Category: Ginger

Alkalize Your Body and Fight Disease With These 10 Foods

The balance in life is essential, and this is also true about the diet you consume, and the pH levels in your body.

Namely, in order to maintain health and prevent numerous ailments, the body needs to have balanced ph levels. After the consumption of acid-forming foods, the body releases alkaline-high minerals, like magnesium, calcium, and phosphorus, in the attempt to balance the pH level of the blood.

Therefore, if our diet is poor in these important, alkaline-forming foods, the body will need t use the minerals in our organs, teeth, and bones, and thus lead to exhaustion, and a weakened immune system, making us more susceptible to diseases.

Acid-forming foods are meats, fish, most grains, fast foods, beans, dairy products, and processed foods. Hence, a balanced diet when it comes to Ph consists of 20-40% acid-forming foods and 60-80% alkaline-forming foods.

Here below we reveal some of the best alkaline-forming foods, and you should consider incorporating them into your daily diet in order to strengthen your system and avoid numerous health issues.

  1. Ripe Bananas

The consumption of unripe bananas may lead to acidity in the stomach, constipation, and poor nutrient absorption. On the other hand, ripe bananas with brown spots will provide numerous minerals, vitamins, and will alkalize the body.

  1. Asparagus

Being one of the most potent alkaline-forming foods, with a pH of 8.5, asparagus is also loaded with minerals, vitamins, water, fiber, and antioxidants.

  1. Avocados

Despite their delicious taste, their pH level is 8.0, so they effectively neutralize acidic foods. They can be added to your salad, guacamole, sandwiches, and much more!

  1. Broccoli

It is a highly alkalizing food, high in important nutrients and fiber, and it will maintain the alkalinity of your body, and will keep you full longer.

  1. Garlic

Spice your food up and neutralize acidic foods, like eggs, cheese, meat, and fish. In this way, you will also consume numerous nutrients and fiber.

  1. Almonds

Almonds and almond milk are also one of the best alkaline foods, and they will enhance the function of the brain, help digestion, reduce cholesterol levels and promote a healthy balance in the body.

  1. Lemons

Even though lemons have an acidic taste, they are powerful alkalizing substances. You can squeeze some lemon juice or add a few slices in your bottle of water and drink it all day long.

  1. Watermelon

With a pH of 9.0, watermelon is also deservedly on this list. It is loaded with minerals, vitamins, and water, which support the balance of electrolytes. Moreover, watermelons are high in fiber, so they are great for detoxification of the body.

  1. Organic Papaya

Papayas promote a healthy digestion, and they are rich in minerals, water, vitamins, and fiber, so they enhance the overall health. They are also a powerful alkaline-forming food.

  1. Cayenne Pepper

Despite its numerous health benefits, it is a potent alkaline-forming ingredient, with a pH of 8.5. Moreover, it lowers blood pressure, detoxifies the body, improves brain function, and stimulates circulation.

Source/Reference:David Wolfe
Featured image source: www.davidwolfe.com

May 25, 2016

The Health Benefits of Eating Ginger

ginger

Ginger is in the same plant family (Zingiberacea) that includes the medicinal powerhouse turmeric, and which only recently was proven to be 100% effective in preventing the development of type 2 diabetes in prediabetics, according to a study published in the American Diabetes Association’s own journal Diabetes Care.

In the new ginger study, titled “The effect of ginger consumption of glycemic status, lipid profile and some inflammatory markers in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus,”[i] 70 type 2 diabetic patients were enrolled in a double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trial, the objective of which was to assess the effect of ginger consumption on glycemic status, lipid profile and some common inflammatory markers associated with the condition.

The trial participants were divided randomly into a ginger group and control group, receiving either 1600 mg ginger or a 1600 mg placebo daily for 12 weeks. The patients were measured before and after the intervention for blood sugar levels, blood lipids, C-reactive protein, prostaglandin E2 and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα).

As a result of the intervention, ginger treatment reduced the following parameters significantly compared with the placebo group:
  • Fasting plasma glucose
  • HbA1C (aka glycated hemoglobin) – a measurement of how much damage is being caused by sugars to red blood cells in the body, reflective of body wide damage caused by chronically elevated blood sugar
  • Insulin
  • HOMA (the homeostatic model assessment) – which measures insulin resistance and beta-cell function (the pancreatic cells that produce insulin)
  • Triglycerides
  • Total cholesterol
  • C-reactive protein (CRP) – a marker of inflammation
  • Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) – a marker of inflammation

No significant differences in HDL, LDL and TNFα between two groups (p > 0.05).

The researchers concluded:

“Ginger improved insulin sensitivity and some fractions of lipid profile, and reduced CRP and PGE2 in type 2 diabetic patients. Therefore ginger can be considered as an effective treatment for prevention of diabetes complications.”

This is, of course, not the first study to establish the value of ginger for diabetes. Simply dropping the two search terms “diabetes” and “ginger” into Pubmed.gov will draw up 63 results. Our database of abstracts on ginger contains a number of gems on its benefit for both type 1 and type 2 diabetes which can be viewed here: Ginger Health Benefits.

Additionally, the research on turmeric (and its primarily polyphenol curcumin) as a diabetes aid is far more plentiful, with 123 results for the search terms “turmeric” and “diabetes,” and 252 for “curcumin” and “diabetes,” on the National Library of Medicine’s Pubmed.gov database. To view our curated research on turmeric’s diabetes benefits (as well as for 600 other disorders), view our page on the topic: Turmeric Health Benefits.

How Much Was Used?

The amount of ginger used in the study amounted to 1.6 grams, which is a non-heroic, ‘culinary’ dose of approximately a quarter of a teaspoon. In the study, participants were given two doses of 800 mg, delivered twice daily, orally through capsules. This dose scheme points to the fact that higher doses does of complex plant extracts within the spice category are not necessarily better, and in fact, in some cases, may actually have effects opposite to the expectation. This study, for instance, found that rosemary at a lower dose (750 mg) improved cognition whereas a higher dose (6,000 mg) interfered with it. The point is that lower doses, as used traditionally in culinary applications, passed down to us through previous generations as ‘recipes’ (literally: ‘medical prescriptions’), may be more effective than higher ones; a perspective that obviously turns conventional pharmacological wisdom and practice on its head. Learn more here.

Other Essential Resources for Type 2 Diabetes

The GreenMedInfo.com database now contains 350 abstracts on 180 natural substances that have been researched to have potential value in the prevention and treatment of type 2 diabetes, and which can be viewed on our Type 2 Diabetes Research page.  The resource also includes Problem Substances (e.g. fructose, BPA), Therapeutic Actions (e.g. yoga, low carb diets) and Problematic Actions (e.g. vaccination, microwave cooking) linked to this condition in the published research. We also have a curated health portal on Blood Sugar Problems (click hyperlink to view) which aggregates both our research sections on type 1 and type 2 diabetes and our reporting on various studies related to these conditions in greater depth.

[i] Tahereh Arablou, Naheed Aryaeian, Majid Valizadeh, Faranak Sharifi, Aghafatemeh Hosseini, Mahmoud Djalali. The effect of ginger consumption on glycemic status, lipid profile and some inflammatory markers in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Int J Food Sci Nutr. 2014 Feb 4. Epub 2014 Feb 4. PMID: 24490949

This article was republished with permission from greenmedinfo.com

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