6 Health Benefits of Dark Chocolate

1) Dark Chocolate is Good for Your Heart

Studies show that eating a small amount of dark chocolate two or three times each week can help lower your blood pressure. Dark chocolate improves blood flow and may help prevent the formation of blood clots. Eating dark chocolate may also prevent arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries). [click to continue…]

Blackberries

These are growing in my backyard.

Blackberries are sweet and succulent fruits that grow on fast growing perennial trailing vines or on bushes. Despite its being called a berry, a Blackberry is not actually a berry but an aggregate accessory fruit, based on botanical definitions. Like the raspberry and strawberry, the Blackberry is composed of a cluster of tiny fruits or drupelets attached to a central core. Each of the tiny Blackberry drupelets has a juicy pulp and a tiny seed which all contribute to the fruit’s overall nutritional value. [click to continue…]

Hemp, a variety of Cannabis sativa, is an extremely versatile plant. Often confused with marijuana which is also a variety of Cannabis, hemp barely and in some cultivars does not contain tetrahydrocannabinol or THC; the psychoactive compound found in marijuana.

Hemp’s practical uses are amazingly varied and numerous with its different parts yielding a total of 25,000 different end products[1]. In fact, the whole hemp plant itself can be fermented and turned into biofuel. Hemp’s contribution to health however is stored in its seeds that have been an important source of nutrition in different cultures for thousands of years. With a pleasant nutty taste, hemp seeds contain nutrients vital for good health. [click to continue…]

Arugula is a popular fresh salad vegetable with a distinct peppery, bitter and nutty flavor. Once collected in the wild or grown in home gardens together with other cooking herbs, Arugula is now grown commercially in different parts of the globe and widely available by itself or part of premixed salad greens. [click to continue…]

Angelica Keiskei Koidzimi, more popularly known by its Japanese name Ashitaba, is a biennial herb that has been used in both Japanese and Chinese traditional medicine for hundreds of years. The name Angelica, which in Latin means angel, was given to the plant due to its so-called godly effect of slowing down the aging process [1].

The name Ashitaba on the other hand, literally means “Tomorrow’s Leaf” in Japanese, aptly describing the plant’s extraordinary ability to regenerate. Plucking a leaf from the plant at dawn often results in the growth of a new sprout the very next day. [click to continue…]

Brown Rice

Our ancestors thrived on a diet of whole grains for millennia, until the 19th century when large mills were used to strip the outer layer of the grain, diminishing the nutritional value. However, with the popularity of wholegrain foods and awareness of their natural goodness, supported by research, wholegrain is back on the menu. Brown Rice is high in protein and rich in amino acids. Once again, like our ancestors, we can benefit from the goodness of this grain. [click to continue…]

Rich in Good Nutrition

Loved for their texture and their ability to easily absorb flavors and seasonings White Kidney beans are part of many delectable and healthy recipes. Although native to Central and South America these beans have become part of traditional European and even Asian cuisine. Known as cannelleni in Italy these legumes don’t just make delicious meals but they deliver good nutrition for they are packed with vital minerals, vitamins, protein and fiber. [click to continue…]

Kelp

Premium Nutrients from the Seas Natural Bounty

This blog post is an attribute to my friend, Chef, and Johnson & Wales Providence Alumni, Chef Brian Wilson in Philadelphia, PA. After our conversation on 8-15-14, about the future of our world, I did some research on Kelp.

Kelps are large brown algae or seaweeds that thrive well in clear, cold and shallow oceans in the Northern Hemisphere. There are about 30 different genera of Kelp mostly known for their rapid growth rate. The genus Nereosystis luetkeana and Macrosystis, for example, grow rapidly at a rate of half a meter a day reaching a length of some 30 to 80 meters [1]. [click to continue…]

Beet root, or simply beet, is the taproot of the beet plant. Beets have been around since prehistoric times and were reported to have grown abundantly along the North African, Asian and European coastlines. During that time, it was the beet greens which were eaten and not the plant’s fleshy deep red root. It was only during the era of ancient Roman Empire that cultivation of the beet plant began for its taproots. Since then its popularity spread far and wide. [click to continue…]