Bananas kick ash !

Wausau News

Potassium: Bananas are a rich source of potassium, an essential compound that is good for the body in many ways. First, it helps with muscle contraction and therefore helps all the bodily functions that require muscular action, like pumping the heart, digestion, walking, eye movement, to name but a few.

1. Calcium Retention: The potassium also prevents calcium from leaching out of your body through urine, which means it minimizes the risk of kidney stones and osteoporosis.
2. Mood-Booster: Do you know why many people feel happy after Thanksgiving dinner? It’s not just the alcohol consumed, it’s the tryptophan. Tryptophan helps the body release seratonin, which has a calming effect on the brain. Our bodies do not produce tryptophan naturally, so bananas are a great source.
3. Vitamin Booster: Citrus fruits usually get all the glory for vitamin C, but the bright yellow banana also provides 15 percent of our daily requirement! Vitamin…

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Top foods with more vitamin C than an orange, though oranges do kick ash

(NaturalNews) Without enough vitamin C, cell growth and circulatory health can be compromised (1). Vitamin C is necessary to ensure that the system develops properly and is able to function well every step of the way; however, many people may be deficient in this nutrient, which can lead to an inability for the immune system to operate at peak effectiveness (2).

Those with a vitamin C deficiency may experience a variety of symptoms ranging from fatigue and weight loss to bruising easier and having more muscle and joint aches (1).

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), it’s recommended that adult men consume 90 mg of vitamin C daily and that adult women obtain 75 mg daily (2). The amount varies depending on age, gender and other factors such as if a person is pregnant or breastfeeding.

Foods rich in vitamin C

While an orange is likely the first food to come to mind as the go-to vitamin C source, there are other foods that top its levels of the nutrient. For example, one navel orange has about 83 mg of it, but a small papaya has 96 mg of vitamin C (3). Additionally, papaya has other health benefits including the fact that it’s high in fiber and folate.

Broccoli is another food with a high vitamin C content; one serving has about 132 mg of the nutrient (3). According to The World’s Healthiest Foods website, “Amongst all of the commonly consumed cruciferous vegetables, broccoli stands out as the most concentrated source of a premiere antioxidant nutrient–vitamin C (4).”

Strawberries also contain high levels of vitamin C. One serving has nearly 87 mg of it, and consumption of them has also been linked to reductions in cognitive decline (3).

Cauliflower, with nearly 128 mg of vitamin C in a head that’s about 4 inches in diameter, is another source of the nutrient. The World’s Healthiest Foods also touts this food as an “excellent” vitamin C source that does wonders for fighting damaging free radicals in the body and acting as an anti-inflammatory (5).

Eating these foods on a regular basis can increase vitamin C levels and boost overall health. As always, choose fresh, organic options.

Sources for this article include:

(1) http://www.fitday.com

(2) http://ods.od.nih.gov

(3) http://www.huffingtonpost.com

(4) http://www.whfoods.com

(5) http://www.whfoods.com

http://science.naturalnews.com

About the author:
Raw Michelle is a natural health blogger and researcher, sharing her passions with others, using the Internet as her medium. She discusses topics in a straight forward way in hopes to help people from all walks of life achieve optimal health and well-being. She has authored and published hundreds of articles on topics such as the raw food diet and green living in general.

Click here to see more by Michelle

 

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/045643_vitamin_C_oranges_healthy_foods.html#ixzz35CAMVi1t

The Reason Europe Bans American Apples

Wausau News

It’s sad when one of the biggest ‘super powers’ can’t even export a quintessentially American food to another country because it is too toxic to eat. But apples treated with diphenylamine (DPA), a substance which keeps them from turning brown for months at a time when they are kept in storage, is now a sore spot for importers of American apples.

DPA isn’t harmful all by itself, but it breaks down into carcinogogenic elements. It’s been used since 1962, but was banned in the European Union in 2012 since producers couldn’t answer inquiries about its safety. European food safety regulators wanted more information on it, but none could be summoned. The apple industry simply responded with one study “that detected three unknown chemicals on DPA-treated apples, but it could not determine if any of these chemicals, apparently formed when the DPA broke down, were nitrosamines.”

British scientists, John Barnes and…

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10 ways Lemons kick ash

Wausau News

Lemons are so versatile and can be used in many ways to enhance your health. Lemons have been used for medicinal properties since ancient times. They have been cultivated in China and India for about 2,500 years. There are a lot of culinary uses for lemons in food and drink, and lemon is also used as a cleaning agent. This time I would like to share with you 10 uses for lemons that can improve your health. There are many more uses for lemon as a medicine, but let’s look at some of them:

1. Improve skin hyper-pigmentation

The citric acid in lemons does have natural lightening components. For a lightening mask apply 1 teaspoon each of lemon juice, natural yogurt and honey on your skin once a day for about 20 minutes. That is a slow process that will take some time until you see results. When using lemon…

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