TOMATOES...NUTRITION AT IT´S BEST!!

This beautifull fruit (yes, it´s a fruit!) has a lot of great phyto-chemical properties. Native of central America and cultivated at first by the Aztecs centuries ago before the Spanish explorers introduced them to all over the world.
There is a large variety of tomatoes...sizes,shapes, colors..some taste more acid and some more sweet .
It´s nutritional value is very high and complete and has little calories (18kcal/100g) so it´s commonly used in weight loss diets.
It´s an excellent source of antioxidants (Lycopene, Zeaxanthin and vit.C) dietary fiber, minerals and vitamins. Due to their high content in antioxidants and their protective effect against free radicals they are well known to fight against cancer (colon, prostate, breast, uterus, lung and pancreatic cancer).

Specially red varieties are high in Lycopene, which is a flavonoid antioxidant only present in tomatoes. Together with carotenoids (also present in high quantities) they protect the cells against damage caused by the free radicals formed in the body and the ones from the environment.
Zeaxanthin is another flavonois antioxidant highly present in this fruit. It helps protect the eye from "age related macular disease" and therefor preventing early signs of blindness.
Vit.C, another antioxidant very abundant in this fruit protects the body against infectious diseases boosting the inmune system and against cell damage aswell.
Among other vitamins and minerals, tomatoes are high in Potassium, this mineral is an important compund of cell and body fluids and helps control the heart rate and blood pressure caused by sodium.
Make sure you add tomatoes to your healthy diet as it is for sure a very complete food to eat !!

CURRY POWDER...NATURALLY GOOD FOR YOU???
(picture: chickpeas in curry sauce)

Bad side effects:
I have never been a great believer of extremes..I always take the good and the bad of everything and this goes aswell for foods....nothing is black or white so therefor I always make sure I let you know not only if something is entirely good for you or if you should be carefull...
In the case of curry powder (which is a mixture of diffrent spices) it has many benefitial effects but must taken into consideration in some conditions, for example, one of the properties that curcumin (found in turmeric, one of the spices in curry powder) is that it is a natural anticoagulant, meaning it is a natural blood thinner, so if you are taking already medications to make your blood thinner do not take too much curry powder as it might cause bleeding, this is also important to know before going into surgery where cutting into the skin and organs can cause  bleeding. The other  effect one must be aware about is that it may irritate the gallblader, in one way this could be good as it causes the gallblader to contract and therefor digestive enzimes get released into the intestinal tract and might aid in a good digestion but this is not the case when you have gallblader stones, a contraction of the gallblader induced by the intake of curry powder can actually be very painfull causing what we call colics...if you ever had this you know exactly what I am refering too....not pleasent at all.....

Good side effects:

Among the good properties of curry powder we have the fact that curcumin seems to fight cancer, the effect is based on the interference of curcumin in multiple cel signaling pathways that affect the life cycle of cancer cells. As a result , curcumin can fight off the onset and spread of cancer in the body.
The types of cancer where it does "the job" are lung cancer, breast cancer, skin cancer, lymphoma and leukemia.
Another property is the antiinflamatory effect of curcumin, , this may be due to it´s interaction with chemical messengers known as eicosanoids, which control the inflamatory response in the body, this is specially so in degenerative diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and fibromialgia.

SPROUTED SOYA BEANS...HEALTHY HEALTHY...

This is a great way to eat your soya beans...sprouted beans are at their best nutritional so value make sure you add sprouts to your healthy diet....you can use them in salads...sandwiches...anything you like!

To grow my sprouts I use this "machine"..it´s called a germinator, it is very easy to use ..just put your beans on every layer and keep them humid on a daily basis adding water on top....the layers are open and water will fall down so it does not stay on the beans preventing them from rotting away...the bottom layer of course is closed so all the water will acumulate.Make sure you take the extra water away.

Depending on the beans or seeds it can take between 3 to 7 days for them to come out..but in the process it is so nice to watch the little plants grow...! 

You don´t really need this "machine"...a plastic cup, half closed will do the job...I just use this as it is easier to   

make diffrent sprouts at once.

Enjoy! Let me know how you did!

PANCAKES FOR EVERYONE!!!

Ok so..you are lactose intolerant or you can´t have gluten and still wish to have a delightfull pancake breakfast???...Here I have the solution for you....pancakes made with organic eggs, soya milk (or any veggie milk will do) and chickpea flour...mix it all up and into pan with olive oil....as we do not use butter, remember the saturated fats that must be avoided??;-)

I like to have them with a bit of honey as it is the only "sweetner" I take besides the natural sugars present in fruits..but you can have them with anything you like...enjoy!!

MUSHROOM AND ASPARAGUS RISOTTO....

I must comment about mushrooms and raw food eaters...I have just read a scientific article that claims that raw mushrooms might not be so good for you but contain toxines that when cooked are broken down.
So make sure you cook them before eating, this does not mean that if you have a very small amount of chopped raw mushrooms in your salad it will be harmfull but nevertheless any preventive measures are good to take.

Eating rice is a good way to get your fibers but make sure it´s brown rice...the grain has to be complete as it is in the outer layer where you will find the fiber that you need for a good intestinal "workout"...fiber does not get digested but it pushes all the wasted material out of the body, preventing from it to stay there and rot...therefor it is a great nutrient for keeping your intestines clean and prevent colon cancer among other diseases.

COLORFULL AND VERY HEALTHY ROOT VEGGIES......

GAZPACHO ANDALUZ....HOW HEALTHY CAN YOU GET????

This is a typical spanish cold soup very much consumed in summer time...fresh..packed of veggies and of highly nutritional content!!!!
Recipe:
-Ripe red tomatoes (use as much as you like!!)
-One cucumber
-One small green pepper (you can add more althoug it has quite a strong taste and it tends to ruin the soup adding too much of it)
-One garlic clove (Again..this is up to you how much garlic you like..;-))
-One onion
- Extra virgin Olive oil
-Salt

The original recipe also adds old bread but since I am doing the healthy version I add none what so ever, it still tastes lovely..believe me!!!
Mix it all together and there you go...for serving just cut a few cucumbers, tomato and pepper pieces and put on top for a nicer presentation....you can add some drops of that good Olive oil on top aswell to make it even more classy !;-)
Bon apetit!!!!