Doctors often recommend healthy lifestyle changes whether you’re fighting fatigue, searching for ways to boost your immune system, or recovering from an illness. The foods you eat can often significantly help prevent and manage symptoms. It is always better to get nutrients directly from food, rather than take supplements
If there were certain foods that could help restore your body and mind, would you eat them? While you wouldn’t necessarily think of your shopping list as a prescription, you’ve probably heard the saying, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away,” right?
While just focusing on eating an apple every day will only go so far in keeping illness at bay, the sentiment is there. In actuality, many of the foods you consume have the power to improve your overall health and well-being .
The key here is to know which fruits are your tickets to health! So the next time you go to the market, be sure to pick up these seven healing foods that do the job of putting you at the top of your game.
Eat Avocados.
Avocados and foods that are rich in omega-3 fatty acids are key for a healthy scalp. Avocados are high in vitamins B and E, which have been shown to promote hair growth. It’s no wonder they’re typically used in hair masks, thanks to their moisturizing and conditioning benefits.
Avocados are also excellent sources of fiber and monounsaturated fatty acids (the good fat!), while also being free of sodium and cholesterol. Plus, they’re full of potassium, which plays a key role in helping lower blood pressure. In fact, they contain more potassium than a banana.
Furthermore, (According to Archives of Medical Research) Avocados can help reduce your cholesterol levels and can thereby help reduce your risk of heart disease. But the healing benefits don’t stop there, as avocado oil has been shown to have anti-inflammatory properties that can aid in alleviating arthritis pain.
Kiwi Fruit
While they may be small in size, kiwis pack a powerful punch when it comes to their healing characteristics and true value in your diet. This tiny, nutrient-dense fruit packs an amazing amount of vitamin C, has more fiber than apples, and beats bananas as a high-potassium food. The unique blend of phytonutrients, vitamins, and minerals found in kiwifruit helps protect against heart disease, stroke, cancer, and respiratory disease. Kiwifruit’s natural blood-thinning properties work without the side effects of aspirin and support vascular health. It also reduces blood pressure.
Multiple studies have shown that kiwifruit not only reduces oxidative stress and damage to DNA but also prompts damaged cells to repair themselves. In Chinese medicine they are used to accelerate the healing of wounds and sores.
This fuzzy fruit can help lower your risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease as well as help prevent various cancers.
The benefits don’t stop there, as research has shown that eating kiwis can help improve your quality of sleep. If getting your beauty rest isn’t a big enough benefit, kiwis also contain anti-inflammatory properties which can help heal your bad skin woes by fighting acne, pimples, and outbreaks.
Tip: Kiwifruit contain enzymes that activate once you cut the fruit, causing the flesh to tenderize. So if you’re making a fruit salad, cut the kiwifruit last
Cranberries
Cranberries are largely known to help prevent UTIs. They’re also packed with antioxidants that can help protect and heal your body from cell damage. Plus, as noted in Molecular Nutrition and Food Research, cranberries contain compounds that can help impede the growth and development of certain breast, lung, and colon cancers. Cranberries aren’t just for Thanksgiving, but it’s definitely worth being thankful as a power packed fruit.
Ginger
Ginger is an all-round good health food, being high in antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds. However, ginger’s most reputed benefit is its effectiveness at treating all types of nausea, making it a great alternative to motion sickness tablets when travelling. To help ease the nausea associated with travel sickness, try eating crystallized ginger or ginger biscuits, or drink some ginger tea or ginger ale.
You may know ginger as a cooking spice, but its centuries-old uses range from aiding digestion and calming upset stomach to treating arthritis. Sources of ginger include fresh ginger root, teas, extracts, capsules, oils, and as a dried ground spice.
Beet Roots
Contrary to popular belief, fruits contain a lot of complex carbohydrates, which release sugar into your system slowly, leaving a long-lasting energy boost. Fruits with skin, such as apples, provide added fiber, which keeps you full longer. Beets are a natural energy supply packed with calcium, iron, vitamins A and C.
Although they tend not to rate high in popularity, beets are equipped to satisfy a midafternoon sugar craving without the guilt. Studies published in the journal “Nahrung Trusted” have found that Beet may help fight cancer and protect against heart disease. They also help reduce inflammation and bring down blood pressure
Eat Cherries
Did you know that the skin of cherries relieves pain just as well as ibuprofen?
Cherries are packed with substances that help fight inflammation and cancer. In lab studies, quercetin and ellagic acid, two compounds contained in cherries, have been shown to inhibit the growth of tumors and even cause cancer cells to commit suicide. Cherries also have antiviral and antibacterial properties.
Anthocyanin is another compound in cherries that are credited with lowering the uric acid levels in the blood, thereby reducing a common cause of “gout”. Researchers believe anthocyanin may also reduce the risk of colon cancer. Further, these compounds are known to work like a natural form of ibuprofen, reducing inflammation and curbing pain. Regular consumption may help lower risk of heart attack, stroke and prevent muscle soreness
In Chinese medicine, cherries are routinely used as a remedy for gout, arthritis and rheumatism (as well as anemia, due to their high iron content).
Plus they’re delicious!
Guavas
Guavas are a small tropical fruit that can be round, oval or pear-shaped. They’re seasonal, so they’re not all that common. However, if you can track them down, it’s more than worth it. Guavas contain more of the cancer-fighting antioxidant lycopene than any other fruit or vegetable, and nearly 20 percent more than popular fruit.
Lycopene protects our healthy cells from free radicals that can cause blocked arteries, joint degeneration, nervous system problems and cancer. Lycopene consumption is associated with significantly lower rates of prostate cancer; and men with prostate tumors who consumed lycopene supplements showed significant improvements. Lycopene has also been found to inhibit the growth of breast cancer cells, and research suggests that this antioxidant may also help protect against coronary artery disease.
Guavas are packed with vitamin C and other antioxidants. Serving for serving, guava offers more than 60 percent more potassium than a banana.
Tip: Opt for the red-fleshed variety if you can; both are loaded with antioxidants (cancer-fighting foods), but the red type has more than the white-fleshed apple guava.
Tell us the Comments, other fruits proven to have healing powers!