The Healthiest Habits

Pomegranate- the joy of autumn

September 15, 2009 Uncategorized

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I just got home from the local store. I spent more than a half an hour thinking which fruit to buy for today. I didn’t feel like eating nothing particular, yet because of my pregnancy I simply cannot skip my fruit portion for today. Oh, who am I kidding? I do not skip fruit EVER! I simply love it. Any kind of fruit (except for pears), any time of the day… Actually, I eat fruits instead of sweets. It is healthier, it is better for my skin, for my tan, for digestion, for weight… actually, it is excellent for overall health. It is not that I do not eat sweets ever, but I really am not keen on sweets and I can do without them. It is simple, believe me. You just have to find good enough reason to make yourselves believe you can make it through the day without them, because there are good substitutions for sweets.

So… To return to my initial thought- me in front of the fruit-shelves in my local store…

So there I was, standing, and thinking, and picking… Grapes, apples, peaches, apples…nothing that I wished to grab at that particular moment. And suddenly, I saw it! Shop assistant was coming towards, carrying beautiful pomegranates in basket and putting them on the shelf. Oh, God! I instantly grabbed few of them and put it in my basket. And now I am enjoying the sweet taste of them, and writing this post. Here are some facts about pomegranates:

1. it is native to Southwest Asia, but now it is cultivated almost all over the world;
2. in the Southern Hemisphere it is in season from March to May, while in the Northern Hemisphere, we can find it from September to February;
3. there are pomegranates that have red arils, and pomegranates with white arils; many people have never seen white pomegranates; I myself was very surprised when I firstly saw it, I thought that it is not ripe yet
4. white pomegranates are used as a spice, known as anardana, mostly in Indian and Pakistan cuisine;
5. red pomegranates are used fresh, as a fruit, and as a juice; I also heard that they are excellent as a salad dressing, with fish and with neat, as a marinade.

Some nutrition facts about it:

1. it has about 70 kcal per 100g,
2. sugars make about 16% of pomegranates, and it also contains something like 0.5 g dietary fiber,
3. 0.95g of proteins are held in 100 g of pomegranate,
4. and a plenty of vitamins in it: C, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B9,
5. then, there are: calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc…

And, last but very important to mention, are the health benefits of it. Pomegranates are known as antioxidants, and they are very good in fighting the free radicals in our bodies. Then, by eating them, we prevent numerous cardiovascular diseases; also-it lowers systolic blood pressure. Then, it has antibacterial effects against dental plaque. And, containing polyphenols which inhibit estrogen synthesis, pomegranate seed oil was effective against proliferation of breast cancer cells.

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