Thursday 31 January 2013

Food is Medicine


So what is this new super food craze? For the past few years there seems to be a new more exotic one each week. A superfood is a food rich in phyto-chemicals or constituents that have been noted to have disease-fighting properties

You may have heard about Maca from South America, also known as Peruvian ginseng, is a root plant. It has been used as a medicine and a food product in its native country for centuries. It resembles a purple or cream color turnip when harvested. Maca contains a number of important vitamins and minerals including B vitamins, iron, copper, calcium, magnesium and selenium.

Or Goji berries (wolf berries) from China sited too help boost immune system health, combat chronic disease issues, prevent cancer and may help protect vision. There is also research suggesting goji berries can help stave off brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

Spiralina, Chorella, Chai, Acia Quinoa, Edamame, Camu camu this list is ever growing but how a bouts our native ones, the over looked berries, hips n haws in our hedgerows, the beets, greens and flowers in our allotments. Often it is expensive research that launches new super-food into our supermarket aisles. Almost any naturally occurring grain, fruit or seeds when picked apart will contain important nutrients for our health and well being, recently Pop-corn was deemed a superfood!

Any fruit or berry that has a deep colour contains Flavonoids, from the Latin word flavus meaning yellow,
Flavonoids were referred to as Vitamin P (probably because of the effect they had on the permeability of vascular capillaries) from the mid-1930s to early 50s, but the term has since fallen out of use. These amazing compounds are celebrated for their incredible anti-oxidant actions. This is the main reason why blueberries, strawberries, turmeric and all those colourful plants are recommended to protect and benefit our health.

Here in Britain we have many delicious native super foods –Apples (an apple a day keeps the doctor away), Rosehips, Beetroots, Nettle, Kale, Spinage, Sloe berries, Hawthorn, Bilberries, Blackcurrants, Blackberries, Flax, Broccoli, Globe artichoke, Walnuts, Star flowers, strawberries the list goes on and on…..




Now we witches and gonna sit and get our thinking Hats on to devise a mix of a few of these native ones, to create a wild n wicked Powder supplement to add to smoothies for a kick boost of energy and amazing nutrients.

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