Bean Nutrition Facts

Bean Nutrition... Very low in calories, very low in fat, high in dietary fiber and protein. It would be fair to call beans the near perfect type of food.

Interesting Bean Facts:

• Beans are one of the longest-cultivated plants.

• Brazil, India and China are the biggest producers of dry bean. China, Indonesia and Turkey are the biggest producers of green bean.

• They are inexpensive and delicious, possibly the biggest bargain in the supermarkets, considering their health and longevity benefits.

• Beans contain 22 percent protein. Beef contains only 18 percent and eggs 13 percent protein.

• There are all kinds of beans available for different tastes unless you really dislike them.

• Chinese long beans may be up to 18 inches long.

• Newlyweds are given a bowl of beans for good luck in Nicaragua.

• Boiled beans mixed with zinc phosphide are used as a means of cheap rodenticide-rat poison in Aruba.

Bean Nutrition Facts and Health Benefits:

• Low glycemic index and high fiber content help stabilize blood glucose levels, making them a great choice for diabetes, insulin resistance or hypoglycemia sufferers.

• Low GI value also means beans provide steady and slow-burning energy.

• They can also help increase your energy by replenishing your iron stores. Unlike red meat, beans are low in fat and calories.

• Beans have more fiber and protein than any other vegetable.

• A cup of beans provides almost half of the recommended daily intake for fiber.

• Thiamin- B vitamin in beans is critical for brain cell - cognitive function, skin health, nerves and digestive system.

• Manganese is an essential element in a number of enzymes important in energy production and antioxidant defenses.

• Potassium helps reduce the risk of high blood pressure and stroke.

• Calcium is essential for strong bones and teeth.

• Weight loss: if you'd like to reduce your calorie "price" by 10%, add an extra 14 grams of fiber. This means that if you eat 2,000 calories per day, and add 28 grams of fiber to your meals, those calories will only "count" as 1600.

• Beans have 2-3% fat content: they raise your leptin-a protein hormone- levels and reduce appetite, while causing your metabolism to work harder and faster.

Bean Glycemic Index:

Low GI foods act as a constant supply of energy. Beans are low in glycemic index value, they provide energy over a longer period of time by releasing sugars into your blood stream slowly and steadily.

High GI simple sugar acts like a drug on the human system and many of us experienced that feeling of being sugar-high. Sugar is addictive, it is even compared to heroin by some scientists. High GI foods cause a spike in your blood glucose levels followed by a crash soon after, causing your appetite to return, making snacks irresistible.By Tim Karlilar

The Importance of Nutritional Supplements

The subject of nutritional supplements is a broad and seemingly complex issue, do in great part to the system or systems that control, regulate and enable the dispensation of medicines, pharmaceuticals and if you will...supplements. In no way or shape am I attempting to butt heads with any organization, agency or protocols of their structures, what I would like to communicate is merely that an entire multi-billion dollar industry exists solely to manufacture and distribute nutritional supplements and the variety, quality and efficacy that distinguishes any two like products can be as broad and vast as the industry itself.

With that being said, I along with a handful of other educated, ethical and integrity based fitness and nutrition professionals subsist entirely to inform, educate and provide superior products and services to the global community. Not necessarily for the profit, although there is absolutely nothing wrong with getting paid well to do what you love and are passionate about and I for one am not only passionate about my work, but feel that this my calling, as well as both a professional and moral obligation.

Consequently, this article is not an attempt to advertise, but it is meant to be more of a communique, so please accept my apology in advance for the seemingly self-righteous posturing... Quite literally, I have been asked a variation of the same question/s a thousand times, and that all important question or questions are... "Why should one take nutritional supplements and or why should an individual supplement dietary intake with supplements?" And although I would love to communicate the answer/s as simply as possible, I cannot and will not and here is why! The veracious truth is that de-conditioned, inactive people interested only in growing hair, skin and nails can perhaps meet their "low metabolic" needs through food alone. I said perhaps, who knows... What I do know is that this nation on a whole is not well and if all that you desire is to just merely exist, than obtaining this low level of existence might just be met with what poor quality food that most folks consume on a daily basis. This concept to me is like settling for what life gives you and not getting what you truly want and personally, I don't know anybody that would pick illness and disease over optimal health and a fruitful sense of being well.

And lets just say you actually want to feel...oh, perhaps just passably alright, than ingesting an inexpensive "Costco" daily multi-vitamin/mineral complex should fulfill that need as well. But if you exercise, make an effort to eat to support daily activity and have somewhat of a functional life...well than you are looking at assisting your metabolism, digestion, assimilation, the bio-availability of important nutrients and a whole host of other vitally necessary physiological necessities, so suffice it to say that food alone in today's world simply is not enough anymore. Besides, a boatload of research has proven that physically active people have much higher bodily and metabolic requirements than those that spend their time doing little more than consuming the couch.

The amount and quality of your caloric intake, in conjunction with nutritional supplementation, is of utmost importance. Not to mention that if being healthy, functional and feeling well are any of your objectives...additional supportive dietary aids (supplements) should be employed! Movement, thought (yes, thinking is invariable quite an undertaking) and other random daily voluntary and involuntary human tasks will cause stress on the body, both internally and externally and when you begin an efficient exercise program, you increase this stress, this taxing workload on your body. And, when you increase physical stress on your body, fueling it (through proper nutrition) becomes more than a major consideration. Supplements accomplish two things. They help in the digestion and utilization of foods, thus creating "higher octane fuel" for your body. Secondly, they ensure that all nutritional gaps are satisfied allowing your body to efficiently and effectively burn fat, build and maintain lean muscle tissue and fully adapt to increased physical stress.

Again, if you do the research and Google the heck out of this subject, you will indeed find that only a handful of ethical and integral professionals are willing to take the high road and stick their proverbial necks out and speak the truth about such matters of controversy, hype and a blatant misleading and misguiding of reality. After many years of exhaustive R&D, my team and I at KREATEFitness.com and Synergy Fitness Systems Provo have made available what we refer to as an ultra-premium supplement line aptly titled NEO PHYSIS,(New Life, New Nature) to specifically provide not only what we think is a superior product, but to also inform and educate. Unlike popular brand names, they are not marketed through those multi-level organizations, discount health food stores, drug stores, supermarkets or other retail venues. Instead, they are distributed through elite fitness centers, medical facilities and professional sports and fitness associations and more importantly they boast a much shorter shelf-life and contain absolutely no preservatives, binding agents, sugars, starches, flours or enteric coatings. Only the highest quality ingredients are used such as Pancreatine 5x (digestive enzymes), polynicotinate (instead of picolinate) and whey protein instead of lower cost substitutes.

That's why NEO PHYSIS ultra-premium supplements are recommended by fitness and medical experts for people interested in reducing body-fat, gaining lean muscle and enhancing overall fitness and athletic performance. In addition these products were specifically designed to bridge the gaping hole that exists between the "educated" and "uneducated". I compare it to the differentiation between owning a Mercedes Benz and a Hundai, sure the former is substantially more expensive, but in the long run, a far better vehicle. Wealthy and successful people own expensive vehicles, not because they can, but because of the performance, efficiency and more importantly...the ROI or the return on investment (more bang for the buck).

Afterall, too many people believe that eating a well balanced diet provides all the vitamins and minerals necessary for good health. In ideal circumstances, this could be the case, but in reality there are many reasons why you need supplements to cope with living in the 21st century environment. Taking vitamins when required is a safe method of optimizing your dietary sources of nutrients, providing that you follow the instructions on product labels.

So, although I know without any doubt and have staked my career upon the fact that supplements are more than just contributors to expensive urine or the controversial subject of an industry that grosses multi-billions, it is really up to the individual to discern for themselves, to self-educate and even perhaps even experiment with if only a little... For the truth about what it is that we are eating in this fast food nation is indeed quite a harsh reality and without this necessary adjunct (supplementation) into our daily personal maintenance regime, our health, wellbeing and quality of life is surely diminished!

By Kurt Hurley

Banana nutrition facts - nine things you probably never knew about this nutritious tropical food

(NaturalNews) Whether as a quick snack, cut up and tossed in the blender for a fruit smoothie, or used to make quick bread or pancakes, most people enjoy bananas. Bananas are such a staple on produce shelves that most of us don't stop to think about their tropical origins or their many nutritional benefits. Next time you enjoy a banana, consider some of these facts:

1. Hands and Fingers
Bananas do not grow on trees. The banana plant is classified as an arborescent (tree-like) perennial herb and the banana itself is actually considered a berry. The correct name for bunch of bananas is a hand of bananas; a single banana is a finger.

2. Heart Health
One banana contains 467mg of potassium, providing powerful protection to the cardiovascular system. Regular consumption of the potassium-packed fruit helps guard against high blood pressure, atherosclerosis and stroke.

3. Bones
Although bananas do not contain high amounts of calcium, they do supply the body with an abundance of fructooligosaccharide, a prebiotic substance (one which encourages probiotics, the friendly bacteria in the digestive system). As fructooligosaccharides ferment in the digestive tract, they enhance the body's ability to absorb calcium.

4. Energy and Mood Balancing
Another benefit to bananas high potassium content derives from that mineral's role as an energy-supplying electrolyte. Since bananas also contain tryptophan, serotonin and norepinephrine, they help prevent depression while encouraging feelings of well-being and relaxation. In addition, the vitamin B6 in bananas helps protect against sleeplessness, mood swings and irritability.

5. Vision
Bananas, combined with the African herb orinol, have been used to treat cataracts in Nigeria. They also share with other fruits the ability to prevent macular degeneration, the leading cause of vision loss in adults. According to a study published in the Archives of Opthmalogy in 2004, people who eat 3 servings of fruit per day are statistically unlike to develop the vision-diminishing disease.

6. Better Digestion
Bananas suppress acid in the digestive tract, alleviating heartburn and helping guard against ulcers. Since bananas contain pectin, a soluble fiber, they aid in the elimination process, helping prevent constipation.

7. Baby Food
Since they are easily digested, bananas are a perfect food for babies just beginning to move to solid foods.

8. HIV Protection
The Journal of Biological Chemistry in March 2010 published a study which revealed the healing potential of BanLec, a lectin protein in bananas. Researchers found that this protein which binds to sugars can also bind to HIV-infected cells, enveloping them and preventing their replication and transmission.

8. Clones
Due to modern shipping practices, this tropical yellow berry born of a herb seems so ubiquitous that most consumers take it for granted. However, the banana's constant availability could end soon. Nearly all the bananas sold in stores are cloned from just one variety, the Cavendish banana plant, originally native to Southeast Asia. This means disease could potentially wipe out the cloned plants in one fell swoop. Next time you peel and eat a banana, take the time to savor its flavor and texture, so if this fruit disappears, you can tell future generations about the healthy snack encased in yellow flesh.

That potential disappearance does not derive from science fiction speculation. Botanists say it is likely to happen in the next 20 years and in fact it already has happened. At the beginning of the last century, the dominant banana species was the Gros Michel, also a cloned species, which was wiped out by fungus. The Gros Michel was preferred over the Cavendish because it was larger and had a longer shelf life, and, according to old-timer recollections, better-tasting. The Cavendish replaced the Gros Michel after the latter species decimation because, of the over 1,000 varieties of bananas in the world, most do not have an appealing taste. There are the less sweet plantains, and also a variety called Goldfinger which has an apple-like taste.

9. Save the peels
Even the peels of this fruit are useful. Apply the inside of a banana peel to pimples to naturally dry out these skin blemishes. Also, banana peels make a wonderful fertilizer, particularly for roses.
By  NaturalNews

Fun Facts About the Kiwi Fruit

Even though it has a larger size and an outer skin with fuzz, the kiwi fruit is really a berry. Chinese khans in ancient days used to consider the kiwi to be an aphrodisiac. Kiwis aren't bothered by very many irritants, so crops don't require much pest control. Kiwi pickers in California wear cotton gloves so they don't bruise the kiwis.
The original name of the kiwi was the Chinese Gooseberry. It was originally grown in China, over seven hundred years ago. Later on, it was introduced to New Zealand, and then California. California kiwi were first grown in about 1960. The average kiwi fruit is about three inches long, and weighs about 2.5 ounces. Nearly ten percent of kiwi grown in California are grown organically.
The vines of the kiwi are deciduous. They will remain dormant from November until March, and the foliage falls off, which makes the pruners' job easier. All of the pruning on a kiwi plant is done by hand. New leaves start coming out in March. The canes of the dormant kiwifruit are great for flower arrangements.
Kiwis grow like grapes, on shrubs like vines, which are trained to grow on trellises. Their height ranges from five and a half feet to six feet. The vines of the kiwifruit drink in water in the summertime. Each vine drinks about forty one gallons of water a day, in the growing season. Kiwi fruit continue to grow after they are picked. It will ripen as it heads off to the sales markets.
The kiwifruit was originally found in Northern China, in the Yangtze River valley. Missionaries took seeds to New Zealand in their travels, at the turn of the century. It became a popular plant there, and several vines were sent to California. Those very vines are still growing in the Chico Plant Introduction Station. Kiwi are also grown for resale in areas like Chile, South Africa and Italy.
The kiwi plant needs a relatively long growing season, including at least two hundred and forty days without frost. Therefore, there are many areas in the United States where it is not possible to grow them. When the kiwi vine is in its dormant stage, in the winter, it can withstand temperatures as low as 10 degrees F. But they need to be acclimated to the cold slowly, not hit with it all at once. If a sudden and deep freeze hits, the freezing may cause the vines to split, and the plant will die.
Temperatures in the freezing range will kill any kiwi fruit buds that are exposed, so care must be taken to select an area with a mild winter season.

By  Jenny Styles