Waiora Library

Exotic Fruits From Exotic Place

For centuries, we've relied on the natural power of fruits (vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, etc) to provide nutrition and health-supporting properties—boosting your immune system, supporting your cardiovascular system, etc. And while domestic fruits like apples, oranges, blueberries, raspberries, cherries, grapes, mangos and pineapples have been fueling our health and nutritional needs for centuries, today's fruits of choice—Goji berry and Acai--hail from more exotic places.

Minerals

Although humans have been consuming minerals for thousands of years, modern science is just beginning to understand their significance to our health. The human physiology is unable to manufacture minerals like it manufactures certain vitamins. Minerals are constituents of the bones, teeth, muscle, blood, and nerves. They are vital to our overall mental and physical well-being. They take part in digestion, assimilation, muscle response and the production of hormones. If the body becomes deficient in one or more of these essential nutrients, a variety of symptoms can occur.

Traditional Herbs

Chinese Herbal Medicine is the oldest practiced medicine which goes back more than 5,000 years. The discovery of herbal medicine is ascribed to the legendary emperor Shen Nong (3494 BC). He introduced agriculture to his people and became enchanted by the medicinal properties of various plants. From a "scientific" perspective, many herbal treatments are considered experimental. The reality is, however, that herbal medicine has a long and respected history. Many familiar medications of the twentieth century were developed from ancient healing traditions that treated health problems with specific plants. Today, science has isolated the medicinal properties of a large number of botanicals, and their healing components have been extracted and analyzed. Many plant components are now synthesized in large laboratories for use in pharmaceutical preparations.

Super-Charged Antioxidants (Polyphenols)

From warding off heart disease to slowing degeneration of the brain and eyes, talk of the health benefits of antioxidants are quite common today. As the name implies, antioxidants are substances that are capable of counteracting the damaging, but normal, effects of the physiological process of oxidation tissue. Antioxidants are nutrients (vitamins and minerals) as well as enzymes (proteins in your body that assist in chemical reactions). They are believed to play a role in preventing the development of such chronic diseases as cancer, heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer's disease, Rheumatoid arthritis, and cataracts.

Vitamins

If you eat a healthy diet, do you need to take vitamins? Not so long ago, the answer from most experts would have been an emphatic "no". But quite a bit has changed; for instance, the nutrient supply in our soil continues to drop. Data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture has reported a decrease of up to 38% in protein, calcium, vitamin C, phosphorus, iron, and riboflavin as compared to produce from last year. Acid rain, shallow tilling and an agricultural push for higher yield per acre has a direct affect on the nutritional value of fresh fruits and vegetables. Not to mention, some produce is rushed to market to meet consumer demand well before it has reached full maturity.