Ugly Foods For Health
Ugly Foods For Health. The Artichoke I know, I know, some of us do not even touch the stuff, but it does have its redeeming qualities, hidden, but there (insert smile).
Food as medicine is a common practice in China, in fact this is a popular saying - "Treat an illness first with food. Only if this fails should medicine be prescribed." This was quoted as being said by Sun Simao, who is a court physician in the Tang Dynasty.
Eileen Yin-Fei Lo of The Chinese Kitchen found this quote. Why shouldnt this food plant have a useful purpose? It may not be much to look at, and many people are quite puzzled as to how to prepare it, or cook it, or even eat it; but there has to be some reason for its existence.
There is if you look at some of the properties of the plant. Globe Artichokes (cynar scolymus) and similar varieties are naturally high in fiber; contain calcium, iron, phosphorus, and potassium. The artichoke has been used for many medicinal purposes including: for those suffering from liver or gallbladder ailments, used to decrease cholesterol and triglyceride levels for those of us watching those levels, it can be used when you have a loss of appetite, and also for those suffering from indigestion.
In Europe the medical condition known as dyspepsia (an inadequate flow of bile) is treated using artichoke leaf. Apparently there are studies that show that the leaf of the artichoke stimulates the flow of bile that is useful for those who suffer from this condition.
How to prepare and eat it: The artichoke is a vegetable and when preparing to cook it you actually end up cutting away approximately 5 - 10 mm of the stem and about 1/4 of each stem. Most prepare it by either boiling or steaming it.
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There are acids that need to be boiled out, so it is important to leave the lid off if using boiling as a cooking method. Most people eat globe artichokes after cooking, by pulling off each of the tight rosettes and tipping the soft, inner part in some kind of sauce, some use butter, lemon, mayonnaise, malt vinegar or vinaigrette. You only eat the soft part that you kind of pull off with your teeth, and then you throw away the rest of the leaf.
Artichoke hearts are the part of the plant that is the central top of the stem that supports the rosette. Usually the hearts are pickled. The thistle part is unpleasant to eat and very fibrous and can be very messy when cutting it away from the rest of the plant. Small artichokes and those that are of the Spanish or Italian varieties can actually be eaten whole after they are cooked.
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The artichoke has been used for many medicinal purposes including: for those suffering from liver or gallbladder ailments, used to decrease cholesterol and triglyceride levels for those of us watching those levels, it can be used when you have a loss of appetite, and also for those suffering from indigestion. |
You can boil small ones and then deep-fry them in butter or cut them into quarters, toss in oil and then roast them. This is an excellent Website that has information about how to prepare and cook artichokes; it even has pictures and a recipe. http://www.cookingforengineers.com/recipe.php?id=111&title=Grilled+Artichokes
New Food Cures
08/28/2008
Winter weather? Almanac says ‘Numb’s the word!’ (AG Weekly)
LEWISTON, Maine - People worried about the high cost of keeping warm this winter will draw little comfort from the Farmers’ Almanac, which predicts below-average temperatures for most of the U.S.
Winter weather? Almanac says ‘Numb’s the word!’ (AG Weekly)
08/28/2008
Patient Power (Forbes)
If you are told you have an incurable disease, you might be motivated to help find a cure.
Patient Power (Forbes)
08/27/2008
Tories back voluntary obesity cures (Epolitix via Yahoo! UK & Ireland News)
The shadow health secretary has said there can be "no excuse" for being fat. Andrew Lansley delivered a speech to the Reform think-tank on Wednesday in which he argued that environmental factors are not to blame. The Conservative spokesman suggested that personal responsibility was the best cure for obesity and tapped into the new trend of thinking around social norms. ...
Tories back voluntary obesity cures (Epolitix via Yahoo! UK & Ireland News)
08/28/2008
Scientists transform cells' identity inside living organisms (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
WASHINGTON — Scientists have transformed one type of fully developed adult cell directly into another inside a living animal, a startling advance that could lead to cures for a plethora of illnesses. Through a series of painstaking experiments involving mice, the Harvard biologists pinpointed three crucial molecular switches that, when flipped, completely convert a common cell in the pancreas ...
Scientists transform cells' identity inside living organisms (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
08/28/2008
Patient Power (Forbes)
If you are told you have an incurable disease, you might be motivated to help find a cure.
Patient Power (Forbes)
08/28/2008
Cell conversion may hold cures (The Sarasota Herald-Tribune)
Using a cocktail of proteins inserted directly into the bodies of diabetic mice, researchers have converted normal pancreas cells into insulin-producing cells, using a procedure that could pave the way for treating intractable diseases and injuries using the patient's own abundant store of healthy tissue.
Cell conversion may hold cures (The Sarasota Herald-Tribune)
08/28/2008
Researchers' reprogramming of cells called huge advance (San Diego Union-Tribune)
WASHINGTON – Scientists have transformed one type of fully developed adult cell directly into another inside a living animal, a startling advance that could lead to cures for a plethora of illnesses and sidestep the political and ethical quagmires that have plagued embryonic stem cell research.
Researchers' reprogramming of cells called huge advance (San Diego Union-Tribune)
08/28/2008
Toxic metals found in Indian herbal meds (Detroit News)
Ayurvedic medicines -- herbal mixtures dating back thousands of years in India and increasingly popular in the West -- are frequently contaminated with lead, mercury or arsenic, according to a study published Wednesday.
Toxic metals found in Indian herbal meds (Detroit News)
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