AMAZING SUPERFOOD FRUITS AND VEGETABLES FOR MOOD, ENERGY, BEAUTY, AND MORE
Broccoli and Leafy Greens for Beauty and Pregnancy
Yes, fruits and vegetables can help to make you look more beautiful. And that’s true even of something as simple as your humble broccoli!
Broccoli is perhaps a little less ‘exotic’ when compared with some of the other superfood fruits and vegetables on this list. But don’t let that fool you: this is still an incredibly nutritious food that everyone should be getting more of.
For starters, broccoli is a good source of fiber and can once again help to improve your digestion, your bowel movements, and much more. On top of that though, broccoli is also very high in vitamins K, vitamin C, fiber, potassium, collagen, iron, calcium, and more.
Let’s start by diving into that collagen. This is something that all of us need but very few of us get. Collagen has been shown to improve brain function and combat against Alzheimer’s, it also helps to reduce back pain, improves skin elasticity, strengthens the nails, combats leaky gut syndrome, fights knee pain, and generally toughens up your tendons, ligaments, and bones.
This is why meals such as bone broth as so incredibly good for us. And now recent research is suggesting an even more powerful reason that collagen might be so important. Researchers now suspect that humans would once have lived primarily by eating bone marrow from animal carcasses. The argument goes that hunter- gatherers may have been ill-equipped to take on large prey. However, we were very good at tracking down our prey and following them.
What likely would have happened often, is that we would have followed antelopes and other animals to the point where they were attacked and killed by animals like lions and tigers. They would then have stripped those animals of all their meat, leaving behind the skeleton. That’s when the cunning and resourceful humans would have come along, broken open the bones with our tactile hands, and then eaten the nutritious collagen from inside.
If this is indeed true, then we evolved in an environment where we consumed large amounts of the constituents of bone. And we now find ourselves flung into a world where we very rarely get these crucial nutrients. If that’s the case, then broccoli may be even more beneficial than we at first assumed!
Pregnant mothers should definitely look into eating more broccoli and more greens in general. That’s because both broccoli and many salad leaves are a good source of folate, which is something that all mothers are recommended to eat.
Not getting enough folate increases the risk of complications in pregnancy, and that’s why a lot of mothers will try and get more artificially through the use of pregnancy supplements.
This is where it’s important to point out the significant advantages of getting more nutrients from your diet rather than from supplements. While it’s true that you can benefit from supplements, the clue here is in the name. These are intended to supplement your regular diet.
That is to say that they should be taken in addition to your regular diet, rather than as an alternative. Nutrients from your diet are far more effective than those taken in pill form, as they are combined with numerous other nutrients, fats, fibers, and other elements.
Together, these help to improve absorption of the key elements and that makes them much more effective. The thing to recognize is that the human body evolved while being exposed to these foods and therefore is optimally designed to extract the nutritional value in this form.
It is not designed to consume nutrients in a synthetic form. This is why so many tell you not to take vitamin tablets on an ‘empty stomach’. They just work better as foods.
Cayenne Pepper for Weight Loss, Testosterone, and More
Cayenne pepper meanwhile is another great tool in the battle against inflammation. This is a compound that makes food spicy and is widely found in ointments and creams due to its anti-inflammation effects. It’s a common pain- relief too as it depletes nerve cells of the chemical ‘substance P’. Substance P causes both inflammation and the sensation of pain, so this is a great thing to add to your diet if you do suffer from a condition like fibromyalgia or arthritis.
Cayenne also comes packed with flavonoids and carotenoids. These are antioxidants that prevent cellular damage, thereby further combating against inflammation.
Cayenne pepper also has a number of other impressive benefits. It has been shown to be an effective appetite suppressant for instance, meaning that if you are someone who struggles to stick to a diet, you might start finding it a little easier to be disciplined and thereby hopefully see the weight begin to fall off.
At the same time, cayenne pepper may help to improve digestion. This is important because better digestion doesn’t only give you more energy and prevent discomfort, but it also helps you to better absorb nutrients from your food. That means that all the benefits you’re getting from the other superfoods on this list will then be turned up to 11.
What’s more is that cayenne pepper has also been shown to increase testosterone. This of course is the hormone that most of us know as the ‘male hormone’ and is responsible for the male sex drive, as well as many of the differences between men and women. Increasing testosterone in men increases muscle tone, reduces fat storage, raises aggression, aids with recovery, fortifies the immune system and more.
Men who don’t get enough testosterone will exhibit signs of depression, low energy, low mood, and low sex drive. They also struggle with weight gain and low muscle mass. Conversely, men with high testosterone exhibit the traits that we associate with the classic ‘alpha male’ along with toned and powerful physiques.
This is why so many men try to augment their natural testosterone production through the use of steroids and other drugs – despite those carrying numerous health warnings and serious dangers.
The really worrying part is that testosterone in men is increasing across the globe by 1% a year. This is partly due to the use of feminine products and their impact on our water, along with a host of other problems (certain plastics and our generally inactive lifestyles). But diet plays a BIG part in it too. Time to start eating a little less processed food, and a little more cayenne pepper.
Elderberry for Inflammation
Elderberry is a berry that is rich in nutrients. It is once again a fruit that is absent from many of our regular diets, and so it’s one that you should consider reintroducing.
The simple fact of the matter is that most of us rely on the same few fruits and vegetables day in and day out. This way though, we are ensuring we get a lot of nutrients in effect, while missing out on some others. The best diet is the most varied diet – the one that includes the biggest range of different fruits, vegetables, meats, herbs, and more. So what can elderberry do for you?
Elderberry has been used since prehistoric times and has been used as a supplement or medicine by a host of ancient cultures – including the Ancient Egyptians. Today we now know that these fruits are incredibly high in flavonoids and especially our friends anthocyanins – powerful antioxidants like resveratrol.
At the same time, elderberries have been shown to help boost the production of cytokines. These are the messenger molecules that our bodies use in order to control the immune system. Pro inflammatory cytokines help to encourage inflammation, while anti-inflammatory cytokines help to reduce them. This is all very important because it basically ensures that the body is able to properly regulate its own response to viruses and diseases, and to help heal wounds and injuries.
Many of us think that inflammation is always a bad thing – in fact though, inflammation helps to destroy infections before they have a chance to take effect, as well as to encourage healing by delivering more nutrients to the affected area. The problem is when this response goes haywire.
It turns out that for similar reasons, elderberry might also be highly effective at combating allergies!
On top of all this, elderberries are also highly effective at combating and destroying pathogens, being useful in fighting infections, colds, and a host of other problems. Most interesting of all, the tiny berries contain potent antiviral agents that have been shown to actually ‘deactivate’ viruses.
These work by preventing the viruses from being able to break through cell walls using their haemagglutinin spikes, which in turn renders them almost inert. They are thus very effective for combating problems like rhinitis, as well as preventing them from occurring in the first place.
Of course, there is also the usual vitamin and mineral content that you tend to get from berries.
HOW ANTIOXIDANTS HELP YOU TO LIVE LONGER
Antioxidants are found naturally in our diet and are also a key feature of many a supplement. Antioxidants are something of a buzz word these days and antioxidant vitamins and minerals as well as a range of Naka Herb supplements are highly popular.
What is the reason for this? And what precisely are antioxidants? Here we will look a little at how a cell works, how a cell dies and why antioxidants are so important.
Our cells are made up of various parts but all you need to know about in this instance is the cell wall and the nucleus. The cell wall, surrounded by mitochondria, is the part of the cell that of course holds everything together and gives the cell its round appearance.
Meanwhile the nucleus is the center of the cell, which is often referred to as the 'control center'. In here is where the DNA is stored, the 'blueprint' that tells the cell what it looks like, how to behave and where the other important cells go in the body.
Unfortunately though what's also in our body is 'free radicals' and this is where the antioxidant vitamins and minerals and the Naka Herb supplements come in. Essentially free radicals are substances that travel around the body and damage the cells. They are a by-product of many things from simply breathing (oxygen is reactive and damages cells) to getting too much direct sunlight (the UV waves in the sunlight are radioactive and can damage our cell walls too).
These free radicals then do a lot of serious damage in the body and are enough to eventually make our skin look older – because the damage though microscopic can eventually add up to be visible to the naked eye and this goes for skin cells as well. This is why lots of exposure to the sun will make you look good and tanned in the short term, but ultimately result in your skin appearing wrinkled and leathery.
More seriously though, eventually these free radicals will break all the way through the cell walls, and this will mean that they reach the nucleus where the DNA is housed. If they reach this then they can cause damage to your actually genetic code and this results in mutation which changes the expression of the cell and renders it unable to do its job.
Because cells reproduce by splitting (mitosis) this then means that when the cell splits it will copy the DNA across and you will have two fault cells. Your immune system tries to stop this and can be aided if you buy herbs online, but it would be better of course if it could be prevented. Because those dead cells as they spread become cancer, and can eventually lead to the failure of whole organs.
Antioxidant vitamins and minerals from fruits, vegetables, and even supplements will help you to do this – by destroying the free radicals on impact thereby preventing them ever causing that damage. These will then slow your visible aging and help to deter cancer – not bad!
HOW TO USE FRUITS AND VEGETABLES TO SUCCESSFULLY IMPROVE YOUR HEALTH
At this point, you should have a comprehensive idea of the best reasons to ensure you are getting enough fruits and vegetables in your diet. These can enhance your health in a myriad ways, and if you are currently feeling tired, moody, unwell, or even depressed, it’s highly likely that you have a deficiency in at least one of these micronutrients. And this should come as no surprise – given that the vast majority of people DO have some kind of deficiency these days.
The next question is how you should be gently integrating these fruits and vegetables. Are there any drawbacks? How many do you need precisely? Can you just use a vitamin tablet instead?
How Many Fruits and Vegetables Do You Need Really?
You might have heard that you should be aiming to consume at least five different fruits and vegetables a day. This is a piece of general advice that is given by many health organizations and governments. Some organizations have increased this number to seven. It is good advice, however it is also arbitrary.
What do I mean by that? Essentially, that it is based on nothing!
Fruits and vegetables are not inherently good for you. They are not good for you because they are fruits and vegetables. Rather, they are good for you BECAUSE they contain all those essential micronutrients.
Those micronutrients are required in different quantities and varieties, and ultimately the best thing we can do for our health is just to get as many of them as possible. The more fruits and vegetables you consume, the better. And it is very hard to overdose when you get your nutrients from natural sources like this.
And be very dubious when a packet of food tells you it counts as “one of your five a day.” If that food is highly processed, then chances are it won’t contain many nutrients in it at all anymore. At the very least, it is likely to be much lower in fiber.
Thus, the benefits won’t be as great as they would have been had you consumed that nutrient itself. Apply some common sense, and where possible, eat as many whole, real fruits and vegetables as you can!
The Dangers of Too Many Fruits and Vegetables
That said, you can do yourself damage by consuming too many fruits and vegetables. Or to be a little more specific, it is relatively easy to cause harm by consuming too much fruit.
That’s because fruit is highly acidic and packed with sugar. Both these things make it damaging to your teeth in particular. Many people who switch to diets that are primarily focussed on the use of smoothies will end up developing serious tooth problems!
One solution to this is to avoid drinking too much fruit juice or too many fruit smoothies. Instead, focus on drinking vegetable smoothies, which typically contain a lot less sugar.
Another consideration is that fruits and vegetables are still a source of calories. This is especially true for things like avocados, which have become all the rage recently. While avocados are great for boosting testosterone (thanks to their healthy saturated fat content), and while they are useful for those trying to avoid carbs, they can still make you fat!
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that “fruits and vegetables are healthy and therefore can’t make you fat.”
The truth is that they still contain calories and you still need to track and manage those calories to avoid unwanted weight gain.
CREATING A DIET RICH IN FRUITS AND VEGETABLES
So, you need to be eating more fruits and vegetables, and we’ve seen already that there are a huge number of specific foods that have a particularly impressive benefit – just as there are a huge number of specific vitamins and minerals that you need to try and seek out in your diet.
But how do you go about implementing that plan? How do you go from struggling to get your five a day, to being able to easily consume a large plethora of different beneficial ingredients?
Because that’s the other key thing to realize: you shouldn’t be taking a reductive approach of trying to seek out each item individually. If you do this, then you’ll find that you end up spending a huge amount of money, and ultimately not getting much benefit.
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This book has listed a huge number of fruits and vegetables that you can seek out specifically in order to enjoy benefits for your beauty, for your energy levels, for inflammation, for immunity…You might therefore be tempted to think you can pick and choose the benefits you want! But this is the wrong approach.
When there are THAT many different superfoods that each offer some kind of amazing benefit, you simply cannot seek out each one individually. This is especially true seeing as many of them won’t mix together, many aren’t available in your local supermarket, and some will only be edible for a short amount of time. So, what do you do instead?
The Strategy: The Aim is Variety
Instead of seeking out individual different fruits and vegetables, what is far preferable is to simply aim to get the biggest variety you possibly can in your diet. By doing this, you will cover the largest spectrum of ingredients, and thereby get the largest range of different benefits from your diet.
You could find the healthiest superfood vegetable in the world, but if that was all you ate then you wouldn’t get all that much benefit – because you’d only be getting large amounts of those same ingredients.
We don’t think of foods such as apples as being super foods, but because they contain large amounts of vitamin C (antioxidant, boosts testosterone, encourages nitric oxide formation, produces serotonin), epicatechin, they are just as impressive as those more exotic ideas.
Moreover, if you eat three different fruits and vegetables, then the range of nutrients you get will be far greater.
Studies show as well, that our microbiome – the healthy bacteria living in our guts – benefit most of all from a varied diet. The greater the range of foods you eat, the stronger your gut health will be – resulting in weight loss, more energy, better mood, and more.
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Finally, by aiming to just “eat lots of fruits and vegetables” you can reduce the amount of thought this diet boost involves, which in turn will help you to be more likely to stick to your new commitment.
How To Increase The Variety of Fruits & Vegetables
So how do you increase the variety? Here are some easy tips that will help you to do that without adding a lot of stress to your next shopping trip:
• Make lots of stews, hot pots, and Italian dishes. If you’re cooking something like a bolognaise, then it’s actually very easy to just throw a bunch of fruits and vegetables into a pot with some mince.
• To make this even easier, try grating things like carrot (so you don’t need to peel), and use frozen ingredients like mushrooms, peas, and sweetcorn.
• Make lots of salads! An easy way to make a cold lunch is to get some salad leaves, throw on some sweet potatoes, slice some cucumber, and add a pinch of lemon. This can go on the side of nearly ANYTHING you cook. Choose baby leaf spinach and you’ll get iron and folate. Then just vary which leaf you use every time.
• Freeze! When doing this, cook up large batches of foods and then freeze them in lots of individually portioned tupperwares. Then all you need to do is to defrost each one as you come to eat it.
• Make smoothies! These are extremely easy to produce – just throw a bunch of fruits and/or vegetables in and hit blend. They also provide a huge boost of amazing benefits. Some of the most energetic and happy people I know consume daily smoothies!
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• Buy fruits and vegetables out. A lot of cafes sell fruits at the counter, and the same is true in many grocers. Instead of buying a chocolatey snack, just buy the most exotic-looking fruit you can find!
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