefits of Goji berry are being discovered and, that’s why, for the past few years the fruit has been sold out in markets in the form of Goji products. The ...

sun dried goji berriesHealthy Eating Habits

I believe good health is the most important thing in life - because it gives you freedom. Freedom to pursue your dreams and do all the things that poor health won't permit. Any significant health problem, chronic or acute, will bring your life balance out of order. Not just your own bodily balance but everything and anybody you normally interact with will be affected. Many of your relationships and activities will suffer in some way.

I think anybody who seriously tried living healthier through a better diet, proper physical activity, adequate rest, and by addressing mental and spiritual factors have experienced a vast range of natural health benefits. Common benefits are overall better health and a sense of well being, better sleep, improved physical endurance and strength, sharper mental abilities and lower sleep requirements.

What constitutes a healthy diet?

Unfortunately, there are more opinions about this than there are health experts. To further complicate the matter, dietary concepts change over time, leaving most people confused and uncertain about what or whom to trust. Along with personal experimentation, such approach will enable you to establish proper eating habits that work especially well for your body. This takes time and energy, but considering the long lasting benefits a healthy diet can provide, the effort is more then well worth it. For 99.9% of human existence, our species lived on foods that were either raw or minimally processed. The technology needed to increase food processing did not exist until very recently. It is therefore reasonable to assume that our bodies are best adapted at utilizing and dealing with the raw or minimally processed foods which sustained us, and our predecessors, for millions of years: fruits, vegetables, meats, nuts and seeds. A good diet is based on natural, whole or minimally processed foods.

A large portion of it should consist of foods that can be eaten raw, such as fruits and vegetables. Fermented or cultured, unpasteurized foods such as kefir, yogurt, cheeses, miso, sauerkraut and pickles are considered highly beneficial in many cultures. Cooking should be minimal and only applied to foods that must be cooked in order to be edible. Ancestral heritage also plays an important role as certain foods may need to be excluded or emphasized. Maintaining healthy routined diet can make enormous improvements to ones health, it's only one essential part of healthy living. The other parts are proper and adeqaute physical activity, mental and spiritual well being, and adequate rest. All need to be addressed in order to achieve better health. An important thing I learned while experimenting with diets and other health related approaches is to always pay attention to the signals from the body. It's essential to do this - in order to maintain good health - and adjust accordingly. As one gets better at reading the body, it becomes natural to self diagnose a lot of minor problems (which can become major if not paid attention to) and remedy them by simply adjusting the diet or other aspects of life. Finally, we are all different - what works for one person may not work for another - thus it's important to learn about and experiment with nutrition to find out what works and what does not.

Read my blog on healthy eating habits to get more info.

Ginger - Much More Than Just a Spice

Dried or raw, baked or cooked, powdered or crystallized, ginger has made its way to almost every world's cuisine. Widely appreciated for its medicinal and culinary value, the aromatic spice is the essence of many Oriental dishes - Chinese and Indian in particular.

Though called a root, ginger is actually the rhizome of the perennial plant Zingiber Officinale, which takes its name from the Pali "singiveram" meaning "horn-shaped". A rhizome is a horizontal, usually underground stem with multiple roots and shoots coming from its nodes. Believed to be of Chinese origin, ginger was also cultivated in India and Southeast Asia thousands of years back. It is considered to be the first Oriental spice introduced to Europe.

While Asian cuisine traditionally uses ginger in its raw form - chopped, crushed, grated - in curries, chutneys, stir fries, soups and salads, Western cuisine tends to prefer dry ginger used in the sweet stuff like ginger ale, gingerbread, ginger cake, jams and candies. Hot and sweet, with distinguished aroma, ginger is truly a universal spice able to blend organically to nearly any dish.

Health Benefits of Ginger
Ginger has been known for its numerous health-enhancing properties for thousands of years. It is a popular cough and cold treatment, especially effective when consumed in a tea form or as juice mixed with honey. Thank to its anti-inflammatory quality, ginger is also good in treating arthritis-related pain, and easing muscular aches and migraines. Women throughout Asia use ginger in food and drinks to relieve menstrual cramps; ginger tea is believed to stimulate uterus contractions and is advised to be taken after childbirth to make the womb shrink faster. It is also considered helpful in breast milk production.

Ginger in various forms has proven to be effective in relieving nausea symptoms. It includes nausea experienced due to motion sickness, pregnancy and chemotherapy. Ginger in moderate amounts stimulates digestion and prevents stomach gas. The unique spice has been acclaimed as an antioxidant; it is widely believed to be an aphrodisiac as well. To top it all, ginger is an excellent mouth freshener, instant hangover relief, and a mood enhancer; the latter quality was utilized by perfume manufacturers.

Ginger Recipes
Ginger adds a hot, lemony flavor to food. Fairy pungent and sweetish taste goes well with an array of dishes and drinks; so, ginger offers enough room for experimentation and improvisation. Try these easy and tasty ginger recipes or go ahead and invent one of your own!

Chicken with Mango and Ginger
Ingredients:
� cup olive or vegetable oil
2 cloves fresh garlic, crushed
2 pounds chicken breast fillets, skinned
1 cup peeled and diced mangoes
� cup dark brown sugar
� tsp freshly ground cloves
2 tsp ground ginger
� tsp nutmeg
1 tsp soy sauce
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
In a heavy frying pan heat the oil, add the garlic and saut� for a few minutes. Add the chicken fillets and cook for 15-20 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. Meanwhile, blend the mango with the sugar, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg. Pour the mixture over the cooked fillets to evenly cover all the pieces. Add soy sauce, salt, and pepper to taste. Cook 10 more minutes. Serve hot with a rice side dish and/or green vegetable.

Hot Ginger Coffee
Ingredients:
6 tbsp ground coffee
1 tbsp orange peel, grated
1 tbsp ready-made crystallized or candied ginger (available in grocery stores)
� tsp cinnamon, ground
6 cups cold water
Fat free whipped cream, cinnamon sticks - to taste (optional)
Brew the coffee, orange peel, ginger and cinnamon together as usual. Pour into mugs and garnish with whipped cream and cinnamon sticks.

Ginger Thirst-Quencher
Ingredients:
One-inch piece ginger, grated
1 glass chilled/hot water
2 tsp organic jaggery
A few mint leaves
� tsp powdered cumin seeds
� lime
Salt to taste
Mix water, jaggery, cumin seeds and salt. Add the mint leaves and ginger, and squeeze the lime.

Warning:
Though generally safe, ginger in excessive amounts can cause mild heartburn. Pregnant women should consume ginger with caution and avoid after the first trimester. Ginger can interfere with certain medicines or be contraindicated in some conditions.

Use some ginger with these cupcake decorating ideas, you will especially like this cute sheep cupcake decoration.

Gourmet Food Gifts

Selecting a gift for a friend, colleague, boss, employee, or family member is a problem you face every holiday, every party you are invited to, and every birthday party you attend. Year-after-year you have to come up with new ideas.

Instead of trying to find the latest gadget, an article of clothing or giving a card with money in it, try something fun and original. Why not give that special someone gourmet beef jerky!

Wait a minute! Did I just read beef jerky? No you did not. You read Gourmet Beef Jerky. There is a big difference. In the last few years the jerky business has exploded and smaller innovative jerky companies are carving out a unique nitch for themselves by producing a gourmet product. Most people have never tried quality jerky and don�t know the difference, so let me explain.

The difference between low quality jerkies and gourmet jerky is like the difference between a cheap hamburger and fillet minion. Low-end jerky is tough, tasteless at best, and full of preservatives.

Gourmet jerky is tender, easy to chew, tastes great, has a wonderful aroma and is All-Natural. The best All-Natural beef jerkies are healthy, because they contain no: MSG, Sodium Nitrate, Sodium Benzoate, Sodium Erythorbate, or Liquid Smoke. Trust me, when you taste gourmet beef jerky for the first time you will never be able to eat cheap jerky again.

OK, you are starting to be convinced, but where can you find really good gourmet jerky. You can start and finish your search at www.WildWestSnacks.com. This is really the best beef jerky you will ever find. Wild West Snacks carries The Jerky Guy beef jerky. The Jerky Guy comes in three great flavors, Black Pepper, Teriyaki, and Helluvapeno.

The Jerky Guy packaging is also really fantastic, bright, colorful, and the pouch is re-sealable. You almost don�t even have to wrap it up, and if you present it in a gift basket you don�t. Your gift will look stunning as is.

Purchasing from Wild West Snacks is fast and easy. So stop worrying about what to buy and choose a gift that will be remembered and appreciated. Visit www.WildWestSnacks.com now!

Carl DeSalvo is the owner of Wild West Snacks, a gourmet beef jerky distribution company. Carl is also Web Master of his site http://www.WildWestSnacks.com. He is dedicated to making available quality beef jerky to health conscience consumers everywhere.

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