Food and Nutrition
9 Weird Food Cures
Created 2012-08-07 14:51
Way
back when Hippocrates was telling his compatriots to “Let food be thy
medicine and medicine be thy food,” he wasn’t just talking about laying
off the ancient Greek equivalent of Twinkies. Pretty much every
day-to-day health ailment can be cured with a healthy diet. He knew it
then, and we know it now—we just prefer to take the easy way out and
reach for a pill bottle or make an appointment with an M.D. That gets
expensive, not to mention inconvenient, especially when the answer for
what ails you—whether it's PMS or a mild case of the blues—is no further
than your refrigerator.
Photo: Getty
Eat asparagus, prevent a hangover.
The leaves and shoots of this super-veggie contain enzymes that break
down alcohol after heavy drinking, preventing a hangover, and even
eating it the day after can tame one that is already making you
miserable, according to Korean scientists. The best way to prevent a
hangover, of course, is to avoid overindulging. Munch on some stalks
before you head out or during your bar visit, though, and not only will
you get the beneficial enzymes but your stomach will be full of food,
which slows down your body’s absorption of alcohol in the first place.
Photo: Marcus Nilsson
Prevent PMS with pork ’n’ beans.
Both are rich in thiamine and riboflavin, two B vitamins that could
prevent you from developing PMS, according to research from the
University of Massachusetts–Amherst. The study found that women who
consumed 1.9 milligrams per day if thiamine and 2.5 milligrams of
riboflavin per day had a 25 to 35 percent lower risk of developing PMS
than women who consumed less, but they didn’t see those same benefits
when they took supplements. And pork and beans are your best sources of
both vitamins. Eating a 3-ounce serving of the meat and a cup of cooked
beans on a regular basis will provide you with the amount you need to
keep those cramps away.
Photo: (cc) Jeremy Keith/Flickr
Cure kidney stones with lemonade.
Kidney stones have become a more common health complaint than heart
disease, stroke, and diabetes, according to figures released this year
from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The number of
people suffering from them has doubled in the past 13 years. If you fall
into that crowd, start downing lemonade. Lemon juice has the highest
levels of citrate of any citrus juice, and that citrate helps dissolve
any calcium deposits that will eventually turn into kidney stones.
Squeeze your own fresh lemons to make lemonade, or buy a commercial mix.
Doctors say that you can get as much citrate as you need from regular
old lemonade, without having to make your teeth curl by sucking on a raw
lemon.
Drink coffee, defeat depression.
Here’s a disturbing stat: More than 10 percent of the U.S. population
is now on expensive antidepressant medications. But researchers from the
Harvard School of Public Health are wondering if a few cups of coffee
couldn’t render those drugs unnecessary. In a study published last year,
they found that women who drank an average of four cups of coffee per
day were 20 percent less likely to develop depression than people who
didn’t drink coffee, or any other caffeinated drinks, for that matter.
Caffeine may protect the brain against certain neurotoxins that can
cause depression, the authors wrote, or it could be nothing more than
the energy lift you get from chronic, low-level exposures to the
stimulant. Either way, drink up! And make sure your morning joe is
certified organic.
Photo: Getty
Ward off colds with yogurt.
Start bolstering your immune system
for fall and winter by downing a cup of probiotic-rich yogurt every
day. Those good bacteria strengthen your immunity and have been
associated with a 42 percent lower risk of getting upper respiratory
infections, such as colds. The strains of probiotics are found in
fermented dairy products such as yogurt and kefir. And while you’re
downing those, lay off the excess sugar, antibiotics, and stress, all of
which can kill good bacteria in your gut and make you more susceptible
to cold-weather ailments.
Photo: Sang An
Prevent weight gain with red wine.
As if you needed another reason to enjoy a good glass of red wine!
Researchers from Purdue University have found that a compound called
piceatannol found in red wine prevents or delays immature fat cells from
developing into mature fat cells. Not a drinker? The same compound
exists in the seeds and skin of red grapes and blueberries.
Photo: Thinkstock
Eat pomegranates to ward off sunburn.
Pomegranates are a rich source of ellagic acid, which can help protect
your skin from UVA- and UVB-induced cell damage, according to research
from the Department of Nutrition and Food Science at Texas A&M
University. Aim to get the health benefits of pomegranates from whole
fruits, which are a more potent form of the skin-protecting acids than
juices or supplements.
Photo: Christa Neu
Beat back a headache with beef liver.
Plagued by migraines? You may be suffering from a liver deficiency.
Beef liver is one of the best dietary sources of the B vitamin
riboflavin, which has shown some promise in reducing the frequency of
migraine headaches. Of course, the effective dose is 400 milligrams of
riboflavin per day, far more than you’d get from a serving of liver
(about 3 milligrams). So eat your riboflavin-rich beef with other foods
high in the vitamin, including dairy products and vegetables, and
consider taking a supplement if you’re plagued by bad headaches.
Photo: (cc) Ryuta Ishimoto/Flickr
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