Category Archive: Nutritional Information On Vegetables

Health Benefits of Dill Herb

One of my favorite herbs is dill. I love the pleasant and unique aromatic smell of dill. I use it in my roast meats and in bolognese sauces.   This herb is pretty costly at our local supermarkets. A small punnet of a few sprigs of dill costs over RM6. My next project is to plant my very own dill in used plastic bottles or empty milk cartons at our tiny condo balcony!

My grilled herb and lemon chicken with dill.

Dill weed is a unique perennial herb with pleasant anise-like flavor. Its sprigs (leaves) as well as seeds are employed as seasoning in various cuisines worldwide. Dill is the member in the Umbelliferae family, a large group of flowering herbs and spices that also includes caraway, parsley, cumin, fennel, etc.

 

The Vision-Boosting, Infection-Killing Herb

Health benefits of dill

The health benefits of dill include its ability to boost digestive health, as well as provide relief from insomnia, hiccups, diarrhea, dysentery, menstrual disorders, respiratory disorders, and cancer. It is also good for oral care, and can be a powerful boost for your immune system and can protect you from bone degradation. It is also an anti-inflammatory substance, which means that it can protect you against arthritis. Furthermore, it can reduce excess gas, and is considered a carminative (i.e. can relieve flatulence).

Dill  contains numerous plant derived chemical compounds that are known to have been anti-oxidant, disease preventing, and health promoting properties.

This popular herb contains no cholesterol and is very low in calories. Nonetheless, it holds many anti-oxidants, vitamins like niacin, pyridoxine, etc., and dietary fibers, which help in controlling blood cholesterol levels.

Dill is used for digestion problems including loss of appetite, liver problems, and gallbladder complaints. It is also used for urinary tract disorders including kidney disease and painful or difficult urination.

Other uses for dill include treatment of fever and colds, cough, bronchitis, hemorrhoids, infections, spasms, nerve pain, genital ulcers, menstrual cramps, and sleep disorders.

Dill seed is sometimes applied to the mouth and throat for pain and swelling (inflammation).

Dill leaves (sprigs) and seeds carry many essential volatile oils such as d-carvone, dillapiol, DHC, eugenol, limonene, terpinene and myristicin.

The essential oil, Eugenol in the dill has been in therapeutic usage as local-anesthetic and anti-septic. Eugenol has also been found to reduce blood sugar levels in diabetics. (Further detailed studies, however, require to establish its role.)

Dill oil, extracted from dill seeds has anti-spasmodic, carminative, digestive, disinfectant, galactagogue (helps breast milk secretion), and sedative properties.

It is also rich in many vital vitamins, including folic acid, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin A, ß-carotene, vitamin-C that is essential for optimum metabolism inside the human body.

Vitamin-A, and beta carotene are natural flavonoid antioxidants. 100 g of dill weed sprigs provide 7718 IU or 257% of recommended-daily levels of vitamin A.

Fresh dill herb is an excellent source of antioxidant vitamin, vitamin-C.  100 g contain about 85 mg or 140% of vitamin C. Vitamin-C helps human body develop resistance against infectious agents and scavenge harmful, pro-inflammatory free radicals.

Dill weed is a good source of minerals like copper, potassium, calcium, manganese, iron, and magnesium.   Copper is a cofactor for many vital enzymes, including cytochrome c-oxidase and superoxide dismutase (other minerals function as cofactors for this enzyme are manganese and zinc). Zinc is a co-factor in many enzymes that regulate growth and development, digestion and nucleic acid synthesis. Potassium is an important component of cell and body fluids that helps control heart rate and blood pressure. Manganese is used by the body as a co-factor for the antioxidant enzyme, superoxide dismutase.

Dill herb has all the characters to consider it has one of the most valuable functional foods. 100 g of dill weed provides only 43 calories, but its phyto-nutrients profile is no less than any other high-calorie food source; be it nuts, pulses, cereals, or meat group.

 

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Broccoli Health Benefits

Broccoli has recently topped the list of favorite veggies for my girls. We have it for dinner 2-3 times in a week. I normally blanch the broccoli in boiling water with a little salt and oil.  They love it cooked this way, which is not too hard, not soft and mushy, slightly salty and slightly oily. I buy only organic broccoli as I have read that regular grown broccolis are  adulterated with high content of pesticides.

Here are some of the ways that I’ve paired broccoli with our dinner…

 

 

Did you know that broccoli has high content of protein? Broccoli probably isn’t the first food you think of when you’re searching for sources of protein, but it does provide protein without any fat. It’s also a rich source of vitamins A and C and you can’t say that about most animal-based proteins. Paired with other foods that fill-in any missing amino acids, broccoli makes a healthy contribution to your daily protein requirements.

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What’s the skinny on broccoli?

Love It or Hate It… Broccoli is Good for You!

1. Cancer Prevention

Broccoli contains glucoraphanin, which the body processes into the anti-cancer compound sulforaphane. This compound rids the body of H. pylori, a bacterium found to highly increase the risk of gastric cancer. Furthermore, broccoli contains indole-3-carbinol, a powerful antioxidant compound and anti-carcinogen found to not only hinder the growth of breast, cervical and prostate cancer, but also boosts liver function.

Broccoli shares these cancer fighting, immune boosting properties with other cruciferous vegetables such as cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and cabbage.

2. Cholesterol Reduction

Like many whole foods, broccoli is packed with soluble fiber that draws cholesterol out of your body.

3. Reducing Allergy Reaction and Inflammation

Broccoli is a particularly rich source of kaempferol and isothiocyanates, both anti-inflammatory phyto nutrients. Research has shown the ability of kaempferol to lessen the impact of allergy-related substances on our body. Broccoli even has significant amounts of omega 3 fatty acids, which are well know as an anti-inflammatory.

4. Powerful Antioxidant

Of all the cruciferous vegetables, broccoli stands out as the most concentrated source of vitamin C, plus the flavonoids necessary for vitamin C to recycle effectively. Also concentrated in broccoli are the carotenoids lutein, zeaxanthin and beta-carotene, other powerful antioxidants.

5. Bone Health

Broccoli contains high levels of both calcium and vitamin K, both of which are important for bone health and prevention of osteoporosis.

6. Heart Health

The anti-inflammatory properties of sulforaphane, one of the isothiocyanates (ITCs) in broccoli, may be able to prevent (or even reverse) some of the damage to blood vessel linings that can be caused by inflammation due to chronic blood sugar problems.

7. Detoxification

Glucoraphanin, gluconasturtiin and glucobrassicin are special phytonutrients that support all steps in the body’s detox process, including activation, neutralization and elimination of unwanted contaminants. These three are in the perfect combination in broccoli. Broccoli also contains isothiocyanates (which you read about in inflammation) which help control the detox process at a genetic level.

8. Diet Aid

Broccoli is a smart carb and is high in fiber, which aids in digestion, prevents constipation, maintains low blood sugar, and curbs overeating. Furthermore, a cup of broccoli has as much protein as a cup of rice or corn with half the calories.

9. Alkalizes Your Body

Like many vegetables, broccoli helps keep your whole body less acidic, which has a host of health benefits.

I can have a dinner of just broccoli and a vegetables soup. It can fill me up till the next morning, after my 26-lap swim in the pool 🙂

 

 

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Kimchi Health Benefits

My 3 kids love kimchi, I kid you not! Do your kids like the tanginess of the kimchi?   I have not seen many kids who can stomach this spicy and sour pickled veggies but my kids ace through it, though they would be gulping down cups after cups of water afterwards (drinking lots of water is good!).  They even love kimchi soup and even 7-year old Cass loves the piquant taste of kimchi.

On Mother’s Day last Sunday, we had Korean BBQ and this plate of spicy kimchi was superb in taste and texture. I especially love the pickled radish.   My kids loved it too.

 

Article extracted from US National Library of Medicine:

Kimchi is a traditional Korean food manufactured by fermenting vegetables with probiotic lactic acid bacteria (LAB). Many bacteria are involved in the fermentation of kimchi, but LAB become dominant while the putrefactive bacteria are suppressed during salting of baechu cabbage and the fermentation. The addition of other subingredients and formation of fermentation byproducts of LAB promote the fermentation process of LAB to eventually lead to eradication of putrefactive- and pathogenic bacteria, and also increase the functionalities of kimchi.

Accordingly, kimchi can be considered a vegetable probiotic food that contributes health benefits in a similar manner as yogurt as a dairy probiotic food. Further, the major ingredients of kimchi are cruciferous vegetables; and other healthy functional foods such as garlic, ginger, red pepper powder, and so on are added to kimchi as subingredients.

As all of these ingredients undergo fermentation by LAB, kimchi is regarded as a source of LAB; and the fermentative byproducts from the functional ingredients significantly boost its functionality. Because kimchi is both tasty and highly functional, it is typically served with steamed rice at every Korean meal.

Health functionality of kimchi, based upon our research and that of other, includes anticancer, antiobesity, anticonstipation, colorectal health promotion, probiotic properties, cholesterol reduction, fibrolytic effect, antioxidative and antiaging properties, brain health promotion, immune promotion, and skin health promotion. In this review we describe the method of kimchi manufacture, fermentation, health functionalities of kimchi and the probiotic properties of its LAB.

 

Food For Thought:

Health Benefits of Kimchi

1. Contains healthy bacteria and probiotics for the overall wellness of your body

2. Lowers cholesterol levels

3. Facilitates healthy body development and clear vision

4. Produces radiant skin and shiny hair

5. Prevents stomach cancer

6. Slows down the aging process

7. Helps you lose weight

8. Prevents the occurrence of peptic ulcer

By eating kimchi. Kimchi contains leuconostoc mensenteroides which produce dextrin, a substance important to stop the growth of H. pylori in your body!

9. Boosts your immunity

Fret not if you don’t have the time to make your own kimchi; just pick it up in the refrigerated section of your supermarket or an Asian market and they ain’t very costly. You can wake up your morning by scrambling eggs with kimchi, diced tomatoes, and mushrooms. Use it as a wrap filling or to top a baked potato. Or try Spicy Beef and Kimchi Stew.  I like to fry rice using Kimchi with loads of chopped garlic! Kimchi wrapped with raw lettuce tastes great too and that’s how the Koreans like it eaten best.

 

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Lady’s Fingers Health Benefits

In our household, lady’s fingers or Okra is another staple green that we place on the dining table. Okra is inexpensive and it is a nutritional powerhouse used throughout history for both medicinal and culinary purpose

Like the kiwi fruit (okra actually shares many kiwi fruit benefits), okra is known for its high vitamin C, vitamin K, and folate content,(although not quite as high as kiwi). Additionally, Okra is known for harnessing a superior fiber content, which helps with digestion, stabilizes blood sugar, and helps to control the rate at which sugar is absorbed.

Health Benefits of Okra:
Preventing diabetes
Promoting colon health and preventing colon cancer
Boosting digestive health
Weight management
Promoting a healthy pregnancy
Maintaining healthy skin
Protecting against free radical damage
Relief from respiratory issues like asthma, cough, or trouble breathing
Promoting eye health
Boosting mood
Constipation

Okra can be cooked in many interesting ways. On busy lazy days, one can simply blanch the Okra in a pot of boiling water with a little oil and salt. They taste great when eaten on its own like this.  My kids have no issues eating them this way, except for Cass who always insists that her Okra is dipped with a little Japanese sesame salad dressing. Sometimes I drizzle  a little garlic oil with soy sauce on the blanched Okra.  Okra tastes great when cooked in curries or stir-fried with sambal belacan.  You can create your own cooking styles with Okra, in a whatever way that you and your family fancy 🙂

 

 

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Sweet Facts On Bitter Gourd

Bitter gourd is another staple food in our household.  We cook bitter gourd in a variety of interesting ways from the usual bitter gourd omelette to bitter gourd soup, stir-fried bitter gourd with pork slices, braised bitter gourd chicken, stir-fried bitter gourd with fermented soy bean or black bean and juicing with bitter gourd.

Of the 3 girls, only Sherilyn is not bitter over bitter gourd. She loves them!

Funnily, though Cass does not fancy bitter gourd, she loves pork noodles cooked with bitter gourd, except that she will single out all the bitter gourd slices and chuck them onto my bowl.

There’s this stall at our neighborhood coffee shop that sells really delish pork noodles with bitter gourd.  It is my must-have bowl of noodles for breakfast on Saturdays, along with my favorite glass of pumpkin barley cooling drink.

 

 

Food For Thought (information extracted from diabetes.co.uk)

Bitter melon, also known as bitter gourd or karela (in India), is a unique vegetable-fruit that can be used as food or medicine.

In addition to being a food ingredient, bitter melon has also long been used as a herbal remedy for a range of ailments, including type 2 diabetes.

The fruit contains at least three active substances with anti-diabetic properties, including charantin, which has been confirmed to have a blood glucose-lowering effect, vicine and an insulin-like compound known as polypeptide-p.

These substances either work individually or together to help reduce blood sugar levels.

It is also known that bitter melon contains a lectin that reduces blood glucose concentrations by acting on peripheral tissues and suppressing appetite – similar to the effects of insulin in the brain.

What other health benefits does it have?

Bitter melon is used in traditional medicine for:

Colic
Fever
Burns
Chronic cough
Painful menstruation
Skin conditions
It is also used to heal wounds, assist childbirth and, in parts of Africa and Asia, prevent or treat malaria and viral diseases such as measles and chicken pox.

In addition, researchers from Saint Louis University in the US say they have shown that an extract from bitter melon can kill breast cancer cells and prevent them from growing and spreading.

 

 

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Flavoring Food With Turmeric and Health Benefits

Turmeric is an amazing root spice that not only adds so much flavor and color to your dishes.  Turmeric is also one of the world’s healthiest food, used thousands of years ago.

Turmeric is a spice that I almost never fail to use each time I marinate meat for grilling in the oven.  For fish – I like it that the intense flavor of turmeric masks the fishy odor.   And for chicken, it just adds so much yummyness to the dish.

The other day, I whipped up an aromatic turmeric and garlic chicken chop dish.

 

The kids loved it!  Sherilyn quickly saved a portion of the chicken for her to bring to school for recess the next day.  Here’s her lunch box for recess the next day, which I reheated in the microwave oven (yes we finally bought a new microwave oven, solely for reheating purposes!) .  I packed some cherry tomatoes for her and gave her a pack of Izumio hydrogen water.  What a wholesome, sustaining and balanced meal, perfect for kids and adults.

 

 

Health benefits of turmeric:

1. Wards off Alzheimer’s disease

2. Helps to prevent cancer

3. Reduces the risk of heart attacks and strokes

4. Combats inflammatory diseases

5.Fights colds and flu

6. Helps indigestion and weight loss

7. Assists diabetes sufferers

8. Can tame heartburn and an upset stomach

 

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Purple Antioxidant-Packed Soup For The Soul

Nursing a bad strep throat, I cooked a big pot of ‘purple soup’ today.   My ‘purple soup’ consists of 1 huge beet root, half a head of organic purple cabbage, 6 carrots, a big chunk of lean pork and several chicken feet.

My kids will have ‘purple soup’ for dinner tonight together with oven-grilled fish. I ain’t going to sweat myself in the kitchen tonight. The bad strep throat is causing me a throbbing head too.

This was my lunch today and I could not be more satisfied with this bowl of goodness. Now, who  says that healthy food often tastes bland? This bowl of antioxidants-packed soup tasted so good and was full of sweetness from all the vegetables.

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Food For Thought:

1. Purple pigments in some fruits and vegetables provide antioxidant effects that may protect your brain.
Purple fruits and vegetables are grouped with blue foods in the blue-purple category, and all contain varying amounts of a category of compounds called anthocyanins. These give purple foods their deep, distinctive colors and also are responsible for their reputed health benefits, including potential protective properties for your brain.

2. Purple foods kill cancer
The resveratrol found in purple grapes, cranberries, blueberries, bilberries, and, of course, red wine and grape juice can inhibit the spread of colorectal cancer in animal studies. Other promising studies also show that resveratrol can induce cancer cell death in cases of prostate, breast, skin, liver, lung and blood cancers. The curcumin in turmeric seems to boost its anti-cancer activity so have a glass of pinot noir (the type of wine highest in resveratrol) next time you have curry.

3. Purple foods are ulcer-fighters
A 2011 study found that anthocyanins from blackberries reduced stomach ulcer formation in rats. Researchers believe this is because the antioxidants in blackberries prevent oxidation and boost the activity of other important antioxidants, such as glutathione, that are naturally present in the body.

4. Purple foods are good for your liver
Black rice, which has more anthocyanins per gram than blueberries, is a delicious antioxidant grain that has been found to reduce damage to the liver incurred by excessive alcohol intake.

5. Purple foods are good for the heart
Black currants can lower “bad” LDL cholesterol by up to 13 percent while raising “good” HDL cholesterol. Black currants and bilberries have more anthocyanins than blueberries. Wild raw berries have higher antioxidant content than fresh raw berries or frozen varieties.

6. Purple foods prevent urinary tract infections
Vegetables such as purple cauliflower, purple carrots and purple cabbage contain the same plant pigment, anthocyanin, that is responsible for the UTI-fighting power of cranberries. Lab studies show that anthocyanin compounds fight H. pylori, the bacteria that promotes stomach ulcers and urinary tract infections.

The above Food For Though information was extracted from several health websites.

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Chickpeas (Garbanzo beans) Health Benefits

I boiled a big pot of chickpeas yesterday. I love chickpeas in all edible fashion — from boiled to toasted or fried, in humus, cooked in curries, dhals, in Indian snacks and much more. I also like chickpeas thrown into salads and this is just what I did yesterday, in our broccoli salad.

Chickpeas are also cheap and easily available. A RM2.50 packet of chickpeas yielded a big portion of boiled chickpeas, which I divided and stored into 5 containers, including 1 container which I gave to our part-time helper.

Snacking on my sea-salt flavored chickpeas is anytime healthier than munching on chips and other junks.  I kept 2 containers in the fridge for our salads and for snacking (to be utilized within a week) and stored 2 containers in the freezer.

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Food For Thought. Information extracted from several health websites:

Eating chickpeas provides you with a vegetarian-friendly source of protein, with each cup of cooked garbanzo beans containing 15 grams. Your body breaks down this protein into amino acids, and then uses them to maintain the health of your body’s tissues. Chickpeas are a source of incomplete protein, which means they do not contain every amino acid you need for good health. Make sure you combine them with other sources of protein, such as nuts, whole grains, dairy, eggs or meat to prevent an amino acid deficiency.

Garbanzos are a food you definitely want to keep on your “digestive support” list—especially if you are focusing on the colon. Between 65-75% of the fiber found in garbanzo beans is insoluble fiber, and this type of fiber remains undigested all the way down to the final segment of your large intestine (colon). Recent studies have shown that garbanzo bean fiber can be metabolized by bacteria in the colon to produce relatively large amounts of short chain fatty acids (SCFAs), including acetic, propionic, and butyric acid. These SCFAs provide fuel to the cells that line your intestinal wall. By supporting the energy needs of our intestinal cells, the SCFAs made from garbanzo fibers can help lower your risk of colon problems, including your risk of colon cancer.

Chickpeas also contain phytoestrogens which are weak plant versions of real oestrogen. There’s evidence that these may modulate the body’s own production of the hormone in a way that could lower the risk of breast cancer, protect against osteoporosis and minimise hot flushes in post-menopausal women.

Garbanzo beans also contain vitamins and minerals and significantly boost your intake of manganese and folate. The mineral manganese helps support bone development and wound healing and also helps carry out chemical reactions important to your metabolism. A 1-cup serving of chickpeas contains 1.7 milligrams of manganese, approximately 94 percent of the daily recommended intake for women, or 74 percent of the RDA for men, according to the Linus Pauling Institute. Folate, or vitamin B-9, aids in new cell growth and brain cell communication and protects against genetic mutations that contribute to cancer development. Eating a cup of chickpeas provides you with 282 micrograms of folate, or 71 percent of your daily folate requirements, according to the NYU Langone Medical Center.

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stir fried burdock root (GOBO) with chicken slices

One of our favorite soups is burdock root. The MIL would boil the root with radish and sometimes throw in some mushrooms and dried octopus for a more flavorful taste.  The Chinese folks believe that the burdock root aka Gobo in Japanese or ngau pong in Cantonese is full of medicinal properties and health benefits.

The other day, the MIL tried julienned stir-fried burdock root with chicken slices for the first time and it was a great hit with everyone!

To rid the slightly muddy odor from the burdock root, she soaked the julienned roots for an hour before cooking them. According to Wiki, if you do not soak the root, it will have a rather harsh and fibrous texture. Ours turned out OK and our 3 fussy eaters had no complaints. This is definitely a healthy dish, full of nutrients and fibre to combat constipation.

Notice our menu for that night consisted of 2 roots —  lotus root and burdock root?  And a ladies fingers.  Pretty healthy eh?

Food For Thought:

For several hundred years now, the burdock plant and burdock root have been used for purifying and flushing toxins from the blood stream. In its capacity as a diuretic, the burdock herb and root increase the output of urine, thereby flushing out excess water.

Fresh burdock roots contain polyacetylenes, which are phytochemicals (plant chemicals) that kill some types of bacteria and fungi; burdock has been used to treat both bacterial and fungal infections, including ringworm, urinary tract infections, and acne. Its antibacterial effects may also promote wound healing and help treat ulcers.

In addition, the consumption of burdock root benefits the treatment of gastrointestinal conditions, stimulates the digestive organs and also treats various stomach ailments.

Burdock is used as a tonic for its immune-strengthening capabilities. It has been used for centuries as a diuretic and to clear the blood of toxins by stimulating perspiration. When applied topically, it is used to relieve certain skin conditions, such as psoriasis, acne and eczema. Burdock is also being used to lower blood sugar, to treat digestive troubles, minor skin infections, colds, sore throat, flu, HIV and rheumatoid arthritis and to stimulate bile production. Historically, burdock has also been used to treat cancer. There have not been many studies performed on burdock, so evidence of its effectiveness is mostly anecdotal.

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Eating Broccoli That Turned Yellow

Broccoli is choke-full with nutrients and fibre. It is high in calcium, Vitamin C, potassium, magnesium and also Vitamin K. Broccoli also contains glucoraphanin, which with the body processes into the anti-cancer compound sulforaphane. This compound rids the body of H. pylori, a bacterium found to highly increase the risk of gastric cancer. Furthermore, broccoli contains indole-3-carbinol, a powerful antioxidant compound and anti-carcinogen found to not only hinder the growth of breast, cervical and prostate cancer, but also boosts liver function.

The bad thing about broccoli is that it turns yellow pretty fast. Sometimes I forget about the broccoli that I have in the fridge and when I remember about it, it has already turned yellowish, albeit wrapping the broccoli carefully in paper. I do not know about you but I feel really squeamish at the sight of yellowish broccoli. It makes me feel as if the broccoli is starting to rot and that it is devoid of all the nutrients. But broccoli is pretty costly and I feel bad binning it. Normally what I do is that I will trim off the yellow parts and salvage the green parts. Then throw in other veggies like red pepper, french beans, fresh mushrooms and chicken or fish meat and stir fry all the ingredients into a 1-dish meal for the kids.

Do you eat broccoli that has turned yellow?


Non-organic broccoli is highly laced with pesticides. I always wash the broccoli thoroughly and soak it in salt water and rinsing it again before cooking it.




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