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Plant Veggies
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FRUIT
Drink fruit juice and stay alive
Juicing oranges in the morning is a wonderful way to get natural sugar and nutrients into your body in the morning.
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Juicing oranges in the morning is a wonderful way to get natural sugar and nutrients into your body in the morning.
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Uses: Salads, Main Dishes |
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BROCCOLI, (FROM THE ITALIAN plural of broccolo, referring to "the flowering top of a cabbage"), is a plant of the mustard/cabbage family Brassicaceae (formerly Cruciferae). It is classified in the Italica cultivar group of the species Brassica oleracea. The mass of flower heads is surrounded by leaves. Broccoli most closely resembles cauliflower, which is a different cultivar group of the same species.
Broccoli is related to a wild cabbage plant on the continent of Europe. Indications point to the vegetable's being known 2,000 years ago. Since the Roman Empire, broccoli has been considered a uniquely valuable food among Italians. Broccoli was first introduced to the United States by these immigrants, but did not become widely known until the 1920s.
Apart from its antioxidants, broccoli has very high fiber content, beta-carotene, omega-3 fatty acids and other vitamins which help reduce bad cholesterol as well as keep the heart functioning properly by regulating the blood-pressure.
A key mineral, chromium, found abundantly in broccoli, helps in proper functioning of insulin and regulates blood sugar, therefore regulating blood pressure. University of Connecticut researchers report broccoli aiding in heart health in rats. The scientists brewed a broccoli extract and fed it to rats for a month in addition to regular rat chow. For comparison, they fed other rats water instead of the broccoli extract in addition to their regular diet. After feeding the rats broccoli extract or extra water for 30 days, the scientists tested the rats' hearts. Some of those tests deprived the heart of essential oxygen, similar to a heart attack. The rats that had eaten the broccoli extract had three heart advantages over the other rats: Better blood-pumping ability. Less heart damage during oxygen deprivation. Higher levels of heart-health chemicals during oxygen deprivation.
Cancer Protection
Broccoli aids in the prevention and treatment of many types of cancer. But it is particularly good for breast cancer and uterus cancer, as it removes extra estrogen from the body. This is due to the presence of strong anti-carcinogens like glucoraphanin, diindolylmethane, beta-carotene, selenium and other nutrients like vitamin-C, vitamin-A and vitamin-E, zinc, potassium and certain amino acids, which are also good anti-cancer agents. Broccoli's key nutrients include selenium and sulforaphane, which may also curb cancer, note graduate student Subhendu Mukherjee and Dipak Das, PhD. Their findings appear in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Research on indole-3-carbinol shows this compound helps deactivate a potent estrogen metabolite (4-hydroxyestrone) that promotes tumor growth, especially in estrogen-sensitive breast cells, while at the same time increasing the level of 2-hydroxyestrone, a form of estrogen that can be cancer-protective. Indole-3-carbinol has been shown to suppress not only breast tumor cell growth, but also cancer cell metastasis (the movement of cancerous cells to other parts of the body). Sulforaphane boosts the body's detoxification enzymes, potentially by altering gene expression, thus helping to clear potentially carcinogenic substances more quickly. When researchers at Johns Hopkins studied the effect of sulphoraphane on tumor formation in lab animals, those animals given sulforaphane had fewer tumors, and the tumors they did develop grew more slowly and weighed less, meaning they were smaller.
Detoxification
The presence of vitamin-C, sulphur and certain amino acids make broccoli a great detoxifier. It helps remove free radicals and toxins like uric acid from the body, therefore purifying blood and keeping away problems related with toxins such as boils, itches, rashes, gout, arthritis, rheumatism, renal calculi, and skin diseases. Broccoli is rich in fiber or roughage, the best thing which can cure almost all the stomach disorders by curing constipation, since constipation is the root to almost all the stomach disorders. The fiber forms the bulk of the food, retains water and forms the bowels. The magnesium and the vitamins present in the broccoli also cure acidity, aids in proper digestion and absorption of nutrients from the food and soothe the stomach by reducing inflammation.
References
- Melinda Myzak, "Chemoprevention of Colorectal Cancer", http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/ss04/cancer.html.
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broccoli
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanesco_broccoli
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fractal_Broccoli.jpg
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Broccoli_bloem.jpg
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Broccoli_and_cross_section_edit.jpg
- http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=9
- "Broccoli Component Limits Breast Cancer Stem Cells, Study Finds", http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100503135432.htm
- Y. Li, T. Zhang, H. Korkaya, S. Liu, H. F. Lee, B. Newman, Y. Yu, S. G. Clouthier, S. J. Schwartz, M. S. Wicha, D. Sun. Sulforaphane, a Dietary Component of Broccoli/Broccoli Sprouts, Inhibits Breast Cancer Stem Cells. Clinical Cancer Research, 2010; 16 (9): 2580 DOI
- Miranda Hitti, "Broccoli Good for the Heart Nutrients in Broccoli May Help Protect the Heart, Say Scientists Studying Rats", http://www.webmd.com/ heart-disease/news/20080118/broccoli-good-for-the-heart.
- Peter Jaret, "Broccoli beats most other veggies in health benefits", http://archives.cnn.com/2000/FOOD/news/04/13/broccoli.benefits.wmd/.
- http://www.organicfacts.net/health-benefits/vegetable/health-benefits-of-broccoli.html
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One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan
(Luke 17:15-16)
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Melinda Myzak
 
Melinda Myzak, a George B. Whatley Graduate Fellow at Linus Pauling Institute, reports:
Several recent studies have investigated the chemopreventive efficacy of broccoli consumption in humans and animals. Broccoli belongs to the Brassica genus, which also includes cauliflower, cabbage, and brussels sprouts. These vegetables contain compounds called glucosinolates that are enzymatically converted to isothiocyanates by a plant enzyme called myrosinase, which is released after chewing. Enzymes present in the intestinal tract of mammals can also catalyze this conversion. Broccoli contains high amounts of a glucosinolate called glucoraphanin, which is converted to the isothiocyanate, sulforaphane.
Sulforaphane has been shown to prevent chemically-induced intestinal and mammary tumor formation in animals. In cultured human cancer cells, sulforaphane can induce apoptosis (programmed cell death) and arrests the cell cycle, both of which are critically important in preventing tumor growth.
(Click Here for the Article)
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Romanesco broccoli, or Roman cauliflower, is an edible flower of the species Brassica oleracea, and a variant form of cauliflower.
Romanesco broccoli was first documented in Italy (as broccolo romanesco) in the sixteenth century. It is sometimes called broccoflower, but that name is also applied to green-curded cauliflower cultivars.
Also known as coral broccoli, Romanesco broccoli is rich in vitamin C, fiber, and carotenoids. The vegetable resembles a cauliflower, but is of a light green color and the inflorescence (the bud) has an approximate self-similar character, with the branched meristems making a logarithmic spiral. The broccoli's shape could be described as fractal; each bud is composed of a series of smaller buds, all arranged in yet another logarithmic spiral. This self-similar pattern continues at several smaller levels.
Although in Italy there are a number of recipes dedicated to Romanesco broccoli, in the rest of the world it is usually prepared like conventional broccoli. Like conventional broccoli, overcooking Romanesco will result in a texture some people find unpleasant. The texture is more tender than cauliflower, making it suited to raw use as crudités.
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