Capsicum and health benefits

Capsicum helps in curing many diseases that include lowering blood pressure, reducing cholesterol and warding off strokes and heart attacks, speeding up metabolism, treating colds and fevers, preventing cancer and pain control. Capsaicin is a flavorless, odorless chemical concentrated in the veins of chiles and peppers.

Capsicum contains Vitamins A and C, and beta-carotene. It's low in fat, calories and cholesterol. If you thought your diabetic diet was supposed to be boring, try spicing up your cuisine with capsaicin-based products, like hot sauce or jalapeno peppers.

Listed below are some of the health benefits of Capsicum:

* Enhances Metabolism: Capsicum increases the metabolism by lowering triglycerides, which are stored fats in blood corpuscles.This helps in burning calories.

* Anti Oxidant Property: Capsicum is an important source of vitamin A and vitamin C. These two vitamins are powerful antioxidants that help in fighting free radicals in the body and help in treating heart diseases, osteoarthritis, bronchial asthma, cataract etc. The free radicals are responsible for causing cellular damage, damage to nerves and blood vessels.

* Pain Relief: Scientists believe that the compound capsaicin found in capsicum blocks the transmission of pain from the skin to the spinal cord. This is considered helpful in treating neuralgia, pain associated with herpes zoster and postoperative amputation trauma.

* Cancer Prevention: The compound capsaicin is also believed to treat cancer by preventing carcinogens from binding with DNA. As a regular dietary intake, it has been found through various studies that eating capsicum can provide some protection from cancer.

* Prevents Clotting of Blood: Studies suggest that capsicum has the capacity to prevent clotting of blood. Vitamin C is found to play a major role in dissolving blood clots.

* Fights Food-Borne Bacterial Diseases: In a study it has been found that capsaicin content in capsicum is effective in fighting off food-borne bacterial diseases like Vibrio vulnificus bacteria found in raw shellfish.

Capsicum is a vegetable that comes in an exciting range of colors, like green, red and yellow. It is native to America and in fact, has been cultivated by the people of the tropical Americas since thousands of years. Known by a number of names, like chili pepper, bell pepper and red or green pepper, the vegetable is used as a spice, medicine and obviously, a vegetable. Apart from being great in taste, capsicum also holds a great degree of nutritional value and accords numerous health benefits to people. In the following lines, we have listed the nutrition benefits of eating capsicum.

Nutritional Value of Capsicum

• Carotenoids (Capsanthin, Capsorubin, Carotene and Lutein)
• Proteins
• Fats
• Vitamin A
• Vitamin C
• Capsaicinoid Oleoresin
• Provitamins E, P, B1, B2 and B3
• Steroidal Alkaloidal Glycosides (Solanine and Solasadine)
• Scopoletin (Coumarin)

Health & Nutrition Benefits of Eating Capsicum

• Beneficial to the mucous membranes, eyes and skin
• Helps wards off infection
• Promotes cardiovascular health, by helping lower blood pressure
• Has antioxidant properties that neutralize the free radicals responsible for damaging tissue and cells
• Has anti-inflammatory properties
• Helps reduce cholesterol and thus, is effective in warding off strokes and heart attacks
• Speeds up the metabolism and helps burn more calories
• Good for treating colds and fevers
• Stimulates stomach secretions and improves digestion
• Lowers triglycerides
• Has a laxative effect
• Triggers the release of endorphins
• Good for diabetics

source: http://coolhealthtips.blogspot.com/2008/12/capsicum-and-health-benefits.html

10 Juice recipes to beat the summer heat

Fruit juices are very essential during summer because it contains all the natural vitamins which our body needs. Below r 10 different juice recipes

1. Banana Honey Delight


Ingredients

Banana 1 ripe
Milk 1 1/2 cup
Lemon Juice 1 tbsp
Honey 2 1/2 tbsp
Raisins 2 tbsp
Cinnamon 1/4 tbsp ( ground )

Directions

1. This drink should be made just before serving.
2. Mix all contents in a blender and blend till it turns into a fine paste.
3. Serve immediately with a sprinkle of cinnamon powder on top.


2. Dry Ginger Drink

Ingredients:

Dry Ginger 30 gms
Sugar 4 tsp
Coriander seeds 10 gms

Directions:

# Heat about 4 glasses of water , then add the dry ginger , coriander seeds , sugar .
# Let the water boil for about 5 minutes , then strain the water.



3. Fruit punch


Ingredients:

Sugar 4 cups
Pineapple juice 1 cup
Oranges, peeled& flaked 3 nos.
Lemon juice 3 nos.
Cherries 1 tin
Pineapple slices, crushed 1 tin

Directions:

# Boil sugar in 2 cups water for 10 minutes.
# Cool and blend all the remaining ingredients well.
# Store in bottles and serve with crushed ice


4. Kesari Pista Milk shake

Ingredients:

Pista( soak them in water for about 1 hour) 100 gms
Almond(soak them in water for 2 hours) 50
Saffron a pinch
Sugar 50 gms
Milk 3 cups

Directions:

# Take a pan and heat the milk , let the 3 cups simmer in very low heat , let it simmer until the milk becomes 1 1/2 cup.
# Grind the almonds , along with the pista , and the saffron until they form a smooth paste
# Add the ground paste to the milk and then stir them well.
# Let the milk come to a boil for about twice.
# And remove them from the stove, and when the milk comes to room temprature.
# Place them in the refrigrator. Serve them cold.


5. Low Fat Mango Drink

Ingredients:
Skimmed Milk 1 Cup
Unsweetened Mango Juice 1 Cup
Orange Juice 1/2 Cup
Honey 1 tbsp

Directions:

1. Transfer all contents into a blender and blend them till they turn smooth and creamy.
2. Add crushed ice and serve.


6. Mango Shake

Ingredients:

Mango 2
powdered sugar 8 tsp
Milk 4 cups
Ice crushed as required

Directions:

# Add the contents into the blender and grind it well
# Serve it cold


7. Punjabi Lassi

Ingredients:

Yogurt 500g
Cream 50g
Sugar 150g
Rose essence 3 drops
Ruafza 1 tsp
Ice cubes 100g

Directions:

# Mix yogurt, ice cubes, sugar in a vessel and blend to a fine paste.
# In a tall glass, add 1 tsp ruafza, the above yogurt mix, sprinkle rose essence and chill it.
# Serve with cream on it.


8. Strawberry Yogurt

Ingredients

Yogurt ( Well set ) 500 gm
Strawberry Crush 1/2 cup
Milk 1/4 cup
Honey 2 tbsp
Custard Powder 1 tbsp
Sugar 2 tbsp
Fresh strawberries for garnishing

Directions

1. Prepare custard by adding milk, custard powder and sugar and cook while stirring continuously till the ingredients turn thick and creamy.
2. Cool it for some time.
3. Transfer the custard, honey, yogurt and strawberry crush into a blender and blend it into a fine paste.
4. Chill and serve with strawberry garnish.


9. Tomato Juice


Ingredients:

Tomato pieces 4 cups
Sugar 5 tsp
Lemon juice 1/2 tsp
Salt 2 tsp

Directions:

# Pulp tomato pieces with sugar in a blender for 30 seconds.
# Filter through a sieve and wash the retained pulp by pouring cold water over the sieve.
# Do not return the pulp to mixer. Over pulping spoils the taste due to the seeds and the skin getting extracted.
# Make up to 6 cups with cold water. Then add lemon juice, sugar and salt.
# Garnish with mint leaves if desired and serve ice cold.


10. Almond Honey Milk

Ingredients:

Blanched almonds 1/2 cup
Milk 2 cups
Cardamom powder or vanilla 1/2 tsp
honey or sugar to taste

Directions:

# Add almonds and water in a blender or food processor fitted with the metal blade and process for 2-3 minutes or until the nuts are reduced to a fine puree. Add 2 cups of milk and further blend on low speed for about 15 seconds. Heat the milk blend to a boil.
# Pour the mixture through a strainer over a pan. Press out as much liquid as possible, then add the cardamom seeds. Stirring constantly, bring to a near boil over moderately high heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 2 minutes. Add the sweetener.
# Indians will pour the milk back and forth from one pan to another to make the milk frothy much like a low tech cappuccino machine. The frothy milk is then served.

source: http://coolhealthtips.blogspot.com/2009/04/10-juice-recipes-to-beat-summer-heat.html

Eat slowly to lose weight fast

By eating slowly, you will have full control your food intake. It takes 20 minutes from the time you begin eating o the time your brain receives the message from your stomach that food has been consumed. During those 20 minutes, if you eat quickly, it is possible to devour an abundance of food – much much more than you ever need. If you have always eaten rapidly, it will take a conscious effort to eat slowly. Here are some tips to get you started

1) Have a (non-alcoholic) drink before starting on the food; this will slow you down, and at the same time will fill you with fluid. Water – plain or sparkling – is ideal, but tea or even a cappuccino does the trick in the colder months. Take pleasure in the drink while everybody is busy with the bread basket. It will take the edge of your hunger, so you can relax and enjoy your meal.

2) Start with a course that takes time to eat. A salad containing lettuce, rocket, cucumber, capsicum, onion and carrot needs a lot of chewing. Hot soup is a good option because you cannot consume it quickly; try a chew variety such as bean or chunky vegetable. When you have finished, you will be satisfied and able to take your time with the next course – or maybe not even bother with it all.
source: http://coolhealthtips.blogspot.com/2009_04_01_archive.html