Improve Your Juicing Skills By Trying These Ideas

Juicing is a great alternative way to help you achieve the daily amount of fruits and vegetables your body needs. You take your choice of vegetables and fruits and transform them into a drink full of nutritious ingredients. In the following paragraphs, you'll find some suggestions that will help you get the most out of juicing.

If you are juicing greens that are dark and leafy, add a cucumber. Most leafy greens have a strong, sometimes unpleasant flavor. Cucumber will mask the unpleasant taste and add refre

shing flavor of its own. It also has a ton of nutrients in it, especially if you include the skin.

If you want to maximize the nutrition of your juicing while minimizing your caloric intake that results from it, incorporate the most negative calorie ingredients you can. These items include dark greens like kale or broccoli, cabbage, and herbs. You also want to consider getting fruits high in fiber, so that you can break down and digest food properly.

Leafy greens, such as kale or spinach, are among the healthiest ingredients for juicing. The ratio you're going for is something around 50-70% when it comes to greens for your juices, you want to then add some fruit or tastier vegetables for some flavor. Fruit juices contain a lot of sugar which is best to limit on a healthy juicing program.

Cucumber juice has been shown to be beneficial for both your hair and your skin. There is a significant amount of silica found in cucumbers. Silica helps your connective tissue by strengthening it, and is helpful for your tendons, muscles, ligaments, and bones.

Understand the differences between fruits and how they will affect the juice you make. Certain fruits, like oranges or tangerines, often require a different machine when juicing. Then, there are melons like cantaloupe and honeydew, neither of which taste very good blended with other fruits.

After juicing, it is always a good idea to rinse the juicer as soon as possible. You can actually stain your juice jugs, as well as the blades with vegetable and fruit juice.

To ensure the freshest possible juice, you need to use the freshest possible produce. Fresh fruits and veggies make the best juice. Fruits and vegetables that are beyond ripe should not be used; the texture and flavor may be compromised. In addition, make certain to remove any bad spots on the produce before you begin to juice. This will make the highest quality juice possible.

Do not mix fruit juices with vegetable juices. Although both types of juice are healthy for you, your body doesn't digest them the same way. It uses different enzymes to break down fruit juices than it does vegetable juice. By combining vegetables and fruits, your body must perform double duty when breaking down the nutrients. Also, they won't be absorbed as efficiently. The apple is the only exception. Apples are neutral in character and don't have this issue with enzymes, so feel free to use them to sweeten vegetable juices.

When introducing new vegetables to your juicing routine, try to add only one new vegetable at a time. Do this in case your stomach doesn't like the juice, and then you will know which vegetable it is that irritated your stomach.

Juicing should be used as a basis for making healthy diet choices. If you plan on using juicing as the foundation of your diet, then you should plan your menu around the juices you plan on drinking.

Watch signals from the body when you drink juices. Some fruit juices will not work with your system. If a particular juice causes queasy feelings or churning in you stomach, take a look at the ingredients and try to pinpoint new or rarely eaten items. Once you have figured out the ingredient, you can simply use a smaller amount so your body gets used to it.

As was mentioned earlier, juicing is a great way to improve your health and well-being by increasing the amount of vegetables and fruits in your daily dietary plan. You can blend different fruits, different vegetables, or a combination of both to create fresh, nutritious and tasty beverages in the comfort of your own home. Hopefully, the suggestions you've just read have provided you with some ideas for tasty drinks of your own.

Learn more about health by [http://www.philipsjuicer.org/] juicing. Stop by Sean Stevens's site where you can find out all about juicing [http://www.philipsjuicer.org/juicing.html] and what it can do for you.

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Recipes For Juicing, What To Look For In Healthy Juicing Recipes

What should you look for in a healthy juicing recipe? We will look at a simple, but great fruit juice recipe and break it down for you to show you how the parts come together for a nutritious, healthy, healing juice.

Juicing is so good for you that it is difficult to say enough about it. Juicing can help you clear up those nagging health problems such as skin conditions, aches and pains that many associate with getting older, and a variety of other conditions. People ignore their health for years and toxins build up and sooner or later show up as nagging symptoms. These symptoms can be cleared by clearing your body of the toxins.

The Makeup of A Healthy Juicing Recipe

Today's fruit juice not only helps clear out toxins but also boosts your immune system. It contains Peach juice blended with nectarine and lemon juice for an almost magical result.

When you look for recipes for juicing you notice how the component juices blend together. Often they create something that is much greater than any of the parts and that is the case with this juice.

One Of The Best, Peach Juice

Peach juice helps balance your nervous system and strengthen your immune system. Peach juice can help rid you of nervous problems, infections, and fight disease. When drunk daily peach juice helps regulate weight, blood pressure, and because it is so rich in potassium it helps strengthen your heart. This is not the sugar laden juice packed in canned peaches but the pure nectar of the juice loaded with all the nutrients that nature placed there.

Nectarines look like a peach but without the fuzz. These are high in antioxidants and help protect against cancer and other diseases, they also help control cholesterol.

Lemons are powerhouses. They have antiviral, antibacterial, and will boost your immune system. They cleanse your liver, aid in digestion, and help with weight loss. Shall we throw in one more benefit, OK, you've got it. They also help reduce wrinkles. That's quite a package. Lemons contain bioflavonoids, pectin, and limonene and these along with the vitamin C are big immune boosters.

When You Are Juicing For Health, Try This One

2 peaches with seeds removed

1 nectarine pitted

1 lemon peeled

Just drop them into your juicer and let it rip

When building your juicing recipes you need to be certain that you make it tasty, with peach and nectarine juice this one easily fits that criteria. Then you want to be sure that it is a healthy juice recipe. You can see from the analysis that this recipe easily fits that requirement. As you develop your own recipes for juicing you will begin to see the best things to make it both taste great and be healthy.

I'd like to invite you to our website which was created to show you the value of juicing and to provide you with everything you need to get started. Vist our website and find out more: http://www.squidoo.com/juicing-and-health

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Juice - Treatment In Different Diseases

The usefulness of juice-treatment for some common diseases are numerous e.g. cleansing the body, expelling toxic & other harmful elements from the body, prevent degeneration of the body and procure ingredients necessary for the reformation and regeneration of body cells. That is why either independently or in conjunction with other modes of treatment juices gives sure benefits in almost all diseases.

There are several definite reasons for the cause of diseases over and above improper food-habits. A disease can't completely be cured unless such reasons are warded off or prevented e.g. if one is under the treatment for cold but continues taking cold eatables, or does not protect oneself from violent cold winds and rain, it's not possible to get cured.

Juice-treatment does not claim to be the only remedy for every disease. It's a fact which can be well understood that in the cases of some diseases & especially when it's a serious one, one has to take the help of other therapies. If a certain therapy has been proven useful and effective in a particular disease, there's no reason why one should be deprived of therapeutical benefits e.g. hip-bath gives benefit in most abdominal diseases. You must not hesitate to accept this sort of treatment. Each therapy has a purpose which is the same to all physicians - to cure the disease completely and as soon as possible.

It is necessary to comprehend the disease thoroughly before treatment commencement. Juice-treatment should be planned and finally implemented with regularity, perseverance and zeal.

Acidity: Take a mixture of juices of cabbage and carrot. In addition to it, one can take juices of cucumber, potato, apple, mosambi and watermelon. Milk also should be taken. Avoid chillies, fried food and sweets.

Acne: Take a mixture of carrot and spinach-juices. Take a mixture of juices of potato, beet-root, cucumber and grapes. Watermelon and papaya-juice may also be taken. Massage papaya or potato-juice on the face. Vapour-bath is advantageous. Do not allow greasiness to remain on the face. Avoid using cosmetics.

Anaemia: Mixed juices of leafy vegetables, juice of alfalfa and juices of beet-root, cabbage, bitter-gourd, apricot and grapes are useful in this disease.

Aphthae: First of all abdominal disorders, if any, should be cured. Constipation should be relieved. Juices of pot-herb (spinach) and cabbage should be taken.

Asthma: Take mixed juices of carrot, beet-root and cabbage. Take a mixture of juices of leafy vegetables or a mixture of juices of potato and apple. Besides, garlic and papaya juices can also be taken.

Bronchitis: Take warm water with ginger, honey and lemon-juice in the morning or take warm water with garlic and onion juices. Besides, take juices of radish, cabbage, beet-root, cucumber and carrot. Avoid smoking.

Cancer: Opinions are divided as to which juice gives the maximum benefits in cancer. Normally these juices are beneficial juices of carrot, grape, beet-root, apple, ginger, papaya, tomato and wheatgrass. One should try to maintain the health of the liver. Magnet therapy might prove useful.

Cardiac troubles: Take honey, coconut water and juices of papaya, pomegranate, pineapple and garlic.

Cholera: Juice of beelee fruit mixed with juices of mint, garlic and onion should be taken with warm water. Coconut water is very much useful in cholera.

Cold: Lemonated warm water should be taken. Juices of ginger, orange, carrot, radish, garlic, etc can also be taken. Water vapour is also useful.

Colitis: Take a mixture of carrot and spinach-juices. Juices of cucumber, apple, beet-root, papaya, beelee and oranges are also beneficial.

Constipation: Raw whole fruits and vegetables are as beneficial as their juices. Proper exercises should be done. One should form regular habits of evacuating bowels. One should take a mixture of juices of spinach and carrot or a mixture of juices of potato, cucumber and apple. One can also take juices of fig, beelee (eagle marmaloss), guava and orange.

Contagious diseases: Take on an empty stomach a glassful of lukewarm water mixed with lemon-juice and a teaspoon of honey. Take a of glassful water mixed with a teaspoon of garlic and onion-juices. A mixture of carrot and mosambi-orange juices can also be taken.

Cough: Take warm water mixed with honey and lemon juice in the morning. Also take a glassful of carrot-juice added with a tablespoon each of garlic, onion and basil-juices. Avoid smoking.

Diabetes: Juices of rose-apple, tomato, cucumber, lemon, bitter-gourd, carrot, spinach, cabbage and French beans should be taken.

Diarrhoea: Take juices of beelee fruit, apple, garlic and green turmeric. Juices of beet-root and pineapple are also recommended. Take complete rest.

Diptheria: Requires immediate medical treatment. Take pineapple-juice and turn it over and over in the mouth before swallowing it. Take warm water mixed with garlic and onion-juices.

Dysentery: Regimen of thick buttermilk is one of the best antidotes. Pomegranate-juice is also effective. Rose-apple juice gives benefits also.

Felix Waweru

For more on the wonders of African Foods visit http://fmwaweru.blogspot.com/

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The Next Superfoods to Eat

New superfoods are always popping up and getting plenty of media attention. As of late, the Pomegranate was in focus, then came along Goji berries and now acclaimed Acai berry. What is a superfood? By definition, a superfood is a term to describe any food that has "remarkable" health properties. Make way for the new wave of superfoods which will soon be found in our beverages, yogurts, ice creams, etc. Here are the newest superfoods making an appearance in a grocery store near you!

Muscadine grapes

While they look like typical purple grapes, Muscadine grapes are a little larger and thicker and pack more nutrition than your standard grape. One particular benefit comes from the powerful antioxidant, Resveratrol (also found in red wine). Resveratrol has been linked to lowering blood-sugar levels, contains strong anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties (lowering cholesterol and preventing heart disease). Currently, these berries are hard to come by so I take the Resveratrol supplement on a daily basis.

Maqui Berry

I am a huge Food Network fan and I had heard Rachel Ray briefly mention this berry on her cooking show. This sparked me to look into this berry further. Maqui berry is the highest ranked food on the Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity scale (ORAC). This test measures the antioxidant potency of foods. Just to put things into perspective: Blueberry juice has an ORAC score of 3,000 and Macqui juice has an ORAC score of 40,000! Due to the high antioxidants in this berry, it is believed to rid the body in toxins and possibly help with weight control. Macqui berry has been used in traditional medicine to help symptoms of sore throat, diarrhea and treat ulcers.

Acerola

Acerola is also known as Amazon or Barbados cherries. I've seen Acerola really making headway in grocery stores already. This fruit contains 40 times more vitamin C than an orange and in a test comparing it's antioxidants to 11 other fruits, the acerola came out on top. In July 2008, Absolut Vodka came out with a limited-edition vodka containing acerola mixed with blueberries, acai and pomegranate. You'll likely encounter this berry in desserts and preserves.

Baobob Fruit

Grown in Australia, Africa or Madagascar, this superfood seems to have it all: Iron, Vitamin C, Calcium, (2x the amount found in milk), protein in it's seeds, phosphorus for bones, fiber and a slew of electrolytes. This fruit was just recently approved for export and has recently been used in drinks, yogurt, as well as a thickener for soups.

For more information, please visit: [http://www.shar-on-nutrition.com].

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The Incredible Life Changing Health Benefits of Juicing

The benefits of juicing carrots are mostly associated with reducing the levels of bad cholesterol in the body. Carrot juice is extremely beneficial for people suffering from cardiac diseases. The anti-inflammatory properties of carrots help in combating ulcers and bone diseases (gout and arthritis). Carrot is one of the best sources of vitamin A, that improves eyesight and health of skin. Vitamin A is an antioxidant that prevents the occurrence of pimples, acne and blemishes on skin.

The benefits of juicing are many. A glass of fresh fruit and vegetable juice is nutrient rich that fulfills the nutrient demand of your body.

Green juices help to eliminate wastes and toxins and irrigate the body, build the blood and carry oxygen and nutrients directly to the tissues.

The consumption of vegetable and fruit juices help to promote a healthy life style and promote a balanced nutritional intake.
Reap the benefits of juicing vegetables by sharing with your kids. We all know that good nutrition for kids is important. Keep your children healthy by giving them wholesome raw fruit and vegetable juices everyday. Kids will enjoy the taste even more if you combine vegetable juice with some fruit juices and blend with ice makes a wonderful tasting smoothing which is both fun and very healthy for the children and adults as well.

What are Benefits of Juicing vegetables and Fruits at home?

You will soon experience the Joy of Juicing when you see an almost immediate increase in your energy, stamina, and improvement to your health in general. Believe it or not, Juicing every day can also help you to Lose Weight.

I hope the benefits of juicing are now clear to you. Make sure you drink it fresh and raw. You can add a concoction of spices to improve the taste of vegetable juices. A glass of fruit juice or vegetable juice when consumed regularly will make your body more resistant to infections. Juice fasting also gives rest to your digestive system, wherein your metabolic rate is normalized and the efficiency of the digestive enzymes increases.

Some of the benefits of juicing are that it clears the mind, balances, hormones and our metabolism, helps to balance our thyroid, our endocrine system, our pancreas and our reproductive organs. Blood chemistry can change when you do juice fasts, and juicing also thins the blood. Juices do all these things for us. Thinning the blood is important as it allows the circulation to clear areas that were clogged and to go into vital areas of our body.

The health benefits of juicing are endless. Juicing fresh fruit and vegetables provides essential nutrients for growth and renewal. These nutrients can protect you against disease and help to restore the effects of aging.

One of the benefits of juicing is that you are in control of the ingredients in your juice. Fresh, organic juice is easy to digest and is quickly absorbed into your bloodstream bringing a healthy rush of nutrients to your body. Fresh juices also taste great and are rich in vitamins, minerals, enzymes and amino acids.

Juices have been likened to a blood transfusion. The juice goes right into our body and requires little digestion. Juices also flush and cleanse the organs of our body as well as provide excellent nutritive value.

Another of the benefits of juicing is that it allows us to eat more of the vegetable or fruit than we could if we were eating it raw. It is advised that you eat one pound of raw vegetables per fifty pounds of body weight. Juicing is a great and easy way for us to do this.

A rarely known benefit of juicing is that it lessens the symptoms of depression. Deficiency of certain minerals and trace minerals (magnesium, potassium, iron) as well as folic acid are thought to increase the chance of developing depression. Fresh fruit and vegetable juices are high in these nutrients so consuming them regularly helps fight against depression.

A further health benefits of juicing is improved vitality. This is a side-effect of bettered digestion and absorption by the body, which can effectively digest fruit and vegetables now that they are in juice form. The outcome is a simpler workload for the digestive system and a boost of vitality that is felt almost instantly. In fact, the nutrition found in fresh juices is the most easily digested of all food sources, and delivers a very high bio-availability.

Also.... to reap the benefits of juicing you need to drink your juice, right after you juice it. This is because when you juice your foods, it's NOT like store bought juices, they are fresh and LIVE with powerful nutrients. Once air hits these nutrients, they begin to lose their value quickly. Your fresh juice also spoils quickly too. So, only juice when you are prepared to drink all of it within a few minutes.

One of the best known benefits of juicing is that incorporating natural fruit and vegetable juices a few times in one's daily diet in place of processed foods helps when trying to lose weight. Fruit juices are healthy, low calorie substitutes for sweets. For more dietary benefits and more effective weight loss try to drink natural vegetable juices on their own, or if you find the taste a bit harsh try a combo of fruit and vegetable juices. Adding fruits will dampen the slightly unpleasant taste of raw vegetables and give them a sweeter taste depending on the fruit that you use.

I look forward to the benefits of juicing each day. I cannot imagine any other kind of drink that equals organic juice and the benefits it gives. I hope that you will try it, receive its wonderful benefits and enjoy it as much as I have.

Drinking juice made of kale, spinach, parsley, carrots, celery, and garlic is beneficial. These particular vegetables are high in vitamins B6, C, E and excellent sources of chromium, copper, and magnesium. These nutrients enhance digestion, boost metabolism and nurture healthy cells. They also help with detoxification that is essential when your body is in the process of shedding fat cells.

Kale juice is rich in all the essential vitamins required for our body. It's a source of iron, vitamin C, calcium and vitamin A. The benefits of juicing kale involves the prevention of anemia. The iron is easily absorbed by your body and thus, it alleviates the iron content of the blood, enhancing the manufacture of hemoglobin. Regular consumption of kale juice is essential for the health of teeth, gums and bones. Kale juice, being rich in vitamin A is prescribed as a prenatal nutritional requirement. Know more about the benefits of homemade organic juice.

The juice extracted from beetroot is one of the most nutrient laden juices that helps in improving the stamina of the body. The benefits of juicing beets pertain to curing digestive problems, improving blood circulation and lowering high blood pressure. Beetroot juice benefits are so experienced since it is rich in amino acids, minerals (magnesium, calcium, potassium, phosphorous, sodium etc.), vitamins and antioxidant. You can also combine it with spinach and radish juice.

The health benefits of juicing green cabbage focuses on relieving the pain of stomach ulcers. Cabbage juice is a great homeopathic treatment for this painful condition.

I am not saying that juicing is a guaranteed cure for any of the above ailments, in fact, juice recipes should be used only as a supplement to a doctor's medical treatment plan. Nevertheless, I believe the benefits of juicing will provide a nutritional supplement to your diet that will lead to a happier and healthier lifestyle.

But just reading about it will not improve your health and vitality. It is the type of thing that people become very excited about, go out and purchase the best juicer that money can buy only to have it sit in the cupboard collecting dust. Most people start off with the best of intentions but what is it exactly that prematurely destroys that momentum.

Well one is when you put the juicier up in the cabinet then it is easy to forget about. To fully enjoy the benefits of juicing, I strongly encourage you to leave the juicer out on your counter top and use it daily. This juice will be one of your greatest allies in healing. This will help you to establish a good habit which once you are used to doing it then it will become a normal part of your daily routine.

Try this and I will make one guarantee, it will change you and your families lives for the better in your time spent here on earth.

Tony Goff: I am looking for a few people to partner with who want to make a lot of money online and improve their lives in the process. http://www.tonygoff.com

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Our Four Favorite Raw Fruit Juice Recipes

My feeling about juicing is that you should have as many colors of the rainbow represented in your juice. It makes for a more balanced body, raises your vibration and also helps all your chakras spin clockwise (meaning that they are healthy.) With that said, here are our favorite five-star juice combinations so far.

Note: The volumes make about 4 cups of raw juice. You then divide that into two quart Mason jars and add 2 cups of ice cubes to each jar. Dump the whole mixture into your blender and buzz it on High to make 4 cups of diluted juice. This makes enough juice for 2 people for the morning juicing. Ginger is great for increasing circulation and it gives your juices a "zip."

Juice #1: Cantaloupe juice with a ½ cup splash of Knudson's Lemon-Ginger-Echinacea juice (we were trying to use up what was in the fridge one day about 10 days into our juice fast.) One whole 8-10 inch cantaloupe makes about 4 cups of juice.

Juice #2: Apple (4 cups), Pineapple (1/2), Mango (1), Plum (2), Banana (2)

Juice #3: Peach (2), Plum (3), Ginger (2 inch chunk), Pineapple (1/2), Kiwi (1), Orange (2)

Juice #4:Apple (3), Peach (1), Banana (2), Blueberries (1 cup), Mango (1), Plum (2) and Lemon (1)

The fruit juices are definitely more enjoyable than the vegetable juices. We really tried a variety of fruits and vegetables during our 40-day juice fast.

General Juicing Rules:

Drink freshly prepared juice and do not store the juice for over 24 hours. If you can't drink it immediately, put it into a glass jar (filled to the top) and put a lid on it to prevent oxidation. Juice rapidly loses therapeutic and nutritional value during storage.

Raw fruits and vegetables are not always compatible when eaten together. Apples are the exception. You can also mix pears with Jicama.

Melons should be juiced by themselves. Making the entire meal melon is an option.

Avoid using pre-bottled or sweetened juices (like we did in the first recipe.) All the live enzymes are inactivated when they are pasteurized.

Minimize acid juices. Juices don't stimulate acids to be released from the stomach, but orange and tomato juice are high in acids and you may want to mix these juices with other less acidic ones.

About cucumbers. I've read that cucumbers may not be good to mix with other vegetables as they are in the melon family, but it seems to work fine for us. We do limit cucumber to less than 25% of the total volume however.

Don't add more than 25% green juice to your vegetable juices (unless you have a barf bucket handy! Woof.)

Juicing Greens--you might want to do this in between harder vegetables, the juice sludges at the bottom and doesn't pour out easily if you juice them first. For example, I juice a couple of carrots, then a bunch of parsley, then cram a couple more carrots in after the parsley to get the juicer moving again.

Dilute all fruit juice with water (one part juice to 2-4 parts water) and drink throughout the day. We've found that 2 cups fruit juice blended with ½ tray of ice cubes comes up to 4 cups--the perfect dilution and it's frothy cold.

Vegetable juices need not be diluted.

What to Juice:

During the fast, select juicing materials and teas specific to your health conditions. Most of the people I see in my practice do well on the Eat Right for Your Type diet (www.dadamo.com). Because of this, I recommend juicing those fruits on the Highly Beneficial and Neutral Foods Lists. Our fast was extensive, but you don't need to fast that long. A 3-day juice fast will give you lots of benefits and make your body healthier and more alkaline which is what you really need to stay healthy.

See our Juice Fast Blog to read about that experience at: http://www.naturalhealthtechniques.com/CoachingCorner/juice_fast_blog.htm

Dr. Denice Moffat is a practicing naturopath, medical intuitive, and veterinarian working on the family unit (which includes humans and animals) through her phone consultation practice established in 1995. She has a content-rich website at http://www.NaturalHealthTechniques.com and free internationally distributed monthly newsletter. For more information and a list of vegetables and fruits with the maladies they are good for, go to: http://www.naturalhealthtechniques.com/HealingTechniques/juice_fasting.htm

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Nutrition - Eleven Superfoods You Ought To Know About

There's a lot more to foods than just the nutrition they contain. Some can act as medicines, helping to tame inflammation in the body, or protect cells from DNA damage. Others can act as aphrodisiacs (see number 2 below). Still others can protect your memory.

Superfoods are "super" precisely because they offer more benefits than what you can find on the "nutrition facts" label. Every one on this list qualifies!

1.Blueberries

These amazing berries are on anyone's list of superfoods. Recent research shows that they're brain food-- feeding blueberries to rats actually slows their age-related mental decline. Blueberries contain pterostilbene, a plant compound recently shown to have cholesterol-lowering properties. Their ORAC value (antioxidant rating) is the highest of any fruit. And blueberries are rich in fiber. Tip: try them frozen. They taste like sherbet!

2.Maca

Based on a long history of traditional use in Peru, maca has recently become known as a "natural Viagra", and is popular as an aphrodisiac, and for increasing fertility and stamina. (I talked about it in my book 'The Most Effective Natural Cures on Earth" as part of a natural treatment for restoring sexual potency.) But maca's also a superfood from a nutrition point of view. It's an important staple for the Andean Indians, has been around since 3800 BC and is rich in sugars, protein, starches and essential minerals, especially iron and iodine. You can buy it as a supplement, or, even better, as a powder which you can add to shakes.

3.Cherries

Cherries are absolutely loaded with anti-inflammatory, antiaging, anticancer compounds that don't show up on your average nutrition facts label. These include quercetin, a member of the flavonoid family which has powerful anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. Cherries also contain anthocyanains which act like natural COX-2 inhibitors, reducing pain and inflammation. That's one reason why they're so great for gout. My favorite "healthy" desert- frozen cherries mixed with full fat yogurt. Tastes like Cherry Garcia only way better for you.

4.Guava

Among the superfoods of the world, guava is a sleeper. With a taste that's been described as "part strawberry part pear", one low-calorie cup of this vitamin rich fruit contains a whopping 8 grams of fiber. And in one widely used nutrition lab test for antioxidant power, guava scored second only to blueberries, and right behind kale. Guava also contains cancer fighting lycopene.

5.Kale

Kale is a member of the brassica family, vegetable royalty that boasts cabbage and broccoli among it's relatives. It's simply loaded with nutrition. It's rich in potent cancer fighting substances called indoles, and loaded with bone-building vitamin K. Kale also contains sulforaphane, a powerful nutrient that helps the liver detoxify carcinogens and other toxins. Kale has the highest antioxidant rating of any vegetable and is ridiculously low in calories. Try it tossed with olive oil, a few dried cranberries and some pine nuts.

6.Sardines

These are the best kept nutrition secret in the world when it comes to health foods and the secret weapon of travelers looking for a cheap, portable, easily available source of protein. Sardines are rich in omega-3 fats, and one of the least contaminated of any seafood since it's so low on the food chain. Eat them out of the can or throw them on some salad.

7.Coconut oil

This superb oil has been long neglected as a healthy oil because it contains saturated fat. But not to worry: the saturated fat in coconut is a very healthy kind called MCT (medium chain triglyecerides) which is easily burned by the body for energy. Coconut oil also contains lauric acid, a natural anti-viral and anti-microbal. And today's excellent virgin coconut oil- unlike the inferior products of a few decades ago- doesn't contain trans fats. Note to skeptics: The Puka Puka islanders consumed 80 % of their diet from coconut products and had virtually no heart disease.

8.Green tea

Here's a superstar beverage if there ever was one. Green tea helps with weight loss and helps fight against cancer. It contains EGCG, a catechin (plant compound) which stimulates metabolism and has anti-cancer properties to boot. Green tea also contains theanine, a natural relaxant which helps explain why the caffeine in green tea doesn't make you nearly as jittery as coffee.

9.Flaxseeds

Flaxseed oil is one of the only plant sources of omega-3 fats, but the flaxseeds themselves provide the added nutrition benefit of fiber along with the omega-3's. Flaxseeds can be thrown on salads, tossed into smoothies, or sprinkled on vegetables. They also contain lignans, a group of plant nutrtients that have been studied by the National Cancer Institute for their cancer preventive properties.

10.Eggs

The protein source against which all others are judged. And for goodness sake, stop with the egg white omlettes. The yolk is loaded with good stuff! Half of the measly 4.5 grams of fat are actually monounsaturated fat, the same heart-healthy fat that's in olive oil. The yolks are also one of the best sources of lutein, the superstar of eye nutrition. Plus they contain choline, which helps support brain function and help keep harmful homocysteine levels down. Look for the new designer eggs with increased omega-3 content.

11.Pomegranate juice

If you're wondering if all the hype about pomegranate juice is for real, stop wondering: it is. Animal studies suggest that pomegranate juice combats artherogenesis (hardening of the arteries) as well as other cardiovascular diseases such as strokes and heart attacks. It's rich in antioxidants and has a higher amount of polyphenols- heart healthy plant compounds-- than even red wine. Look for the pure pomegranate juice (not the watered down cocktail). You can always dilute it with water or mix it with other juices.

In the long run, the rules for healthy eating are a lot simpler than you might think: Eat food that your ancestors could have hunted, fished for, gathered or plucked.

If it's food your grandmother would have recognized as food, it's probably good for you.

And if it doesn't have a bar code, so much the better.

Jonny Bowden, PhD, CNS is a board certified nutritionist and a nationally known expert on nutrition, weight management and living well. He has appeared on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, ABC-TV, NBC-TV and CBS-TV and contributed material to over 50 national magazines. He is the author of five books including the best-selling "The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth." His latest book, acclaimed by a who's who in integrative medicine, is The Most Effective Cures on Earth. Visit him at http://www.jonnybowden.com

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