b (3)

Banana health benefits are comparable to any other type of fruit. In fact, bananas have several positive benefits that many other fruits do not have. These yellow-skinned fruits are ideal for health because they have a sweet taste that most people enjoy. Because of this, it is easy to implement bananas into a daily diet. Bananas are also convenient because you can carry them with you whenever you are in a hurry. Knowing the banana health benefits and the other positive things that bananas can be used for will likely give you a new appreciation for this popular fruit.

 

A Banana a Day… Instead of eating an apple each day for optimum health, the adage should state that a banana each day keeps the doctor away. The banana health benefits far outweigh those of the apple because it has many more vitamins and nutrients than their round counterparts. Bananas have two times as many carbohydrates as an apple, five times as much Vitamin A and iron and three times as much phosphorus. In addition, bananas are also rich in potassium and natural sugars. All of these factors combined make the banana a “super food” that is an integral part of a healthy daily regimen.

 

Bananas Provide Energy Because of the abundance of vitamins and minerals, bananas are a great source of natural energy. Eating only two bananas will give you enough energy to exercise or workout for an hour and a half. Bananas are also ideal for eating during that midday lull when you feel tired and sluggish.Instead of drinking caffeine or having a sugary snack, bananas provide a level of energy that lasts longer without the dramatic crash caused by caffeine. Potassium is Vital for Performance Because they are rich in potassium, bananas help the body’s circulatory system deliver oxygen to the brain. This also helps maintain a regular heartbeat and a proper balance of water in the body. Potassium is also helpful for reducing strokes and regulating blood pressure because of the way it promotes circulatory health.

 

Bananas Promote Bowel Health One of the banana health benefits is that they can help stop constipation. Bananas have a certain type of fiber that helps to restore and maintain regular bowel functions. Instead of using laxatives that might have chemicals or other synthetic substances, bananas are a natural source for lessening the effects of constipation without causing other bowel problems such as diarrhea.

 

Bananas Can Lift Your Spirits Bananas have a chemical called tryptophan – the same chemical that turkey contains. This mood regulating substance contains a level of protein that helps the mind relax so you feel happier. According to Bananasaver.com, people suffering from depression often report feeling better after eating a banana.

 

Eat a Banana during Your Monthly Visitor Instead of taking pills designed to reduce your menstrual pains, bananas can be a great help. As stated on Bananasaver.com, bananas have a level of vitamin B6 that helps to regulate blood glucose level and help your overall mood. Increase Your Brain Power with Bananas In addition to banana health benefits, they can also help you with your mind. Bananasaver.com discusses a study with 200 students who were asked to eat one banana three times a day - breakfast, recess and lunchtime – along with their normal meals. What they found was that the potassium in the bananas boosted their brainpower and made them more alert during their classes while they followed the regimen.

 

Eat Bananas after a Night of Partying The natural ingredients in bananas and their ability to replenish the body’s vitamins make them an ideal way to reduce the effects of a hangover. Put a couple bananas in the blender with some plain yogurt and add some honey to sweeten the taste. The fruit tends to calm the stomach and the honey helps to restore the blood sugar levels to normal. Similarly, bananas can help people who are trying to quit smoking. The B vitamins and other minerals that they contain reduce the physical and psychological effects of nicotine withdrawal.

 

Bananas are Great for Pregnant Women Because of their calming properties, pregnant women often eat bananas to combat their morning sickness. In addition, they also help to replenish the body and restore a healthy blood glucose level. In addition, they also help regulate a pregnant woman’s temperature, although this is mostly used in other cultures that rely more heavily on natural cures.

 

Rub the Peel on Mosquito Bites Before you throw those peels away, rubbing the inside of it along a mosquito bite will help reduce the itching and swelling that is normally associated with these types of bites. You might even find that it works better than the creams or medications you find at the drugstore.

 

Bananas Help Soothe Ulcers As a way to prevent and treat ulcers, bananas help to reduce the acidity that some foods can leave in the stomach. They help reduce the irritation of the digestive system by leaving a protective coating around the inner walls, making it a natural way to promote intestinal health as well. Since they help to neutralize acidity, they are also a great way to get rid of heartburn. They act as a natural antacid and they quickly soothe the burn.

 

Bananas are Rich in Iron For people suffering from a deficiency in iron, bananas help to give your body the iron that it needs. As a result, they help promote hemoglobin production so your blood can clot faster in case of a cut or serious injury.

 

Banana Peels are Good Fertilizer Bananas can also benefit your garden. Instead of throwing the peels away, banana peels are ideal fertilizer for gardens and soils. Rose bushes benefit a great deal from the peels. If you have a certain plant that you want to blossom, simply bury a few peels next to it by the roots. In a few weeks, the plant will be huge.

 

Peels Can Be Used to Treat Warts The outside of the banana peel also has healing and beneficial properties for the human body. If you have a wart on your foot, wrapping a banana peel around your foot so that the exterior of the peel rubs against the wart will help it go away in a matter of time. To keep the peel in place, you can wrap tape around it for better results.

 

With all of the banana health benefits, it is easy to see why they are such a popular fruit. In many ways, their benefits are far greater than that of other fruits. They not only have more vitamins and minerals than some other choices, they also taste great and are easy to eat. However, having a diet that consists of only bananas as your fruit each day is not healthy and it can even be harmful to your health. Try to include several of your favorite fruits throughout the week because each of them has different advantages for your body. If you do not normally include bananas or any other fruit in your daily routine, find some ways to include fruit in your diet in order to improve your health and overall well-being.

 

(Article extracted from http://www.lifescript.com/Body/Food/Good-foods/14_Banana_Health_Benefits_You_Might_Not_Know_About.aspx )

Read more…
WHY DO I CRAVE SUGAR ?

Sugar cravings are a real problem for many of us. They can cause much frustration as well as feelings of low self-worth as we give in to those cravings. One of the reasons we crave sugar (or caffeine) is because of low adrenal function.

The adrenals are hormone glands that sit above the kidneys. Amongst other things, one of their jobs is to secrete epinephrine (better known to some as adrenaline) which provides us with energy. They also secrete cortisone when there is inflammation present in the body. Thirdly, they replace the function of the ovaries in the production of the female hormones estrogen and progesterone when women get close to their menopausal years. When everything is functioning well and everything is being nourished properly, there is no problem. This hormonal transition takes place smoothly.

What can interfere with this? Stress, first and foremost. Of any kind. When we're stressed the adrenals secrete adrenaline as if we were preparing to fight tigers in the jungle. They don't know the difference between the stress of facing a tiger and the stress of facing an irate boss, a bouncing checkbook or rush-hour traffic. They just jump into gear and adrenaline flows.

Inflammation can be caused by many well-known factors such as injury and diseases like arthritis etc. What is less known is that food allergies can also cause inflammation. If the allergen is something that is eaten frequently such as wheat, we can have consistent low-grade inflammation going on almost all the time. (Dairy is another common food allergen). The adrenals are consistently under pressure to produce cortisone to keep the inflammation under control as much as possible.

These two factors are enough to deplete the body's energy reserves. Add to them the requirement of now manufacturing estrogen and progesterone and you can see that this gland could very well get into trouble.

What happens?
-Lack of energy most definitely
-Fatigue
-Need to take afternoon naps
-Cravings for sugar or caffeine to force the adrenals to give the energy that is lacking
-Menopausal symptoms can also kick in if the adrenals are not up to par

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO STOP SUGAR CRAVINGS?

What I often do when someone comes to me with these symptoms is to put them on adrenal supplements. I recommend a higher dosage to start with, which we reduce as the energy returns. I often start them on one to two, or even three of the sugar craving formula as well. Apart from this, I make no dietary recommendations at this time. It is just too hard to ask a person to cut out the sugar when in reality it is like a drug for them. It gives them the energy to get through day and to feel like a human being. It helps the brain to work. I give them a formula for their adrenal glands for a week and when they come back in to see me their energy has improved, their mood is better, and they often have a different, more positive outlook. They now have more willpower in which to make some changes.

I tell people when they are reaching for the chocolate or the cookies, to eat a packet first. Wait 10 minutes and if you still want the chocolate, eat it. If you do this consistently, not only will you cut down on the number of "bad" snacks you eat, but after a while you will find that you are craving fruits or vegetables instead.


The next step is to begin replacing the high sugar drinks in the diet with low-carb drinks. And we start with the most detrimental, i.e. drinks with sugar substitutes and all their side effects as well as caffeinated drinks. Many people drink sodas or juices consistently throughout the day. For that I recommend a particular lemon tea formula which helps to give energy by flushing fat. Controlling the blood sugar levels can be very effective in stabilizing mood swings as well.

After 3 to 4 weeks, dietary changes should be happening quite naturally. For the purposes of sugar cravings the general rule is that the more refined carbohydrates you eat, the more you crave. And the easiest way not to crave is to not eat ANY sweets or refined carbohydrates (including white flour etc.) Increasing protein intake can be very helpful too. For some people simply adding more protein to their diets cuts down their sugar cravings tremendously. This is especially true for vegetarians.



Read more…

IBB "bribes" Journalists

Five months ago, a friend of mine, who edits a national daily, sent me a text message agreeing substantially with my column, ‘The Punch and the rest of us’, except the generalised conclusion that “all (journalists) have sinned and fallen short of the glory of the profession”. There are still some journalists, he submits, who toe the narrow path of integrity. Of course I knew where he was coming from, but I also knew the context in which I had made that statement.

I revisit that statement in light of the stories spewing out of the political beat, specifically on the race for the 2011 presidential elections and how it affects the integrity of news.

As part of the effort to sell his candidature for the presidency, former military president, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB) invited as many as 40 journalists to his Minna home on August 14 for an interview. I have heard questions asked about why he should invite journalists to his home instead of a public place if he didn’t have an ulterior motive, and why he should offer monetary gifts to the journalists in the name of paying for their transportation.

One news medium, which has championed this opposition in the open, is the online agency, Sahara Reporters. According to SR each of the journalists received N10 million for heeding Babangida’s call on his presidential ambition. That is N400 million just for one night’s interview from an aspirant yet to win his party’s nomination if it were true. But it was not. When some of the journalists complained about the fictional sum, SR changed the story on August 19, saying it was just “a paltry N250, 000 each”. Rather than admit its initial error SR simply said, “our accountants have told us that going by the number of 40 journalists in attendance, we are still around the same ballpark of N10 million”. So much for credible reporting!

Three days later, SR followed up with ‘IBB and his Rogue Journalists’, accusing the journalists of roguery and professional misconduct; roguery, because they collected money from two sources—their employers who presumably authorised and funded the trip and their news source, IBB; misconduct because it is unethical for them to demand/receive gratification from news sources for their services.

And on August 23 in ‘IBB Nocturnal Press Parley: Punch fires Editorial board Chairman’, SR stayed on top of the story by reporting that Adebolu Arowolo, editorial board chairman of the Punch, had lost his job for going on that trip without his management’s approval..

Read more…

Blog Topics by Tags

  • in (506)
  • to (479)
  • of (339)
  • ! (213)
  • as (166)
  • is (157)
  • a (156)

Monthly Archives