Magnificent Mangos

Did you know that mangos originated over 4000 years ago?

Mangos are a fruit that I didn’t even know existed until I went to college. The first time I had some, one of the dining halls on campus was throwing a Hawaiian themed dinner which was amazing. I fell in love with mangos immediately. I didn’t know what I was eating but it was ranked as one of my most favorite fruits after that. Lucky for me someone I was with knew what mango was so I was able to find and eat it again.

Mangos have enzymes that help break down protein. It also contains fiber. Both of these things help the body with digestion.

My neighbor and close friend (who goes to the same college as me) has been trying to teach me how to bake over the past year. I admit regretfully that I’m a disaster in the kitchen though she is optimistic. I’ve managed to make the crust of lemon bars completely disappear before even though it was there and intact before it went into the oven. I’ve never figured out how that one worked. I’ve also set the microwave on fire like three times. When I got engaged I wanted to try and change that and become a baking goddess.  Needless to say that hasn’t happened. Even so I want to bake a mango into a pie, but my friend tells me that when she looked it up she found that heated mango wasn’t very good.  I’m disappointed.

Mangos are said to be connected to healthy skin when eaten or applied externally. They clear clogged pores and get rid of pimples (I should probably eat one of these right now because I’ve been breaking out recently). Here is a link to a homemade mud mask. It shows you how to make it if you want to give it a try. http://realfoodforlife.com/randys-mango-mud-mask/ I find it very interesting and might try it myself.

Mango leaves have been known to normalize insulin levels. A home remedy is to boil the leaves in water and leave them soaking all night. Then consume in the morning.

I also found that mangos are supposed to improve sex! :0   They contain a good source of Vitamin E. It is found that a balanced amount of Vitamin E can improve sex (I had mangos with my fiancé once but it was right before I had to get on a plane and come back to New York so I have no idea if that one really works).

Mangos are also a great source of Vitamin A and C so they help improve vision and boost the immune system. 

I love it when food I enjoy eating turn out to be so good for me because then it isn’t a struggle when I try to be healthy!

What about Salads?

Warning:

25% of this leaf is made into fresh cut salads. It wants you to believe it has as much nutritional value as its brothers and sisters but it doesn’t.  The only thing it’s good for is weight loss because its high water content equals low calories. But a large portion of what calories it does have comes from sugar. Its main use is for its texture and crispiness. It makes you believe you’re eating healthy when you’re not.

Now don’t get me wrong Iceberg Lettuce has iron, fiber, Vitamin A,C,K and B6 in it but you can get all that and more from Romaine Lettuce.  I used to eat Iceberg Lettuce all the time a few years ago.If I wanted to be healthy I’d go make a salad. It would consist of Iceberg Lettuce, a couple cucumbers, and a ton of ranch dressing.  After I finished eating I’d pat myself on the back for being healthy.  I later found out that I wasn’t helping myself at all this way. Romaine Lettuce was what I should have been using. Also I should have been piling on the other vegetables and not using Ranch dressing.

I’m not the only one who has looked at salad made with Iceberg as a way of being healthy. I had a friend who joined the biggest loser competition on my college campus. She started eating salads made up of Iceberg lettuce, a few vegetables and ranch dressing every day.  She couldn’t understand why she didn’t lose more than 5 pounds.

Iceberg lettuce is tasty and I do love its crunchy texture. It doesn’t hurt to mix it in with Romaine as long as the salad has more Romaine in it. I grew up eating Iceberg so switching was hard for me because it’s what I liked and was used to.  I’m happy though that if I eat salad now I do it right; little dressing, mostly Romaine lettuce, and tons of vegetables.

The Little Green Trees

Broccoli, or little green trees as I call them, have been one of my favorite vegetables since I was little. I was never one of those vegetable adverse kids who hid the healthy food in their napkins.  My sisters always thought I was a freak. I always thought they were weird for not liking this stuff.  I prefer to eat broccoli when it’s cooked because I think it tastes better, but you get more nutrients from it when it’s raw so I try to eat it that way now.

Broccoli is a good source of vitamin C and K as well as calcium. For those people who can’t or choose not to eat/drink dairy products think about eating broccoli.  It’s good for building and maintaining strong bones.  Eating plenty of broccoli will help make up the difference of not having dairy.

Broccoli contains glucoraphanin which helps the skin detoxify and repair itself. So if you get sunburned for example eating broccoli should help speed up your recovery because it’s helping your skin repair the damage.

Broccoli is also a rich source of Fiber. It not only has non soluble fiber, but soluble fiber as well. If you have IBS like I do you might know that soluble fiber is one of the best dietary aids for preventing symptoms from occurring as well as relieving them once they occur.  So broccoli is great to include into the everyday diet.

One really interesting thing that I found was that broccoli can fight birth defects. One cup of broccoli has 94 mcg of folic acid. This is a B-vitamin essential for proper cell division.  If the fetus doesn’t get enough of folic acid its nervous system cells won’t divide right. Folic acid deficiency during pregnancy has been linked to birth defects. So if you are pregnant be sure to eat your broccoli.

If you don’t like to eat broccoli raw try dipping it into something like lite ranch dressing or blue cheese. This will help improve the taste and guarantee you get all the nutrients you can from your broccoli.

If you can’t stand the thought of eating it raw you can steam the broccoli, or cook it. I found a recipe that sounds really delicious from allrecipes.com

Roasted Garlic Lemon Broccoli

This serves about 6 people.  Prep time is ten minutes and cook time is fifteen minutes.

Ingredients

• 2 heads broccoli, separated into florets
• 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, toss broccoli florets with the extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, pepper and garlic. Spread the broccoli out in an even layer on a baking sheet.
3. Bake in the preheated oven until florets are tender enough to pierce the stems with a fork, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove and transfer to a serving platter. Squeeze lemon juice liberally over the broccoli before serving for a refreshing, tangy finish