Bananas and Vitamin B6

Your nerve signals travel from cell to cell and from the brain to other areas of your body.  Vitamin B6 helps that happen.  If you don’t have enough of this vital vitamin, you might end up suffering from depression, have a shortened attention span and other problems.  Vitamin B deficiencies may also be a cause of Alzheimer’s disease. 

Add a banana to your next bowl of “flakes” for a great start to a healthy day.

Boiled Rice Prevents Dehydration

Lots of things contribute to a state of dehydration during our busy days.  Exercise, heat, and a bout of diarrhea can cause dehydration and we don’t always take the time to replace the lost liquids until we find ourselves dizzy, not thinking clearly, and being exhausted.

When you’re dehydrated, you’ve lost electrolytes which can also cause other serious problmes as well.  You need salts and minerals in your blood, cells and tissue fluids. 

You can replace your electrolytes without buying costly sports drinks.  An age old and simple method in replacing our nutrients when dehydrated, or when suffering from diarrhea, is to cook up some rice and then drink the cooled water the rice was boiled in.  That water contains those valuable nutrients you’ve lost!

The Native American Fruit – Blueberry Is Big on Good Health

The blueberry is true blue when it comes to being a native American fruit.  It was originally called a star berry because each little blue ball of fruit has a star at the site of the little five pointed flower.  It’s deep blue color is why this berry really is a star!! 

That dark blue color comes from “anthocyanin,” one of its most powerful antioxidants. 

The blueberry is a nutritional power engine that when you eat just one half cup serving, you’re getting the same antioxidant benefits as if you had eaten 5 servings of carrots, or peas, or apples or squash or even broccoli!

Fruits Help Memory and Brain Health

Tend to your mind with apricots!  Memory improves with this fruit’s golden orange color which comes from the powerful antioxidant beta carotene.  Since memory loss and Alzheimer’s have been connected to free-radical damage, the apricot’s beta caretoene protects the brain by protecting it from those free radicals intruding and therefore it prevents damage and also repairs the harm they do cause.

Cantalope “can” help the brain, too!

Cantalope is full of vitamin C as well as beta carotene.  Studies  have found that low blood levels of vitamin C impairs the memory and mental abilities to think in problem-solving ways.  One cup of cantalope has about 52 milligrams of vitamin C which is more than 2/3 of the amount women 50+ need every day.  Include fresh cantalope with your breakfast or any meal for a yummy way to start the day or end it.

There is a Dutch study of over 5000 people who were between the ages of 55 to 95 and those who took less than .9 milligrams per day were nearly twice as likely to experience memory loss, and difficulty in solving problems than those who ate 2.1 milligrams a day or more.  It only takes 3 apricots to provide you with 39% of your RDA of vitamin A.  Vitamin A is formed from beta carotene.

“An Apple  A Day” may well keep the doctor away.  The antioxidants in apples are potent and appear to protect brain cells from free-radical damage, according to a Cornell University study. “Quercetin,” is the magic compound.  In lab rats, scientists discovered that brain cells treated with this antioxidant and then given exposure to cell-damaging hydrogen peroxide, had must less damage than cells that were treated with vitamin C or not treated at all.

More studies are needed in the area of preventing Alzheimer’s Disease, but some things have been discovered that seem to help.  The skins of apples, the part most of throw away are loaded with quercetin, so chop up those apples and make sure you eat one a day.  Remember!

Include the power of blueberries in your daily fruit intake.  Top cereal, yogurt, toast or oatmeal generously with these little blue balls of antioxidants!  Blueberries can help you reverse the effects of aging and help keep your mind sharp as a tack!  Blueberries seem  slow and even reverse memory loss casued by free radical cell damage.

Some scientists and medical experts seem to think that oxidative stress cused by “free radicals” is the root of Alzheimer’s disease.  The research on blueberries is so promising that the berry’s extract is being investigated as a way to improve coordination and memory.  This is important berry is well worth the cost as it sharpens your memor and lowers your blood sugar.

Enjoy apricots, cantalope and blueberries for a healthier brain!  Just “think” about it!

Here’s a recipe for healthy Apple Bread

Ingredients:

• 2 apples
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup unbleached flour
• 1/2 c oat bran
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup coarsely chopped almonds
• 3 egg whites
• 3/4 cup nonfat yogurt
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1 tblsp canola oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup unsweetened apricot preserves
• 1 Tblsp orange juice

Procedure:

1. Spray a bundt pan or round tube pan with nonstick cooking spray, preferrably canola oil
2. Slice 1 apple and place around the bottom of the pan.  Chop the other apple and set aside, drizzled with a small amount of lemon juice to keep from darkening.
3. Mix whole wheat flour, unbleached flour, oat bran, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon together in large mixing bowl and stir in chopped apple and almonds or walnuts.
4. In separate bowl, combine egg whites, yogurt, maple syrup, oil and vanilla. 
5. Pour liquid ingredients over flour mixture and stir until combined.
6. Pour batter over sliced apples.  Spread evenly with spatula.
7. Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes. 
8. Cool and loosen bread from pan with spatula, sprayed with canola oil if it is sticking.  Let stand another 10 minutes before inverting the pan to unmold onto a serving plate.
9. Combine preserves and orange juic in a saucepan.  Heat just until warm and drizzle over bread after preserves have liquefied in the pan.