NATURAL HEALTH
Your A-Z guide to natural health (Part 1) D is for vitamin D A is for avocado This magical wee fruit not only tastes amazing, but it’s packed full of goodness to keep you healthy in the summer season. Avocados contain ‘good fats’ – which help your entire body work properly and keep your brain active and healthy – as well as minerals like potassium, and vitamins B, E, and K. They’re like a ready-packed takeaway meal, too – just cut it in half, scoop it out, and away you go. Alternatively, use these babies as a spread for crackers or bread when they’re ripe and soft, or whip up a guacamole to impress your friends.
B is for berries Berries are some of nature’s little wonders. They’re bursting with nutrients and chemicals like vitamin C and flavanoids to make you healthy and strong, and they taste incredible too! Berries are full of chemicals called antioxidants, which help your body fight another kind of chemical called a ‘free radical’, formed in extreme exercise and from eating a poor diet and smoking. These race around your body and speed up the ageing process, damage your cells, and are potentially linked to cancer and heart disease. The darker the berry, the more antioxidants they contain. They’re small, easy to eat, and taste incredible too! So go on, grab yourself some of nature’s lollies and have a feast – your body (and taste buds) will love you for it.
C is for chocolate Yes, really! Dark chocolate is usually classed as a superfood these days. Dark chocolate has less sugar in it than milk or white chocolate, and contains high amounts of cocoa, which is – excuse the pun – choc-full of antioxidants, just like the berries I mentioned above. Not only this, but chocolate contains minerals like iron, magnesium and potassium and, as we all know, is great for boosting your moods as well. Chocoholics, rejoice!
8
Tearaway FEBRUARY 2010
Also known as ‘the sunshine vitamin’, it’s receiving lots of attention at the moment for its potentially cancer-preventing, bone-strengthening, depressionbusting, body-boosting properties. Vitamin D is made by your body when sunlight hits your skin directly (that means no glass in the way, and no sunscreen on) and gets absorbed into your body, where it gets to work. Despite our roasting summers, most people are lacking this vitamin, probably due to us being so ‘sunsmart’. While it’s essential to not get sunburnt and to cover up during the middle of the day, 10 to 15 minutes in the sun in the morning or afternoon daily, without sunscreen, will boost your levels of vitamin D.
E is for exercise Whether you like it or not, one of the best things you can do to keep yourself healthy is to do some exercise several times a week, for at least half an hour. It doesn’t have to be team sports, either – try walking, swimming, yoga, martial arts, or hitting the gym to keep your body active and muscles strong, and to keep your weight where it should be. Your heart and muscles will love you for it, and you’ll feel so much better too.
F is for fruit While it may seem very basic, a lot of people don’t eat as much fruit as they should do. Fruit is full of vitamins and minerals, essential for our bodies to function properly, and the flavours and tastes and textures are endless. It’s full of water to hydrate you and fibre to keep you, erm, regular, and you can eat it on the run! Summer is the best time to start eating more fruit because of the variety available at this time of year – so I challenge you to try a new kind every week for the next three months, and add some flavour to your life.
G is for gardening There’s nothing like planting some seeds, watching them grow, and then picking your own vegetables fresh from your own garden a few months later, ready for your dinner. Gardening is a great activity for relaxing, and with many people looking for ways to save money, gardening is suddenly cool again. Dig up a patch of earth, plant some seeds, add some water and sunshine, and reap the rewards! Never eat more than you can lift – Miss Piggy