The robust and abundant cabbage, which is closely related to other leafy green vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower, has a long history as both a food and medicine. For example, the Ancient Greeks would routinely prescribe cabbage or cabbage juice to treat constipation or mushroom poisoning, while the Ancient Egyptians consumed cabbage before meals to lower the intoxicating effects of wine. The British even brought cabbage to the trenches of World War I, since its…
The cayenne pepper is the hot chili pepper of the Capsicum annuum plant, which is native to northern South America and southern North America. A nightshade fruit that is related to the bell pepper, jalapeno, and paprika, cayenne peppers are often dried and ground into a powder then used to prepare spicy meals. Many cultures also like to add them to cakes, chocolates, and even beverages. Despite their various uses in the kitchen, however, cayenne…
Most of us are aware that the natural health world is packed with different and often conflicting beliefs. Take coffee, for example. For every ten researchers who proclaim that coffee is an antioxidant-rich superdrink that can guard us from Alzheimer’s disease, you’ll find another ten who state, with equal conviction, that giving up coffee is a requisite for superior adrenal and mental health. Raw food, red wine, sugar alcohols and fasting seem to be similarly…
Coconut oil, which is derived from the meat of matured coconuts, is possibly the healthiest oil in the world. Rich in good saturated fats and important minerals, the regular consumption of coconut oil has been linked to reduced cholesterol, boosting of the immune system, weight loss, superior digestion and metabolism, and much more. It is, in short, a truly amazing food. However, if there’s one department in which coconut oil excels even more than healthiness,…
Along with coconut oil, eggs were one of the biggest victims of Dr. Ancel Keys’s popular “lipid hypothesis” of the 1950s, which claimed a link between high fat consumption and heart disease. A decade thereafter, the humble egg shifted from being a staple breakfast item of Westerners to public enemy number #1 – a food so radiant with Lovecraftian malevolence that even being in the same room as one could induce atherosclerosis by proxy. Okay,…
