Functional Foods...WHAT?

Okay, I am finally getting to this. For those of you who know me you know this is one huge passion for me. Health and Wellness. I am addicted to feeling good!

Soon, I am going to focus on Immune Boosters for this winter season for all of you in cold climates. If you aren't in a cold climate and prone to being sick more this time of year you will still benefit as the health of your immune system affects many things from low energy to cancer, yeast infections, to auto immune issues. Besides I may eventually delve into each these topics on their own as well.

Okay, so what are functional foods and why am I so FREAKED out about them? Functional Foods are foods that may provide medical or health benefits beyond basic nutrition because of the presence of active plant compounds such as phytochemicals. Basically, what I am saying is their are certain foods that have more healing properties than others.

Lets think about a beautiful red juicy apple for a second. And then think about a processed fish stick. You know the kind that you can buy from the freezer section at your local grocery store. Which do you think possesses more health benefits? The apple of course! The apple is amazing. Scientist are now up to finding over 12,000 phytochemical compounds in 1 single apple. Just a couple of years ago it was 10,000 so their is possibly many more.

What are phytochemcials. Phytochemicals are simply active plant compounds that certain plants produce to protect themselves against fungi, bacteria, and viruses. They are not necessary nutrients in the human diet, but they do provide an array of protection against diseases. One example is lycopene in tomatoes that have been proven to reduce prostrate cancer, flavanoids in fruits and so on. Phytochemicals can take on antioxidant, hormonal, stimulation of enzymatic, interference with DNA replication (thus preventing the spread of cancer), anti-bacterial, and physical action "power."

They are found in wholefoods and this is what I predominately move in and teach now. You see at the start of my health awareness journey I was mostly into standard vitamins, minerals, and herbs. Herbs are great. But, I am beginning to realize that synthetic vitamins and minerals aren't as great as we are led to believe. At one time I was comforted by the possibility that I could just eat the way I wanted to since my handful of vitamins would protect me into old age.

Boy, was I wrong. Let me give you a an example. Visualize, if you will, 2 Vitamin C pills. On the back of the bottle it says their are 1,000 mg (or 1 g) in both of those capsules. Now visualize that red juicy apple again. Their is only about 5 mg of vit. C in that apple. Which do you think is better at boosting the immune system?

It's the apple, because it has all those thousands of phyonutrients that man made synthetic vitamin c supplement don't have. Our body is organic and works best with organic nutrients. It automatically recognizes them and absorbs them more readily. All those plant based compounds work in synergy.

Vit. C supplements have never been shown to cure scurvy. Yet Captain James Cook who lived in the 1700's used sauerkraut and limes to cure and prevent scurvy. At a time when other captains were dropping men like flies to scurvy, Captain Cook kept his crew healthy with vit. C rich foods, exercise and sunlight on the open deck. Why would a lime or sauerkraut with much smaller amounts of vitamin C be much more effective against this disease than a synthetic high dose of vitamin C? It goes back to the thousands of phytonutrients that work in synergy to make it a powerhouse medicinal food. And also in the body's ability to instantly recognize it and put it to full use.

So, this is why I am going to take you into the world of whole foods and what they can do for you verses isolated nutrient compounds. I hope you will get as excited about this as I am and begin to realize that health or disease is a personal choice and mostly in your hands. And food is definitely medicine. Just as a car runs better by putting fuel in it and doing periodic oil changes so our body was designed to run more efficiently on good fuel (wholefoods and pure water) and oil changes (cleansing) from time to time.

God wants you to be in good health. It is a blessing as laid throughout scripture. And He gives guidelines for health. Paul even said above all things he wishes that we are in good health. When we keep our health up we are better able to function in every area of our life physical, spiritual, and emotional.
So it is with a lot of joy that I will be empowering you with the knowledge of what creates health in us!

Yours in Health,
Larissa

www.larissak.wordpress.com/